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,:.i     BRIDGE:,    tND  SI  IRRUCI    \    VIADUI    I 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN 
AND   THE  LAKES 


THE  STORY  OF  ERIE 


By  EDWARD   HAROLD  MOTT 


m 


New  York : 
JOHN   S.    COLLINS,  Publisher 

253   BROADWAY 
1901 


COPYRIGHT,  1899,  BY 

JOHN    S.   COLLINS 


COPYRIGH  1  .  1901,   BY 
JOHN    S.   COLLTNS 


THE     REASON     FOR     IT. 


Why  the  history  of  a  railroad  ?  Particularly,  why 
a  history  of  the  Erie?  Many  times  during  his  work 
in  the  production  of  this  Story  of  Erie  the  author 
was  asked  those  questions.  They  were  apt,  and  it 
was  but  natural  that  they  should  have  been  asked, 
for,  at  first  thought,  it  is  difficult  for  the  average  per- 
son to  understand  what  there  might  be  of  interest  or 
general  importance  in  the  details  of  the  conception 
or  building  of  a  railroad.  To-day  there  could  be 
but  little  more  than  local  interest  or  importance  in 
such  an  undertaking,  for  the  land  is  thick  with  rail- 
roads, and  the  purpose  of  none  now  constructing  or 
to  be  constructed  can  be  broader  than  that  of  local 
benefit.  But  when  the  idea  for  a  railroad  through 
the  region  and  over  the  route  now  occupied  by  the 
Erie  first  found  expression,  seventy  years  ago,  rail- 
roads were  so  strange  in  this  country,  so  almost  un- 
heard-of, in  fact,  that  in  but  three  States  of  the 
Union  had  there  been  any  movement  made  toward 
a  practical  application  of  them  as  a  means  of  trans- 
portation— in  Massachusetts,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in 
Maryland  ;  less  than  sixty  miles  of  railroad,  or  of  what 
then  passed  for  railroad,  in  all  the  broad  land.  The 
Massachusetts  railroad  was  built  to  haul  stone  on, 
from  a  quarry,  by  horse-power.  The  Pennsylvania 
railroads  were  used  and  to  be  used  for  hauling  coal 
from  the  mines,  the  cars  running  by  their  own  grav- 
ity, or  being  hauled  by  stationary  engines  up  in- 
clined planes.  The  Maryland  railroad  alone  had 
been  designed  for  the  carrying  of  passengers  as  well 
as  freight,  with  the  hope  that  some  day  it  might  ex- 
tend as  far  as  the  Allegheny  Mountains  of  Virginia — 
and  the  cars  were  drawn  by  horses.  The  idea  of  the 
railroad  as  the  one  great  factor  in  the  development, 
the  expansion,  the  civilization  of  the  country  had 
not  inspired  any  of  the  undertakings  named,  and 
had   found  no  expression   until  William  C.   Redfield 


evolved  it  and  called  public  attention  to  it,  before 
the  sound  of  a  locomotive  whistle  or  the  whirr  of 
a  locomotive's  wheels  had  been  heard  on  the  Ameri- 
can continent;  and  from  that  idea  came  the  Erie,  the 
first  projected  link  of  all  the  links  of  railroad  that 
have  been  welded  into  one  great  chain  of  connection 
between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  making  not 
only  possible,  but  creating,  the  marvellous  develop- 
ment of  theretofore  unknown  regions,  and  peopling 
them  with  industrious  millions. 

When  the  movement  toward  the  construction  of 
the  Erie  began,  Missouri  was  the  only  State  west 
of  the  Mississippi;  Chicago  was  a  small  village  clus- 
tered about  Fort  Dearborn,  and  yet  unnamed  ;  Buf- 
falo was  a  Western  village,  and  Detroit  a  frontier  post. 
Summer  and  winter  saw  the  poor  emigrant,  with  his 
whole  household  in  a  hooded  wagon,  which  often 
served  for  vehicle,  stable,  and  tavern,  moving  toil- 
somely to  the  distant  West,  or  what  was  then  called 
the  distant  West,  ami  it  was  rarely  more  distant  than 
Illinois.  Beyond  the  Mississippi  was  virtually  a  land 
unknown  to  emigration. 

Redfield's  idea  for  such  a  railroad  as  he  advocated 
involved  even  more  than  the  project  of  those  who  at 
last  acted  upon  it.  He  planned  for  the  construction 
of  a  railroad  from  the  Hudson  River  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, but  that  was  a  project  beyond  the  power  of 
his  contemporaries  to  grasp  the  magnitude  of.  They 
said  :  "  Let  us  reach  Lake  Erie  with  our  railroad. 
Then  other  railroads  will  come  from  the  West  to 
meet  us."  And  railroads  did  come  from  the  West  to 
meet  them,  brought  into  existence  by  the  advance  of 
the  Erie  westward.  Then,  as  the  Erie  project  took 
on  form  and  substance,  its  purpose  aroused  the  East 
to  action,  and  Massachusetts  began  the  pushing  of  a 
railroad  westward,  to  share  in.  if  not  rule,  the  pros- 
pects brought  to  view  by  the  Erie  idea.     If  the  build- 


IV 


THE    REASON    FOR    IT 


:  the  Erie  had  not  been  begun  when  it  was.  New 
V         City  a     I  <  entral  New  York  would  have  been 
without  railroads  for  yen--,  for  it  was  the  prospi 
uniting  of  the  Hudson  with  Lake  Erie  by  such  a  rail 

that  spurred  the  interests  between  Albans  and 
Buffalo  to  the  building  of  the  local  lines  that  were 

lidated  as  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  soon 
after  the  Erie  was  completed  to  Dunkirk.  Boston's 
connection  by  rail  with  the  West  was  hastened  a 
decade  nr  more  by  the  Erie  undertaking.  It  was 
because  the  Erie  was  advancing  toward  Lake  Erie 
that  all  that  system  of  railroads  now  known  as  the 
Lake  Shore  anil  Michigan  Southern  came  into  ex- 
istence as  early  as  they  did,  and  that  lines  of  railroad 
from  the  Smith  and  from  the  North  were  projected, 
and  their  building  was  begun  and  carried  forward  to 
meet  the  advancing  Erie  at  some  point  along  its 
route.  Thus  it  may  be  said,  truthfully,  that  the 
history  <>f  Erie  is  indirectly  the  history  of  the  rail- 
roads of  the  country;  and  as  the  prosecution  of  the 
work  of  building  and  finishing  the  Erie  between  the 
ocean  and  the  lakes,  and  the  early  operations  upon 
it.  were  fraught  with  stirring  and  exciting  incident 
without  precedent  here  or  elsewhere  ;  involved  SO 
much  of  personal  sacrifice,  and  enlisted  in  it  the 
efforts  of  men  so  prominent  socially  and  financially  ; 
brought  into  the  commercial  life  of  the  country  so 
much  that  was  new  and  of  universal  benefit  ;  evolved 
s..  many  ideas  in  the  science  of  railroading  that  be- 
came the  basis  of  the  future  great  development  of 
that  science,  to  the  general  good  ;  and  gave  such  op- 
portunity, then  and  later  in  its  existence,  for  the 
enhancement  of  individual  interests  and  schemes, 
which  opportunity  was  so  eagerly  seized  and  acted 
upon    as  to    bring  into    the    records    of   Erie  events 

irtling  and  dramatic   as   any   that    enliven    the 

of    fiction,  the  story  of   it  all    stands   unique 

among  the  chronicles  of  the  time,  and  appeals  not 

alone  locality,  nor  simply  to  one  particular 

"f  readers.     It  is  not  alone  the  history  of  a  rail- 


road. It  is  a  history  of  men.  and  measures,  ami 
methods  that  for  two  generations  were  potent  in  the 
social,  financial,  ami  commercial  affairs  of  this  country 
and  Europe;  and  every  page  of  it  is  of  human  in- 
terest. This  hail  long  been  in  the  thought  of  the 
author.      Hence  "The  Story  of  Erie." 

To  tell  of  the  task  the  compiling  of  such  a  nar- 
rative entailed  would  require  a  chapter  as  long  as 
any  in  the  book  itself.  It  was  begun  more  than  five 
years  ago,  and  has  been  in  almost  constant  prosecu- 
tion. The  records  of  three-quarters  of  a  century, 
many  of  them  long  forgotten  and  hard  to  find,  had 
to  be  examined  ;  musty  files  of  newspapers,  old  a 
generation  ago.  carefully  scanned,  number  by  num- 
ber and  year  by  year;  old  publications  bearing  on 
the  subject,  rare,  and  of  obscure  possession,  hunted 
up  and  read  ;  railroad  reports  for  nearly  seventy 
years  past  inspected,  volume  by  volume,  and  the 
Erie's  showing  in  them  analyzed  and  digested  ;  the 
records  of  Wall  Street  for  half  a  century  compiled ; 
the  survivors  of  Erie's  departed  days,  few  and  widely 
scattered  about  the  country,  unearthed,  ami  inter- 
viewed as  to  their  reminiscences  of  those  days — all 
these  things,  and  main-  more,  had  to  be  accomplished 
before  the  Story  of  Erie  could  be  told.  It  may  well  be 
expressed  in  the  words  of  quaint  Thomas  a  Wood 
of  old  :  '■  A  painfull  work,  I'll  assure  you,  and  more 
than  difficult  ;  wherein  what  toyle  hath  been  taken 
as  no  man  thinketh,  so  no  man  believeth,  save  he 
that  hath  made  the  triall." 

In  the  preparation  of  this  work  the  author  has 
had  the  earnest  cooperation  of  Mr.  John  S.  Collins, 
to  whose  encouragement  of  the  undertaking,  and 
tireless  and  persistent  efforts  in  its  behalf,  are  due 
its  completion,  and  the  superior  style  in  which  the 
book  has  at  last  been  brought  to  publication. 

E.  H.  M. 
Niw  York,  June,  1S99. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    I. 
IN    EMBRYO— 1779   TO    1S31. 

PAGE 

A  Great  Wagon  Road  between  the  Hudson  River  and  Lake  Erie,  over  the  Route  now  Covered  by  the  Erie  Railroad,  Suggested  more 
than  100  Years  Ago  by  Gen.  James  Clinton  —  Thirty  Years  later  a  State  Road  to  Connect  the  Great  Lakes  with  Tidewater, 
Through  the  Same  Tart  of  the  State,  Demanded  —  First  Suggestion  for  a  Railroad  Over  the  Route  —  The  Redfield  Pamphlet 
and  its  Wonderful  Prophecies  and  Projects —  A  Government  Survey  of  a  Railroad  Route  that  this  Pamphlet  Outlined  in  1S29  — 
How  the  Project  of  a  Railroad  between  the  Hudson  and  Lake  Erie  was  Influenced  by  a  Railroad  in  South  Carolina  —  the  Proj- 
ect Abandoned,  and  a  Canal  Advocated      .................         1 

CHAPTER    II. 
TAKING    FORM— 1 83 1    TO    1832. 

New  York  Railroad  Fever  of  1831-32  —  First  Public  Meeting  Advocating  a  Railroad  from  the  Hudson  River  to  the  Southern  Tier  held 
at  Monticello,  Sullivan  County,  N.  Y.  —  The  Marvin  Notice  of  Application  for  a  Charter  for  a  Company  to  Build  a  Railroad 
between  the  Hudson  and  Lake  Erie  —  The  Church  Notice  of  Application  —  The  General  Convention  at  Owego  to  Discuss  the 
Railroad  Project  —  Birth  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 9 

CHAPTER    III. 
ORGANIZING    ERIE— 1832    TO    1833. 

An  Unsatisfactory  Charter — A  Government  Survey  Ordered  and  Discontinued  —  Charter  Amended  —  The  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Organized —  Eleazar  Lord  the  First  President  —  First  Board  of  Directors 15 

CHAPTER    IV. 
FIRST   ADMINISTRATION    OF   ELEAZAR   LORD— 1833   TO    1835. 

Bidding  for  Contributions  and  Donations  —  Opposition  in  the  Western  Counties— Philip  Church's  Protest  —  Demanding  a  Survey  — 
State  Aid  Asked  and  Engineers  Appointed  —  The  Survey  —  The  Light  it  Throws  on  the  Knowledge  of  the  Science  of  Railroad 
Construction  Sixty  Years  Ago —  Inclined  Planes.  Tunnels,  and  Careful  Consideration  of  the  Interests  of  the  Canals  .         .       20 

CHAPTER    V. 

ADMINISTRATION    OF   JAMES   GORE    KING— 1835    TO    1830. 

State  Aid  Asked  for  and  Refused  —  Subscription  Books  Opened  ami  $2,382,100  Subscribed  —  Ground  Broken  at  Deposit  and  Contracts 
Let  —  First  Annual  Report  of  the  Company — President  King's  F-fforts  to  Construct  the  Railroad  —  Eleazar  Lord  Appears 
with  a  Plan  which  President  King  Does  Not  Approve —  He  Wants  the  State  to  Take  the  Work  off  the  Company's  Hands  —  A 
Bill  to  that  Effect  Almost  Becomes  a  Law — President  King  Resigns 32 


vi  AM   NTS 

CHAPTER    VI. 

SECOND   ADMINISTRATION    OF   ELEAZAR    LORD— 1839  TO    tS4i. 


PACI 


ie  to  Ih.-  Driven,  .it  .1  (  osl  of  Upwards  of  $1, 000,000,  to  Prove  Utterly  Use- 
it  to  Have  the  State  Assume  Charge  of  the  Work  Fail! — The  First  Erie  Legislative  Investigation  —  Lord 
Retires .4* 

CHAPTER    VII. 
ADMINISTRATION    OF  JAMES    BOWEN— 1841  TO   1842. 

ill  the  Present  Great  Terminal   Possessions  of  the  Vanderbilt  System  at  Forty-second  Street,  New  York,  Might   Have  Been  the 
Er:  -      ,000 — The  First  Train  on  the  Erie —  The  Company's    Treasury  Again  Empty  and  in  Debt 

•  i.ooo  to  the  State  —  The  Company  Makes  an  Assignment,  and  the  Railroad  is  Advertised  For  Sale  —  The  Sale  Postponed.       52 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
ADMINISTRATIONS  OF  WILLIAM    MAXWELL   AND    HORATIO   ALLEN— 184a    TO    1844. 

The  South'                       i  Western  Counties   Demand  a   Release  of   the  Company  from  Wall  Street   Influences — William   Maxwell,  of 
ira.  Succeeds  Bowen  as  President  —  Maxwell  Retires,  and  Horatio  Allen  Succeeds  to  the  Place  —  His  Plans  Result  in  Dismal 
Failure  —  Eleazar  Lord  Again  President 67 

CHAPTER    IX. 

THIRD    ADMINISTRATION    OF    ELEAZAR    LORD—  1X44   AND    1845. 

Work  Resumed  in  Time  to  Save  the  Road  from  Sale  —  Asking  the  Legislature  fur  Relief,  which  is  Held  up  Until  the  Company  Agrees 

to  Build  a  Branch  to  Newburgh  —  Trouble  in  the  Management  Over  Changes  in  Route  —  Eleazar  Lord  Resigns        ...       74 

CHAPTER    X. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF    BENJAMIN    I.ODER—  1X45    TO    1853. 

$3,000,000  Loan  Asked  for  and  Subscribed  in  a  1'ew  Weeks  —  ( tpening  of  the  Road  to  Port  Jervis —  The  Change  of  Route  into  Penn- 
sylvania and  Trouble  that  Came  from  It  —  The  Fortunate  Circumstance  of   the  Scranton  T  Rail  —  Railroad   Opened  to   Bing- 
hamton  —  The  Treasury  Empty  <  Mice    Mure —  Dark  (  lutlook  f..r  the    Railroad  to  get  any  Farther  on  its  Way  —  The  Difficulty 
rcome  —  Triumph,  i s  =  i  —  Final    Link   in   the  Chain  —  The   Last  Spike  Driven  —  Opening  of  the  Road  from  Piermont  to 
kirk.  May,  1851 — The  Fi        I          ;h  Excursion  Train  and  its  Distinguished   Passengers  —  The  Ocean  United  with  the 
ency  of  the  Piermont  Terminus  Apparent  —  I        >                   I  the  Ramapo  and  Paterson  Railroad  into  the  Field 
—  The  Ultimate  Terminus  at  Jersey  City  Inevitable —  The  New   Jersey  Railroads   Pass  to  the  Control  of  the  Erie— The  First 
Dividend 86 

CHAPTER    XI. 
ADMINISTRATION    OF    HOMER    RAMSDELL— 1853   TO    1S57. 

inin  Loder— Charles  Minot  Retires,  and  D.  C.  McCallum  Comes  in  as  General  Superintendent  and 
-trike  on  the  Railroad  —  Ramsdell's  Master  Stroke  in  the  Matter  .,f  the  I  ong  I  lock  Franchises  and  Land 
for  Terminal  Facilities  — Another  Disastrous  Strike  — The  Erie  in  .1  (ri-is— Ramsdell  Retires 114 

CHAPTER    XII. 
ADMINISTRATION    OF  CHARLES    MORAN  — 1857   TO    1S59. 

A  President  \\  ignation   of    Daniel    Drew  as    Treasurer— President    M. .ran  Assumes    the   Duties 

of  ,hc  Goes  iDto  the  Hands  of  a  Receivei     .  123 


CONTENTS  vii 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

ADMINISTRATIONS   OF    SAMUEL    MARSH,    PRESIDENT,    AND    NATHANIEL    MARSH,    RECEIVER    AND 

PRESIDENT— 1859   TO    1S64. 

PAGB 

Wages  Months  in  Arrears,  and  More  than  a  Million  of  Other  Overdue  Claims — The  New  York  and  Erie  Vanishes  Forever,  and  the 
Erie  Railway  is  Born  —  Bergen  Tunnel  Finished,  Pavonia  Ferry  Established,  and  Piermont  Ceases  to  be  the  Terminus  of  the 
Erie,  Except  in  Legal  Fiction —  Erie  During  the  Early  Years  of  the  Civil  War —  Death  of  Nathaniel  Marsh    ,         ,  130 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
ADMINISTRATION   OF   ROBERT   H.  BERDELL—  1864   TO    1867. 

The  Hand  of  Vanderbilt  —  Robert  H.  Berdell  Elected  President  —  Daniel  Drew  Becomes  the  Controlling  Influence  —  The  Drew-Erie 
Loan,  and  How  it  Helped  Drew  Worst  Vanderbilt  in  a  Wall  Street  Operation  —  Eldridge  and  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie 
Scheme — Election  of  John  S.  Eldridge  as  President  —  The  Coming  of  Jay  Gould  and  James  Fisk,  Jr 139 

CHAPTER    XV. 

ADMINISTRATION    OF  JOHN    S.  ELDRIDGE  — 1867    AND    1868. 

Vanderbilt  Undertakes  to  Capture  Erie  by  Buying  up  its  Stock,  and  Runs  Against  Daniel  Drew  and  the  Erie  Printing  Press  —  The 
Famous  Conversion  of  Millions  of  Bonds  into  Stock  —  The  Long  Series  of  Suits,  Cross  Suits,  Injunctions,  and  Counter  Injunc- 
tions —  Flight  of  President  Eldridge,  Drew.  Gould,  Fisk,  and  the  Erie  Treasury  to  New  Jersey — The  Erie  Scandal  Reaches 
the  Legislature  —  The  Surrender  of  Drew,  and  His  $5,000,000  Settlement  with  Vanderbilt         .......     147 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

ADMINISTRATION   OF   JAY   COULD— 1868   TO    1872. 

Jay  Gould  Made  President —  He  Amazes  Wall  Street —  Drew  Enters  into  a  Bold  Coalition  with  Him,  Plays  Him  False,  and  Joins  an 
Opposing  Clique  —  Gould  Pushes  Them  to  the  Wall  —  Wall  Street  Wild  —  Daniel  Drew  on  His  Knees  to  Gould  and  Fisk,  but 
They  Spurn  Him—  Gould  Surprises  and  Alarms  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  by  His  Moves  Toward  Making  Erie  the 
Nucleus  of  a  Great  Through  Line  —  The  "  Classification  Bill  "  and  its  Story —  Foreign  Shareholders  Have  Experience  with  the 
Methods  of  Gould  and  Fisk  —  Gould's  Plan  to  Change  the  Management  of  Erie  and  Why  It  Failed  —  The  Shadow  of  the  Fisk 
Tragedy  —  The  Influence  of  James  McHenry  Brought  to  Bear  Against  Gould —  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles  Moves  Against  Gould 
in  the  Interest  of  McHenry  — The  Incident  of  Lord  Gordon-Gordon  —  The  So-Called  "Sickles  Coup  "  — Betrayed  by  His 
Friends,  Jay  Gould  is  Overthrown — The  Inner  History  of  It  All        ............      161 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

ADMINISTRATION    OF   JOHN    A.  DIX— 1S72. 

McHenry,  Barlow,  and  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  the  Power  Behind  the  Throne  —  The  Erie's  Floating  Debt 
S5, 000,000,  and  no  Money  in  the  Treasury —  Barlow  Appeals  to  Bischoffscheim  for  Aid  and  Gets  It — The  Extraordinary  Con- 
tract with  the  London  Bankers  to  Place  the  $30,000,000  I  .nan  —  Dix  Retires 201 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 
ADMINISTRATION    OF   PETER    H.  WATSON— 1S72   TO    1S74. 

Dividend  Declared  —  The  Gould  "  Restitution" —  How  Gould  Brought  it  About,  and  Plucked  Victory  from  the  Jaws  of  Defeat —  Story 
of  the  "  Restitution  "  —  Again  Under  Legislative  Investigation  —  Watson  Declares  that  the  Erie  Must  Spend  S40.000.000  at 
Once  in  Improving  the  Road  —  The  Directors  Order  an  Issue  of  $40,000,000  Consolidated  Mortgage  Bonds,  and  Send  Watson 
to  Europe  to  Borrow  Money  on  Them  —  Barlow  Antagonizes  Dunan,  General  Auditor  of  the  Company  —  I  >unan  Resigns,  and 

Declares  Publicly  that  all  the  Watson  Dividends  Were  Fals< McHenry  Secures  a  Lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  to 

the  Erie  on  His  Own  Terms,  and   the  Seed  of  Much   Future  Trouble  is  Sown— Beginning  of  the   Angell  Suit   by  Attorney- 
General  Pratt —  Melancholy  End  of  the  Watson  Administration 208 


vui  con  n.x  rs 

CHAPTER    XIX. 
ADMINISTRATION    0]     111*. II   J.  JEWETT— 1874   TO    1 

PAGH 

■  1'  It  Each  Year  (or  Ten  Vears  to  be  Paid  in  Advance  in  One  Sum  of  (150,000,  Mr. 
ii —  The  Rising  Clouds  of  the  Mc  Henry- Atlantic  and  Great  Western-Entailment  —  Something 
cin  the  II  urs:  The  Truth  is  Told  —  The  Company  Utterly  Bankrupt,  and  the-  Jewett  Management  Savi 

Destroj  It — President  Jewett  Made  Receiyerof  the  Erie  Railway  Company—  Receiver 
■  omplacent  English  Shareholders  may  be  Aroused  to  Action,  and  Moves  roward 
Deration  —  The  Erie  Railway  Companj  New  York,  Lake  Trie  and  Western  Kail- 

road  Company —  I  i  the  Jewett  Management  —  Failure  of  the  Marine  National  Bank  and  the  Firm  of  (.rant  &  Wan  I 

5  the  Management — Passing  of  the  June  Interest,  1884  —  John  Kit      1              Assistant 
lent  —  Mr.  Jewett  Retires 23" 

CHAPTER    XX. 
ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN   KING  (PRESIDENT)  AND  I.  G.  M<  CU1  LOUGH,  RECEIVERS— 1884  TO  1895. 

A  Stubborn  Floating  Debt  —  Ex-President  Jewett  Resents   His  Snubbing  by  Worrying  the  New  Management  in  the  Matter  of  Western 

■inections —  The  Trouble  Settled — A  Dividend,  and  the  Last  —  Erie  Again  Tottering  Under  Its  Hurden — The  Floating 

itself —  Interest  Money  Used  to  Quiet  It  Compels  Default—  I  \ppointed  —  The  Drexel-Morgan  Man  to 

Rescue  the  Company  from  Its  I  lilemma  —  The  Efficacy  of  a  $100,000,000  Blanket   Mortgage  —  Sale  of  the  Road  —  The  Erie 

Railroad  Company  Rises  from  the  Ruins ,  270 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
ADMINISTRATION    OF    EBEN    B.  THOMAS— 1895    (IN    OFFICE,  1899). 

The  New  Erie  Strengthened  by  Consolidation  —  Fnd  of  the  Atlantic  and  ( (real  Western-New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Corporation, 
the  Long-time  Disturber  of  the  Krie's  I'eace  and  Prosperity  —  For  the  First  Time  in  Its  History  the  Erie  Pays  as  It  Goes  — 
What  the  Rehabilitated  Erie  Owe-.  After  all  Its  Years  of  Tribulation  —  Over  $300,000,000  of  Debt  Represented  by  Its  Stocks 
and  bonds  —  A  Study  in  the  Growth  of  Erie 282 


FIGHTING    ITS    WAV. 
1832   TO    1850. 

Story                      ong  Struggle  in  the  Legislature  for  Corporate   Existence  and   Power  to  Complete  the  Work  it   Had  Undertaken  —  The 
barter  and  its  Amendments  —  The  First  Relief  Bill  —  Details  of  All  the  Legislation  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  that 
the  Erie  had  to  Fight  for  Almost  a  Score  of  Years  tot  iet 2c,s 


Till-:    BUILDING    OF    IT. 

•    in   1x5 1. 

.dd  the  Railroad  — Work  Begun  in  1835  —  Suspended  in  [837  — The  Resumption  of  1S3S-40, 
—  Driving  the  First  spik.  :,i  Piermont — Manipulating  the  Stock  to  Raise  Money  — How  Con- 
tra -  How  the  First  Rails  Were  Bought  in  England  —  Opening  of  the  First  Section  ol  1  id  in 
i-|i  —  P.ankruptcy —  Work  Resumed  in  1 846— The  Shin  II. .Now  War — Pioneer  Trains  and  Incidents  —  Tragedy  and 
I  rain  Through  the  Delaware  Valley  and  to  Binghamton  —  The  Cascade  Bridge  and  Staruci  1  Via- 
duct—  1  —  Driving  the  Last  Spike— The  Newburgh  Branch  —  The  Long  Dock  and  Bergen  Tunnel  — 
Getting  to  liuflalo  and  Rochester  —  Jefferson  Branch  —  War  of  thi   Gauges — Nypano — Bradford  Branch        ....     310 


CONTENTS  ix 

THE    TURNING    OF    ITS    WHEELS. 

1841   TO    1898. 

PAGB 

The  Story  of  the  Time-tables  —  Some  Rare  Old  Time-tables  in  Facsimile  —  Development  of  Traffic  —  Henry  Fitch,  First  General  Pas- 
senger Agent — Beginning  of  Milk  Transportation  —  Original  Locomotives  —  The  Strange  Career  of  "  The  Orange  "  —  Joe 
Meginnes  and  Other  First  Erie  Engineers  —  Story  of  the  "  Diamond  Cars,"  Sleeping  Cars  Built  for  the  Erie  Nearly  Sixty 
Years  Ago —  Worden,  the  First  Conductor—  "  Poppy  "  Ayres  and  "  Hank  "  Stewart  —  First  Superintendents  —  Erie's  First 
Tragedy  of  the  Rail  and  Its  Sequences  —  Amusing  Incidents,  Strange  Accidents  —  Story  of  How  the  Erie  Brought  the  Tele- 
graph into  Service  for  the  Running  of  Trains  —  Original  Railroad  Telegraph  Operators — Notable  Strikes  on  the  Erie,  and 
Historic  Accidents  —  The  Side-tracking  of  Piermont  and  Dunkirk 373 


UNDER    THE    LEGISLATIVE    PROBE. 

Insinuations  and  Charges  against  the  Management  inquired  into  as  Long  Ago  as  1S41  —  The  Search  for  the  Truth  in  the  Days  of 
Daniel  Drew  —  How  the  Action  of  a  Senator  Who  Had  Helped  Investigate  Erie  Led  to  an  Investigation  of  Himself  —  After 
the  Classification  Bill  in  1S70,  1S71,  and  1872  —  Seeking  Truth  About  the  Watson  Dividend  of  1373  —  Erie  Secrets  Come  to 
Light — The  Hepburn  Investigation  of  1S79  Throws  Light  on  Various  Things  .........     446 

FATHERS  IN   ERIE    (Biographical) 458 

PRESIDENTS  OF  ERIE  (Biographical) 459 

RULERS  OF  ERIE: 

Boards  of  Management  from  1S32  to  1S9S  —  Treasurers  —  General  Passenger  Agents  —  General  Freight  Agents  —  General  and 
Division  Superintendents,  from  1841  to  1899      ................     473 

TABLES: 

Mileage,  Showing  Growth  of  Erie,  etc.       .................  483 

Earnings,  Expenses,  etc.,  since  1*41  .................  4S4 

Quotations  of  Erie  Stock,  Common,  since  1848  ...............  485 

Quotations  of  Erie  Stock,  Preferred,  since  1S61  ...............  486 

FAMOUS  CHARACTERS   IN   ERIE: 

Daniel  Drew-  —  James  Fisk,  Jr.  —  S.  L.  M.  Barlow 4S7 

ERIE  GRADUATES  OF   NOTE: 

Hugh    Riddle  —  John    N.   Abbott  —  Benjamin  Thomas  —  Edgar  Van  Etten  —  Frank  S.  Gannon  —  W.  J.   Murphy  —  J.   H. 
Rutter  —  J.  B.  Morford  —  G.  P.  Morosini  —  A.  S.  Whiton 493 

GAZETTEER  OF  CITIES  AND  TOWNS 500 

ADDENDA. 

ADMINISTRATION   OF   E.   B.  THOMAS  (Continued) 515 

PRESIDENTS    OF    ERIE  (Continued) 51S 

OFFICIAL    ROSTER 5iS 

INDEX 519 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FRONTISPIECE   (colored).  pACE 

FACSIMILE   OF    LETTER    FROM    COL.    CLINTON    TO    HON.    SAMUEL   PRESTON 6 

FIRST    PASSENGER   TRAIN    IN    AMERICA    DRAWN    BY    A    LOCOMOTIVE 7 

FIRST   LOCOMOTIVE   AND    PASSENGER   TRAIN    IN    NEW   YORK 9 

FACSIMILE    OF    LETTER    FROM    WILLIAM    C.    REDFIELD   TO   THE   HON.    SAMUEL    PRESTON          .         .  17 

ELEAZAR   LORD facing  20 

OLD   SUBSCRIPTION    AGREEMENT 21 

JAMES   G.    KING facing  32 

GEN.   JAMES    BOWEN            facing  52 

WILLIAM    MAXWELL             facing  67 

HORATIO    ALLEN          ' facing  74 

BENJAMIN    LODER facing  86 

FACSIMILE    OF    FIRST    ERIE    THROUGH    TIME-TABLE    AND    NOTICE    OF   OPENING   THE    RAILROAD 

TO    LAKE   ERIE             97 

FACSIMILE   OF    FIRST   SPECIAL    EXCURSION    TICKET 98 

HOMER    RAMSDELL facing  114 

CHARLES    MORAN facing  123 

SAMUEL    MARSH            facing  130 

NATHANIEL    MARSH             facing  134 

ROBERT    H.    BERDELL /<^'".<,r  '39 

JOHN    S.    ELDRIDGE facing  147 

JAY    GOULD facing  161 

GEN.   JOHN    A.    DIX facing  201 

PETER    II.    WATSON facing  208 

H.   J.    JEWETT facing  230 

JOHN    KING facing  270 

J.   G.    McCULLOUGH facing  276 

E.    B.    THOMAS facing  282 

EDWARD    HAROLD    MOTT facing  295 

RUINS    OF    THE   OLD    PILED    ROAD-BED 325 

ABNER    GRIFFIS 330 

NEWELL'S    PIONEER    PASSENGER    TRAIN 367 

A    RARE   OLD    ERIE    FREIGHT   SCHEDULE,    1845 375 

HENRY    FITCH 3?° 

OLD    ERIE    TRAIN    SCHEDULE,   1847 3§i 

TIME-TABLE,    WITH    ORIGINAL   CODE   OF    INSTRUCTIONS    TO    TRAINMEN,    1S49 383-384 

ERIE   TERMINUS,    DUNKIRK    HARBOR,    1851 386 


Ml 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


• 


RN    DIVISION    TIME-TABLE,    1851 388 

IVE,   TYPE  OF    1S46 39' 

il    WIDROW    MEGINNES                            39^ 

HUA    P.    MARTIN     OF    "THE   ORANGE"   AND   "OLD  71") 393 

[JAMIN    HAFNER     "THE   FLYING   DUTCHMAN") 39-i 

WILLIAM    D.    HALL    <>F   "H1NKLEY.   99") 395 

CHARLES    II.   SHERMAN 396 

CAPT.    HENRY    AYRES   ("POPPY") 400 

\V.    II.   STEWART   ("HANK") 402 

H.   C    SEYMOUR 405 

MILK    REPRODUCTIONS   OF  OLD    ERIE  TICKETS            407 

A    MORAN    FREE    PASS 4'4 

AN    ERIE    FREE   PASS   OF    1S45 4'8 

C.   W.    DOUGLAS             422 

A    RIDDLE    FREE    PASS 425 

THE  ORIGINAL   ERIK    BUILDING 426 

ILK   GARDEN    IN    OKI)    ERIE    EMIGRANT    DAYS 429 

CHARLES   MINOT   AND  STAFF 43' 

OLD    I  RIE   FREE    PASSES 435 

EMPLOYEE'S   TRIP    I'ASS 445 

DANIEL   DREW 487 

JAMES  FISK,  JR 491 

HUGH    RIDDLE 493 

JoHN    N.   ABBOTT 494 

BENJAMIN   THOMAS facing  494 

VR    VAN    ETTKN 495 

FRANK   S    GANNON 496 

W.  J.   MURPHY 4-57 

3.   WHITON 499 

MAI 

THE    PROPOSED   HARLEM   CONNECTION facing  56 

erii    rERRiTORY,  i  S44 facing  78 


BETWEEN   THE   OCEAN   AND  THE   LAKES 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


CHAPTER    I. 


IN    EMBRYO— 1779    TO    1S31. 

A  Great  Wagon  Road  between  the  Hudson  River  and  Lake  Erie,  over  the  Route  now  covered  by  the  Erie  Railroad,  to  be  Constructed  by  the 
United  States  Government,  suggested  more  than  100  Years  ago  by  Gen.  James  Clinton  —  Thirty  Years  later  a  State  Road  to  Connect 
the  Great  Lakes  with  Tidewater,  through  the  Same  Part  of  the  State,  Demanded  —  A  Preposterous  Survey  of  a  Route  for  such  a 
Road  Made — The  Project  Abandoned,  and  a  Canal  Advocated  —  First  Suggestion  for  a  Railroad  over  the  Route  —  The  Redfield 
Pamphlet  and  its  Wonderful  Prophecies  and  Projects  —  A  Government  Survey  of  a  Railroad  Route  that  this  Pamphlet  Outlined  in 
1829  —  How  the  Project  of  a  Railroad  between  the  Hudson  and  Lake  Erie  was  Influenced  by  a  Railroad  in  South  Carolina. 


The  memorable  invasion  of  the  country  of  the 
confederated  Indian  tribes  of  New  York  State  by 
the  American  troops  under  General  Sullivan  and 
General  Clinton,  in  1779,  which  was  provoked  by 
the  bloody  massacre  at  Wyoming  the  year  before, 
led  the  army  through  the  valleys  of  the  Susque- 
hanna and  the  Chemung,  and  into  that  of  the  Gene- 
see. Although  those  regions  were  then  virtually  an 
unbroken  wilderness,  the  far-seeing  Clinton — states- 
man that  he  was  as  well  as  soldier — recognized  at 
once  not  only  the  importance  of  those  valleys  to 
the  future  development  of  New  York,  but  the  great 
influence  they  were  destined  to  exert  in  hastening 
the  inevitable  advance  of  civilization  westward ;  and 
among  the  very  ruins  of  Indian  homes  and  villages, 
whose  charred  and  smoking  line  between  the  Sus- 
quehanna and  the  Genesee  marked  the  end  of  ab- 
original supremacy  in  all  that  fair  domain  and  in  the 
State,  he  foresaw  the  beneficent  changes  that  would 
come  to  those  valleys  within  a  few  succeeding  years, 
and  took  into  his  mind  the  great  idea  that  domi- 
nated it  all  his  after  life.  That  idea  was  the  con- 
necting of  the  seaboard  with  the  great  lakes  by  a 
thoroughfare  that  should  pass  through  the  counties 
bordering  on  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  which 
was  to  be  but  the  beginning  of  a  national  avenue 
leading  to  what  was  then  the  far  West. 


When  the  war  was  ended,  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion adopted,  and  the  national  government  organ- 
ized, one  of  the  first  matters  of  importance  that 
Congress  was  called  to  act  upon  was  the  petition 
of  General  Clinton  and  General  Sullivan,  who  had 
become  as  enthusiastic  as  was  Clinton  in  this  stupen- 
dous project,  for  authority  and  an  appropriation  to 
construct  a  road,  to  be  called  the  "  Appian  Way," 
from  the  Hudson  River,  and  through  the  valleys  of 
the  Delaware,  the  Susquehanna,  and  the  Alleghany, 
to  Lake  Erie,  the  great  route  to  be  planned  and  car- 
ried to  completion  by  General  Sullivan.  Congress 
had  no  constitutional  authority  to  make  an  appro- 
priation for  such  an  undertaking,  and  it  came  to 
naught.  But  until  his  death  General  Clinton  never 
ceased  to  advocate  the  practicability  and  wisdom  of 
his  idea,  and  its  great  importance  to  the  destinies 
of  the  country,  emphasizing  its  palpable  truth  by 
pointed  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  tide  of  emi- 
gration, which  had  set  in  steadily  toward  the"  Lake 
Country"  and  the  West,  was  being  unduly  retarded 
and  held  in  check  because  of  this  very  absence  of 
thoroughfare  in  the  intervening  wilderness,  with  the 
result  of  incalculable  detriment  to  the  national  wel- 
fare and  to  private  interests. 

But  agitation  of  the  subject  was  not  interrupted 
by   the   death   of   General   Clinton.      His    illustrious 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


DeWitt  >  firm   in  the  belief  of  his 

father,    and    his    faith    in    its   ultimate    triumph    was 
•    when    DeWitt    Clinton    came    to   the 
•  1  of  the  political  and  economic  affairs  of  New 
times  had  changed.     The  War  of    1S1:   had 
been  fought  and  won,  and  the  counties  bordering  on 
.  and   those  of  the  central  and  eastern 
.   were   its  centres  of  political 
and  commercial   preponderance.      Public  and  private 
interests  demanded  a   better   means  of  communica- 
tion between   tidewater  and  the  lakes.     The  South- 
ern Tier  had   its  great  rivers — capricious  and  uncer- 
tain though  they  were — as  channels  to  transport  its 
products    to   market,    while    its    northern    neighbors 
for   their   dependence   only   tedious,    slow,    and 
incomplete   post   roads.       In    1S17,    recognizing   the 
justice   of  this   demand,    DeWitt    Clinton,   as    Gov- 
ernor, called  to  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  that 
great  and  long-cherished  project,  the  construction  of 
a  canal  to  unite  Lake  Erie  with  the  Hudson  River. 

It  is  one  of  the  remarkable  facts  connected  with 
the  history  of  internal  improvements  in  this  country 
that  five  years  before  Governor  Clinton  had  sub- 
mitted his  message  advocating  the  construction  of 
such  a  canal,  but  whose  ideas  on  that  subject  were 
widely  known.  Col.  John  Stevens  of  New  Jersey, 
then  an  old  man,  but  still  a  wonderful  one,  wrote 
that  he  would  undertake  to  build  a  line  of  railway, 
on  which  traffic  in  freight  and  passengers  could  be 
by  means  of  steam  locomotive  power  transported 
much  more  effectively  and  cheaply  than  it  could  be 
carried  on  the  proposed  canal.  In  company  with 
the  greater  part  of  the  world,  DeWitt  Clinton  ridi- 
culed the  <>1<1  engineer's  ideas,  and  feared  that  age 
had  unseated  his  great  mind;  but  Stevens  was  sim- 
•  'in  ahead  of  his  time. 
.  ernor  Clinton's  message  to  the  New  York 
State  -ure-  on   the  subject  of  the   Erie  Canal 

greatly  alarmed  the  people  of  the  Southern  Tier  and 
1  ounties.  The  construction  of  a 
Canal  from  the  lakes  to  the  Hudson  River,  over  the 
proposed  route,  they  insisted  would  divert  the  course 
of  emigration  from  their  valleys,  turn  elsewhere  the 
profitable  trade  of  a  wide  region  then  tributary  to 
them,  and  forever  be  a  bar  to  a  public  thoroughfare 
fur  them  between  the  East  and  the-  West,  and  to  the 


uing  of  markets  other  than  the  hazardous  ones 
of  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Pittsburgh.  The 
members  of  the  Legislature  from  all  these  counties 
were  instructed  to  oppose  the  canal  project  in  every 
way. 

1  vWitt  Clinton,  however,  had  not  abandoned  the 
interests  of  those  portions  of  the  State,  the  enhanc- 
ing of  which  his  father  had  in  view  in  his  project  of 
a  highway  between  the  Last  and  the  West,  and  he 
allayed  the  fears  of  the  people,  and  won  their  sup- 
port for  the  Erie  Canal,  by  a  pledge — to  which  the 
canal  party  assented — to  secure  the  co-operation  of 
the  representatives  of  the  canal  counties  with  thi 
of  the  opposing  counties  in  the  construction  through 
the  latter  of  an  avenue  best  adapted  to  the  topi 
raphy  of  those  localities,  at  the  expense,  or  with 
the  substantial  aid,  of  the  State.  Rut  for  the  giving 
of  that  pledge  there  would  have  been  no  Erie  Canal 
for  years  to  come. 

In  1S25  the  Erie  Canal  was  completed  and  opened. 
The  year  before  that,  DeWitt  Clinton  brought  the 
subject  of  a  Southern  Tier  avenue  before  the  Legis- 
lature, and  recommended  that  some  provision  be 
made  for  a  survey  for  a  State  road  from  the  Hudson 
to  Lake  Erie  through  that  part  of  the  State.  The 
survey  was  made,  and  with  it  began  that  persistent 
policy  of  chicaner}-  and  duplicity  with  which  politics, 
selfishness,  and  ingratitude  made  fruitless  for  many 
a  year  the  efforts  of  the  Delaware,  Susquehanna, 
and  Alleghany  valleys  to  escape  from  the  bondage 
of  commercial  isolation. 

The  route  surveyed  for  this  State  road  extended 
almost  in  a  straight  line,  via  Rath,  to  Ithaca,  and 
from  that  place  southerly  -through  the  interiors  of 
Delaware,  Sullivan,  Orange,  and  Rockland  counties 
to  Nyack,  on  the  Hudson,  with  a  branch  to  King- 
ston, Ulster  County.  It  avoided  all  the  valleys, 
and  passed  through  only  high,  unbroken,  and  uncul- 
tivated lands  the  entire  distance.  The  building  of  a 
road  over  that  route  would  have  been  a  task  greater 
than  that  which  confronted  Napoleon  at  the  base  of 
the  frowning  Alps,  for  this  one  was  utterly  imprac- 
ticable. The  survey  was  made  under  the  influence 
of  the  politicians  of  the  canal  counties,  and  in  spite 
of  the  palpable  absurdity  of  the  survey  and  the 
transparency  of  the  scheme  that  prompted  it,  and 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


against  the  protest  of  the  Southern  Tier  and  the 
other  interested  counties,  the  Legislature,  a  major- 
ity of  which  was  hostile  to  the  State  road,  accepted 
and  indorsed  the  report  of  the  commission.  Thus 
was  the  great  idea  of  General  Clinton  made  ridicu- 
lous, and  his  illustrious  memory  insulted  by  the  first 
official  movement  toward  a  test  of  its  value  and 
practicability. 

The  example  of  New  York  in  preparing  for  the 
enhancement  of  its  commercial  interests  by  con- 
structing the  Erie  Canal  had  been  followed,  in  1825, 
by  the  State  of  Ohio  planning  a  similar  work  for  its 
own  public  betterment — a  canal  from  the  Ohio  River 
to  Lake  Erie.  To  prosecute  this  work  money  was 
necessary,  and  Ohio  was  young  and  absolutely  with- 
out credit.  New  York  City  was  the  only  place 
where  money  might  be  raised.  Two  eminent  men 
of  Ohio  were  sent  to  New  York  as  commissioners  to 
negotiate  the  desired  loan  on  canal  stock  issued  by 
the  State.  They  had  no  personal  acquaintance  with 
anyone  in  the  city  except  Eleazar  Lord,  who  was 
among  the  conspicuous  capitalists  and  financiers  of 
New  York  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago.  The 
commissioners  appealed  to  him,  and  as  the  result  of 
his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Ohio  Canal  had  indirectly 
great  influence  on  shaping  events  toward  the  begin- 
ning of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  the  story 
of  them,  interesting  in  itself,  may  find  suitable  place 
in  this  history. 

Eleazar  Lord  had  enlisted  friends  of  his  in  the 
Ohio  Canal  project,  and  with  them  invested  largely 
in  the  State  securities,  on  condition  that  the  balance 
of  the  loan,  $1,000,000,  should  be  placed  by  the 
State  within  one  year.  This  the  Ohio  commission- 
ers were  unable  to  accomplish,  and  the  work  seemed 
doomed  to  failure,  when  Mr.  Lord  came  to  the 
rescue. 

In  1825  DeWitt  Clinton  was  at  the  zenith  of  his 
power  and  influence  in  New  York  State,  and  none 
among  his  contemporaries  in  the  whole  country  was 
more  illustrious  than  he.  But  his  ambition  was  yet 
unsatisfied.  He  fondly  aspired  to  the  Presidency. 
He  was  then  Governor  of  the  Empire  State.  The 
Erie  Canal  had  just  been  completed.  The  great 
work  was  everywhere  associated  with  his  name.      He 


was  deeply  interested  in  having  the  Ohio  Canal  con- 
structed, not  only  because  of  the  influence  it  would 
have  on  the  progress  and  welfare  of  the  country,  but 
because  it  would  be  an  indorsement  of  his  idea  of 
internal  improvements,  and  further  spread  his  fame 
and  prestige  through  the  land.  Eleazar  Lord  knew 
Clinton  intimately,  and  all  his  ambition. 

John  Jacob  Astor,  at  that  time,  had  a  claim  of 
$600,000  against  the  State  of  New  York  for  escheated 
lands  in  Putnam  County.  He  was  anxious  to  effect 
a  settlement  favorable  to  himself,  and  he  depended 
on  Governor  Clinton  to  further  such  a  consumma- 
tion, the  claim  being  in  his  mind  just.  This  fact 
was  also  well  known  to  Eleazar  Lord,  and  it  occurred 
to  him  that  Clinton  and  his  ambition  and  Astor  and 
his  financial  interests  might  be  formed  into  a  com- 
bination that  could  be  brought  into  service  for  the 
assuring  of  the  success  of  the  Ohio  Canal.  Gov- 
ernor Clinton  was  then  in  New  York  City,  at  the 
City  Hall.  Mr.  Astor  had  arrived  in  town  from 
Europe  only  a  few  days  before.  Mr.  Lord  at  once 
secured  audience  with  the  Governor.  Placing  the 
situation  before  him  in  all  its  bearings  on  Clinton's 
prospects  and  Astor's  interests,  he  said: 

"  You  will  do  well,  I  think,  to  call  on  Mr.  Astor 
at  once,  and  ask  him  to  either  take  the  Ohio  State 
loan,  or  give  such  assurance  that  will  warrant  me  in 
saying  to  such  bankers  as  I  may  think  best  to  take 
into  my  confidence,  that  he  will  subscribe  for  and 
take  the  whole  loan,  provided  others  do  not  outbid 
him  for  it." 

The  Ohio  Canal,  completed,  would  be  a  great  in- 
dorsement of  his  theories.  Ohio  had  votes  to  give. 
Self-interest  as  well  as  patriotism  appealed  to  him  in 
the  affair.  So  Governor  Clinton  acquiesced  in  Mr. 
Lord's  view  of  the  situation.  He  had  an  immediate 
conference  with  Mr.  Astor,  who  lived  then  where 
the  Astor  House  now  stands.  His  arguments  had 
such  effect  with  the  millionaire  that  in  a  short  time 
Mr.  Lord  was  able  to  truly  say  to  several  bankers 
that  John  Jacob  Astor  would  take  the  entire  Ohio 
State  loan.  That  gave  to  the  previously  discredited 
security  an  instantaneous  value,  and  capitalists  vied 
so  with  each  other  in  bidding  for  the  loan  that  more 
than  the  amount  of  the  issue  was  asked  for,  much 
of  it  at  a  premium.     Of  the  loan    Mr.  Astor  took 


B]    1  \\  1  I.N     llil      I  ><   1    \\    AND     I  III      LAKES 


.  oo.     In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  canal 

per  cent,  on  the  investment. 

a  moment  Ohio's  credit  was  established, 

ami   the  buiL  the  canal  assured.      The 

il   State  passed  a  vote  of  than 

.      Lord,    Governor    Clinton,    and   others,    and 

they    were    invited    to   be   present    as   guests   ol    the 

on  the  •  of  the  breaking  of  ground  for 

the  canal,  and  their  journey  from   Cleveland   to  the 

Ohio  River  was  made  amid    the  glad  plaudits  of  the 

[e,  who  assembled  everywhere  along  the  route 
to  do   them   honor.      Rut   with   that   demonstration 

pular  homage,  and  the  greater  fame  it  brought 
him.  it  was  fated  that  DeWitt  Clinton  should  rest 
content.  The  goal  of  his  high  ambition  was  never 
hed. 
Dining  that  memorable  journey  DeWitt  Clinton 
discussed  earnestly  the  question  of  the  public  high- 
way from  the  Hudson  to  the  Lakes  through  the 
southern  part  of  New  York  State,  and  declared  to 
Rlea/.ar  Lord  his  unfaltering  belief  in  its  necessity, 
and  denounced  the  people  of  the  canal  counties  for 
breaking  faith  with  the  border  counties,  as  they  had 
done  in  procuring  by  their  influence  the  preposter- 
ous survey  for  a  road  through  the  latter  counties. 
He  urged  Mr.  Lord  to  become  personally  interested 
in  the  matter,  and  to  use  his  influence  in  bringing 
the  project  to  a  successful  issue,  and  the  New  York 
capitalist  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  impor- 
tance and  great  future  of  such  an  undertaking  that 
he  readily  consented  to  Clinton's  proposition.  On 
his  return  to  New  York  Mr.  Lord  advocated  with 
such  enthusiasm  the  subject  of  a  Southern  Tier  State 

.  that  other  influential  men  of  the  day  were  led 
to  his  way  of  thinking,  and  the  result  was  the  calling 
of  a  convention  of  people  along  the  line  of  the  pro- 

d  road  to  protest  against  the  action  of  the  Leg- 
islature, and  to  adopt   measures  calling  for  a  repara- 
tion of  the  injury  done   them.      The   convention  met 
at  Newburgh,  X.  Y..  October  19,   1826,  and  was  in 
days.     .\  report  of  it  .lings  was 

sent  to  the  Governor,  who  placed  it  before  thi 
islature   at   tl.  n   of    i.Kj;,  but   that   body  took 

no  action    upon   it.      Refore   furthi  M    be 

taken  by  the  friends  of  the  project,  DeWitt  Clinton 
itation  of  the  subject  cea 


Soon  afterward,  the  feasibility  of  a  canal  through 
the  Southern  Tier  between  the  Hudson  River  and 
Lake  Erie  was  suggested  by  leading  men  in  the 
Western  counties,  and    the   subject  was  being  widi 

discussed  and  favorably  received,  when  Benjamin 
Wright,  the  engineer  of  the  Lrie  Canal,  and  one  of 
the  greatest  civil  engineers  of  that  day,  made  public 
his  views.  They  changed  the  entire  aspect  of  tin 
situation,  and  brought  forward  a  problem  in  domes- 
tic economy  the  solution  of  which  taxed  for  a  gen- 
eration the  energies,  the  genius,  and  the  resouri 
of  public-minded  citizens,  and  demonstrated  the  ca- 
pacity and  willingness  of  men  to  subordinate  the 
general  weal  to  political  and  personal  ends.  En- 
gineer Wright,  in  a  letter  published  when  the 
Southern  Tier  canal  discussion  was  at  its  height, 
revealed  the  fact  that,  at  the  request  of  the  Dela- 
ware and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  which  had  then 
almost  completed  the  great  canal  from  Honesdale, 
in  Northern  Pennsylvania,  to  tidewater  on  the  Hud- 
son at  Rondout,  he  had  made  a  survey  from  the 
canal  at  Lackawaxen,  Ra. ,  up  the  Delaware  Valley 
to  Deposit,  X.  Y.,  to  ascertain  the  practicability  of 
a  branch  canal  westward  to  Lake  Lrie;  had  ex- 
amined the  Susquehanna  and  Chemung  valleys,  ami 
made  exhaustive  inquiries  relative  to  the  topography 
of  the  country  west  from  Hornellsvillc,  Steuben 
County,  X.  Y.  He  declared  that  the  obstacles  be- 
tween that  point  and  the  lake  were  too  great  to  be 
overcome  by  a  canal,  but  hinted  that  a  railroad 
might  not  be  impracticable. 

The  attention  of  the  public  was  fust  really  drawn 
to  this  route  as  one  over  which  a  railroad  might  be 
built,  by  a  pamphlet  issued  by  William  C.  Redfield 
<>f  New  York,  in  1829,  who  had  given  the  matter 
much  study.  The  pamphlet  was  entitled  a  "  Sketch 
of  the  Geographical  Route  of  a  Great  Railway,  by 
which  it  is  proposed  to  connect  the  canals  and  navi- 
gable waters  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  <  >hio,  In- 
diana, Illinois,  Michigan,  Missouri  and  the  adjacent 
States  and  Territories,  opening  thereby  a  free  com- 
munication at  all  seasons  of  the  year  between  the 
Atlantic  States  and  the  great  valleys  of  the  Missis- 
sippi," and  proceeded  as  follows: 

nmences  011  tin-  Hudson  River  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  city  of   New   York,  at  .1   point  accessible  at   all    seasons 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


to  steam  ferryboat?,  and  from  thence  proceeds  through  a 
favorable  and  productive  country  to  the  valley  of  the  Dela- 
ware River,  d  :ar  the  northwest  corner  of  the  County  of  Sulli- 
van. From  thence  the  route  ascends  along  the  Delaware  to 
a  point  that  affords  the  nearest  and  most  favorable  crossing 
to  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna,  which  it  enters  at  or  near 
the  great  bend  of  that  river. 

Pursuing  a  westerly  and  almost  level  course  through  the 
fertile  valleys  of  the  Susquehanna  and  Tioga  rivers,  the  route 
crosses  the  head  waters  of  the  Genesee,  having  in  its  course 
intersected  the  terminations  of  the  Ithaca  and  OwegO  Rail- 
road and  the  Chenango  and  the  Chemung  canals  in  New 
York,  the  Great  Susquehanna  Canal  in  Pennsylvania,  and  sev- 
eral other  points  that  afford  important  facilities  for  inter- 
communication. 

"  From  Genesee  River  our  route  enters  the  valley  of  the 
Alleghany  and  proceeds  along  that  river,  which  affords  a  navi- 
gable communication  with  Pittsburgh,  the  Pennsylvania 
canals,  and  the  Ohio  River.  From  Alleghany  the  route  in- 
tersects the  outlet  i if  the  Chautauqua  Lake,  on  which  com- 
munication may  be  had  with  Lake  Erie,  and  proceeds  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  French  Creek  to  Pennsylvania,  from  which 
it  again  communicates  with  the  Alleghany  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania canals  on  the  one  hand,  and  may  be  connected  with  the 
harbor  of  Erie  on  the  other." 

Thence  the  route  was  to  proceed  parallel  to  the 
lake  line,  through  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  to 
a  point  of  junction  with  the  Mississippi  River,  im- 
mediately above  the  Rock  Island  Rapids.  In  this 
pamphlet  its  author  foresaw  with  prophetic  accuracy 
the  course  of  the  railroads  that  would  connect  the 
infant  states  of  Michigan,  Indiana  and  Illinois  with 
the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and  foretold  that  these  rail- 
roads would  advance  with  incredible  rapidity  the  set- 
tlement of  those  vast  and  fertile  regions  and  would 
divert  their  trade  largely  to  the  great  Eastern  me- 
tropolis. He  showed  his  possession  of  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  topography  of  the  vast  country 
lying  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Mississippi,  and 
made  an  extraordinary  forecasting  of  the  rapid  set- 
tlement of  the  Western  states,  the  magic  develop- 
ment of  their  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth,  and 
the  rapid  and  constant  growth  of  the  city  of  New 
York.  He  set  forth  under  nineteen  distinct  heads 
the  great  superiority  of  railroads  to  canals  not  then 
fully  established,  and  he  anticipated  that  after  the 
construction  of  the  great  trunk  railway  connecting 
the  Hudson  and  the  Mississippi,  many  lateral  rail- 
ways and  canals  would  be  built  which  would  com- 
bine in  one  vast  network  the  whole  great  West  with 
the  Atlantic  States.  He  said  "  this  great  plateau 
will  indeed  one  day  be   intersected  by  thousands  of 


miles  of  railroad  communications,  and  so  rapid  will 
be  the  increase  of  its  population  and  resources,  that 
many  persons  now  living  will  probably  see  most  or 
all  of  this  accomplished."  With  this  pamphlet  the 
author  published  a  map  on  which  the  proposed  rail- 
road appears  with  connections  traced  by  his  pencil 
to  prominent  points  on  Lakes  Erie  and  Michigan 
now  reached  by  the  Erie  Railroad. 

This  remarkable  Redfield  pamphlet  found  wide 
circulation,  and  in  1831,  the  principle  of  internal 
improvement  by  the  Government  finding  favor  with 
the  existing  national  administration,  Col.  DeVVitt 
Clinton,  son  of  the  great  Clinton,  and  a  member  of 
the  United  States  Army  Engineer  Corps,  was  de- 
tailed to  make  a  reconnoissance  of  the  country  from 
the  Hudson  to  the  Mississippi,  along  the  route  of 
the  proposed  railroad.  He  carried  the  work  to  the 
Ohio  portage  waters,  and  made  a  report  to  the  Gov- 
ernment showing  that  the  project  was  practicable  so 
far  as  he  had  investigated,  although  the  general 
features  of  that  portion  of  the  line  within  New  York 
State  were  not  as  favorable  as  the  friends  of  the 
undertaking  had  anticipated. 

(The  letter  on  page  6,  in  facsimile,  from  Clinton  to 
Hon.  Samuel  Preston  of  Wayne  County,  Pa.,  a 
pioneer  of  the  Delaware  Valley,  and  one  of  the  very 
earliest  advocates  of  railroad  construction  in  this 
country,  is  interesting  in  many  ways  as  bearing  on 
the  subject  of  this  proposed  railroad.) 

Thus,  then,  came  the  first  suggestion  of  a  railroad 
over  that  rugged  route  as  the  evolution  of  General 
Clinton's  idea  of  a  great  national  Appian  Way.  In 
the  light  of  events  then,  this  was  a  bold  suggestion. 
When  the  Redfield  pamphlet  appeared  there  were 
but  nine  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States  that 
could  be  classed  as  railroad  in  operation.  That  nine 
miles  was  a  crude  gravity  road,  or  road  of  inclined 
planes,  which  had  been  running  then  something 
more  than  a  year,  connecting  the  Summit  Hill  coal 
mine  with  the  Lehigh  River  at  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa. 
True,  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  had  been 
begun;  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  was  building, 
and  several  companies  were  under  charter  to  build 
local  railroads  in  New  York  State.  But  no  mind 
had  reached  so  far  into  the  future  of  railroads  as 
had  that  of   Redfield,  and  he  lived  to  see  his  daring 


a&S~' 


Ad/  '  /fJ/ 


<^£>„c    .    '-;£<£    %^/<- 


/^c<7*. 


?Z^_t£> 


"tv    AW  !i-',     ~S ^c*s    <&<£-  Jtex^O    ^Z^zu^  <&;  <z^&>   ZZ/^^z^ 


To     //t^^t^u^f  JZ&  stL^^*^^?  '^S'^&zysi-^   ^^  ^C^lr  SZZ^C  £*J^Z^ 

TON    TO    HON.    SAMUEL    PRESTON.      ORIGINAL   LOANED    BY    MISS    ANN    PRES1 
MIDDLETOWN,    N.    V. 

Washington,  Decembers,  1831. 

^,Y  M  d  Friend:  When  I  had  tlic  pleasure  to  meet  you  at  your  house,  you  promised  to  procure  for  me 

tne  ,cvcl  '"it  of  the  rou'-  1  f„r  the  railroad  between  your  place  and  the  Susquehanna  River,  and  also  the 

[Thi    Delaware  and   the  Susquehanna.— Author.]     I   hope  that  you  will  bi 
and  that  you  will  1  ments  without  loss  of  time. 

ild  that  ii  ntion  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  road.     I   hi 

0  in  this  1  t.     By   Pennsylvania    1    allude  to   the   northern 

ter  that  our  friends  in  bi  than  to  adopl  ate  conventions 

for  thai 

:t  would  I  the  members  of  Congress  in  both  States  and  whose  1  on 

to  procure  a  tion    l>y  Congress  to  make  the   surveys   next 

nt,  ought  to  be  done.  n  spectfully,  yours,  DeWitt  Clinton. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


prophesies,  if  not  all  come  true,  yet  the  truth  of  them 
established  and  their  quick  fulfillment  inevitable. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  it  was  the  South  Carolina 
Railroad  that  hastened  the  beginning  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  made  it  the  second 
railroad  in  the  world  projected  and  designed  for  the 
use  of  locomotive  power.  This  motive  power  on 
railroads  had  become  a  comparatively  old  and  uni- 
versal thing  when  the  Erie  was  ready  to  place  its 
first  locomotive  in  service,  but  when  the  notice  of 
application  for  a  charter  for  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  was  published  in  1831,  there  were  only  four 
locomotives  in  use  in  this  country,  and  only  one  rail- 
road then  in  operation  had  been  built  with  the  orig- 
inal  intention  of  having  locomotives  as  its   motive 


and  it  was  attached  to  the  first  train-load  of  pas- 
sengers ever  drawn  by  a  locomotive  in  this  country, 
January  15,  1831.  Among  those  present  on  the 
memorable  occasion  was  Hon.  Henry  E.  Pierson  of 
Ramapo,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Pierson  was  on  his  wedding 
tour,  and  chanced  to  be  in  Charleston  on  the  day 
the  railroad  was  opened.  He  and  his  bride  were 
passengers  on  the  train — thus  giving  them  the  dis- 
tinction, doubtless,  of  being  the  very  first  bridal 
couple  to  enjoy  a  railroad  trip.  Mr.  Pierson  shared 
with  his  brother-in-law,  Eleazar  Lord,  the  belief  in 
the  importance  of  some  avenue  of  communication 
through  the  southern  portion  of  New  York.  The 
success  of  the  trial  trip  of  the  locomotive  on  the 
pioneer  South  Carolina  Railroad  satisfied  him  that  a 


-*-^ewy^>:. 


"v 


WST     "W 


■-J  J 


<9 


;\  v 


FIRST    PASSENGER    TRAIN    IN    AMERICA    TO    BE    DRAWN    BY    A    LOCOMOTIVE    IN'    ACTUAL    SERVICE,    SOUTH    CAROLINA    RAILROAD, 

JANUARY    15,    1831.      (FROM    AN    OLD    PRINT.) 


power.  This  was  the  South  Carolina  Railroad,  be- 
tween Charleston  on  the  coast  and  Hamburg  on  the 
western  border  of  South  Carolina.  In  December, 
1830,  the  first  six  miles  of  that  railroad  were  opened. 
The  pioneer  locomotive  built  for  use  upon  it  was  de- 
signed by  Horatio  Allen,  who  became  President  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  some 
years  later.  It  was  built  at  the  West  Point  Foun- 
dry. New  York  City,  and  was  named  "  The  Best 
Friend  of  Charleston."  The  engine  was  placed  on 
the  railroad  in  October,  1830.  It  was  "  set  up  "  by 
Julius  D.  Pctsch,  a  Charleston  machinist,  who  had 
never  seen  a  locomotive  before.  Nicholas  Darrell, 
another  Charleston  machinist,  became  its  engineer, 
thus  being  the  first  locomotive  engineer  in  America 
in  actual  service.  After  several  trial  trips  the  loco- 
motive was  pronounced  ready  for  regular  operation, 


similar  road  would  be  feasible  between  New  York 
and  Lake  Erie.  He  returned  home  in  183 1,  enthu- 
siastic over  the  subject,  bringing  the  first  news  of 
the  wonderful  railroad  opening  at  Charleston.  His 
representations  aroused  Eleazar  Lord  to  enthusiasm 
on  the  subject  of  a  railroad  from  the  Hudson  to  the 
Lakes,  and  he  became  an  earnest  advocate  of  such 
an  undertaking. 

As  the  locomotive  "  The  Best  Friend  of  Charles- 
ton "  was  thus  instrumental  in  spurring  men  to 
action  in  the  matter  of  a  railroad  between  the  Hud- 
son River  and  Lake  Erie,  the  history  of  its  career 
and  fate  may  properly  have  a  [dace  in  this  chronicle. 
That  history  was  thus  tersely  related  in  the  Charles- 
ton Courier  of  June  18,  1831  : 

'  The  locomotive  '  Best  Friend  '  started  yesterday 
morning  to  meet  the  lumber  cars  at  the  Forks  of 


8 


BETWEEN  1HK  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


.  and.  while  turning  on  the  revolving  plat- 
suffered  to  accumulate  by  the 
the  fireman,  a  negro,  who.  pressing  on 
irplus  -team  from 
by  which  means  the  boiler  burst  at  the  bot- 
tom, was  forced  inward,  and  injured  Mr.  Darrell,  the 
engineer,  and  two  negroes.     The  one  had  his  thigh 
broken,  and  the  other  received  a  severe  cut   in  the 
face  ..  at  one  in  the  flesh  part  of  the  breast. 

Mr.    Darrell  was   scalded    from    the   shoulder  blade 
down  his  back.     The  boiler  was  thrown  to  the  dis- 


tance of  twenty-five  feet.  None  of  the  persons  are 
dangerously  injured  except  the  negro  who  had  his 
thigh  broken.     The  accident  occurred  in  consequence 

of  the  negro  holding  down  the  safety-valve  while 
Mr.  Darrell,  the  engineer,  was  assisting  to  arrange 
the  lumber  cars,  and  thereby  not  permitting  the 
necessary  escape  of  steam  above  the  pressure  the 
engine  was  allowed  to  carry." 

That  was  the  first  locomotive  explosion  on  record, 
but  the  "  Best  Friend  "  was  patched  up  at  a  machine 
shop,  and  was  in  service  a  long  time  thereafter. 


J^©_ 


CHAPTER    II. 


TAKING    FORM— 1831    TO    1832. 


New  York  Railroad  Fever  of  1831-32  —  First  Public  Meeting  advocating  a  Railroad  from  the  Hudson  River  to  the  Southern  Tier  held  at 
Monticello,  Sullivan  County,  N.  Y.  —  The  Railroad  Meetings  at  Jamestown  and  Angelica  —  The  Marvin  Notice  of  Application  for  a 
Charter  for  a  Company  to  Build  a  Railroad  between  the  Hudson  and  Lake  Erie  —  The  Church  Notice  of  Application  —  The  General 
Convention  at  Owego  to  Discuss  the  Railroad  Project  —  Differences  of  Opinion  about  the  Propriety  of  One  or  of  Two  Corporations 
—  The  Sentiment  of  the  Convention  Favorable  to  Two  Corporations  —  Defection  of  Philip  Church  —  A  Letter  from  New  York  that 
Resulted  in  the  Final  Agreement  on  a  Single  Charter  —  Birth  of  the  New  York  and  Frie  Railroad. 


At  the  beginning  of  1832  there  were  forty-four 
miles  of  railroad  in  operation  in  New  York  State— 
the  Mohawk  and  Hudson  Railroad,  15  miles  long, 
between  Albany  and  Schenectady,  and  the  Ithaca 
and  Owego  Railroad,  29  miles  long,  between  the 
two  places  named.  The  Mohawk  and  Hudson  Rail- 
road Company  was  chartered  April  17,  1826,  and 
was  the  first  railroad  in  the  United  States  designed 
for  passenger  traffic.  When  the  railroad  was  fin- 
ished in  August,  1 83 1,  locomotives  had  come  into 
use,  and  one,  the  DeWitt  Clinton,  was  tried  suc- 
cessfully, and  the  experimental  train  was  run  from 
Albany  on  the  9th  of  the  month.  This  was  the  first 
passenger  train  and  locomotive  ever  run  in  the  State 
of  New  York.  As  an  interesting  relic  of  those  in- 
fant days  of  railroading  a  facsimile  reproduction  is 
here  made  of  a  sketch  of  that  pioneer  excursion 
train  and  locomotive.  This  picture  was  cut  by  a 
silhouette  artist,  J.  H.  Brown,  as  the  train  stood  in 
the  Albany  yard,  just  before  it  started.  David  Mat- 
chew  was  the  engineer,  John  T.  Clark  was  the  con- 
ductor. The  Mohawk  and  Hudson  Railroad  is  now 
a  part  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  system. 

The  Ithaca  and  Owego  Railroad  Company  was 
chartered  January  28,  1828.  Its  railroad  was  con- 
structed by  aid  of  the  State,  and  on  the  inclined 
plane  system,  and  was  run  by  stationary  engines  at 
planes,  and  by  horse  power  on  the  levels.  It  is  now 
a  portion  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern Railroad  system. 

The   construction   of    these    railroads    brought    to 


New  York  State  the  first  serious  visitation  of  rail- 
road fever  in  this  country.  There  had  been  thirteen 
railroad  companies  chartered  in  the  State  since  1826, 
but,  with  the  exception  of  the  New  York  and  Har- 
lem, the  Saratoga  and  Schenectady,  the  Rochester 
Railroad  and  Canal,  and  the  Brooklyn  and  Jamaica 
Railroad,  nothing  had  been  done  on  them  beyond 
obtaining  the  charters.  But  a  sudden  craze  for  rail- 
roads came  in  the  summer  of  1831,  and  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1832  found  no  less  than  twelve  applications 
for  charters  for  railroads  before  it.  A  local  news- 
paper of  that  day  thus  jocosely  pictured  the  situa- 
tion : 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  open  a  paper  without  finding  an 
account  of  some  railroad  meeting.  An  epidemic  on  this  sub- 
ject seems  nearly  as  prevalent  throughout  the  country  as  the 
influenza.  From  Albany  to  Buffalo  the  inhabitants,  not  satis- 
fied with  the  canal,  are  holding  meetings  to  further  the  project 
of  a  railway  between  those  places,  and  our  friends  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  angry  that  the  Hudson  should  suffer  itself 
to  be  frozen  up,  have  resolved  to  withdraw  their  patronage 
from  it  and  forthwith  construct  something  that  shall  answer 
for  cold  weather  as  well  as  warm.  Instead  of  the  good  old- 
fa-hioned  way  of  going  twenty  miles  to  market  one  day  and 
back  the  next,  we  may  expect  shortly  to  be  whisked  along 
at  the  infernal  rate  of  thirty  miles  an  hour. — Independent 
Republican,  Goshen,  N.  )'.,  Dec.  26,  1831. 

It  seems  more  than  strange  that  this  newspaper 
went  to  distant  portions  of  the  State  to  find  exam- 
ples of  the  rage  for  railroads,  and  had  nothing  to  say 
about  one  that  was  then  being  just  as  eagerly  dis- 
cussed along  its  own  prospective  line,  and  on  which 
the  very  town  where  the  paper  was  published  was 
to  be  a  prominent  station.      For  months  the  subject 


BETWEEN     NIK   OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


of  til  l.\\c 

m  New  Yon.  1  "unkirk. 

,    the    first    public 

i  on  the  subject  of  a  railroad  to  cover  the 

I  subs  it  j  occupied  by  the  Erie,  was  given 

•    Monticello,   Sullivan  County, 

\.  Y..   on   J  .   which  meeting  was  con- 

tinued  the  n<  as  the  followin  dings 

from  the  rec  fy: 

the  inhabitants  of  the  village 
-    .',      !.  Chester's  on  th 

-  ;i,  relative  tu  the  pro  instructing  a  railroad 

-   uthern  part  New  York,  pursuant 

That  we  view  with  deep  interest  the  project  of  con- 

i    the    Hudson    River,   through    the 

Rocklai  .  Sullivan.  Delaware,  Broome, 

and  T  of  a  l>ranrh  thereof  t"  said  Hudson 

ge,    and    that    we    will    use    Our 
utmi  further  the  undertaking. 

That  John  I'.  Junes.  Piatt  Pelton,   Hiram  Bennett, 

-  51       t.  and   Archibald  C.   Xiven  be  a  committee 

d  object. 

There  is  no  record  of  what  that  committee  did  to 
"  promote  the  object,"  but  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
the  publication,  some  weeks  later,  of  a  certain  notice 
of  application  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York  satis- 
fied the  Monticello  people  that  the  work  was  going 
forward  satisfactorily  without  the  necessity  of  their 
promoting.  It  is  to  their  lasting  honor,  however, 
that  they  were  the  first  to  put  in  tangible  form  an 
expn  appreciation  of  the  practicability  and 

importance  of  the   great   work   under  discussion,  al- 
then  as  yet  without  form  or  coherence, 
and  although,  under  the  influence  o  quent  cir- 

.  they  were  tint   permitted  to  enjoy  any 
t  benefit  from  its  consummation, 
ut    three    months    later    than    the    Monti- 
tember  201,  a  meeting  was  hi 
••1,    Jamestown,    Chautauqua    County, 
'  ion    <>f   a   railroad   through   the 
unties,    b  the    Hudson 

Erie.      This   mei 
chiefly   through    the   efforts  of   Richard    I'.    Marvin, 
then  and  unknown  lawyer,  but  who  became 

a   man   of  eminence,  and.  la.vin,   h 

tatii  in    the   State.     Young 

Marvin  had  thou   I  |   .';.  .  ply  on  th  on  of  bet- 


ter means  of  communication  between  tidewater  and 
the  Western  part  of  the  State,  ami  was  "lie  of  the 
first  to  foresee  the  superiority  of  a  railroad  for  that 
purpose.  Of  this  Jamestown  meeting  linn.  Elial  T. 
Foote,  who  was  the  first  judge  of  Chautauqua 
County,  was  the  chairman.  The  result  of  the  111 
ing  was  the  drafting  of  the  following  notice  by  Mr. 
Marvin,  which  was  published  in  the  Albany  Argus, 
then  the  "  State  Paper,"  and  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  Southern  Tier,  such  publication  being  a  neces- 
sary legal  procedure  in  those  days: 

Railroad.-  Ap  -   will  be  made  to  the  Legislature 

this  Slate  at  its  next  session  for  the  passage  of  an  act  to 
incorporate  a  company  to  construct  a  Railroad  from  the  city 
of  New  i  Southern  'Pier  >  1  :  the 

village  of  Jamestown  to  Lake  Erie,  with  a  capital  of  six  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  or  such  other  sum  as  may  be  deemed 
necessary. 

-September  _'0,  183I. 

This  notice  to  the  Legislature  was  practically  the 
first  positive  step  toward  the  project  of  building  a 
railroad  between  the  Hudson  River  and  Lake  Erie. 

Early  in  October,  1831,  a  notice  signed  by  Philip 
Church  and  others  was  printed  in  the  Allegany 
County  newspapers  calling  a  meeting  to  be  held 
October  25,  at  the  court  house  in  Angelica,  "  for 
the  purpose  of  adopting  measures  in  relation  to  the 
contemplated  railroad  from  the  city  or  county  of 
New  York  to  Lake  Erie,  or  the  portage  of  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Ohio  Canal  "  (the  Redfield  project  1.  The 
meeting  was  held.  Philip  Church  was  chairman, 
and  Asa  S.  Allen  and  Daniel  McIIenry  secretaries. 
Philip  Church  made  an  address  in  which  he  said  that 
he,  with  others,  had  been  for  a  year  past  moving  to 
form  a  company  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  the 
port  of  New  York  with  Lake  Erie,  and  had  drawn  a 
notice  "f  application  i"  that  effect.  He  read  the 
notice  to  the  meeting,  and  a  committee —  Philip 
Church,  Hon.  John  Griffin,  B.  I".  Smead,  J.  B. 
Coolcy,  am!  Miles — was   appointed   to   draft 

resolutions  expressing  the  views  of  the  meet; 
which  was  adjourned  until  the  next  evening,  (  •<  I 
ber  2<">.  The  result  was  that  the  plan  of  the  Na- 
tional Railroad  was  ignored  anil  Philip  Church's  idea 
approved.  His  notice  of  application  for  a  railroad 
was  adopted,  and  was  published  according  to  law. 
It  was  as  follows: 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


ii 


NOTICE  OF    INCORPORATION. 

Notice  is  hereby  given  that  an  application  will  be  made  to 
the  Legislature  at  its  next  session  For  the  passage  of  an  act 
incorporating  a  company  with  a  capital  of  ten  millions  of 
dollars  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  the  city  or 
county  of  New  York  to  that  part  of  Lake  Eric  lying  between 
the  mouth  of  Cattaraugus  Creek  and  the  Pennsylvania  line, 
together  with  a  branch  of  the  Alleghany  River,  anil  also  for 
the  establishment  of  a  ferry  across  such  part  of  the  North 
River  as  the  route  of  the  main  line  of  the  railroad  may  pass 
over. 

\o\  ember  2,  1831. 

To  further  the  interests  of  such  a  railroad,  citizens 
of  Owego  issued  a  call  for  a  convention  at  that  place, 
as  being  a  central  one  and  convenient  for  the  pur- 
pose, to  discuss  the  matter  by  delegates  from  all  the 
counties  interested.  This  was  approved  by  all,  and 
the  date  of  the  convention  was  fixed  for  December 
20,  1 83 1.  The  Pumpellys  and  Drakes  of  Owego, 
prominent  citizens  and  large  landowners,  were  the 
prime  movers  in  the  proposed  railroad  at  Owego, 
and  at  Binghamton  the  Whitneys  and  other  leading 
people  brought  their  influence  to  bear  in  favor  of 
it,  although  that  community  believed  more  in  the 
value  and  importance  of  the  Chenango  Canal  than 
they  did  in  the  efficacy  of  a  railroad  to  enhance  their 
interests. 

The  publication  of  the  applications  for  a  railroad 
charter  had  an  effect  on  the  people  of  the  southern 
tier  and  interior  counties  of  New  York  that  was  by 
no  means  assuring  to  the  sponsors  of  the  proposed 
company  in  the  western  counties.  The  railroad 
was  to  be  nearly  five  hundred  miles  long,  and  that  a 
work  of  such  magnitude  could  be  carried  to  a  success- 
ful issue  by  one  corporation  these  people  doubted. 
The  State  itself,  with  all  the  strength  of  its  govern- 
ment and  the  resources  of  its  treasury,  they  argued, 
had  been  ten  years  in  constructing  the  Erie  Canal, 
and  here  was  a  work,  seemingly  as  formidable,  to  be 
boldly  undertaken  by  a  private  corporation.  They 
affected  to  see  only  utter  failure  as  the  outcome  of 
such  an  unheard-of  project,  and  insisted  that  there 
should  be  at  least  two  separate  companies  chartered. 
Conventions  were  held  at  various  places  in  these  and 
the  adjoining  counties,  the  delegates  being  composed 
of  the  representative  men  of  those  portions  of  the 
State,  and  strong  protests  were  made  against  the 
single    charter    project.      At   a  convention    held    at 


Binghamton,  December  15,  1831,  at  which  the  coun- 
ties of  Seneca,  Tompkins,  Tioga  (which  then  in- 
cluded Chemung  County),  Broome,  and  Orange,  in 
New  York  State,  and  the  Pennsylvania  counties  of 
Wayne,  Susquehanna,  and  Luzerne  were  repre- 
sented, the  plan  of  two  charters  instead  of  one  was 
discussed  and  approved — that  is,  the  convention  ad- 
vocated the  application  to  the  Legislature  for  a  char- 
ter for  a  railroad  from  Owego  to  New  York  City, 
and  approved  of  the  project  for  a  railroad  from 
Owego  to  Lake  Erie.  At  this  convention,  as  at 
all  the  county  conventions  that  had  been  held,  dele- 
gates were  appointed  to  attend  the  general  conven- 
tion of  people  along  the  line  of  the  proposed  rail- 
roads at  Owego  on  December  20,  1831.  As  it  was 
from  the  result  of  the  action  of  this  gathering  of  the 
representative  men  of  the  counties  then  interested 
in  the  undertaking  that  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  and  the  railroad  from  the  tidewater 
to  Lake  Erie  were  born,  the  proceedings  of  the 
Owego  Convention,  although  only  the  cold,  formal, 
official  report  of  them  is  possible  at  this  late  day, 
are  an  important  part  of  the  history  of  Erie,  and 
are  reproduced  here  as  they  were  published  in  the 
Oiuego  Gazette  of  December  22,  183 1,  together  with 
the  comment  of  that  newspaper  on  the  gathering  and 
its  work  : 

RAILROAD    CONVENTION. 

One  of  the  most  numerous  and  respectable  conventions, 
we  venture  to  say,  that  has  been  convened  in  this  State,  for 
objects  of  Internal  Improvement,  was  held  in  this  village  on 
the  20th  and  _>ist  inst.,  < ,11  the  subnet  of  a  railroad  from  Lake 
Erie  to  the  Hudson.  It  was  composed  of  delegates  from 
some  fifteen  or  sixteen  counties,  besides  many  gentlemen 
from  various  sections  interested  in  the  proposed  object 
members  of  the  convention.  It  is  but  justice  to  say.  and  we 
allude  to  the  fact  with  much  pleasure,  as  evincing  the  high 
estimation  in  which  the  proposed  improvement  is  held  by  an 
intelligent  public,  that  the  convention  embraced  much  of  the 
wealth,  talent,  and  enterprisi  of  this  enterprising  State.  We 
have  only  time  to  remark,  that  a  cordiality  of  sentiment  pre- 
vailed, in  relation  to  tin-  me.i  i;i  to  be  pursued  for  the 
attainment  of  the  grand  object  in  view,  to  a  degree  that 
reflects  the  highest  credit  on  the  convention,  and  fun 
the  most  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  object  will  be  per- 
d  in  until  finally  accomplished.  The  proceedings  will 
be  found  beli  iw. 

Till'.    PROCEEDINGS. 
At  a  meeting  of  del.  rom  the  counties  of  Chautauqua, 

1    ik  traugus,  Allegany,  Steuben.  Tioga.  Broome,  Chen 
Delaware,  Ol  ego,  Greene,  Sullivan,  Tompkins,  and  Seneca 
convened  at  the  villag W(  _'o.  on  the  20th  day  of  Decern- 


BE  I  WEEN     1  III     l  M  I  .AN    AND    I  HE    LAKES 


- 

Pumpelly, 

nd  John  C. 
■  ies. 
ntlemen,  their  cre- 

I 

R,    P.    Marvin,   X. 

S         •  ■  •    C.  J.  Fox,  i  i    A.  Crooker. 
ight,  I".  McHenry,  Philip  Church. 
S.   Hubb        J.   I       i  vans,   John    Cooper, 
Samuel  Erwin,  Samuel   B  Iward  Bacon,  O.   F.   Mar- 

shall. Win.  Lake.  lice.    McClure,  Z.  A.  1. eland, 

Hei 

.  :. — Win.   Maxwell.  Lyman  Covell,  John  G.   McDowell, 
Pumpelly,  John  II.  Avery,  Jonathan  Piatt, 
S    Sweet.  J    S    Paige,  Charles  Pum- 
•i  R.  Drake.  L,  A.  Burrows. 
me. —  Hoi  >avis  C.   Case.  Theodore    I 

'   Whitney,   Levi   Dimick,   H.   C.   Bacon.   Vincent 
Whit 

— John  C.   Clark.  John   Newton,   Dexter   Newell, 
urch,  Robt.  D.  McEwen,  E.  W.  Corbin,  Willis  Sher- 

Delaware. —  Benning  Mann.  Wm.  Webster.  Hugh  Johnson, 
t(  r.  Andrew   Parish. 
go. — Sherman    Page,  Isaac  Hayes,    Albert    Benton,   D. 
Lawrence.  Win.  Angel.  Peter  <  R.   Konl.  Geo.   Mor- 

rell.  D.  Hatch.  S.  D.  Shaw. 
Sullivan. -Randall  Street.  Piatt  Pelton. 

Seaman    Isaac  Van  Loan.  Jas.  G.  Elliott 
Tompkins. —  Henry  Ackley,  Jacob   M.   M'Cormick,    Francis 
A.  Bio  Ebenezer  Mack.  Julius  Ackley,  Win.  R.  Col- 

lins. Levi  Leonard.  W.  A.  Woodward.  J.  B.  Gosman. 

Murphy,  Jas.  De  Mott,  C.  Pratt.  J.  B.  Farr, 
II.  1).  Barto. 
T.  B.  Wakeman,  Ira  Clizbe,  O.  Beseley,  of  the  City  of  New 

by  invital  in  the  convention. 

The  lution  was  adopted: 

Morrell    and   Woodcock,   of   Tomp- 
•;. .  Avery  and  .1  of  Tioga,  deli  gati        i 

a    Railroad  Convention  held  at   Binghamto 

attend   this   convention,   be   admitted    to 
:ne. 
Mr.  g   resolution,   which   was 

ting  of  om  from 

n\  ention  be  appointed  to 

■■■  iideration  of  thi  it  ion 

•     i  d  from  the  chair  as  follows: 
if i     tl   raugus,Haight 
keuben,   Burrows  of  Tioga.  Virgil 

'       ware, 

Sullivan.  S(  aman  ol  i  Bl I 

Wakeman    of    New 

to  the  Pn    idi  nt  of  the  I  on 

Lord.     Richard     M. 

;  n<  r,  Ri«  h- 

;ri'   R  a   rail- 

■i.    and 


The    committee    appoint'  I    report    to    the 

convention   the   subjects    which    should   particularlj    occupy 

their  attention   at   the   present    meeting,   respectfully    report: 

im.  That  it  is  expedient  that  application  bi  to  the 

.   at    their   ensuing    session,    for    the 
incorporation  of  a  company  with  tl  try  privileges  to 

construct  a  raili  i   Lake   Erie,  commencing  at   some 

point  between  the  mouth  of  Cat!  Creek  and  the  line 

of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  run  from  thence,  through  the  south- 

ii  tier  of  counties,  by  the  waj  of  the  vil 
to  the  Hudson  River,  or  to  connect  with  railroads  already 
chartered,  or  otherwise,  as  may  he  deemed  most  advisable 
with  a  view  to  reach  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  best  rail- 
l  with  a  capital  of  $5,000,000. 
jd.  That  a  notice  of  the  foregoing  application,  emanating 
from  this  convention,  and  signed  by  the  officers  then 

forthwith  published  in  the  public  papers,  as  the  law  din 

3d.    Thai   a  committee  consisting  of  five  members  bi 
ed  to  prepare  and  report  to  the  convention  a  memorial 
to  the  Legislature,  embracing  the  abovi   mentioned  subjects. 

4th.   That  Executive  Committees  be  appointed  in  the  several 
counties  interested  in  this  application,  for  the  purpose  of  cir- 
culating  and    forwarding   memorials,   procuring   the    publica- 
tion of  notices,  and  dicing  such  other  things  as  may  be  neces 
sary  to  forward  the  objects  of  this  application. 

5th.  That  a  central  corresponding  committee  be  appointed 

and  also  column:  rrcspotidcnce  for  each  of  the  coun- 

ties interested  in  this  application. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

D.  G.  GAKNSEY,  Chairman. 

The    following-named    gentlemen    wen-    appointed    a 
mittee  to  draft  the  memorial  to  the  Legislature: 

Messrs.  Burrows,  Leonard.  Drake,  and  Avery  of  Tioga, 
and  Clark  of  Chenango. 

The  following-named  gentlemen  were  appointed  a  corre- 
sponding committee: 

Messrs  McClure  of  Steuben,  .1.  Pumpell)  of  Tioga,  V. 
Whitney  of  Broome,  Clark  of  Chenango,  Page  ol  <  Itsi  go 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Page,  the  following  resolution  was 
adopted: 

Resolved,  That  the  central  committee  be  authorized  to  pub- 
lish the  proceedings  of  this  convention,  and  notice  of  applica- 
tion in  all  the  counties  immediately  interested  in  this  project, 
also  in  the  cities  of   New    York  and   Albany. 

The  following  named  gentlemen  were  appointed  executive 
and  corresponding  committees: 

Chautauqua  County.-    II.  II.  Camp, Sacket,  W.  I  hi 

ter,  T.  \  Osborne,  V  Diason,  J.  Mullet.  ().  Tinker,  O. 
M'Clure,  J.  Van  Buren,  S.  A.  Crum,  Asa  Gage,  L.  Crosby, 
D.  Sherman,  Solon  Hall.  I  Convers,  S.  Tiffany,  A.  Plumb, 
T.  Campbell,  J.  Wait,  I  >.  <  '•.  <  iarn  i 

irat«£tw.— S.  N.  Clark.  II.  Sexton.  A,  Gibbs,  D.  Backus, 
A.  Mead,  F   S.  Martin,  II.  Beach,  P.  Spencer. 

•any.-  S.  S.  Hai         lej    B    F   Smead,  D    Mi 

Henry.   G.    Mill        I       1  '  all.    M.   Smith.  J.   Griffin,   S.    I 
A.  C.  Hull. 

Steuben.     II.    Matthews.   X.    Besley,  J.    R.   Gansevoorl     R 
Roby,  C.  Cook.  T.  Raynolds,  .1.  Van  Valkenburgh,  P.  Swart. 

II.    I..    Arnold,   I  >r.   Hunter. 

Tioga.-   J.  R.  Drake.  G.  .1    Pumpelly,  I.    \    Burrows,  Thi 

I     Fa)      Mi"      Maxwell.  S.  Tuthill.  G,  B.  Baldwin. 
T.  North,  C.  (  Irwin. 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


i3 


Broome. — J.  Whitney,  T.  Robinson,  T.  G.  Waterman.  C. 
Eldredge,  G.  Tompkins,  P.  Robinson,  J.  Hinds,  jr.,  W.  Sey- 
mour, B.  B.  Nichols,  \V.  Whittemore,  Judson  Allen,  John  W. 
Harper,  Robert  Harper,  Peter  Robinson. 

Chenango. — Geo.  Welch,  Silas  A.  Conkey,  J.  Latham,  Rufus 
Phelps,  W.  Clark,  Eleazar  Fitch,  Jas.  G.  Mersereau,  C.  Hoff- 
man, L.  Bigelow,  M.  G.  Benjamin,  R.  D.  McEwen,  Ezra 
Corbin,  Otis  Loveland,  Nathan  Boynton,  Dan.  Stow,  Ed. 
Connell,  Rufus  Chandler,  O.  Parker,  Wiley  Thomas,  P.  G. 
Burch,  Elam  Yale. 

Otsego. — J.  Hayes,  D.  Laurence,  E.  R.  Ford,  J.  Goodyear, 
J.  More,  M.  MacNamee,  S.  Crippen,  M.  M.  Chamberlain,  A. 
Morse,  J.  Bryant,  C.  Davidson,  G.  H.  Noble.  T.  R.  Austin. 

Delaivare. — N.  Edgerton,  J.  Edgerton,  A.  Parrish,  S.  Gor- 
don, V.  P.  Ogdcn,  W.  Cannon,  S.  Lusk,  Sylvester  Smith, 
Nathan  Mann. 

Greene.— A,  Van  Vechten,  J.  S.  Day,  Piatt  Adams,  M.  Wat- 
son, S.  Fuller,  W.  Edwards,  H.  Gosler,  Z.  Piatt,  J.  J. 
Brandow,  S.   Nichols,  D.  A.  King. 

Schoharie. — Thos.  Lawyer,  W.  Mane. 

Ulster. — Theron  Skeele,  J.  Keirsted,  J.  Trumpbour,  John 
Suydam. 

Sullivan.—  John  P.  Jones,  R.  S.  Street.  A.  C.  Niven.  H. 
Bennett,  P.   Pelton. 

('range. — G.  D.  Wickham.  W.  Walsh,  Judge  Seward,  T.  S. 
Fisk,  Stacy  Beaks,  Abraham  J.  Cuddeback. 

Rockland. — J.  H.  Pierson. 

New  York. — J.  S.  Talmadge,  Nathan  Weed,  Silas  Browne, 
Eleazar  Lord,  Ben  De  Forest,  R.  Hiker.  S.  Swartwout.  Jas. 
Lynch,  Silas  Stilwell,  Arthur  Bronson,  R.  G.  Day,  Silas  E. 
Burrow's,  Josiah  Hedden,  B.  Robinson.  R.  M.  Lawrence, 
Robt.  White,  J.  D.  Beers,  W.  G.  Buckner,  Richard  Ray. 

/•kins. — J.   S.   Beebee,   S.   B.    Munn,   jr.,   S.    Marck,   H. 
Powers,  S.  Love. 

Seneca.— C.  Pratt.  P.  De  Mott,  Seba  Murphy.  J.  Maynard, 
W.  R.  Smith. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Burrows  the  following  resolution  was 
adopted: 

Resolved.  That  the  convention  cordially  approve  of  the  appli- 
cation to  the  Legislature  lor  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
from  the  village  of  Ithaca  to  the  village  of  Geneva. 

The  thanks  of  the  convention  were  voted  to  the  President 
and  officers  for  the  able  discharge  of  their  duties. 

Geo.   Morrell,  President. 

Geo.  M'Clure,   ~J 

Jas.     Pumpelly,  >  \' ice-Presidents. 

S.  S.  Haight, 

S.  Page, 

D.   G.   GARNSEY,      Secretaries. 

J.  C.  Clark, 

Such  is  the  plain  official  report  of  the  Owego  Con- 
vention, from  which  dates  the  birth  of  the  Erie;  but 
there  is  an  unofficial  side  to  the  proceedings  of  that 
convention  which  demands  recognition  in  this  chron- 
icle of  Erie.  The  convention  was  held  in  the  court 
house.  Philip  Church  of  Allegany  County  was 
chairman  of  it  as  it  was  originally  organized.  The 
sentiment  of  the  convention  was  so  much  in  favor  of 
the  application  for  charters  for  two  separate  corpo- 


rations that  a  resolution  favoring  such  a  proceeding 
was  likely  to  be  adopted.  This  was  so  utterly  op- 
posed to  the  original  idea  of  the  Chautauqua  County 
Convention,  as  proposed  by  Richard  Marvin,  and 
the  ideas  of  Philip  Church,  and,  as  they  believed, 
was  destined  to  make  the  building  of  the  railroad 
beyond  Owego  so  exceedingly  doubtful,  that  Mr. 
Church  resigned  as  chairman  of  the  convention  and 
took  no  further  part  in  its  deliberations. 

Some  weeks  prior  to  the  meeting  of  the  conven- 
tion at  Owego,  Eleazar  Lord  had  written  to  the  cor- 
responding committee  of  the  original  Jamestown 
Convention,  in  which  letter  he  favored  and  recom- 
mended the  two-corporation  idea.  The  committee 
delegated  Richard  Marvin  to  reply  to  Mr.  Lord's 
letter,  which  he  did,  making  it  as  able  and  earnest 
as  he  was  capable  of  making  it,  and  insisting  that 
the  work  must  be  undertaken  as  a  whole,  as  one 
enterprise,  and  constructed  by  one  company.  Just 
before  Philip  Church  resigned  as  chairman  of  the 
Owego  Convention,  and  while  the  excitement  over 
the  probable  outcome  of  the  debate  on  the  railroad 
question  was  at  its  height,  a  memorable  incident 
occurred.  It  is  thus  described  by  Richard  Marvin, 
who  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  : 

"  A  prominent  citizen  of  Owego  came  rushing  into 
the  convention,  and  handed  to  the  President  a  letter 
addressed  to  '  The  President  of  the  Convention  then 
in  Session.'  The  President,  Church,  handed  the  let- 
ter to  the  clerk,  and  it  was  opened  and  read.  It 
was  from  Eleazar  Lord.  It  was  brief.  After  regret- 
ting his  inability  to  attend  the  convention,  he  then 
in  few  and  emphatic  words  declared  that  the  entire 
road  to  Lake  Erie  should  be  embraced  in  one  char- 
ter, and  be  constructed  as  a  whole  by  one  company. 
The  letter  contained  no  argument.  I  understood 
then,  and  have  always  understood,  that  this  letter 
was  a  response  to  the  letter  of  our  committee." 

This  letter  was  not  from  Eleazar  Lord  alone.  It 
was  also  signed  by  such  representative  New  York 
business  men  of  that  day  as  Richard  M.  Lawrence, 
William  G.  Buckner,  Robert  White,  and  Richard 
Kay.  Mr.  Lord,  in  his"  Historical  Review  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,"  records  that  the 
letter  was  a  strong  presentment  in  favor  of  a  single 
charter. 


•4 


BE  1  WEEN     1H1-:    OCEAN    AND    I'HH    LAKES 


M  y  was  cho 

the  resignation   of   Philip 
was  referred   to   the 

If  it  ■ 
ter  that  brought  about  the  result 
shed  it  would   be  difficult  to  surmise  what 
in  the  sentiment  of  the 
■n.      Alter  a   long  and   hotly- 
in  that  committee,  the  resolution 
follows: 

That  it  is  expedient  that  application  be  made  to 

mrc  of  th  ssion  for  the  in- 

impany   with  the  necessary   privileges  to 

from  Lake   Erie,  commencing  .it   some 

the  mouth  of  Cattaraugus  Creek  and  the  line 

nnsylvania  ami  to  run  from  thence  t"  the  Southwestern 

by  the  way  of  the  village  of  Owego  to  the 

■  n  River.  ect  with  railroads  already  char 

-  may  be  deer  ble,  with  a  view  to 

reach  the  city  of  New  York,  by  the  best  railroad  route,  with 

-  =000.000. 

This  resolution  met  with  a  vigorous  opposition  in 
the  convention,  but  was  finally  accepted  as  the  sense 
of  the  meeting  by  a  substantial  majority.     Just  why 
'titcome   did    not   satisfy   Mr.    Church   and    Mr. 
Marvin   that   the  Owego  Convention   was  not  com- 
mitted to  the  two-corporations  plan   it   is  now   im- 
ile  to  know,  but,  according  to  the  Marvin  remi- 
"f  the  event   in   the  archives  of  the  Chau- 
tauqua Historical  Society,  such  was   the  case,  and  it 
only  through  strong  personal   appeals  to  Church 
by  Marvin  that  the  former  was  induced  to  take  any 
further  interest  in  the  project.      He  yielded  to  these 
went    to    New    York    to    confer    with 
Elea.  and  other  New  York  capitalists  on  the 


subject,  with  the  result  that  Church  was  named  as 
(me  of   the    incorporators   of   the   company    in    the 

charter  presented  to  the  following  session  of  the  New 
York  Legislatui  hurch  application  franu-d.it 

the  Angelica  Convention  in  October,  1831,  being 
adopted  by  the  memorialists  instead  of  the  one 
tlrafted  at  the  Owego  Convention. 

The  people  of  Broome  County  and  that  part  of 
New  York  had  been  for  a  Ion-  time  striving  for  the 
building  of  the  Chenan  0  Canal,  ami  the  influence 
of  the  si  1  ling  in   favor  of  that  I   figured 

prominently  in  the  discussion  of  the  proposed  rail- 
road, especially  at  Binghamton — so  much  so,  that 
on  December  23,  (831,  three  days  after  the  conven- 
tion at  Owego,  at  a  public  meeting  held  at  Bingham- 
ton. one  of  the  resolutions  adopted  was  to  the  effect 
that  '"  we  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  contemplated 
railroad,  but  we  feel  a  deeper  interest  in  the  con- 
templated Chenango  Canal,  and  consider  its  con- 
struction of  paramount  important  ." 

An  interesting  reminiscence  of  those  days  of  the 
Erie's  origin  is  contained  in  a  letter  from  Mrs.  John 
Barker  Church,  a  daughter-in-law  of  Philip  Church, 
who,  in  the  latter  part  of  I  S3  1 ,  wrote  to  her  father. 
Professor Silliman  of  Yale  College,  as  follows:  "  Mr. 
Church  goes  to  New  York  for  the  winter,  endeavo 
ing  to  make  interest  for  the  railroad,  which  is  now  a 
topic  of  much  feeling  throughout  the  country.  If 
they  get  it,  it  will  be  indeed  '  annihilating  all  time 
and  space.'  They  talk  most  seriously  of  being  able 
to  go  from  Buffalo  to  Xew  York  in  twenty-four 
hours!  You  ma}-  smile  at  this,  but  I  assure  you, 
it 's  all  true.  " 


CHAPTER    III. 


ORGANIZING    ERIE— 1832    TO    1833. 

An  Unsatisfactory  Charter  —  The  Subscription  Committee  Thinks  the  United  States  Government  Should  Make  a  Survey  for  the  Railroad  — 
The  Government  Survey,  the  Krie  Canal,  and  New  York  State  Politics — President  Andrew  Jackson's  Reason  for  Ordering  the 
Government  Survey  Discontinued  —  "  It  Would  Interfere  with  the  Management  of  the  Politics  of  New  York  State'* — Redfield's 
Indignant  letter  —  The  Survey  through  Rockland,  Orange,  and  Sullivan  Counties  —  The  Original  Subscribers  to  the  Stock  — 
The  Charter  Amended,  and  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  Organized  —  Eleazar  Lord  the  First  President  —  The 
inal  Board  of  1  Erectors,  which  I  lomprisi  I  the  Most  Prominent  of  New  York  City's  Pusiness  Men  and  Capitalists  of  that  Day  — 
The  Kiist  Yice-President,  Treasurer,  and  Counsel. 


The  original  draft  of  the  charter  for  a  company  to 
build  the  proposed  railroad  was  made  by  the  Hon. 
John  Duer  of  New  York.  In  this  the  capital  of  the 
company  was  placed  at  $10,000,000,  and  it  was  pro- 
vided that  after  the  subscribing  of  $500,000  of  that 
amount  the  company  should  have  authority  to  or- 
ganize. The  old  opposition  to  the  construction  of 
an)r  means  of  transportation  through  the  State  of  New- 
York  that  might  divert  business  from  and  lessen  the 
commercial  and  political  influence  of  the  canal  coun- 
ties at  once  showed  itself  among  the  representatives 
of  those  counties,  and  the  proposed  charter  for  such 
a  thoroughfare  was  so  amended  during  the  session 
that  when  a  charter  was  at  last  granted  by  the  Legis- 
lature, April  24,  1S32,  it  was  by  no  means  a  document 
calculated  to  further  the  interests  of  a  great  public 
improvement,  for  the  completion  of  which  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  population  of  New  York  State  was  appeal- 
ing, and  on  which  the  enhancement  of  the  material 
interests  of  a  wide  extent  of  the  country  at  large 
depended.  (Page  295,  "  Fighting  Its  Way.")  As 
finally  adopted,  the  charter  fixed  the  capital  of  the 
company  at  $10,000,000,  but  provided  that  it  should 
all  be  subscribed  and  5  per  cent,  of  the  subscriptions 
($500,000)  paid  in  before  a  company  should  be  organ- 
ize.1;  named  as  incorporators  Samuel  Swartwout, 
Stephen  Whitney.  Peter  White,  Cornelius  Harsen, 
Eleazar  Lord,  Daniel  LeRoy,  William  C.  Redfield, 
Cornelius  J.  Rlauvelt,  Jeremiah  II.  Pierson,  William 
Townscnd,  Egbert  Jansen,  Charles  Borland,  Abram 
M.  Smith,  Alpheus  Dimmick,  Randall  S.  Street,  John 
P.  Jones,  George  D.  Wickham,  Joseph  Curtis,  John 


L.  Gorham,  Joshua  Whitney,  Christopher  Eldridge, 
James  McKinney,  James  Pumpelly,  Charles  Pum- 
pelly,  John  R.  Drake,  Jonathan  Piatt,  Luther  Gere, 
Francis  A.  Bloodgood,  Jeremiah  S.  Beebe,  Ebenezer 
Mack,  Ansel  St.  John,  Andrew  DeWitt  Bruyn, 
Stephen  Tuttle,  Lyman  Covell,  Robert  Covell,  John 
Arnot,  John  Magee,  William  McCoy,  William  S. 
Hubbell,  William  Bauman,  Arthur  H.  Erwin,  Henry 
Brother,  Philip  Church,  Samuel  King,  Walter  Bowne, 
Morgan  Lewis,  William  Paulding,  Peter  Lorillard, 
Isaac  Lawrence,  Jeromus  Johnson,  John  Steward,  Jr., 
Henry  I.  Wyckoff,  Richard  M.  Lawrence,  Gideon 
Lee,  John  P.  Stagg,  Nathaniel  Weed,  Hubert  Van 
Wagenen,  David  Rogers,  John  Hone,  John  G.  Cos- 
ter, Goold  Hoyt,  Peter  I.  Nevius,  Robert  Buloid, 
Thomas  R.  Ronalds,  John  Haggerty,  Elisha  Riggs, 
Benjamin  L.  Swan,  Grant  B.  Baldwin.  William  Max- 
well, and  Darius  Bentley — representative  men  of 
the  city  of  New  York. and  of  each  count}-  interested 
in  the  building  of  the  railroad;  provided  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  double,  single,  or  treble  track  railroad 
from  New  York,  or  some  point  near  New  York, 
through  the  Southern  Tier,  by  way  of  Owego,  to 
Lake  Erie,  the  railroad  to  be  begun  within  four 
years,  and  $200,000  expended  in  construction  within 
one  year  thereafter,  one-quarter  of  the  railroad  to 
be  completed  and  in  operation  within  ten  years  from 
the  date  of  the  charter,  one-half  within  fifteen  years, 
the  whole  within  twenty  years,  or  the  charter  to  be 
null  and  void  ;  named  a  subscription  committee  of 
eighty  persons,  a  majority  of  them  living  at  a  dis- 
tance from  New  York  City,  where  the  headquarters 


|;i;i  WEEN     11  li.   OCEAN    AND    11  IK    1.AK1  S 


of  (hi  tablished,  and  provided 

not  be  begun  on  a  double  track 

until  1  ipleted  between  the  Hud- 

;rie,  and  ;  :d  freight 

had  been  carried  over  it. 

td    was    not   otherwise  defined 
that  "  it  is  to  begin  at  the  city  of  New  York, 
such  point  in  its  vicinity  as  shall  be  most  eligi- 
md  convenient  therefor,   and  continue  through 
luthern  Tier  of  counties,  by  way  of  Owego  in 
to  the  shore  of  Lake   Erie,  at  some 
eligible  point  between  the  Cattaraugus  Creek  and  the 
Pennsylvania   line."      The   company   was   restrained 
from  making  any  connection  with  railroads  in  Penn- 
sylvania or   New  Jersey,  without   the  special  permis- 
of  the  Legislature. 
At    a    meeting   of    the    incorporators    held    at    the 
Merchants'    Exchange   in   New  York,    May  9,    1832, 
at  which  Philip  Church  presided,  William  C.  Redfield 
being  secretary,  a  committee  consisting  of   Eleazar 
Lord,  Walter  Bowne.  Morgan  Lewis,  William  Pauld- 
Stephen  Whitney,   Peter  Lorillard,  Isaac  Law- 
rence, Gideon  Lee,  John  P.  Stagg,  Nathaniel  Weed, 
William  C.  Redfield,  Samuel   Swartwout,  and   Rich- 
ard  M.  Lawrence,  was  appointed  to  adopt  the  nec- 
measures  for  effecting  a  survey  of  the  route 
"  during  the  present  season." 

It  was  the  sense  of  the  meeting  that  it  would  be 
useless  to  solicit  money  to  build  a  railroad  the  sur- 
vey for  the  route  of  which  had  not  even  been  made. 
It  was  also  the  opinion  of  many  of  the  incorporators 
that,  even   if  they  procured  money  to  pay  for  mak- 
survey,  it  would  be  impossible  to  obtain  the 
$10,000,000  subscriptions   and   the   amount    of  cash 
>sary  to  organize  a  company  to  act  on  the  sur- 
But,  on  und  that  the  proposed  railroad 

would  be  a  grand  avenue  for  the  quicker  opening  up 
of  the  public  lands,  a  link  in  the  chain  <>f  communi- 
cation between  the  East  and  the  West,  and  thus  an 
undertaking  tending  to  national  benefit,  it  was  re- 
ting  that  th.  ,1  Government 
to  and  solicited  to  make  the  survi 
the  railr> 

t  in  this  proposition  in  the  in- 
terior countii  committee  issued  a  call  to  all 
who  wen    frii  ,1   New  Y01 1 


Erie  Railroad  to  convene  at  OwegO  on  June  4, 
[832,  and  there  take  the  subject  under  advisement. 
The  assemblage  was  large  and  enthusiastic.  Philip 
Church  was  chairman  and  J.  R.  Drake  secretary. 
A  committee  consisting  of  J.  R.  1  >rake,  J.  1  i.  Avi 
and  S.  B.  Leonard  was  appointed  to  correspond  with 
the  proper  officers  of  the  General  Government  in 
relation  to  the  survey  of  the  railroad  route,  and  to 
solicit  subscriptions  for  the  object,  and  to  create  a 
fund  to  be  appropriated  in  premiums  for  useful  infor- 
mation respecting  railroads  and  railroad  machinery; 
that  subject  having  also  been  brought  before  the 
convention — a  circumstance  in  itself  eloquent  of  the 
meagre  practical  knowledge  pertaining  to  the  mat- 
ters in  hand  that  the  founders  of  the  Erie  possessed, 
and  of  the  crude  ideas  of  railroad  construction  that 
then  prevailed. 

The  effort  to  raise  money  by  subscription  to  pay 
for  the  survey  failed,  and  it  was  at  last  resolved  by 
the  committee  to  ask  that  it  be  made  at  the  public 
expense.  This  proposition  was  placed  before  the 
authorities  at  Washington.  The  subject  of  internal 
improvements  at  that  time  being  a  paramount  one, 
President  Jackson  approved  of  the  proposition,  and 
in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1832,  an  order  was  issued 
from  the  War  Department  for  the  making  of  the  sur- 
vey at  the  expense  of  the  Government,  the  work  to 
be  in  charge  of  Col.  DeWitt  Clinton,  who  had  made 
the  reconnoissance  for  the  proposed  Redfield  rail- 
road survey  in  the  autumn  of  1831.  Colonel  Clin- 
ton arrived  at  New  York  with  four  assistants  soon 
afterward,  and  began  preparations  for  carrying  out 
his  orders.  On  July  4.  before  he  had  completed 
his  arrangements  for  beginning  the  survey,  an  order 
was  issued  from  the  War  Department  suspending 
the  work  unless  its  cost  should  be  paid  for  by  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  or  by  private 
funds.  This  sudden  change  in  the  attitude  of  the 
Government  was  the  first  serious  blow  of  the  many 
the  railroad  project  was  to  receive  before  the  com- 
ing of  the  time  when  it  should  unite  the  ocean  with 
tin'  lakes. 

It  was  announced  th.it  th.-  work  had  been  ordered 
discontinued  because  President  Jackson's  advisers 
had  d    that    there    was    no   constitutional  war- 

rant for  it ;  but,  accordin  azar  Lord's  reminis- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


17 


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FACSIMILE  OF  LETTER   FROM   WILLIAM   C.    REDFIELD   TO  THE   HON,    SAMUEL   PRESTON.      ORIGINAL   LOANED   BY   MISS    ANN 

PRESTON,   MIDDLETOWN,    N.    Y. 

New  York,  7«/r  25,  1832. 

RESPECTED  FRIEND  :  Being  on  the  point  of  leaving  town  I  have  just  time  to  inform  you  that  the  survey  of  our 
Railroad  has  just  been  suspended  by  order  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Thus  we  find  that  every  thing  which 
is  calculated  to  promote  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  Northern,  Middle  and  Western  States  is  vetoed  by  the  Execu- 
tive authority.  If  the  citizens  of  Northern  Pennsylvania  and  Southern  New  York  understand  this  fact  as  they  ought  they 
will  express  their  indignation  to  our  Sovereign  despot  at  the  next  election. 

For  the  rest  we  must  wait  with  resignation  the  progress  of  events  more  in  favor  of  the  Railroad.     Yours  in  haste, 

W.M.  C.   Rl  hi  IELD. 

cences,  it  was  learned  that  politics  and   partisan  in-  with   the   survey  at   the   public   expense,  at  the  re- 

fluences  had  again  conspired  to  obstruct  the  progress  quest  and  on  the  representations  of  a  then  promi- 

of  the  contemplated  railroad  through  the  Southern  nent  Democratic  politician  of  New  York. 

Tier   of   New   York    State.     The    President    frankly  '  This  gentleman   tells  me,"   said  the   President, 

said  to  a  committee  of  the   Erie  incorporators  that  "  that   the  building  of  this  railroad  would   make  a 

Colonel   Clinton   had   been   ordered   not  to   proceed  thoroughfare  that  would  be  a  rival  of  the  Erie  Canal, 
2 


1  WEEN  THE  '  »<  EAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


I   of   whose  political    patronage  would    be 
I  by  the  patronage  of  the  rail- 

the  latter  not  being   under  State  control,  thus 
making  it  impossible  to  manage  the  politics  of  the 
veil  as  they  are  managed  now;  and,  surely, 
as  the  gentleman  says,  that  is  of  far  more  import- 
ance than  the  raili  te  already  amply  pn >- 
vided  with  m                commercial  transportation  by 
anal." 
i  William  C.  Redfield,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  first 
brought  the  subject  of  such  a   railroad  forward,  and 
who   had   its   interests  greatly  at  heart,  voiced  the 
bitter  disappointment   that   this  act  of  the  President 
lit  to  all   friends  of  the  infant   project   in   the 
letter  to  the  Hon.  Samuel  Preston  on  page  17.) 

This  unexpected  darkening  of  the  prospects  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  at  the  very  start  was 
discouraging  to  the  advocates  of  the  enterprise. 
The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  could 
not  defray  the  expenses  for  the  survey  for  the  pro- 
posed route  for  the  very  excellent  reason  that  there 
is  yet  no  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany, nor  could  there  be  one  until  $10,000,000  had 
subscribed  as  its  capital  and  $500,000  of  it  paid 
in.  That  event  was,  under  the  circumstances,  a 
great  distance  in  the  future.  But  the  friends  of  the 
railroad  did  not  lose  heart.  The  counties  to  be 
benefited  by  the  work  were  appealed  to  and  asked 
to  mike  up  the  necessary  fund  for  the  expenses  of 
the  survey  through  their  respective  territory  by  pub- 
ibscription.  The  only  counties  that  responded 
to  the  call  were  Rockland,  Sullivan,  and  Orange. 

The  following  letter  will  throw  some  light  on  the 
subject  of  this  now  long-forgotten  Eric  survey: 

Mo  \".   V..   September  28.   1832. 

D.  K.  Minor,  35  Wall  St..  New  York. 

ends  of  the  New  York 

and  Erie  Railroad  to  learn  that  the  survey  of  tin-  route  near 

lenced   last   week   under  the   direetion  of 

and  that  it  i^  proposed  to  continue  the 

survey   to   the    Hudson   this   fall.     The   first   ten   miles   of   the 

ible.    Tlx  iparativel) 

and   a   gradual  Delaware   and    Hudson 

Canal  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  per  mile. 

Respectfully  your:,, 

J      P.  JONl 

1  '     I  ■  ■    '■'  of   the   New  York  Aim  ri- 

can  and  the  Am,  rican  Railroad  Journal.     J.  P.  [ones 


was  State  Senator  John   P.  Jones.  .1  power  in  South- 
em  New   York  in  those  days. 

tid  in  paying  the  expenses  of  the  survey,  the 
United  States  Government  furnishing  the  engineer 
corps,  which  was  in  charge  of  Colonel  Clinton,  t he- 
first  subscriptions  to  Erie  stock  were  made.  October 
[832,  as  follows:  Eleazar  Lord,  merchant.  New 
York,  201  shares;  Rufus  L.  Lord,  merchant.  New 
York,  420  shares :  Michael  Burnham,  printer.  New 
York,  101  shares;  Richard  M.  Lawrence,  merchant, 
New  York,  three  shares;  Jeremiah  If.  Pierson,  manu- 
facturer, Ramapo,  N.  Y.,  151  shares,;  Josiah  G.  Pier- 
son,  manufacturer.  Ramapo,  N.  Y..  one  share;  Cor- 
nelius Goetchings,  one  share;  Solomon  Humphrey, 
one  share;  Daniel  C.  Heuring,  one  share:  Thomas 
Ward,  clerk.  New  York,  one  share.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Goetchings,  Humphrey,  Heurii 
and  Ward  subscriptions,  on  which  5  per  cent, 
was  paid,  the  subscribers  paid  in  10  per  cent,  on 
their  subscriptions,  the  total  cash  received  being 
$9,880. 

The  survey  through  Rockland.  Orange,  and  Sulli- 
van counties  was  completed  in  the  fall  of  1832,  and 
a  report  of  it  made  to  the  Government  and  the  com- 
pany, which  was  the  last  ever  heard  of  it,  that  being, 
however,  a  matter  of  no  particular  consequence,  as 
it  was  of  no  use  whatever  to  the  furthering  of  the 
advancement  of  work  on  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad. 

The  experiences  of  the  Subscription  Committee 
thus  far  in  its  effprts  to  get  the  great  work  in  some 
tangible  shape  left  no  doubt  in  its  mind  that  unless 
the  Legislature  could  be  induced  to  modify  the  char- 
ter in  important  particulars,  and  to  grant  other  con- 
cessions, there  would  be  no  possible  use-  of  spending 
further  time  or  labor  in  efforts  toward  forwarding 
the  undertaking,  even  so  far  as  the  organizing  of  a 
company.  To  these  ends,  such  modifications  and 
concessions  were  asked  for  at  the  session  of  the  New- 
York  Legislature  for  [833.  In  the  face  of  much 
opposition  from  the  canal  counties  the  charter  was  at 
last  so  changed  that  a  subscription  of  only  $1 ,000,000 
to  the  capital  stock,  instead  of  the  entire  $10,000,000, 
was  mad'    obligatory  before  the  company  could  or- 

ni/e,  of  which  10  per  cent,  must  be  paid  in.  The 
quorum  of  the  Subscription  Committee  was  also  re 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


19 


duced  to  a  number  that  could  be  readily  obtained  at 
any  time. 

With  this  amended  charter,  the  committee  went 
to  work.  Subscription  books  were  opened  pursuant 
to  the  following  notice: 

NEW    YORK    AND    ERIE    RAILROAD     COMPANY. 

A'oticc. — The  Books  for  subscription  to  the  capital  stock 
of  this  company  will  be  opened  at  the  .Merchants'  Exchange 
in  tli is  city  on  the  gth,  iotli  and  nth  day-  oi  July  next,  be- 
tween the  hours  of  twelve  and  two  o'clock.  One  million 
dollars  of  the  stock  is  required  to  be  subscribed  before  the 
commencement  of  the  work,  in  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars 
each,  five  dollars  on  each  share  to  be  paid  at  the  time  of 
subscription.     Dated  New  York,  24th  June.  1833. 

COMMISSIONERS. 


Morgan  Lewis, 
Gideon  Lee, 
Robert  White, 
John  G.  Coster, 
Stephen  Whitney, 
Hubert  Yan  Wagenen, 
Isaac  Lawrence. 


Goold  Hoyt, 
Elisha  Riggs, 
Thomas  T.  Woodruff, 
John  Haggerty, 
John  Steward,  jr., 
Peter  I.  Nevius, 
Michael  Burnham. 


N.  B. — Applications  by  letter  to  the  Commissioners  inclos- 
ing money  or  checks  will  be  received  as  subscriptions. 

The  necessary  subscriptions  to  the  Erie  stock  were 
received  by  the  commissioners  on  the  days  adver- 
tised, so  that  they  were  able  to  issue  the  call  for  the 
election  of  the  first  Board  of  Erie  Directors  as  fol- 
lows: 


NOTICE   OF   ELECTION-NEW   YORK   AND    ERIE 
RAILROAD  COMPANY. 

One  million  dollars  of  the  capital  stock  of  this  Company 
having  been  subscribed  in  conformity  with  the  charter,  the 
stockholders  are  hereby  notified  that  an  election  for  the 
choice  of  seventeen  Directors  of  the  said  company  will  be 
held  at  the  Merchants'  Exchange  on  Friday,  the  9th  day  of 
August  next,  under  the  inspection  of  the  Commissioners  as 
directed  in  the  charter.  The  poll  will  open  from  10  to  12 
o'clock  A.   M.     By  order  of  the  Commissioners. 

New  York,  July  19,  1833. 

The  men  selected  as  this  original  Board  of  Erie 
Directors  were:  Stephen  Whitney,  Peter  Harmony-, 
John  Duer,  Goold  Hoyt,  James  Boorman,  William 
G.  Buckner,  Elihu  Townsend,  Michael  Burnham, 
Eleazar  Lord,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Benjamin  Wright, 
D.  N.  Lord,  of  New  York;  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson, 
Cornelius  J.  Blauvelt,  of  Rockland  County;  George 
D.  Wickham,  of  Orange  County;  Joshua  Whitney, 
of  Broome  County;  James  Pumpelly,  of  Tioga 
County. 

Eleazar  Lord  was  elected  the  first  President  of 
Erie;  Goold  Hoyt,  Vice-President;  William  G.  Buck- 
ner, Treasurer;  and  John  Duer,  Counsel.  The  or- 
ganization of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany thus  became  a  fact  on  August  9,  1833,  although 
but  5  per  cent,  of  the  required  subscriptions  had 
been  paid  in,  instead  of  10  per  cent.,  as  the  chartci 
specified. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


FIRST    ADMINISTRATION    "1     ELEAZAR    LORD— 1833   TO    1S35. 

Don  tions  —  Opposition  in  the  Western  Counties — rhilip  Church's  Protest — 
3  Appointed.     II.    I'm   Lon  Survey:   I  ain  Wright, 

mte  lor  the  New  V.irk  and  Erie  Railroad  —  The  Light  it  Throws  on  the  Knowle 

-Queer  Idi  itions,  and  Conclusions — The  Route  of  the  Railroad  as 

md  Amusing  Calculations —  Inclined   Planes,   I  unnejs,  and  Careful  Consideration  of  the 

Vet  that  Survey,  as  a  Whole,  Stands  To-day  as  a  Striking  Monument   to  the   Engineering  Genius  of  that 


I.    FAIN  l'-llKAkl  1  D    BEGINNING. 

the  first  -  ns  that  received  the  favor- 

able consideration  of  the  Hoard  was  made  by  Eleazar 
to  the  el     :t  that  before  any  of  the  Company's 

:ibed  capital  should  be  expended  for  other  pur- 
iit  of  way  and  donations  of  land  should  be 
ed  from  the  people  along  the  line  of  the  pro- 
'.    railroad.      This   action    of    the    Board    might 
been   prompted   by  motives  that   its  members 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  Company 
and  its  work,  but   it   was  far  from   being  one  to  in- 
spire invi  others  with  any  great  degree  of 
confidence  in  their  wisdom  or  qualifications  as  prac- 
tical business  men,  or  in   the  sincerity  of  their' pro- 
or  the  beginning  and  progress 
of  the  railroad  work. 

it  had  been   the  plaint  of  the 
the  railroad  that  they  could  do  nothing 
until   a  survey  of   the   route   gave   them    something 
ble  to  base  their  representations  to   the  public 
on.  eminent  had  been   appealed  to  for  aid 

in    t;  ct,    without    success.      The    people    of 

'   in  the  -1  work  had  ignored  a 

iiing  but  a  survey  could  avail 
islature  had  come  to 
their  relief  ii;  fication  of  the  charter 

they  had  been  able  to  call  into 
their   treasury  |  com- 

pany.     Undei    the  cii  it  would  naturally 

that   tli-  availed   I 

3    of   that   ample    full'  [    without 


delay  to  the  ordering  of  a  survey  for  a  route  for  the 
desired  railroad,  and  thus  secured  the  tangible  some- 
thing on  which  to  build  their  hopes  of  popular  finan- 
cial support.  Instead  of  doing  that,  they  immedi- 
ately resolved  to  expend  none  of  the  money  until 
right  of  way  and  donations  of  land  from  people 
along  the  line  of  the  proposed  railroad  could  be 
solicited,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was  no 
"  line  of  the  proposed  railroad,"  and  could  be  none 
until  one  might  be  surveyed.  It  is  by  no  means  un- 
reasonable to  suspect  that  much  of  the  opposition 
that  was  manifested  against  the  efforts  of  the  Erie 
founders  to  establish  their  project  might  have  risen 
from  the  contemplation  of  this  and  subsequent  short- 

hted,  foolhardy  and  inconsistent  measures  they 
and  their  early  successors  were  responsible  for. 

In  September.  1833,  less  than  a  month  after  the 
Company  was  organized,  Eleazar  Lord,  "  By  order 
of  the  Board  of  Directors."  issued  an  address  to  the 
people  of  the  Western  counties,  in  which  he  said: 

We  sec  no  prospect  of  procuring  means  adequate  to  this 
great  undertaking,  bul  on  the  contrary  Red  that  they 

carni'it  in  obtained;  thai  is,  that  subscriptions  i"  tin-  -took 
of  the  company  sufficient  for  the  object  will  not  be  made. 
unless  extensive  and  valuable  donations  of  lands  and  money 
from  the  proprietors  and  inhabitants,  on  ami  near  the  route, 
are  mad-  ompany,  constituting  such  a  fund  as  to  in- 

spire the  requisite  confidence  in  the  value  and  security  of  the 
stock,   anil    to   compensate    the    loss    of   income    (.11    the    funds 

employed  in  the  construction  of  the  road,  during  the  time 

upied  by  the  work,  and  perl  two  or  three  ye 

thereafter. 

This  circular  also  made  plain  the  fact  that  the  ulti- 
mate  route   of  the   railroad   would   be  influenced  by 


^_^ 


c& 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


21 


such  donations,  and  avowed  that  it  was  the  deter- 
mination of  the  Company  to  abandon  the  undertak- 
ing and  relinquish  the  charter  unless  the  requested 
donations  were  made.  The  cessions  asked  for  were 
to  be  lands  six  rods  in  width  along  the  route,  and 
the  same  amount  at  each  end  of  the  railroad,  with 
all  the  timber  that  might  be  thereon,  as  right  of 
way,  and  as  many  acres  of  land  in  tracts  as  the 
donor  saw  fit;  the  larger  the  donation  the  better 
chance  the  donor  would  have,  it  was  intimated,  of 
seeing  the  railroad  pass  over  or  contiguous  to  his 
property. 

The  circular  further  stated  that  "  if  with  the  aid 
now  solicited  the  stock  should  be  deemed  desirable 
on  books  being  open  for  the  capital,  the  donors  of 
land   and   money  might  avail  themselves  of  the  op- 


essential  subscriptions  to  the  stock  of  tiic  company  on  the 
part  of  the  State  or  of  individuals,  until  preliminary  steps 
have  been  taken  to  ascertain  the  capabilities  of  the  route 
and  the  cost  of  construction.  Application  was  also  made  at 
an  early  period  of  the  session  (183.3)  by  the  eastern  corpora- 
tors for  amendments  to  the  charter,  *  *  *  asking  a  reduc- 
tion of  capital  from  ten  to  six  millions,  and  permission  to  the 
company  to  organize  and  enter  upon  its  operations  on  a 
subscription  of  $500,000.  The  former  part  of  the  request  was 
granted;  the  latter  modified  so  as  to  require  a  subscription 
of  $1,000,000.  This  great  reduction,  united  with  the  permis- 
sion to  commence  and  prosecute  its  object  on  subscriptions 
of  small  fractions  of  its  capital,  at  the  same  time  that  it 
afforded  facilities  for  its  commencement,  evidently  would  have 
brought  into  extreme  jeopardy  the  completion  of  the  rail- 
road, or  its  continuation  to  any  great  proportions  even  of 
its  extent.  In  order  to  preclude  consequences  so  disastrous 
to  the  claims  and  the  hope  of  the  western  residents  of  the 
Southern  Tier  of  Counties,  their  immediate  representatives 
procured  to  be  incorporated  into  the  amendment  a  clause 
requiring  the  whole  route  to  be  surveyed  before  any  section 
thereof  should  be  undertaken. 


I,  The  Subscriber,  aji  iohabilaM  of  the  count)  01"  Steu  ''«  Vork  andj£ne  Rail  Road  « 

pan?  shall  construct  their  rail  1  'iuough  tbecounty  of  ?(-  ^reby  agree  >oi^%  Uiem  the  <°\iw 

P^U^C^J^U^^.^^ jQ*~*t^/c^^^, "■-*■"   ■»  ,hB  We**;  -,tof»aid  rail  road 


»he  Hudson  .rirer  Iq/.te  line*f  jt».       .        \,  c\ 

Witness  m.  ,  ,-'.*Uy  d'ejM 

our  thousand  eight  bund 

Sealed  and-delipered  i 
f  j 


-2-C-*' 


1  the  year  of  our  Lor 


Jytx^-^SoA^K/c 


<r/A 


\-,VV«'M^AtMVV%1. 


FACSIMILE   OF   FORM   OF   AGREEMENT   ENCLOSED   TO   CITIZENS    FOR    THEIR    SIGNATURES    TO   DONATIONS    OF    LAND 

OR   MONEY. 


portunity  of  subscribing  for  stock,  reserving  in  their 
cessions  and  pledges  the  right  to  do  so  to  a  given 
amount,  and  thereby  secure  to  themselves  the  advan- 
tage of  whatever  premium  the  stock  might  bear." 

The  citizens  generally  did  not  take  kindly  to  these 
propositions,  and  those  of  Allegany  County  ad- 
dressed the  Legislature  of  1834  in  protesting  terms 
on  the  subject.  Petitions  from  Allegany  County 
had  been  forwarded  to  the  Legislature  in  1833,  ask- 
ing for  an  appropriation  for  a  survey  of  a  route  for 
the  railroad,  upon  the  confident  reliance,  should  the 
survey  prove  favorable,  that  the  State  would  grant 
aid  to  the  project.  In  the  petition  of  1834  the  peti- 
tioners, among  them  Philip  Church,  showed  that 
the)'  began  to  mistrust  the  purposes  of  the  Company 
as  organized,  as  these  extracts  from  the  petition  show  : 

"  It's   [the  railroad's]   most  ardent  friends,  and  those  who 
have  the  utmost  confidence  in  its  feasibility,  cannot  expect  any 


"  The  amendments  granted  at  the  request  of  the  Eastern 
corporators  gave  rise  to  the  expectation  that  the  $1,000,000 
would  be  subscribed,  the  company  organized,  and  a  survey 
made,  upon  which,  should  it  be  favorable,  might  be  founded 
an  application  to  the  State  for  assistance.  During  last  sum- 
mer the  required  sum  was  subscribed,  10  per  cent,  paid  in 
and  the  company  organized.  The  company  being  in  funds, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Southern  Tier  of  Counties  were 
anxiously  expecting  an  immediate  commencement  of  the 
survey.  It  was  with  no  small  degree  of  disappointment, 
about  two  months  only  subsequent  to  the  above  subscrip- 
tion, that  we  received  this  circular. 

"  Stock  would  not  go  to  a  premium  unless  they  made  the 
donations,  and  consequently  any  premium  would  be  created 
by  them,  and  they  would  only  be  getting  a  return  of  their 
donations,  while  the  company,  already  owning  $1,000,000  of 
stock,  would  at  the  same  time  be  raised  to  a  premium  by  their 
donations.  If  they  raised  $2,000,000  they  would  receive  but 
two-thirds  of  the  return  of  their  donations,  and  one-third 
would  be  a  gift  to  the  company,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
it  to  dispose  of  its  $1,000,000  stock  at  a  premium  and  would 
mosl  probably  retard  the  work  because  the  holders  of  $.!.ooo,- 
000  of  stock  raised  to  a  premium,  merely  by  donations,  would 
'under  such  circumstances  of  probable  occurrence,'  be  un- 
willing to  call   for   further  subscriptions  that  would   permit 


BE  rWEEN     I  111-    0C1  A.\    AND    1  HE    LAKES 


- 

leter- 
ded  in  the 

d  the  Legislature,  therefi 
withdraw  their  subscription  to  the 
which,    without   doubt,    they 
Tli  isked  the  State 

the  expense  of  the  State, 
amount    that    would    entitle    the    State    to   a 
of  the  directors  of  the  Company,  in  ■ 
the  inhabitants  of  the  whole  line  of  the  South- 
en,  'J  ight  have  an  influence  through 
them  on  the                 l'  the  Company.     Another  re- 
they   made   was  that   the   State   should  offer 
n  to  those  who  might  "  give  valuable   in- 
ition  in   repl)  ties  to   be  propounded  in 
such  manner  as  the  Legislature   may  direct,  seeking 
information   in   regard   to   the   survey,   construction, 
and  use  of  railroads  and   railroad  carriages  and  ma- 
chin 

I  Land  Company,  which  owned  whole 
-     in     Allegany,     Cattaraugus,     and    other 

I      tney  i  state, 

which  held  vast  areas  in  Steuben  and  adjoining  i  nun- 

those   that   were  asked   to  aid  the 

[  the  railroad  by  donations  of  land.     The 

Pultn  aid   in  this  way,  but 

nd    Land   Company  refused  to  do  so.      It 

land,  however,  at   reduced  prices, 

i    portion   of   it   to 

on  this  suggestion, 

Hoyt,  and  Elihu  Townsend, 

ith  Mr.  Lord  in  the  first  Board  of 

■1   500,000  acres  of  land  in 

counties,  and  with  others 

of  the   railroad,  8,000  acres 

kirk,  in  Chautauqua  County.     Al- 

d  donated    50,000 

the  Railroad  Company,  on 

dition  that  ti  completed  in  seven 

Dunkirk  landowners  contributed  2,000 

■1  counties 
imilar 


ild  not  lulp  figuring  on  what 
the  profit  to  the  purchasers  of  those  vast  estates 
would  be  when  the  railroad  should  come  along  and 

■i  them  t"  easy  and  convenient  access  bysetth 
The  pledges  of  land  to  the  Railroad  Company,  how- 
■  li lei  have  been  worth    hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  to  its  treasury  if   it  could  have  fulfilled  the 
conditions  of  the  grant. 

ind  this  nothing  was  accomplished  toward  the 
advancement  of  the   undertaking  so  long  discussed. 

iltal  Stood  aloof  from  the  project.  There  was  a 
feeling  abroad  that  the  scheme  was  not  one  advo- 
cated in  good  faith,  but  as  a  cloak  for  speculation. 
Conventions  of  citizens  of  the  various  counties  inter- 
ested in  the  proposed  thoroughfare  were  held  during 
the  earl_\-  fall  of  1833,  and  each  appointed  delegates 
to  a  general  convention  to  be  held  at  New  York  City 
November  20th  of  that  year,  to  devise  ways  and 
means  of  furthering  the  great  work.  Gideon  Lee 
of  New  York  was  chairman  of  that  convention; 
George  U.  Wickham  of  Goshen,  Orange  Count}-, 
and  James  Pumpelly  of  Owego,  Tioga  Count}-,  Vice- 
Presidents;  W.  W.  McKay  of  Steuben  County,  and 
David  Kuggles  of  Orange  Count}',  Secretaries.  The 
result  of  the  meeting  was  a  series  of  resolutions  ask- 
ing the  State  of  New  York  for  a  substantial  subscrip- 
tion to  the  stock  of  tin-  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company,  a  loan  to  aid  the  work,  and  for  an  appro- 
priation of  money  sufficient  to  have  a  competent 
and  complete  survey  made  of  the  route  for  the  pro- 
posed road.  This  was  supplemented  January  13, 
1S34,  by  a  memorial  from  Eleazar  Lord,  as  President 
of  the  Company,  to  the  New  York  Legislature,  in 
which  he  stated  that  $1,000,000  had  been  subscribed, 
in  conformity  to  tin  amended  charter,  and  stating 
that,  notwithstanding  the  great  interest  the  people 
in  New  York  City  and  in  the  Southern  counties 
manifested  in  tin;  work',  the  conditions  were  such 
that  the}-  could  not  assume  "  any  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  expense,"  and  that  pecuniary  aid  of  the 
State-  was  1  y  to  make  the  enterprise  a  suc- 

The  amount  necessary  to  build  and  equip  tin 
road  for  business,  he  said,  was  S'''. 000,000,  and  he 
petitioned  for  an  advance  of  §2, 000,000  in  a  stock 
subscription  by  tin-  State. 

March    26,    1S34.    Messrs.    Todd.    Beardsley   and 


THE    STORY   OF   ERIE 


23 


Parker,  of  the  majority  of  the  Assembly  Committee 
on  Railroads,  reported  on  the  application  of  the 
Company  for  aid.  "  To  the  knowledge  of  the  com- 
mittee," the  report  stated,  "the  State  has  never 
lent  its  credit  or  aid  to  any  incorporation,  except 
when  individuals  had  shown  their  confidence  in  the 
work  by  subscribing  and  expending  their  own  money 
to  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  cost  of  the  whole 
construction.  A  company,  then,  which  has  not 
made  even  a  survey  of  a  route,  must  have  a  strong 
degree  of  assurance  to  come  before  the  Legislature 
for  its  aid.  *  *  *  It  is  said  in  the  memorials  that 
Legislative  bounty  is  due  to  this  enterprise  because 
it  passes  through  a  range  of  secluded  counties." 
The  report  scouted  this  idea  because  "  before  the 
Erie  Canal  was  constructed  the  counties  of  Scho- 
harie, Herkimer,  Montgomery,  and  Otsego  were  not 
considered  secluded  counties,  although  they  were  a 
hundred  miles  from  the  cities  of  Albany  and  Troy, 
then  the  only  marts  of  trade,  *  *  *  while  Utica, 
Ithaca,  Rochester,  Binghamton,  Elmira,  and  other 
places  had  now  become  markets,  through  the  con- 
struction of  the  canals,  and  occupied  the  same  places 
in  the  commercial  geography  of  the  country  that 
were  once  monopolized  by  Albany  and  Troy;" 
hence  the  committee  could  not  see  how  any  of  the 
counties  of  the  Southern  Tier  could  justly  call  them- 
selves secluded,  "  with  the  exception  of  the  solitary 
counties  of  Delaware  and  Allegany.  By  the  con- 
struction of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  to- 
ward the  completion  of  which  the  credit  of  the  State 
was  loaned,  and  of  the  Erie  Canal,  the  Cayuga  and 
Seneca  Canal,  the  Chemung  and  Crooked  Lake 
Canals,  and  the  Genesee  feeder,  canal  navigation 
has  been  extended  from  the  waters  of  the  Delaware 
and  Susquehanna  to  the  Hudson,  and,  when  the 
Chenango  Canal  shall  be  completed,  to,  through,  or 
by  the  side  of  almost  all  the  counties  which  have 
called  themselves  and  still  call  themselves  secluded 
counties.  Chautauqua  lies  on  the  lake.  Cattarau- 
gus approaches  within  six  miles  of  it.  From  Alle- 
gany County,  on  one  side,  it  is  about  thirty  miles 
to  the  head  of  Crooked  Lake,  on  the  other  side 
about  twenty-five  miles  to  the  navigable  waters  of 
the  Genesee  River.  Steuben.  Tioga,  (Broome,  when 
the    Chenango    Canal   shall   be    completed),    Ulster, 


Orange,  and  Sullivan,  all  have  canal  navigation 
through  them  or  within  their  borders.  It  is  worthy 
of  the  sober  consideration  of  the  inhabitants  of  these 
counties  whether  they  can  longer  maintain  with 
truth  and  justice  their  claim  as  secluded  counties. 
The  Cayuga  and  Seneca  Canal,  the  Crooked  Lake 
and  Chemung  Canals  have  been  constructed  for  their 
sake.  Their  cost,  and  the  millions  which  must  be 
expended  under  existing  laws,  without  the  prospect 
of  their  yielding  a  reasonable  remuneration,  have 
been  appropriated  to  their  claim  of  secluded  coun- 
ties, and  yet  the  call  has  come  up  before  the  Legis- 
lature at  this  session  with  renewed  volume." 

The  majority  of  the  committee  reported  therefore 
that  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  ought  not  to  be 
granted.  (Assembly  Document  No.  336,  1834.) 
The  minority  of  the  committee,  Messrs.  Shays  and 
Coe,  also  made  a  report,  and,  after  reviewing  the 
difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  building  a  railroad  over 
the  route  proposed,  and  the  various  estimates  of  the 
cost  of  such  a  railroad,  and  comparing  it  disadvan- 
tageously  with  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  said: 

"  Discarding  estimates  founded  entirely  on  conjecture,  and 
adhering  to  the  practical  results  from  the  construction  of 
these  roads  in  Pennsylvania.  375  miles  of  the  road  in  question, 
for  a  single  track,  will  cost  $12.. 527.000.  But  it  is  apparent 
to  your  committee  that  this  road,  with  a  single  track,  and 
of  so  great  length,  cannot  be  advantageously  employed  for 
general  transportation,  nor  in  any  manner  accommodate  the 
numerous  villages  through   which   it  V  11    to  any 

extent  compete  for  or  accommodate  the  trade  and  business 
of  the  great  West.  If  constructed  at  all.  it  should,  therefore, 
be  constructed  with  a  double  track,  and  will  in  all  reasonable 
propriety  cost  $16,435,875.  The  surveys  and  level  taken  by 
the  State  Road  Commissioners  (1825),  on  different  routes, 
through  almost  everj  section  of  the  country  through  which 
this  road  is  designed  to  pass,  exhibit,  it  is  believed,  in  a  satis- 
factory manner,  its  great  features  and  its  general  charcter, 
and,  taking  for  a  guide  the  actual  cost  of  railroads  designed 
for  general  transportation,  it  is  believed  that  the  Legislature 
.  without  danger  of  error,  determine  that  no  further  sur- 
vey is  necessary  to  enable  them  to  decide  that  it  is  inexpedient 
on  the  part  of  the  State  to  use  its  funds  in  the  construction 
of  this  work."     (Assembly  Document  No.  337,  1834.) 

After  weeks  of  warm  discussion  of  the  subject,  the 
matter  was  recommitted  to  the  Railroad  Committee, 
which  was  instructed  to  report  a  bill  authorizing  a 
survey,  the  purpose  being  to  enable  the  State  to  de- 
termine whether  it  would  repeal  the  charter  of  the 
Company  or  build  the  road  itself.  Such  a  bill  was 
reported  and  passed,  appropriating  $15,000  for  the 


BE  fWEEN     I'HI     I  »(  EAN    AND    11IL    LAKES 


riationu 

imin  Wright, 

ward  and 

t  a  thorough  and 

survey  that  would 

faculties  met  with  in  con- 

it  engineer  to  do 
the  work,    May   21,    1834.     W  lected   James 

his  aides.      Pend- 

the    New   York  and    Erie   Railroad 

.   request   for  aid   from   the  General 

This   was   the   asking    of    a   grant  of 

2,000,000  acres  of  the  public  lands  to  be  sold  for  the 

fit   of  tlii  1  Company,  the  condition  of 

•ant  beir  pany  should  carry  the 

mails  without   further  compens. 

for  thirty  years.     l  5  refused  to  grant  the  re- 

And  that  was  the  first  time  that  the  carry- 

■    the  mails   by  railroads  was  suggested   in  this 

country,  and  perhaps  in  any  other. 


II.    Till".    LONG-SOUGHT    SURVEY. 

When   the   original    survey    for   the   route   of    the 
k   and    Eric    Railroad   was   made    in    [834, 
there  was  not  a  town  between  the  Hudson  and  Lake 
on    the   line   of    the   proposed   railroad   with    a 
xceeding  3,000.      Its  starting-place  was 
irsh  on   the  banks  of  the   Hudson  River,  and  it 
'    '1  at  a  rude  village  of  less  than  400  inhab- 
the  shore  of  Lake   Erie.     Goshen,  the  first 
nee  on  the  route,  had  a  population 
iot  on  the  line  of  the  orig- 
inal survey,  nor  was   Port   Jervis,  which   was  then  a 
hamlet  along  the   Delaware  and   Hudson 
ticello,    the    county   seat    of    Sullivan 
town     then     larger    than    Goshen. 
Monticello  until  it  reached  the  villagi   ol  De- 
ran   through   an    unbroken  wilder- 
nts  the  entire 
<Iist'""  '  ■      ''  r  of   importance  it 

had   t.  -he  lumber  business  of  the   Delaware 

Valley,  and  I  1  a  railroad  was  in  no 

disturbing  it.  not   in  ex.is,r 


and    it    never    would    have    been    in    existence    if   the 

inal  survey  had  prevailed.     Binghamton,  owing 

to  tin-  prospect  of  the  Chenango  Canal,  and  the  situ- 

1  of  the  village  at   the  junction  of  the  Chenai 
and  Susquehanna  Rivers,  had  become  a  place  of  j.ooo 
inhabitants    in    1834.     Owego,    the    county    seat    ol 
I  nty,  was   but   little   more  than   a  hamlet. 

Waverly    was    not    in    existence.       Elmira    was    the 
metropolis  of  the   Southern   Tier,  with   a  population 
of  3,000.      Forests  still  covered   the  site  of  Corning, 
and   between    Painted    Post  and  the  village  of  Hor- 
nellsville  the  valley  <>f  the  Canisteo  was  a  wilderm 
broken  here  and  there  by  lumber  settlements.      Hor- 
nellsville  was  a  town  of   300  inhabitants  lying  on  the 
e  of  a  swamp.      Westward  across  the  steep  bar- 
rier of   the   Alleghany   Mountains   were   at    intervals 
small    villages    in    Allegany  and   Cattaraugus  coun- 
ties.    The  settlement  of  the  most  importance  n< 
est  to  which   the  railroad   was  to  approach,  between 
Hornellsville  and   Lake   Erie,    was  Jamestown,   and 
that  place  it  avoided  by  a  distance  of  three  and  one- 
half  miles,   passing  northwest   through    Chautauqua 
County  to  the  hills  overlooking  the  lake,  down  the 
wild  slopes  of  which   it  dropped  by  two  routes,  one 
terminating  at  Dunkirk  at  the  northwest,  and  one  at 
Portland  harbor  at  the  southwest.     The  chief  indus- 
try  of    the   Delaware,    Susquehanna,    Canisteo,   and 
Alleghany  valleys    sixty  years  ago  was   lumbering. 
The    rivers    were    the    channels   by   which    the   vast 
amount  of  lumber  from  the  forests  of  the  Southern 
Tier  and  the  Pennsylvania  counties  adjoining  reached 
the  market.      Hundreds  of  saw-mills   manufactured 
their  products,    and    upon   various   branches  of   the 
business  the  prosperity  of  that  part  of  the  country 
through  which  the   railroad  was  projected  depended. 
Even   at   this  day,    with  all   the   modern   appliances 
and  advanced  knowledge  of  railroad  science  at  their 
imand,  few  men  would  be  found  willing  to  invest 
their  money  and  give  their  time  to  the  development 
of  a  country  of  similar  resources  by  the  construction 
of  a   railroad  of  the  magnitude  of  this  pioneer  rail- 
road,   projected    when    railroad    building    was   in    its 
earliest  infancy. 

Chief    I  1    Wright   made   his   report   on   the 

survey  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  January,  1X35, 
who  submitted  it  to  the  Assembly,  as  follows: 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


25 


State   of   New   York, 
Secretary's  Office,  Albany,  January  29,  1835. 

To  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly: 

I  have  the  honor  to  communicate  herewith,  in  pursuance 
of  the  resolution  of  the  Assembly  of  the  14th  inst.,  the  profile, 
map,  and  accompanying  report  of  Benjamin  Wright,  of  the 
survey  of  a  railroad  from  New  York  to  Lake  Erie,  made  under 
the  Act  of  6th  May,  1834. 

I  am,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

John  A.  Dix. 

To  John  A.  Dix,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  State. 

Sir:  His  Excellency,  the  Governor,  hiving  been  pleased 
to  appoint  me  to  execute  the  survey,  and  make  an  estimate 
of  the  expense  of  a  railroad,  from  "  at  or  near  the  city  of 
New  York  to  Lake  Erie."  under  the  act  of  May  6th,-  1834; 
which  said  act  requires  me  to  file  the  report,  maps,  profiles, 
and  estimates  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  con- 
formity to  said  act,  I  now  present  my  report,  maps,  profiles, 
etc.,  to  be  filed  in  your  office  as  the  law  directs;  and  beg 
leave  hereby  to  report: 

That,  in  undertaking  the  important  and  responsible  duty 
of  surveying  the  route  of  a  railway  communication  from  the 
Hudson  River,  near  the  city  of  New  York,  to  Lake  Erie.  I 
deemed  it  essential  to  keep  in  view  the  great  public  objects 
sought  to  be  obtained  by  the  proposed  work.  It  was  obvious 
that  the  road  was  to  be  constructed  not  only  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  immediately  adja- 
cent to  the  route,  but  also  in  order  to  furnish  the  means  of 
a  regular,  rapid,  and  uninterrupted  intercourse  at  nearly  all 
seasons  of  the  year,  between  the  city  of  New  York  and  the 
extensive  and  populous  communities  upon  the  western  lakes 
and  waters.  The  vast  and  acknowledged  benefits  which  have 
been  experienced  throughout  a  great  part  of  the  State,  and 
especially  by  its  commercial  emporium,  from  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Erie  Canal,  as  well  in  the  increase  of  population 
and  wealth,  as  in  the  progress  of  agriculture  and  trade;  the 
augmented  value  of  lands,  and  the  rapid  and  unexampled 
growth  and  creation  of  cities,  towns,  and  villages  along  the 
route,  had  plainly  proved  that  a  thoroughfare  running  through 
the  Southern  Tier  of  Counties,  and  properly  suited  to  their 
topographical  character,  could  not  fail  to  impart  similar  ad- 
vantages to  that  important  and  valuable  section  of  country, 
while  the  pressing  necessity  of  establishing  a  channel  of  com- 
munication within  this  State,  which  should  be  open  during 
nearly  or  quite  the  whole  of  the  winter  months,  and  thereby 
remedy  the  evils  occasioned  by  its  high,  northern  latitude. 
had  not  only  been  felt  sensibly  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
metropolis,  but  had  excited  public  attention  throughout  a 
great  portion  of  the  fertile  and  extensive  regions  upon  the 
upper  lakes,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  long  line  of  counties  in  our  own  Slate  through  which 
the  road  would  pass,  favored  as  they  are  with  a  healthful  cli- 
mate and  an  enterprising  population,  abounding  in  natural 
resources  which  the  proposed  work  could  not  fail  to  develop, 
also  possessed  an  additional  importance  in  their  peculiar 
topography;  being  intersected  in  numerous  directions  by 
important  streams,  leading  into  that  section  of  the  country 
from  other  parts  of  the  State,  and  thereby  furnishing  striking 
facilities  for  connecting  the  proposed  toad  with  lateral 
branches  capable  of  accommodating  large  masses  of  our 
population.  Keeping,  therefore,  steadily  in  mind  these  gen- 
eral considerations,  I  deemed  it  an  incumbent  duty,  in  select- 


ing the  line  of  location  for  the  proposed  road,  to  obtain  a 
route,  which,  as  far  as  should  be  practicable,  might  combine: 

(1)    Reasonable  ec .my    m    it,   construction;    (2)    Rapidity 

and  regularity  of  communication  for  pa  en  ei  .  light  mer- 
chandise of  value,  and  the  public  mail;  (3)  Cheapness  of 
transportation  for  bulky  commodities;  141  Facilities  of  con- 
nection with  lateral  branches;   (5)   The  general    mmoda- 

tion  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  development  of  the  resources 
of  the  country  along  the  route.  And  1  considered  it  also 
necessary  to  take  into  view  not  only  the  present,  but  the 
prospective  advantages  of  the  route;  and  to  arrange  the 
graduation  of  the  whole  work  in  reference  to  such  further 
additions  and  improvements  as  might  hereafter  become  1 
sary,  in  order  to  accommodate  a  great  increase  of  trade  and 
pi  irtatii  hi. 

Being  guided  by  these  general  outlines,  I  commenced  the 
survey  of  the  route  on  the  23d  of  May  last,  under  the  appoint- 
ment which  1  received  from  his  excellency  the  Governor  on 
the  21st  of  that  month. 

The  work  was  divided  into  two  grand  divisions;  of  which, 
the  eastern,  extending  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Bingham- 
ton,  was  under  the  direction  of  James  Seymour,  and  th. 
era,    from    Binghamton    to    Lake    Erie,    was    placed    under 
Charles   Ellet,  Jr.,  both  acting  as  my  assistants,  and  subject 
to  my  supervision.     Those  gentlemen,   with   my  advici 
approbation,  each  had  two,  and   often  three  or  four  p; 
employed   in  explorations  through   the  season.      I    take   great 
pleasure  in  stating  that  the  surveys  thus  committed  to  their 
care  have  been  executed  to  my  entire  satisfaction  and  I  refer 
to  their  reports  and  estimates  as  exhibiting  the  industry  and 
skill  with  which  their  duties  have  been  dischargi  .1 

I  have  personally  inspected  the  lines  surveyed  nearly  their 
whole  length,  and  have  particularly  considered  and  examined 
every  part  of  the  route  at  which  there  could  be  any  reason- 
able doubt  or  difficulty:  and  we  have  fully  advised  and 
pared  opinions  as  to  all  prices  estimated  for  the  graduation 
of  the  work.  It  is  possible,  and  I  may  saj  probable,  that  the 
shortness  of  time  allowed  for  the  completion  of  so  long  a  line 
of  survey  in  some  instances  not  noticed  by  me.  may  have  pre- 
vented our  ascertaining  the  very  lust  and  cheapest  routi 
which  some  portions  of  the  country  may  have  been  capable; 
but  I  have  become  perfectly  satisfied,  from  the  lines  already 
run  and  minutely  measured,  that  a  feasible  routi 
obtained,  free  from  formidable  difficulties,  and  capable  01 
being  completed  with  economy  and  dispatch.  A  more  minute 
and  careful  exploration  over  some  particular  parts  of  the 
country  will  enable  the  engineer  to  adopt  very  considerable 
alterations  and  improvements  at  many  points,  both  as  to  the 
graduatii  >n.  and  also  the  .  .  1st   1  it  t  he  -a  •  >rk 

The  great  objeel  of  securing  rapidity  and  regularity  of  com- 
munication between  the  city  of  New  York  and  the  lake,  being 
one  of  paramount  importance.  I  have  studiously  sought  to 
avoid  the  use  of  stationary  steam  power  on  inclined  planes, 
as  being  productive  of  delay,  danger,  expense  and  difficulty, 
and  in  this  respect  have  been  so  successful  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  single  plane,  near  Lake  Erie,  I  have  bro 
the  whole  line  within  the  power  of  locon  ines,  draw- 

ing passenger  cars,  light  merchandise,  and  the  public  mail. 
The  steepest  acclivity  encountered  on  the  whole  line,  with 
the  exception  before  mentioned,  will  be  only  100  feet  per 
mile.      And  having  been  furnished  with        1  lence. 

that  by  recent  improvements  in  the  locomotive  steam  en 
on  the  Baltimore  and  1  Him  Railroad,  they  have  been  1  nabled 
to    ascend    the    acclivity    of    176    feet    to    the    mile,    drawing 


BE  rWEEN    1  HK    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKJ  S 


,  enty 

while  ui 

■>..   I    have 
tine   line,   the   valle) 

the   linear 

-  undulatinj  irked 

ut  neverthi  inter- 

their  branches,  which  h 

pursue  the  general  din 

lich  of  thi  It  is  this  all- 

nal    feature    in    the  ihy    of   the 

which  the  valleys  of  these  streams 

ntle  ascents  and  descents,  and 

lich  will  explain  the  reason   why   I 

.    route,   without   the 

.'.  <  r.  through  portions  of  the   State 

ising  as  he  does 

the  nu  by  the  ordinary  stage 

■    insuperable  obstacles  to  the 
-id   work.     The   route,   in 
mnd   the   hills,   and    il 
•mount  any  considerable  acclivities 
in  which  the  line  crosses 
into   which   the 
raphically  dividi 
true  that  the  departure  from  a  straight  line  thus  occa- 
E    the   winding  of  the   water-courses,   has 
ned  the  whole  route  between    New    York 
■  when  it  i-  considered  that  great  rapidity 
•i    and    chi  have    been 

r   portion    of   country    ai 

the   country   wholly   for- 
[  any  other  route,   more   direct,   without 
nd  that  the  circuity  of  route  will  be 
n 
-  a  formi 
The  natural  bound  the  valleys 

ubdivide  it  into 
■  it: 

riding   seventy- 
Hudson    River 
orth  of  the  City    Hall  of  New   York,  to 
wangunk  mountains, 
Hudson  from  those  flow- 
re. 

rom  the  point 
•i  laware  and   its 
nit   twelve   miles  northw 

iding   the 
quehanna. 

)   the 
hanna 
nmit   thirteen    miles 
■     ■ 

from  the  point 


the  i  iencsee,  thirtj 

summit  three  miles  east  of  the  village  of  Cul 
County, 
The  fifth  or  Allegany   Division,  extendi  the   valley 

of  the  Alleghany  and  its  tributaries  eighty-three  miles  to  the 
I  the  inclined  plane,  distant  four  or  live  miles  from  Lake 
straight  line. 
The  sixth  or   Lake    Erie   Division,  embracing  the  short   and 
rapid  descent  to  the  lake,  including  the  inclined  plane  and  the 
two  branches,  one  to   Portland,  nine  miles,  and  one   to   Dun- 
kirk, eight  and  a  half  miles. 

The  ■■nly  points  where  the  rates  of  ascent  exceed  sixty  feet 
per  mile,  will  be  found  on  the  summits  above  specified,  as 
forming  the  boundaries  of  the  six  grand  divisions  of  the  route. 
The  acclivities  in  passing  these  summits  are  respectively  as 
follows:  <  >ne  grade  of  loo  feet  to  the  mile  in  pacing  from  the 
Hudson    River    Division,   down  the   west   side  of  the   Shawan- 

gunk  mountain,  into  the  Delaware  Division;  one  of  seventy 

feet  and  one  of  sixty-One  feet  to  the  mile,  in  p  om  the 

Delaware    Division    to   the    Susquehanna    Division;    one   of 

seventy  feet  and  one  of  sixty-five  feet  to  the  mile,  on  crossing 
the  ridge  between  the  Susquehanna  and  its  tributary,  the 
Chenango  River;  and  one  of  seventy-two  feet  to  the  mile  in 
passing  from  the  Susquehanna  Division  to  the  Genesee  Divi- 
sion. I  have  no  doubt  that  all  these  ascents  and  descents 
above  specified  may  readily  be  surmounted  by  locomotive 
drawing  ;er  cars,   light   merchandise,   and   the 

mail.      But  in  order  to  aid  the  p 

I.   it   will   be    necessary    to   station,    at    the    several    points 
above    specified,    either    auxiliary    locomotive    engine-. 
practical  on  the  Liverpool  and    Manchester   Railroad,  or  an 
increase  of  animal  power,  as  is  used  in  passing  the  Parr  I 
on  tin-  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Road      That  this  can  be  effected 
without  any  material  interruption  or  inconvenience,  will  be 

when  it  is  recollected  that  the  western  slope  of  the 
Parr  Ridge,  on  the  last  mentioned  road,  has  an  ascent  of  no 
an  253  feet  to  the  mile,  an  acclivity  nearly  three  times 
t  grade  on  the  proposed  route;  but  that 
it  is  nevertheless  surmounted  at  all  times  by  burthen  cars, 
heavily  loaded,  aided  only  by  an  increase  of  animal  power. 
It  will  be  borne  in  mind,  also,  that  at  least  three-fourtl 
the  heavy  tonnage  passing  on  this  road,  will  descend  east- 
ward toward  tide  water.  The  elevation  of  the  head  of  the 
inclined    plane    near    Lake     Erie    being    1303    feet    above    the 

Hudson  River,  the  products  of  the  western  country,  passing 
eastward,  will  necessarily  descend  1303  feet  more  than  they 
will  ascend,  and  their  passage  will  consequently  be  aided  to 
that  extent  by  their  own  on.      It    i-.   however,   bj    no 

means  impossible  that  in  the  course  of  twenty  years  the  great 
increase   of  the   population   and   agricultural    products   of   the- 
ir,   and    the    necessity    of    expediting    their    pa--. 
market,    may   render   it   expedient    and    economical    to 
additional     tracks,     with     a     compound     n  power,     and 

grades   reduced   in  all   cases  to  thirty   feet    per   mile,   with    sta- 
tionary engines,  operating  on  inclined  planes  and  located  at 
liate  points  ..Ion-  the  road.      In  that  event,  the  entire 
changi  along   the   whole  line  without   altcr- 

th.'in    thirty    or    fort)    mile-    of    the    road.      And.    ,il 
though    I    ,1,.   not   believe  that   this  change   will   ever   be   made, 
or  become   necessary,   except    in   the  event   of  so   great   an    in- 
ill    track-   as   to   make   Steady,   uniform    power   tin-    best; 

in  which  casi    I  believe  that  stationary  power  applied  on  the 
iK-.  would  be  found  the  best,  and  u  ed  a:   Messrs. 

Walker  ami    Ra-trick   proposed,   on   the    I  and    Man- 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


27 


Chester  Road,  as  reciprocating  power.  I  have  thought  it 
proper  to  state  how  far  it  would  effect  the  graduation  of  the 
road  to  substitute  planes  and  stationary  power,  and  grades 
in  other  places  of  thirty  feet  per  mile.  The  change  of  the 
place  last  mentioned  would  only  apply  to  burthen  car-,  in  any 
event,  as  passenger  cars  would  be  liable  to  less  da 
trouble,  and  delay  by  using  the  locomotives  or  extra  animal 
power  to  surmount  the  dividing  ridges. 

In  making  the  survey  and  location,  I  have  had  lim 
exploration  made  on  various  parts  of  the  route  in  two  or 
three  different  directions,  and  more  particularly  near  the 
Hudson  River,  where  four  different  routes  to  several  land- 
ings were  examined,  and  if  the  funds  had  held  out  to  ac- 
complish some  further  examinations  in  Rockland  County, 
and  time  had  permitted,  I  should  have  pursued  still  another 
line,  and  followed  on  the  northern  side  and  eastwardly  side 
of  the  Hackensack  River,  so  as  to  join  the  line  which  runs  to 
the  river  at  Tappan.  Such  a  line  ought  to  be  explored  before 
final  location  of  the  road  through  Rockland  County. 

Another  part  of  the  line  in  Orange  County  ought  also  to 
be  noticed,  as  deserving  of  further  examination.  A  strong 
and  ardent  desire  to  accommodate  by  passing  in  the  immedi- 
ate vicinity  of  so  important  a  town  as  Goshen,  and  former 
examinations  for  a  railroad  having  produced  impressions 
favorable  to  that  route,  I  had  supposed  it  would  prove  the 
best  ground,  and  therefore  spent  our  labors  upon  it.  and  it 
was  not  until  it  was  too  late  that  we  observed  the  formation 
of  the  country  from  near  Chester  through  by  Florida,  and 
the  practicability  of  passing  the  Wallkill  near  Pellett's  Island 
and  joining  the  present  line  some  six  or  seven  miles  w<  1  of 
the  Wallkill.  that  we  supposed  we  could  change  from  the  route 
near  Goshen. 

This  route  requires  an  instrumental  survey,  but  unless  it 
proves  greatly  superior  to  that  by  Goshen,  as  now  returned, 
the  accommodation  of  so  important  a  town  ought  to  give  it 
the  preference.  The  route  between  the  Wallkill  ami  the  Shaw- 
angunk  mountain  and  a  final  location  on  this  part,  are  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  suggestion  about  the  Florida  route. 

It  has  been  proposed  to  cut  open  the  top  of  Deer  Park  Gap, 
which  is  a  deep  depression  of  the  Shawangunk  mountain, 
about  fifty  feet  at  the  highest  point.  This  is  done  in  order 
to  reduce  the  grade  upon  each  side,  and  particularly  cm  the 
west  side,  to  100  feet  per  mile.  The  east  side  can  be  easily 
reduced  to  a  grade  of  sixty  feet  for  a  short  distance  and  then 
much  less.  I  have  looked  at  this  point,  and  given  it  consider- 
able thought,  to  determine  what  ought  to  be  the  present  plan. 
in  reference  to  future  improvements,  when  the  great  111 
of  business  on  this  road  will  demand  every  facility  thai  the 
nature  of  the  country  will  permit:  and  it  has  brought  my 
mind  to  the  conclusion  that,  before  the  lapse  of  twenty  years 
after  the  completion  of  the  road,  a  tunnel  will  be  driven 
through  the  mountain,  of  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
length,  whereby  its  elevation  would  be  so  far  reduced  as  to 
admit  a  grade  of  probably  seventy-five  to  eighty  feet  on  the 
west  side,  and  about  thirty  mi  the  east.  As  the  acclh 
100  feet  to  the  mile  on  the  west  side  of  the  mountain  is  the 
steepest  grade  encountered  on  the  road,  it  has  also  app 
to  me  to  be  well  worthy  of  consideration  how  far  this  ascent 
could  be  relieved  by  the  adoption  of  an  inclined  plane  with 
a  stationary  engine;  believing  that  if  it  is  admissible  on  any 
intermediate  part  of  the  route  it  might  be  employed  at  this 
point  for  the  relief  of  the  burthen  cars  to  great  advantage. 
The  idea  of  the  tunnel  and  the  stationary  engine,  will,  how- 
ever, be  matters  of  subsequent  inquiry,  and  are  now  referred 


to  only  as  parts  of  an  ultimate  plan,  proper  to  be  borne  in 
mind  in  the  permanent  location  01  | 

The  line  as  located  then  rom  the  foot  of  Shawan- 

gunk mountain,  by  a  high  embankment,  across  the  Valley  of 

's    Kill,  and  then   crosses  the    Delaware  and    II 
Canal   without  difficulty,  and   soon   enters  the   valley   of  the 
Neversink  River,  which  it  follows  to  the  mouth  of  a  branch 
of  the  river,  called  the  Sheldrake,  and  up  that  to  it-  source; 
thenci  ireral  branches  of  the  Mon- 

gaup,  it  reaches  the  head  of  the  Calicoon,  a  branch  of  the 
Delaware,  which  it  follows  to  its  junction  with  the  latter 
ri\er. 

A  route  has  also  been  surveyed  down  the  Popacton.  or 
in  Branch  of  the  Delaware:  and  there  are  also  several 
other  routes  through  Sullivan  County,  which  have  been  ex- 
amined, and  regulai  surveys  carried  over  them.  One  I 
passing  near  Monticello,  which  is  the  county  town  of  Sullivan 
County,  would  on  that  account  desi  rve  a  pn  Ference,  if  the 
facilities  and  advantages  arc  nearly  equal  as  to  other  point-. 
such  as  grade  and  cheapness  of  construction:  and  alt!; 
our  surveys  as  we  made  them  did  not  show  as  favorable  a  line 
by  Monticello  as  by  the  other  route.  I  think  a  further  and 
more  critical  examination  should  be  made  through  this  dis- 
trict of  country  to  find  a  route  more  favorable  than  we  have 
yet  seen:  and.  should  this  be  the  case,  we  should.  I  think, 
shorten  the  route  some  miles,  and  obtain  the  advantage  of 
carrying  it  through  a  more  pqpulous  and  settled  country. 
Although  the  route  following  up  the  Eastern  or  Popacton 
branch,  and  then  the  Beaverkill.  and  Willemock,  and  Little 
Beaverkill,  has  been  regularly  surveyed,  and  profiles  of  it 
returned.  I  however  consider  the  route  by  the  Calicoon  to 
be  so  far  preferable  that  I  have  not  required  my  assistant  to 
give  me  quantities  on  this  route,  and  have  not  of  course 
estimated  it,  but  it  can  be  done  hereafter  if  necessai 
useful. 

In  carrying  the  route  of  the  railroad  through  the  heart  of 
Sullivan  County,  and  thereby  giving  great  and  permanent 
advantages  to  a  large  district  of  country,  capable  of  sustain- 
in.  1  considerable  population.  I  will  make  this  passing  re- 
mark, that  by  passing  down  the  valley  of  the  Xeversink.  from 
the  foot  of  the  Shawangunk  mountain,  until  I  reach, 
valley  of  the  Delaware  River,  and  then  passing  up  the  Dela- 
ware to  the  mouth  of  the  Calicoon.  I  might  have  found  a 
route  of  much  easier  grade,  and  one  which  would  not  average- 
over  fifteen  feet  to  the  mile.  But  to  that  plan  there  are  in 
my  mind,  serious  objections:  1  I'  would  be  a  more  c 
sive  line  to  grade,  on  account  of  it-  passing  along  steep 
hills,  with  heavy  ledges  of  rocks,  requiring  expensive  rock 
excavations.  2.  It  would  not  accommodate  or  be  very  Use- 
ful to  Sullivan  County,  as  the  country  along  tin-  bank  of  the 
Delaware  is  not  generally  favorable  for  cultivation.  3.  It 
might  come  into  collision  with  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal,  and  perhaps  divert  some  of  its  legitimate  and  fair 

and  in  construction  it  might  interfere  with  that  impor- 
tant and  very  useful  work,  for  the  execution  of  which  its  enter- 
prising proprietors  deser1 gratefully  considered. 

The  line  then  passes  up  the  Delaware  from  the  Calicoon  to 
llage  of  Deposit,  from  which  a  lateral  road  may 
be  extended  into  the  heart  of  Delaware  County.  The  route 
then  crosses  by  a  bridge  the  Main  or  Mohawk  Branch  of  the 
Delaware,  and  thence  follows  up  the  Oquago  Creek  to  its 
source,  on  towards  Bettsburgh;  from  whence  it  de- 

scends to  the  Susquehanna  and.  passing  that  river  near  Xine- 
vah,  follows  up  the  valley  of  Belden  Brook  to  its  source  and. 


1,1    \\\  l.l.N     fHE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


i 

lam- 
mined  between 

,und, 

,-.  on 
nton, 
5um- 
gher  than  I 

ne  but  by 

examined 

m  that  the  northern  route 

light 

fCT,   will    |  local 

it   will   gb 

ling    into    the    populous    and 

the  Upper 

nadilla,  ai  ■•'    the 

the  counl 

md,  and  parts  of  tl  inties. 

P   je  Brook  on  the 

determine  which  side  oi 

i  near  its  mouth;  a 

lss  into  the  growing  and 

hamton,  determined  me  to  have  the 

ide;  but,  ascertaining  that  the  Che- 

■   ■      :        en  finally  located,   I   directed  a 

S  the  river  near  the 

ik.     This  part  of  the  line  I  do  not  con- 

nally  determined  until  the 

pleted      When  that  shall  be    done,  we  can 

fair  chance  of  carrying  our  railroad  on  the 

And,  should  this  be  the 

ide  of  the  Che- 
near  to  Binghamton,  and  pass  over 
the  i  the  upper  part  of  that  villa) 

i  the  Chenango  River  the  route  in  following  down  the 
ul    i,,rty   n  es    through    the 

here  it  will  become  conn 
iw  in  preparation  i<>r  navigating  the 
•      :  ind    Ithaca  railroad, 

ii  line  witli  the  important  and  fertile 
nt  t"  the  Cayuga  and  Sen.  i   i   I 

•nil  of  the 

h  near  the   Pennsylvania  line  north 

>n  squehanna ) 

by  Elmira,  Big  Flal       nd  P  tinted  Po  t, 

•     and   the    Canisteo;   and   then, 

1  ! 

falling  into 

River.    Of 

■he  point  where  we 

near  Almond  the  grades 

SO. 

tward,  we  pass  the 
our  grade 

mile:   but   which   can   lie   somewhat 
mo,  the 

ivn  that  a   few   miles, 
and  then  up  h  the 

villa  gi 

■ 
ami  down  the  \.,''.  any   River. 

Through   this  d    '  mmit   between   the   waters 


oi  the  Susquehanna  :  ".1  the  waters  of  Genesee 

and    Alleghany,   we   have   Some    grades    which    reach    fifty    feet 
per  mile,  as  the  line  is  now  run;  but  it   is  believed  that  con- 
siderable improvement  will  be  made  in  this  part  on  a  rc\ 
of  the  line. 

Having  reached  the  valley  of  the  Alleghany,  we  pa--  down 
il        iut  twenty-six  miles,  over  excellent  ground,  generally, 
to  the    Indian   village,   near   the   ('.■Id   Spring    ('nek.       1 
leaving   the    Alleghany,   we    pass    up    the    vallcv    ..i   the    Cold 
Spring  and  over  a  small  swell  of  land,  and  descend   into  the 
valley  of  the   Little  ConewangO  (a  branch  of  the  Large  Cone- 
wango),  and  passing   down   that    stream   and  the   large   I 
wango,    through    the    village    of     Randolph    ill    Cattaraugus 
County,   and  the   village  of   Watcrboro  and    Keiincdyville,   in 
Chautauqua  County,   following  down  the  valley   of  the   ' 
Conewango  to  the  Casadaga  branch,  and  up  that  to  its  junc- 
|  I    tiautauqua  outlet;  we  then  follow   up  the  Casadaga 

■  reek,  and  up  that  to  near  Rear  Lake.  Here 
we  arrive  at  the  dividing  point  between  tin  waters  which  run 
southerly  into  the  Alleghany.  which   run   northerly 

into  Lake  Erie.  At  this  point,  we  are  only  about  live  miles 
in  a  direct  line  from  Lake  Erie  and  740  feet  above  it.  And 
here  is  a  place  where  we  find  ground  favorable  to  descend 
by  one  plane  506  feet  in  a  distance  of  about  one  and  a  half 
miles.  At  the  foot  of  this  plane  we  find  ourselves  nearly  equi- 
distant from  Dunkirk  and  Portland. 

At  Dunkirk  the  Government  of  the  United  States  have 
expended  considerable  money  in  the  construction  of  a  harbor 
and  are  preparing  to  expend  more.  At  Portland  there  has 
been  no  in.  cept  by  individuals.    Tin   Gov- 

ernment of  the  United  States  have  had  a  regular  survey  and 
estimate  of  cost,  to  make  a  harbor.  It  is  said  that  the  cost 
of  making  a  harbor,  upon  the  plan-  reported  by  Captain 
Maurice,  of   Portland,  would  be  $40,000. 

A  route  was  surveyed  from  Randolph,  in  the  Count]  ..: 
Cattaraugus,  up  the  valley  of  the  Greal  Conewango  t"  its 
source,  and  then  striking  off  toward  Dunkirk.  This  route 
was  tried  ill  order  to  find  a  more  direct  and  shorter  course  to 
Dunkirk,  or  to  Fayette,  at  the  mouth  of  Silver  Creek.  This 
latter  plan  has  claims  for  its  natural  advantages  for  a  harbor, 
and  probably  will  receive  attention  at  a  future  day. 

In  running  the  line  to  the  head  of  the  Conewango.  and  from 
thence  beginning  to  descend  the  declivity  towards  Lake  Erie, 
I  was  in  hopes  oi  tin. line  ground  Favorable  for  descending  at 

fifty    or    sixty    feet    per    mile,    and    reaching    Dunkirk    by    that 

grade  and  thereby  doing  away  with  tin  necessity  of  stationary 
steam  power  and  incline. I  plani  5,  hut  I  found  the  whole  face 
of  the  country  so  cut  by  gulfs,  and  intersected  by  ridges,  that 
I  was  defeated  in  my  project  and  abandoned  it.  The  plan 
appear-  to  me  to  deserve  further  exploration  before  a  final 
ton.  1  had  also  lines  of  survey  run  on  each  side  ol  the 
Chautauqua  Lake,  and  thence  to  Portland. 

In   selecting  the  Casadaga  route,  I   have  considered  the  ad 

ing  through  the  centre  of  the  County  of  Chau- 

1      pi lung    w  ithin  about   three  and   a   hal 

of  Jamestown,  a!  pn    ent  thi    !  all  the  towns  in  this 

valuable   country.      Its   approximate  to   the   hath 

Dunkirk  and  Portland  tends  to  entitle  it  to  a  preference;  while 
■one  probability  that   improvements  will   soon   be  made 
in  the   Alleghany    River,  so  as  to   render   it   at   all   times  navi- 
gable  f'.r  .  and   the   fact    that    it   may   now   he   navi- 

iderable  period  in  the  spring,  render  it 

Dtinue    the    route    as    far   as    practicable,    down 
alley  of  the  Stream,  and  thereby  facilitate-  the  din .  ■ 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


29 


munication  between  the  city  of  New  York  and  the  great  valley 
of  the  Ohio.  And  it  ought  also  to  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  construction  of  the  road  as  far  as  this  point  will  go  far 
to  insure  its  continuation  through  the  Western  States  to  the 
.Mississippi  River;  in  which  event,  the  great  western  branch 
would  have  the  main  line  near  the  mouth  of  the  Casadaga 
Creek. 

The  total  amount  of  the  linear  extent  from  the  Hudson 
River  to  Lake  Erie  will  be  483  miles:  which  distance  may, 
however,  be  shortened  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  by  alterations 
in  the  route  which  may  be  found  desirable  upon  a  further 
survey.  The  curves  upon  the  road  are  generally  easy,  none 
of  them  having  less  than  five  hundred  feet  radius.  The  gradu- 
ation of  the  road  has  been  estimated  throughout  for  a  double 
track,  including  embankments  in  all  cases  of  solid  earth,  and 
embracing  all  necessary  bridges,  viaducts,  and  culverts,  to- 
gether with  the  expense  of  grubbing  and  fencing:  compre- 
hending, in  fact,  the  whole  cost  of  the  road,  except  that  of 
the  superstructure,  and  of  the  damages  (ii  any)  to  be  paid 
for  the  land  to  be  taken. 

According  to  the  report  of  Mr.  Seymour,  the  expense  of 
graduation  thus  estimated  for  the  222^4  miles  between  the 
Hudson  River  and  Binghamton,  will  amount  to  $1,551,982, 
being  $6,968  10-100  per  mile.  And  according  to  the  report 
and  estimate  of  Mr.  Ellet,  the  expense  of  graduation  thus 
estimated  for  the  260J4  miles,  will  be  $1,165,536,  being  $4,478 
51-100  per  mile.  Total  graduation  for  the  483  miles,  $2,717,- 
518,  or  $5,626  33-100  per  mile,  including  fencing,  clearing  in 
timber  land  100  feet  on  each  side  (to  prevent  trees  falling  on 
the  road)  and  also  bridges  over  rivers,  viaducts,  culverts, 
road  crossings,  etc.,  etc. 

Cost  of  Grading  as  above $2,717,518  00 

Add  10  per  cent,  for  contingencies 271.751  00 


$2,989,269  00 


The  cutting  and  embankments  are  all  twenty-five  feet  wide, 
and  the  slopes  of  the  embankment  are  one  and  a  half  base  to 
one  perpendicular.  This  I  consider  as  a  permanent  and  solid 
form,  and  calculated  for  stability.  The  expense  of  super- 
structure will  vary  according  to  the  particular  plan  which 
shall  be  adopted. 

I  have  caused  cross  sections  of  several  different  roads  now 
completed  to  be  drawn,  and  have  also  drawn  some  which  I 
think  well  adapted  to  the  country  through  which  the  road 
will  pass,  for  400  miles,  if  a  wood  and  iron  road  is  adopted. 
(Mr.  Wright  here  refers  to  two  of  these  roads,  one  of  which 
"  if  built  of  yellow  pine  and  oak,  or  chestnut,  will  cost,  in 
Orange  or  Rockland,  about  $2,830  per  mile,"  and  the  other 
"  will  cost  about  $3,400  per  mile.")  Such  as  the  Camden  and 
Amboy,  and  the  Columbia  and  Philadelphia  road,  cost  ten 
to  twelve  thousand  dollars  per  mile.  The  Petersburg  and 
Roanoke  cost  about  $2,600  per  mile,  as  I  have  been  informed. 
These  are  all  for  a  single  track,  with  one  turnout  or  siding  to 
each  mile. 

Brought   forward $2,989,269  00 

If  the  sum  of  $3,400  per  mile  be  taken,  it  amounts 

to 1.642.200  00 

Add  for  engineer,  etc.,  3  per  cent,  on  $4,359,788. .      130.791  00 


$4.-62.260  00 


This  sum  will  grade  and  bridge  over  rivers  the  whole  road 


for  two  tracks,  and  put  down  one  track,  which  is  all  that 
ought  to  be  done  until  the  road  is  traveled  nearly  its  whole 
length;  and  this  also  includes  the  inclined  plane  and  steam 
power  to  operate  upon  it,  and  also  a  long  and  expensive  wharf 
into  the  Hudson  River.  These  estimates  are.  in  my  opinion, 
liberal,  and  such  as  will  make  an  excellent  road:  and,  as  I 
have  before  observed,  then'  are  many  places  where  a  great 
reduction  might  be  made  in  the  expense,  by  a  small  alteration 
of  the  grade.  There  are  also  very  great  reductions  which 
may  be  made  in  the  outlay  of  capital,  in  the  construction 
of  this  road,  by  making  timbi  1  work,  in  many  places,  where 
I  have  made  calculations  of  earth  embankments.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  when  a  final  location  of  a  working  line  shall  be 
made,  the  engineer  will  be  able  to  make  small  variations  in 
the  line  which  would  very  greatly  reduce  the  expense.  I 
make  these  remarks  to  show  that  there  is  no  doubt  in  my 
mind  of  the  estimate  being  amply  sufficient  for  grading  the 
road. 

The  bridges  over  the  large  rivers  I  have  also  estimated 
higher  than  they  will  cost,  if  only  built  without  regard  to 
roofing,  or  otherwise  protecting  them  from  the  weather.  I 
have  considered  and  planned  these  bridges  to  be  only  si 
or  eighteen  feet  wide,  and  so  formed  as  to  have  a  double 
track  over  them,  but  that  so  fixed  that  loaded  trains  of  cars 
cannot  pass  each  other  on  these  large  bridges.  I  did  not 
think  so  much  weight  as  two  trains  of  loaded  cars  passing 
different  ways  ought  to  be  permitted  to  pass  on  a  bridge  at 
the  same  time.  It  would  perhaps  bring  fifty  tons  or  more 
on  it  at  the  same  moment,  which  is  improper,  unless  in  one 
long,  extended  train. 

I  have  also  estimated  one  turnout  or  siding  to  each  mile. 
If  locomotive  power  is  used  on  the  long  easy  grades  before 
mentioned,  these  turnouts  ought  to  be  dispensed  with,  and 
only  placed  at  every  five  or  ten  miles,  as  they  are  found 
extremely  troublesome  where  locomotive  power  is 
owing  to  carelessness  and  inattention  in  leaving  them  open 
when  they  ought  to  be  shut.  I  find  that  on  railroads  now 
in  use,  the  test  of  experience  has  shown  it  necessary  to  take 
up  turnouts,  which  had  been  placed  every  mile,  and  only  place 
them  once  in  ten  miles,  and  that  at  the  water  stations  for  the 
locomotives;  and  in  this  case  the  man  who  attends  the  water 
stations  sees  to  the  turnout  being  in  its  place,  whenever  the 
cars  are  coming  in  sight. 

In  making  the  estimate  I  have  put  down  the  item  of  fencing, 
and  also  clearing  away  the  timber  on  each  side  of  the  railroad 
for  100  feet  wide,  to  prevent  trees  falling  on  the  road.      1 
items  are  of  that  kind  that  in  many  instances  there  may  be 
arrangements  with  the  owners  of  property  to  save  some  part 
of  the  estimated  cost.     I  have  said  that  water  stations,  where 
locomotive  engines  are  used,  are  generally  about  ten  miles 
apart;  this  is  the  case  on  some  roads:  on  others  these  stations 
arc  twelve  miles  and  more  distant.     This  is  regulated  by  the 
ity  of  the  water  cars  or  tanks  carried  by  each  locomoth  e 
The  country  through  which  we  pass  is  admirably  adapl 
furnish  water  convenient  and  cheap.     The  springs  in  th< 
of  hills  are  ir   road.    SO  that    it   will    only   be 

necessary  to   introduce  some   aqueduct    logs,   and   brin 
water  to  the  proper  elevation  required. 

In  tli'     reports   of  railroads   which   have  been   co 
and  now  in  use.  the  heavy  and  expensive  items  for  poi 
stone  which  has  been  used  to  fill  up  trenches  has  added  very 
greatly  to  the  expense.     Experieno  however,  satisfied 

most  of  the  practical  engineers  that  the  road  does  not  stand 
'1    when   laid  on   broken   stone   as  when   laid   on   planks 


BE  l\\  I  EN     Mil.    I  »(  EAN    AND     I  HI      LAK]  S 


i    tim- 

them  tin  id  will  be 

ited  is  cir- 

i 

I  that  the  boldest  curve  need  not  be 
r  curves  than 
n  the  United  Si 
And  I  »  or  will  ar'se 

turning  them. 
The  the  eastern  division 

n  of  Liberty,  in  the  County  of 
tid  the  junction  of  the  Papact 
ware  with  the  North  or  Mohawk 
inty. 

down  the  Calii 

difficulty  ent;  and 

that  tl  kill  route  would  have  one  inclined  plane  near 

rhi-    route    by    the    Beaverkill    is.    however. 

nine  miles  shorter  than  the  Calicoon  route:  and.  admit- 

ling  around  the 

mountains,   then    the   distance 

•ill  further  shortened  three  miles  at  least,  making 

Still,  it  a]  m  a  comparison 

that  tl  •  nting  to  some- 

■ 

n  the  Calicoon  and   Dela- 
ted my  mind  in  favor  of 
gh  an  increased  distance. 
under  whi  Made  provides  that 

of  New   York,  or  it-  vicinity, 
onvenient.     The 
River  where  the  road  would  strike  it 
■  further  revision,  and  knowing  that  no 
in    locating    the    road    through 
and  funds  pre- 

■  ither  parts 
and  then  it  would  be  made 

All  v  illy  submitted. 

Wright, 
r  X.  Y.  and   Erie  Railroad. 
k.  January 

TIp  in  this  original  survey  for 

the  N        i  insisted  ■>:  I . 

Her  and  R.  S.  V.  ids  <>i"  pa 

Thomas    L.   Ogden,  Jr.,   Philip  Church,  Jr.,   D.  G. 
Kennedy,  D.  E.  .  W.  Ingersoll,  F.  Nichol- 

tter,  C.  L. 
Seymour.  W.   I '■ 

ineerW  tants, 

Seymour  and   Ell  technical,  embrac- 


intific  discourses  mi  inclined  planes  and  ab- 
struse algebraic  demonstrations  of  power,  etc.  The 
remarks  of  Engineer  Ellet  on  the  possibilities  of 
rating  the  proposed  inclined  plane,  without  which 
it  was  thought  Lake  Erie  could  not  In-  reached  .is 
the  western  terminus  of  the  road,  and  his  recom- 
mendation as  to  the  management  and  economizing 
of  locomotive  power  in  raising  other  elevations  on 
the  Western  Division,  cannot  but  be  provocative  of 
amusement  in  these  later  days  of  railroad  construc- 
tion and  operation.      Mr.  Ellet  said: 

"  As  there  are  always   some  articles,  such   as   lumber  and 
certain    produce,    which    may    lie    retained    at    the    head    of   the 

plane  to  bi  occasion  requires,  to  assist  in  the 

elevation   of   the   ascending  cars,   it    would   not    he   proper   to 

ntirely  tin  derived  from  this  souri 

We    cannot    hope    to   n  of    the    arrival    and 

departure  of  the  trains  moving  in  either  direction,   so  as  to 

ain  the  full  [i   of  the  descending  loads;  nor  can  we 

fix  upon  any  amount  of  tonnage  that  may  he  commanded  at 
all  times,  without  interfering  with  the  regular  transit,  to  ac- 

iplish,  in  part,  this  object,  unless  we  assume  an  amount 
far  below  that  which  must  actually  pas-.  Yet  I  think  if  we 
can  predicate  our  calculations  on  the  supposition  that  the 
weight  which  may  In  retained  at  the  head  of  the  plane  for 
this  purpose,  together  with  that  which  may  accidentally  ar- 
rive at  the  pt<  iiit  to  l>e  so  employed,  i-  barely  suf- 
ficient   i me    all    the    friction    both    of   the   cars   and 

machinery,   we   shall   not   he  disappointed   in   practice.      But    1 
mid  not  wisl     to   bi    undersl 1   t"   - la    reliance 

m    such    a  in   general,    when   arranging    the   ma- 

chinery  of  stationary   engine-,    for.    in    mo  this   aid 

would  he  fortuitous  and  attended  with  such  uncertainty  as 
to  render  any  dependence  upon  it  extremely  hazardous:  and 
it  is  only  because  of  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  present  plane 
that  it  i-  deemed  proper  to  ,uh  ise  it. 

"  Xo  inconvenience  need  result  from  the  necessity  of  o 
sionally  letting  down  a  few  car-  .it  a  time:  since  no  delay  will 
ii    ur  at  the  foot  of  the  plane  for  want  ol  powei   to  convey 

them  through  the  next  stage;  the  ile-cent  from  tin-  point  to 
the  harbors  of  Dunkirk  and  Portland  being  more  than  suf- 
ficient t"  overcome  the  friction.  I'm-  tin  -.urn-  reason  it 
would  ii.  lor  the  engine,  which  had  drawn  the 

d  to  the  head  of  the  plane,  | eding  with  it  beyond  this 

p.  lint;  -o  that  the  stationary  ould  always  he  relieved 

lit   the   weight    of  the   locomotive  and   its   convoy,    which    it    is 

not   mi'  ndi  d  to  causi    to  pass  the  plane.    Twi  i  ti  ins 

may  hr  sidered  a  -mi"  ienl   1 1  I  [ine 

ons   weight   to   draw    from   the   lake   to   thi 

.lit.   where  some  of  the   gl     !            ceed   thirty  two  feet   per 

mile:   and   tin-,   to",    may   he   deemed   a   sufficient  an 

engi  nward  from  the  head  of 

the   plane,   where   none   of  the   grades   exceed   twenty    feet 
mile. 

"There  is  one  point  between  tin    I     !      '  onnewango  and 
th.  hanj    River  where  the  |  et  pei 

mile,  and  an  engine,  under  very  unfavorable  circumstanci 
would  be  unable  to  overcome  this  height  with  such  train 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


3i 


it  would  be  found  convenient  to  load  it  on  other  parts  of  the 
line.  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  perfect  practicability  of  reduc- 
ing this  inclination  very  much,  but  even  in  its  present  state 
it  can  present  no  serious  obstacle,  since  it  can  rarely  happen 
that  the  extraordinary  load  and  most  unfavorable  situation  of 
the  road  will  occur  at  the  same  time.  For  if  the  load  be  found 
to  be  less  than  might  be  taken  with  the  greatest  advantage, 
it  may  always  be  increased  along  the  line  of  the  road  by  the 
travel,  lumber  and  produce  of  the  country. 

"  We  may,  therefore,  calculate  the  power  of  the  engine  on 
the  supposition  that  the  gross  weight  to  be  raised  is  twenty- 
five  tons,  and  the  friction  is  destroyed  by  the  descending  load. 
We  may  suppose  the  velocity  is  twelve  miles  per  hour,  so 
that,  if  it  should  hereafter  be  found  desirable  to  increase  the 
loads,  it  may  be  done  by  changing  the  gearing  so  as  to 
diminish  the  velocity  of  ascent,  and  augment  the  force  of  the 
machinery.  Or,  making  due  allowance  for  extra  power,  we 
may  consider  two  engines  of  sixty  horse-power  sufficient  for 
this  plane.  The  probability  is  that  this  will  be  eventually 
found  insufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  the  trade,  and 
that  it  will  be  necessary  to  construct  another  plane  to  assist 
in  overcoming  this  ridge.  This  will  not  be  necessary,  how- 
ever, until  the  trade  exceeds  400  tons  per  diem  in  each  direc- 
tion; when,  and  sooner,  perhaps,  a  double  track  from  the  lake 
to  the  Hudson  will  have  become  indispensable. 

"  On  a  line  of  such  great  length  it  will  be  necessary  to  place 
extra  locomotives  at  intervals  along  the  route,  to  be  em- 
ployed in  case  of  accident  to  those  forming  a  part  of  the  regu- 
lar system,  or  to  replace  them  whenever,  from  any  cause,  it 
be  found  requisite  to  withdraw  one.  At  some  of  the  positions 
where  these  engines  of  relief  will  lie  required,  a  machine  shop 
will  be  established  for  the  repair  of  disabled  cars  and  loco- 
motives, and  at  which  the  trains  will  generally  halt  for  the 
convoy  carriage  to  receive  its  supply  of  water  and  fuel.  Let 
us  -uppose  one  of  these  establishments  to  be  located  at  the 
village  of  Almond  on  the  Caneadea.  where  the  locor 
which  had  drawn  the  train  up  the  valley  of  the  Canisteo  would 
begin  to  require  assistance.  Xow,  even  were  the  line  per- 
fectly level,  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  engines  in  waiting 
at  certain  points  to  relieve  their  predecessor  and  draw  the 
load  through  the  next  stage;  and  we  may  place  one  at  this 
station,  as  well  as  any  other.  Suppose,  then,  an  engine  0 
tons  weight  arrives  with  a  load  of  twenty-two  tons  at  the  end 
of  this  stage.  My  present  remarks  are  intended  to  show  the 
arrangement  where  the  combination  of  difficulties  is  the  great- 
est. In  general,  the  train  brought  to  this  point  by  such  an 
engine,  need  not  be  less  than  fifty  tons.  If  there  then  be  an 
engine  of  eight  tons  attached  to  it.  the  two  together  will  be 
able  to  ascend  a  grade  of  seventy-two  feet  to  the  mile,  with- 
out diminishing  the  load,  and  without  any  slipping  of  the 
wheels  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances.  On  ar- 
riving at  the  summit,  the  lighter  engine  will  be  detached,  and 
the  other  will  be  able  to  surmount  unaided  the  sti 
ascents  that  occur  between  this  point  and  the  village  of  Cuba. 
The  distance  from  the  village  of  Almond  to  this  place,  by  the 
line  of  the  railroad,  is  forty-five  miles:  and  here  I  would  pro- 
pose establishing  another  station  for  changing  the  engines, 
and  keeping  power  in  reserve.     At  this  point,  the  engine  of 


eight  tons  would  be  disengaged,  and  a  lighter  one  substituted 
in  its  place.  When  the  next  train  traveling  from  the  west  to 
the  east  arrives,  it  will  have  to  commence  at  this  place  (Cuba), 
ascending  a  grade  rising  at  the  rate  of  fifty  feet  per  mile.  If 
the  load  do  not  exceed  forty-live  or  fifty  tons  the  heavy  en- 
gine which  is  here  attached  would  generally  be  able  to  carrj 
it  through:  and.  if  it  do  not  exceed  twenty  tons  it  will  still  be 
able  to  accomplish  the  task,  whatever  be  the  situation  of  the 
rails.  But  should  it  be  greater  than  these  amounts,  the  engine 
which  brought  the  train  to  the  foot  of  the  ascent  must  assist 
in  raising  it  to  the  summit,  and  afterwards  return  to  its  place. 
"  This  arrangement.  I  will  repeat,  does  not  involve  us  in 
any  additional  expense,  excepting  at  those  times  when  the 
condition  of  the  road  renders  necessary  the  assistance  of  the 
second  engine,  for  these  stations  and  these  engines  of  relief 
will  be  required  whether  such  ascents  are  to  be  encountered 
or  not.  We  only  change  their  location  in  consequence  of 
these  impediments,  from  that  which  might,  in  the  contrary 
event,  be  selected  as  preferable." 


Before  the  railroad  was  built  many  changes  were 
made  in  that  original  route,  as  will  appear  as  this 
narrative  progresses,  but,  although  a  railroad  built 
according  to  the  plans  and  over  the  route  provided 
in  1834  would  have  been  one  utterly  impossible  of 
practical  utilization,  that  survey  stands  to-day  a 
wonderful  exhibit  of  genius  in  railroad  engineering, 
and  shows  an  originality  of  thought,  and  a  peculiar 
application  of  scientific  principles  to  a  work  then 
almost  unknown  to  the  engineering  world — an  ap- 
plication which  established  a  precedent  for  all  future 
engineering  of  that  kind. 

It  is  a  matter  to  be  deeply  regretted  that  the  maps 
and  profiles  of  this  survey,  and  the  many  plans  for 
roadbed,  superstructure,  railroad  machinery,  etc., 
prepared  and  submitted  with  the  reports,  and  which 
would  be  of  inestimable  historic  value  now,  cannot 
be  found  in  any  of  the  public  departments  of  the 
State  of  New  York  at  Albany.  There  is  no  record 
of  them  after  they  were  sent  to  the  Legislature  by 
Secretary  of  State  Dix  in  January,  1835.  This  is 
also  true  of  the  Articles  of  Incorporation  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company.  This  document 
is  not  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  where 
it  should  have  been  deposited,  according  to  law,  nor 
is  there  any  record  of  its  ever  having  been  in  that 
office. 


CHAPTER    V. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF   JAMES    GORE    KING— 1835    TO    1839. 

led  by  James  Gore   King  — State  Aid  Asked  for  Unsuccessfully —  The  Company 

I  Official   Report  of  the  Company. 

slative  Aid  Renewed—  Bitterly  Opposed,  but  a  Bill  Authorizing  $3,000,0000!  Mate 

«  .1  Hindrance  rather  than  a  Help  —  President  King  Appeals  to  his   Friends 

Build  the  Railroad  with  Somebody  Else's  Money  —  Legislature  Refuses  Aid.     III.  I 

a  Plan  — Why  the  Broad  I  ident  King,  Absent  in  Europe,  Returns 

a  —  King's  Policy  is  to  Make  the  Railroad  a  Mate  Work  —  A  Bill  for  that  Purpose  Defeated  by  only 

One  Vote  —  President  King  Resigns. 


I.    MAKING    A    START. 

Till:  survey  of  the  route  for  the  great  railroad  had 
made,   but   it    was   not   claimed  to  be  one  on 
.   the  entire   route  was  to   be  located.     There 
till  much  to  be  done  before  the  final  location 
and  beginning  of  the  working  of  construction  could 
be    accomplished.       The    result    of    Eleazar    Lord's 
management  of  the  preliminary  construction  affairs 
of  the  Company  had    not    met   with   the  entire  ap- 
.!  of  some   members  of  the   Board  of  Directors 
and  certain   friends  of  the  contemplated   railroad  in 
rk    City   and    interior    counties,    and    being 
unab.  -tore  harmony,    he  resigned   the   office 

nuary,    1835.     At  a  meeting  of  the  Hoard  of 
bruary  4  following,  James  Gore  King 
ted  to  succeed  him,  and  the  thanks  of  the 
the  stockholders  were  voted  to  the  re- 
tiring t   for  "  the  great  ability  and  disinter- 
with  which   he  has  discharged  the  duties 
of  th  It  \\  Ived   l>y  the  I 
that  "  the  funds  of  t.                'any,   in   the  hands  of 
'rime,  V.                       .  consisting  of  the  full 
int   of   the  first   instalment   of   io.OOO  shares  of 

posited  until 
othei  d  with    the   New   York    Life   Insur- 

ance and  Tn  iject  to  the  joint  order 

of  the    1'  V    e-President."       This    was 

a  member  of 
tlie  bankii  King,  which 

house  occupied   in   that  da  ition   in  the  finan- 


cial world  not  unlike  that  of  the  house  of  J.  P.  Mor- 
gan cv-  Co.  of  to-day. 

On  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Lord  as  President, 
Goold  Hoyt  retired  from  the  Vice-Presidency.  Mr. 
Lord  was  unanimously  elected  to  succeed  him,  and 
was  also  elected  Treasurer  in  place  of  William  G. 
Buckner,  who  resigned  office  and  from  the  Direc- 
tory. Three  others  of  the  old  Board  retired,  and 
Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  John  G.  Coster,  John  Rath- 
bone,  Jr.,  all  of  New  York,  and  Jeremiah  H.  Pier- 
son  of  Ramapo,  were  elected  to  their  places.  With 
these  gentlemen  were  associated  the  following  in  the 
Board:  James  G.  King,  Eleazar  Lord,  John  Duer, 
Peter  Harmony,  Goold  Hoyt,  James  Boorman, 
Michael  Burnham,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Elihu  Town- 
send,  Stephen  Whitney,  J.  G.  Pearson,  George  D. 
Wickham  (of  Goshen),  and  Joshua  Whitney  (of 
Binghamti 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  management  was 
to  seek  legislation  for  State  aid.  The  bill  presented 
to  the  Legislature  at  the  session  of  1835  was  drawn 
to  authorize  tin-  Comptroller  of  the  State  to  issue 
and  deliver  to  the  Company  certificates  of  stock  to 
the  amount  of  $500,000  upon  the  first  expenditure 
by  the  Company  of  §1,000,000  in  constructing  the 
road,  bearing  interest  at  4C  per  cent.,  payable  semi- 
annually; also  tin-  same  amount  of  stock  upon  every 
expenditure  of  an  additional  $1,000,000,  provided 
that  such  State  stock  should  not  exc  I  00,000; 
the  road  and  its  appurtenances  to  be  n  d  to 

the  St.ii  urity  for  the  payment  of  tin-  princi- 


A  ^ 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


33 


pal  and   interest  of  the  money  for  which  such  stock 
was  issued. 

This  aid  was  asked  for  on  the  pica  that  it  would 
insure  the  completion  of  the  railroad,  and  was  based 
on  the  report  made  by  Engineer  Benjamin  Wright, 
that  the  railroad  could  be  completed,  with  a  single 
track,  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie  for 
§4,762,200,  on  which  investment  it  was  shown  by 
the  estimates  of  the  Company  that  the  railroad 
would  return  a  profit  of  from  10  to  13  percent.  Al- 
though the  Legislature  was  flooded  with  petitions 
from  people  all  along  the  line  of  the  proposed  rail- 
road, and  from  the  authorities  of  New  York  City 
and  Brooklyn,  praying  for  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
there  was  a  strong  feeling  in  the  same  region  against 
the  legislation  on  the  ground  that  it  would  authorize 
a  misuse  of  the  public  funds,  although,  in  fact,  that 
feeling  was  fostered  as  a  political  measure.  It  found 
expression  in  the  Eastern  section  interested  in  the 
building  of  the  railroad,  through  a  leading  local 
newspaper  as  follows: 

The  company  incorporated  have  declared  their  inability  to 
proceed  upon  their  own  resources,  anil  have  petitioned  for 
Legislative  aid.  A  bill  has  been  introduced  in  accordance 
with  these  petitions.  Our  opinion  is  that  the  State  should 
construct  the  work  as  soon  as  its  resources  shall  la-  adequate 
thereto.  We  dislike  this  mixture  of  State  affair-  with  -nock- 
jobbing  operations.  If  the  company  cannot  fulfill  its  char- 
ter, let  the  Legislature  annul  it  and  take  the  matter  into  their 
own  hands.  The  Southern  counties  have  an  equitable  claim 
on  the  State  for  assistance,  and  when  it  i-  approved  it  should 
redound  to  their  benefit,  not  to  that  of  a  private  corporation. 
If  the  State  cannot  construct  the  road  the  avails  will  go  into 
the  public  treasury  for  the  common  benefit;  if  otherwise, 
into  the  pockets  of  stock  jobbers.  If  the  work  belongs  to 
the  State  the  tolls  upon  it  may  be  reduced,  after  defraying 
the  expense  of  its  construction,  to  such  an  amount  as  may 
be  necessary  to  keep  it  in  order.  If  :;  corporation  ha-  the 
control,  it  remains  a  single  monopoly,  to  be  managed  in 
such  manner  as  shall  most  conduce  to  the  pecuniary  benefit 
of  the  stockholders.  These  ami  many  (.titer  reasons  may  be 
urged  why  a  work  of  such  magnitude,  involving  the  intci 
of   so    i  ection   of  country,   should   not   be   intrusted 

to  a  private  corporation.     We  are  happy  to  see  that  the  sub- 
ject is  awakening  attention  along  the  route  of  the   p 
movement. — Independent     Republican     (Democratic).     Goshen, 
X.    V.,  Feb.  _>4-   1835. 

The  same  feeling  on  the  subject  in  the  Western 
counties  was  voiced  by  an  influential  newspaper  as 
follows : 

We  are  astonished,  while  noticing  every  petition  introduced 
on  this  subject,  that  all  the  memorials  ask  for  "  aid  " — not 
one    requesting   the   State   to   construct   the   road.      But    we 
3 


venture  to  say  that  of  all  those  memorialists  not  one  in  fifty 
knows  they  have  prayed  the  Legislature  to  loan  $2,000,000 
to  a  wealthy  company  of  speculators  to  secure  them  the  in- 
heritance of  the  most  valuable  stock  ever  granted  in  Xew 
York — instead  of  asking  the  State  to  construct  the  road,  the 
of  which  after  five  years  would  become  an  everlasting 
and  increasing  fund  suffii  ieiit  to  defray  all  the  State  expendi- 
tures, to  educate  our  children  forever.  The  people  have  never 
intended  to  ask  this  grant  for  ;i  company.  We  ask  the  State 
to  perform  this  work.  We  demand  it  as  a  just  claim.  Y 
demand  thai  the  Mate  immediately  take  back  the  grant  from 
the  company,  who  have  thus  artfully  stepped  between  us 
ami  tlu-  Legislature  to  vol.  us  of  the  claim  we  hold  for  the 
funds  taken  from  us  to  complete  the  great  canals. — Farmers' 
Advocate  (Democratic),  Bath.  X.  )'.,  Feb.  16,  1835. 

In  the  same  strain  the  bill  was  opposed  in  the 
Legislature,  strong  points  being  made  against  it  by 
Assemblyman  Wilkinson  of  Onondaga  Count}-,  who 
declared  that,  under  conditions  for  construction  more 
favorable  than  those  on  the  route  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad,  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  the 
Camden  and  Amboy,  and  the  Columbia  and  Lan- 
caster railroads,  all  then  recently  put  in  operation, 
had  cost  from  four  to  six  times  as  much  per  mile 
($30,000  to  $50,000)  as  it  was  estimated  by  Engi- 
neer Wright  that  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
was  to  cost.  Mr.  Wilkinson  also  showed,  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  engineer's  report  on  that  sub- 
ject, a  surprising  knowledge,  for  that  day,  of  the 
capacity  and  practical  working  of  locomotives,  and 
used  it  effectively  in  behalf  of  the  influence  of  the 
Erie  Canal.  He  also  dwelt  on  the  fact  that  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  had  been 
organized  on  a  payment  of  but  5  per  cent,  of  the 
amount  of  stock  required  to  be  subscribed  in  1833, 
when  the  act  declared  that  10  per  cent,  should  be 
paid,  and  that  it  had  made  no  report  to  the  Comp- 
troller, in  violation  of  law. 

"  In  the  winter  of  1833, *'  said  Mr.  Wilkinson, 
"  they  [the  Railroad  Company]  said  they  would  be- 
gin the  work  if  they  were  permitted  to  organize  on 
the  amount  of  stock  then  provided  for.  The}-  were 
permitted  to  do  so.  In  September,  1833,  they  pub- 
lished a  circular  stating  that  they  could  not  go  on 
without  liberal  giants  and  cessions  of  land  to  them. 
In  1835  [recently]  they  profess  to  the  corporation  of 
the  city  of  New  York  that  they  can  finish  the  Dela- 
ware Division  in  two  years  without  the  aid  of  the 
State.     Now    they    tell    the    Legislature    that    they 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  ["HE  LAKES 


icnt. 
had  an 

ned,   and   Stuyvesant, 

their    pi 

.  which  •  A  the  fust 

10,000  subscribed  in 

•  which,  it  is  alleged,  was 

,in  G.  Buckner,  a  Wall  Street  specu- 

ith  the  New  York  Life  Insur- 

y.      Among    the    four   new 

1    are    trustees   of   the    Trust 

Three   "!'  the  other  Directors  are  trus- 

■  ■f   the   Tru~-  nv,    making   six    railroad 

directors  in  t;  my. 

"  The  new  President   is  James  G.  King.      He  is  a 
e  banker,    sustaining  a   relation   to   our   State 
rnment  something  similar  to  that  of  the  Barings 
to    the    governments    of    Europe. 
your  endorsement.      Sir,  throw   this  loan  in 
market,  and  it  will  be  strange  if  he  is   not  a  bidder 
for  it  at  a  premium.    If  the  project  was  to  be  acconi- 
d  for  the  sum  estimated,  and  the  profits  to  be 
such  as  we  are   told,    he   would   not   waste   time  in 
coming  here  and   telling  his  intentions,   but  would 
make    immediate    provision  for  the  hasty  construc- 
of  the  work  without  your  aid.      If  the  calcula- 
they   make   as   to  the  profits  of  the   railroad 
when  completed  approximate  to  any  degree  of  cor- 
rectness, we  will  be  slow  to  believe  that   this  Corn- 
would  not  go  on  at  once  and  make  the  road. 
When  the  Company  shall  have  shown   that  they  in- 
to construct   this  work  by  setting  about  it  in 
faith,  and  doing  something  to  show  it  worthy 
of  the  attention  of  the  State,  then  will  be  the  proper 
time  •  [uestion  of  extending  aid  to  it. 

iny  abandon  it,  as  they  say  they 
will  if  thej-  fail  in  this  plea  for  aid,  then  it  will  be 
time  •  ler  whether  it  will  be  wise  and  sound 

' o  construct  it." 
iiurch,  who  had  come  to  doubt  very  much 
the  s  rn  prom.'  inder- 

takin  I  Albany  watchin  urse  of  events 

and,  according  to  a  letter 
he  wrote  to  Belvidere,  Allegany 

County,  it   wa  ■      f.,r  the   future  of  thi 

road,  and    for   t.  of    the   counties   through 


which  the  railroad  was  chartered  to  run  in  Western 
ork,  that  lie  was  present  dining  the  consider- 
ation of  the  Erie  bill  in  the  Legislature  in  the  win- 
ter of  1835,  if  his  surmises  and  charges  were  con. 
The  letter  was  written  under  date  of  March  23,  1835, 
and  is  in  the  scathingly  polite  ami  incisive  style  ol 
which  .Mr.  Church  was  a  master.  This  letter  has 
been  among  the  papers  of  the  Church  family  at  Bel- 
videre, N.  Y.,  all  these  years,  and  now  sees  the  light 
of  publicity  for  the  first  time.  Asa  reflection  of  the 
feeling  that  prevailed  among  the  diverse  interests 
that  were  laboring  to  get  the  Erie  project  started, 
and  of  the  motives  that  seemed  to  be  actuating 
them,  the  letter  is  a  most  valuable  contribution  to 
the  history  of  the  Company  and  the  railroad. 

'*  I  write. *'  Mr.  Church  declared,  "  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
a  history  of  the  legislative  proceedings  in  regard  to  the  rail- 
road, and  of  the  plans  proposed  with  a  view  to  defeat  the 
traction  of  the  western  part  of  the  road — plans  which  it 
me  great  pleasure  t"  saj   1  have  been  able  to  defeat 

"  A  Mil  was  introduced  into  the  house  upon  principles  which 
gave  the  widest  range  to  speculations  not  only  in  stocks  but 
in  the  lands  on  the  route  of  the  railroad.  The  company,  after 
considerable  debate,  found  that  it  could  not  he  carried,  and 
introduced,  by  Mr.  Silby  of  Canandaigua,  the  following 
amendment:  'That  the  State  should  gi\c  the  company  $500,- 
000  on  its  constructing  a  railroad  from  the  Hudson  and  Dela- 
ware Canal  to  Binghamton;  $500,000  from  Binghamton  to 
Elmira;  $500,000  from  Elmira  to  Olean  Point;  $500,000  from 
Olean  Point  to  Lake  Erie." 

"Two  or  three  weeks  before  the  amendment  was  presented 
it  was  proposed  to  me  to  combine  with  the  company  in  com- 
mencing the  railroad  at  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Canal. 
thence  to  Binghamton,  Elmira,  and  so  on  to  the  Olean  and 
Rochester  Canal:  thence  descending  the  canal  to  Rochester; 
thence,  by  the  railroad  now  making,  from  Rochester  to  Batavia 
and  Buffalo  To  this  I  gave  a  most  prompt  and  decisive 
denial,  saying  I  would  not  admit  of  my  pecuniary  and  local 
interests  sacrificing  the  rights  of  the  western  half  of  Allegany 
and  of  the  whole  of  Cattaraugus  and  Chautauqua  County. 
and  of  withholding  from  them  this  railroad  and  the  hope  of 
all  future  internal  improvements. 

"  The  proposed  amendment,  if  adopted,  would  have  left  it 
in  the  power  of  the  company  to  have  made  the  railroad  from 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  to  Elmira.  a  distance  of  201 
miles,    for    which    they    were  rom    the 

State,  which  would  be.  proportionately,  a  much  greater  sum 

than    receiving   $_\ooo.OOO   for   the    construction    of   the    whole 
distance   of   483    miles — the    _*oi    miles    being    also    1 1 1  ■ 
part  of  the  road  to  construct.     When  the  railroad  once  re... 

1  ..ill. I  be  ti  insported  alt  ;  •  anal 

and    Seneca     Lake    to    I  thence    to    Canandaigua    and 

Rochester  by  t In-  railroads  now   in   contemplation,  and   thence 

by  the  railroad  to    Batavia  and    Buffalo,  which   had.    I   believe. 

1   actually  commenced,   leaving   the   Southern   Tier   west  of 

Elmira  without  any  improvement,  as  it  was  proposed  to  serve 

the    country    west    of    the    Rochester    and    0  '      Bal.      You 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


35 


will  readily  perceive  how  much  shorter  the  distance  from 
Geneva,  even  by  way  of  Rochester,  to  Buffalo  is  than  that 
from  Elmira  to  Portland  or  Dunkirk.  Add  to  all  this  is  the 
fact  that  the  end  of  a  great  improvement  farthest  from  the 
sea  coast  is  by  far  the  less  productive  of  toll,  the  company, 
therefore,  actuated  by  all  these  considerations,  during  the 
term  of  seventeen  years,  until  which  they  are  not  obliged  to 
finish  the  railroad  to  Lake  Erie,  would  have  ample  time  and 
power,  by  arraying  the  rest  of  the  State  against  us,  to  have 
withheld  entirely  the  extensions  of  the  railroad  from  Elmira 
to  Portland  or  Dunkirk:  but  the  members  of  the  western 
counties,  however  obvious  this  was,  did  not  perceive  it. 

"  The  very  foundation  of  our  railroad  is  the  uninterrupted 
use  of  it  during  the  winter  months  and  the  velocity  of  move- 
ment on  it,  giving  a  continued  and  rapid  communication  be- 
tween the  country  and  the  city  of  New  York.  By  commenc- 
ing at  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Canal  these  two  great 
features,  its  only  support,  were  abandoned,  and  consequently 
all  the  members  from  New  York,  except  three,  voted  against 
the  bill,  although  they  all  more  than  ever  have  been  in  favor 
of  the  main  project,  and  after  a  most  violent  and  continued 
struggle  of  fifteen  days  the  bill  was.  I  am  happy  to  say, 
entirely  lost,  notwithstanding  Mr.  Lord,  Mr.  Ruggles,  and 
many  lobby  members  sent  by  the  railroad  and  the  Trust  Com- 
pany were  making  astonishing  efforts  in  its  favor. 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  debate  Mr.  Ogden  of  Dela- 
ware County  made  an  allusion  to  me,  although  not  by  name, 
which  was  most  triumphantly  refuted,  and  Mr.  Burke  of  Cat- 
taraugus made  a  smart  but  injudicious  speech,  in  which  he 
attacked  the  motives  of  persons  opposed  to  the  bill,  and 
which  was  full  of  personalities.  This  not  only  produced  warm 
retorts  on  these  members,  but  also  occasioned,  unjustifiably, 
very  violent  abuse  of  Mr.  King,  who  had  written  a  letter  his 
friends  were  indiscreet  enough  to  read  to  the  house,  and  also 
upon  Mr.  Lord,  who  was  in  attendance  on  the  part  of  the 
company,  but  who  had  not  by  any  act  brought  his  name  into 
the  Legislature.  No  one  ever  recollects  so  warm  and  long 
a  debate. 

"  Since  the  failure  of  the  bill  I  have  proposed  to  the  friends 
of  the  company  to  join  in  trying  to  obtain  the  construction 
of  the  road  by  the  State;  but  they  have  refused,  saying  that 
the  company  intends  itself  to  construct  the  work,  which,  of 
course,  is  entirely  out  of  the  question.  I  cannot  say  at  present 
what  course  I  shall  take  in  regard  to  our  application  from 
Allegany,  and  the  one  from  New  York,  both  joining  in  recom- 
mending its  construction  by  the  State. 

"  During  the  debate  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Canal  stock 
rose  from  about  70  to  114.  and  many  hundred  shares  have 
been  sold  at  the  advanced  prices.  I  never  felt  more  gratified 
than  I  have  at  this  triumph  over  those  who  would  have  sacri- 
ficed the  western  counties,  and  indeed  the  whole  project,  to 
their  own  local  and  sordid  views." 

Yet,  at  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature,  1836, 
a  bill  quite  similar  to  the  one  so  vigorously  opposed 
and  emphatically  condemned  by  Mr.  Church  became 
a  law,  and  it  is  recorded  that  it  was  opposed  by  Mr. 
Lord.  Whatever  of  insincerity  might  have  pos- 
sessed his  contemporaries  in  Erie,  or  however  much 
he  might  have  believed  they  were  swayed  by  ulterior 
motives,   either  must  have   in  time  been  made  sat- 


isfactory to  Mr.  Church,  or  the  work  of  their  suc- 
cessors he  must  have  regarded  as  having  condoned 
for  it  all;  for,  in  reply  to  the  invitation  sent  him  by 
the  Company,  May  1,  1S51,  to  be  present  on  the 
occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Dunkirk, 
he  wrote  as  follows: 

Angelica,  May  10.  1851. 
Gentlemen:  I  accept  with  great  pleasure  the  invitation  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  to  be  present  at  the  contemplated  opening  of  that 
great  work;  prosecuted  with  much  energy  and  devotion,  with 
so  much  skill  and  science  constructed. 
I  remain,  gentlemen,  etc.,  etc., 

Yours,  P.  Church. 

But  the  people  in  other  localities  along  the  line  of 
the  proposed  railroad  did  not  share  Mr.  Church's 
views  on  the  Erie  relief  bill  of  1835,  an^  their  dis- 
appointment over  its  defeat  was  great.  This  feeling 
was  vigorously  expressed  by  an  Owego  newspaper, 
in  its  issue  following  the  defeat  of  the  bill.  '  It  is 
with  feelings  of  mortification,  disappointment,  and 
regret,"  this  editor  wrote,  "  that  we  announce  the 
defeat  of  this  bill  in  the  Assembly  on  Friday  of  last 
week.  The  vote  stood  61  to  45  ;  who  could  have 
calculated  upon  such  a  result  ?  Who,  in  view  of  the 
strong  claims  which  the  Southern  Tier  of  counties 
have  upon  the  State,  and  the  acknowledged  impor- 
tance of  the  proposed  road,  who  could  have  antici- 
pated such  a  course  at  the  hands  of  a  Legislature 
claiming  to  be  honorable  and  high-minded  ?  Xo 
one.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  their  conduct 
has  been  illiberal  and  unjust  in  this  matter,  and  dis- 
honorable to  them  as  Legislators.  But  we  console 
ourselves  with  the  conviction  that  the  matter  is  not 
eoine  to  rest  here.  This  road  must  and  will  be 
built!  The  intelligent  and  enterprising  citizens  of 
the  Southwestern  counties  will  never  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  duped  in  this  manner.  They  have 
rights  which  the}-  will  be  bold  to  assert  and,  we 
trust,  found  able  to  maintain.  If  treated  in  this 
way,  they  will  be  driven  to  tlic  ballot  box  for  redress. 
There  they  can  make  themselves  heard — and  there 
they  will  be  found !  For  our  own  humble  self  we 
would  waive  every  political  consideration  rather  than 
submit  to  a  system  of  persecution  so  unjustifiable 
and  dishonorable.  No  man  shall  have  our  vote 
whether  for  Governor  or  a  less  responsible  station. 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


■!u  enough,  and  firmness  em 
and  inde|  enougl  le  out  boldly  and 

lendently  in  favor  of  this  grand  improvement." 
npany  did  not  abandon  the  work,  and 
■  pened   books   for   subscriptions   to 
.  and,  during  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer,  -  100   were    subscribed,   on   which   5   per 
nounting  to  $118,105.     The  pros- 
nterprise    were    cheering,    and 
early  in  the  fall  of   1835  the  question  of  making  a 
on  the  work  by  breaking  ground  for  the 
came  up  in  the  Board  of  Directors.     This 
brought  forward  differences  that  resulted  in  the  first 
us  trouble  in  the  Erie  Director}-. 
The  Company's  charter,    it  will   be   remembered, 
ded   that  the  work   of  constructing  a   railroad 
.  begin  at  or  near  New  York.      Eleazar  Lord 
.  large  landowner  at  Tappan  Slote  mow  Pier- 
mont),  Rockland  Count}-,  on   the  west   bank  of  the 
Hudson    River,  and  the  survey  of  the  route  for  the 
railroad  located  that  place  as  one  of  the  most  feasi- 
ble for  the  Eastern  end  of  the  road  on  the  west  bank 
of   the    Hudson.     When   the    question    of   breaking 
ground    for  the   railroad   came   up    in   the  Board  of 
Directors,    the  announcement   was   made    by   Presi- 
dent King  that,  in  the  interest  of  the  Company  and 
the  furtherance  of  its  project,  an  amendment  to  the 
charter  had  been  obtained,   authorizing   the   begin- 
ning of  the  railroad's  construction  to  be  made  at  any 
point  on  the  line  of  the  route  that  the  Directors  saw 
fit  to  select.     The   President  said  that  in  his  judg- 
ment the  interests  of  the  enterprise  would  be  best 
subserved  by  making  the  beginning  in  the  Delaware 
y  near  Deposit,   a  locality    175  miles  or  more 
1  the  Hudson  River. 

tzar  Lord  and  his   friends   in  the  Board  pro- 

•    the    beginning   of    the   work    in   the 

rocky  and  isolated   Delaware  Valley,  denouncing  it 

'Ay,  and  the  inauguration  of  a  policy  of  ruin. 

New  York,  they  declared,  was  the  proper  starting- 

of  the   railroad,  and  that  it  should  be  b 
and  built   from    there  to  Goshen,  or  if  more  desira- 
ble, ti  on  with   the  Delaware  and  Hi 
il  in  the  Delaware  Valley. 

nt  King  that,  although  the  section 

of  the  road  he  thought  it   best  to  put  under  contract 


was  a  difficult  one  to  build,  owing  to  the  rocky  char- 
acter of  the  country  thereabout,  the  very  act  of 
undertaking  such  a  task  would  inspire  confidence  in 
the  Company,  showing,  he  maintained,  a  disposition 
not  to  shirk  the  difficulties  in  its  way.  He  favored 
putting  under  contract  forty  miles  of  roadbed  from 
Deposit  down  the  Delaware  Valley  to  Callicoon,  and 
the  Board  sustained  him.  Eleazar  Lord  resigned  as 
Vice-President  anil  Treasurer,  and  Peter  G.  Stuy- 
vesant  was  elected  to  succeed  him. 

A  company  (the  Hudson  and  Delaware)  had  been 
chartered  in  1830  to  build  a  railroad  from  Newburgh, 
N.  Y.,  to  the  Delaware  River.  A  portion  of  that 
proposed  railroad  is  now  the  Newburgh  Branch  of 
the  Erie.  Mr.  Lord  and  his  friends  thought  they 
had  reason  to  believe  that  President  King  was  inter- 
ested in  that  project,  and  that  his  motive  was  to 
have  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  built  east- 
ward, and  then  over  the  route  of  the  proposed  Hud- 
son and  Delaware  Railroad  to  Newburgh,  where  the 
eastern  terminus  was  to  be  made,  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Hudson,  instead  of  at  a  lower  point  in  Rock- 
land County.  Whether  that  was  President  King's 
intention  or  not,  he  advertised  for  bids  for  contracts 
for  forty  miles  of  the  roadbed  between  Deposit  and 
Callicoon  Creek.  The  work  was  divided  into  forty- 
four  subsections,  and  twenty-six  different  contracts 
were  let  November  5  and  6,  1835.  The  total  of  the 
bids  for  the  forty  miles  was  $313,572,  or  $7,742  a 
mile.  The  Company  then  had  in  its  treasury  just 
$196,409. 

First  ground  was  broken  for  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  on  the  east  side  of  the  Delaware- 
River,  near  Deposit,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y.  This 
important  event  occurred  at  sunrise  on  the  morning 
of  November  7,  1835.  There  were  present  about 
thirty  persons,  among  them  President  King,  Comp- 
troller Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Treasurer  Peter  G.  Stuy- 
vesant,  Lieutenant-Governor  Root,  Judge  Drake  of 
Owego,  Judge  Pine  of  Deposit,  and  prominent  local 
personages.  The  morning  was  clear  and  frost}-. 
As  the  sun  came  up,  and  tinged  the  surrounding 
hills  with  the  cold  glory  of  an  autumn  dawn,  Presi- 
dent King  announced  the  purpose  of  the  gathering, 
and  in  the  course  of  his  address  made  the  following 
remarks:  "What  now  appears  a  beautiful  meadow 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


37 


will  in  a  few  years  present  a  far  different  aspect — a 
track  of  rails,  with  cars  passing  and  repassing,  loaded 
with  merchandise  and  the  products  of  the  country. 
The  freight  will  amount  to  $200,000  per  annum  in  a 
very  few  years."  The  latter  declaration  being  re- 
ceived with  great  incredulity  by  those  present,  the 
speaker  concluded  his  prediction  with  the  modifying 
expression — "  At  least,  eventually."  The  address 
completed,  Mr.  King  shoveled  a  wheelbarrow  full  of 
dirt,  and  Mr.  Ruggles  wheeled  it  away  and  dumped 
it.  Each  one  present  went  through  the  same  rou- 
tine, and  quite  an  excavation  was  made,  and  could 
be  seen  for  several  years  afterward,  the  road  as 
finally  located  passing  to  the  right  of  the  spot.  The 
shovel  and  barrow  used  were  loaned  by  Maurice  R. 
Hulce  of  Deposit,  and  President  King  took  the 
shovel  with  him  to  New  York.  It  was  preserved  by 
the  Company  until  1S6S,  when  it  mysteriously  dis- 
appeared. 

Mr.  King  did  not  live  to  see  the  "  track  of  rails  " 
completed,  but  many  of  those  present  when  he 
made  his  address  lived  to  see  the  little  excavation  at 
Deposit  succeeded  by  some  of  the  grandest  of  engi- 
neering achievements,  and  the  day  when  the  "  ex- 
travagant "  prediction  of  Mr.  King  in  regard  to  the 
freight  revenue  of  the  road  seemed  ridiculously  small, 
in  the  light  of  events  that  raised  the  figures  indicat- 
ing the  receipts  from  that  traffic  from  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  far  into  the  millions. 

Work  on  the  railroad  progressed  for  a  time  as  if 
the  Company's  treasury  were  surfeited  with  money. 
The  management  felt  confident,  for  the  subscribers 
to  the  stock,  most  of  them  at  that  time  New  York 
merchants  and  bankers,  were  regarded  as  good  for 
any  call  that  might  be  made  upon  them  at  any  time. 
At  a  time  when  prospects  seemed  brightest  the  ter- 
ribly disastrous  fire  of  December  16,  1835,  broke 
out  in  New  York,  and  swept  away  the  entire  lower 
part  of  the  city.  Many  of  the  heaviest  subscribers 
to  the  stock  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  were  ruined  by  that  conflagration,  and 
thus  one  of  the  prospective  mainstays  of  the  Com- 
pany's treasury  was  destroyed.  Following  that  ca- 
tastrophe came  the  historic  panic  of  1836-37.  with 
its  widespread  financial  stagnation  and  ruin.  This 
drove  into  bankruptcy  many  more  of  the  large  sub- 


scribers to  the  Erie  stock,  and  the  prospects  of  the 
Company  and  its  work  were  robbed  of  whatever  of 
cheer  and  brightness  they  may  have  had.  Never- 
theless, depending  on  favorable  action  of  the  Leg- 
islature on  a  renewed  appeal  for  State  aid  to  the 
amount  of  §3,000,000,  the  management  of  the  Com- 
pany ordered  a  new  survey  to  be  made  of  the  route 
for  the  road,  which  was  begun  by  Engineers  Captain 
Andrew  Talcott  and  Edwin  F.  Johnson.  The  object 
of  this  survey  was  to  ascertain  the  most  favorable 
and  feasible  terminal  points  for  the  railroad,  and,  if 
possible,  to  modify  and  improve  on  the  original 
survey  of  1834.  Captain  Talcott,  formerly  of  the 
United  States  Army  Engineer  Corps,  had  charge  of 
the  route  from  Lake  Erie  to  Painted  Post,  in 
Steuben  Count}-,  N.  Y.  Engineer  Johnson  was  in 
charge  between  Painted  Post  and  the  Hudson  River. 
Although  a  strong  effort  was  being  made  to  have  the 
Eastern  terminus  at  Newburgh,  before  the  survey 
was  completed  the  Legislature  had  passed  the  first 
Erie  relief  bill,  and  this  provided  that  the  Eastern 
terminus  must  be  in  Rockland  County,  and  it  was 
fixed  at  Tappan.  Captain  Talcott  also  reported  in 
favor  of  Dunkirk  as  the  Western  terminus  of  the 
railroad.  It  may  be  well  to  state  that  the  propri- 
etors of  Dunkirk  had  made  the  donation  of  5,000 
town  lots  to  the  Company,  and  that  Cornelius  J. 
Blauvelt  and  others  had  given  ninety  lots — although 
they  were  under  water — at  Tappan. 

The  report  of  the  Directors  of  the  Company  for 
the  year  1835,  which  was  the  first  official  report  ever 
made  of  the  Company's  affairs,  gives  in  detail  the 
condition  and  alleged  prospects  of  the  railroad  at 
that  time.  It  was  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  at  Albany,  January  12,  1836,  and  was  sworn 
to  by  James  G.  King  and  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  as  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Board.  January  2,  1835, 
and  signed  by  them  as  President  and  Comptroller. 
After  citing  the  facts  of  the  organization  and  the 
survey,  the  report  is  as  follows : 

"On  February  4,  1835,  the  first  instalment  of  stock.  $50,000, 
was  deposited  with  the  New  York  Lite  Insurance  and  Trust 
Company,  at  interest  of  -t'j  per  cent,  per  annum.  On  April 
15.  [835,  the  company  opened  books  for  subscriptions,  and 
received  subscriptions  until  September  1.  during  which  time 
23,621  shares  were  subscribed,  and  5  per  cent.,  amounting  to 


|;i    I  \\  I  I  N     1  111     0(  EAN    AND   THK    LAKHS 


\   further  instalment   of  5   pel 

enjamin  V. 

• 
Ins  chiel  in  the  Mir- 

■  it  Chii-i  1 
.     . .  ;.    i.  nine  pan  ineers 

put  in  the  field  the  previous  surveys,  making 

the  time  f«.>r  actual   work 
.■  been  busy  fitting 
j .  etc.     In 
nnsylvania   ami  Jon- 
athan Knight  of  Maryland  wen  to  consult  with  Chief 

igineers,  upon  the  surveys 
of  the  route  ma<le  in  1834.     They  made  a  voluminous  report, 

8,    advertisements    for   pro- 
were   published   by   the   company.     The 
lation  of  forty  and  a  half  miles 
ire  Valley.     The  company's  estimate 
of  tlu  or  $9,040  per  mile.    President 

King  nd   a   Committee   of   Din 

1.  November  4.  5.  and  6,  (835, 

the   work   having   been    divided    into    forty-four   sub-divisions, 

200.     They    were    taken    by    twenty-six    different    Con- 

ontracts    was   $313,572,    or 
per  mile.  j  per  cent,  below  the  estimate. 

..f  the  line  were  prepared  for  con- 
tract and  the  company  propose  advertising  them  early  in  the 
ensuing  spring.     The  directors  are  convinced  that  the   whole 
ran  be  completed  upon  the  plan   recommended   in  the 
Deluding  vehicles  to  the  amount  of  $500,- 
000)  for  a  sum  1  ding,  and  probably  falling  consider- 

|    000.000:  that  the  road  when  finished  will  admit 
of  tin-  tive  engines  throughout  in  entire  length, 

drawing  w<  it   least   forty   tons.   net.   and   at   a   rate  of 

which  will  reduce  the  time  of  passage  within  forty  hours 
from  ;  n   River  to  Lake   Erie;  and.  if  the  necessary 

iunds   shall  red   without   delay,   the   whole   work   can 

•  ted  and  put   in  operation   within   five   years 
from  this  d 

RECEIPTS. 

Iment   on   2.1,621    shares   of   the   capital 

each $118,105  00 

nt  on  21,131  shares.  $5  each 105,655  00 

led  with  New  York  Life 
ance  and  Trust  Company,  six  months,  at  4'  j 

1 , 125  00 

•  m  time  to  time  de- 
Uank.  New  York,  al 
1,479  00 


*_•_•'! 


EXPENDITURES. 


irvcys  and  expenses  incid  to,  includ- 

$24,012  08 

■;.  mint   of  $100 
rid  in 
I'  County    :  uently 

found  paring  and  obtain- 

ing dei  authenticating  tiling 

'!'  •''•  i>enses  incident 

of  title 5,05169 


For  salary  of  the  late  Treasurer  and  present  Sec- 
retary, clerk  hire.  rent,  furniture,  fuel,  etc $3,853  72 

The  President,  the  Treasurer,  and  the  Comptroller 
serve   without   salary. 

For  nd  expenses  of  agents  employed  in 

the  business  of  the  company 2,776  87 

For  Stationery  and  blanks,  making  and  engraving 
maps,  printing  notices,  reports,  and  other  docu- 
ment         [,928   18 

For  traveling  expenses  of  committees  and  officers 
npan)  while  engaged  in  its  business,  in- 
cluding sundry  petty  expenses 812  4-' 

For  amount  of  box  rent,  and  postage  paid 186  42 

$38,621  38 

Leaving  a  balance  of $187,742  62 

Which  is  deposited  as   folli 

Phoenix  Bank  of  New   York $130,572  59 

New  York  Life  Insurance  ami   Trust  Company..  50,000  00 

Steuben  County   Bank 3.275  00 

Chautauqua   County   Bank 2,61500 

Broome    County    Bank 655  00 

Orange  County   Bank 335  00 

In  hands  of  Secretary 290  03 


$187. 
Sworn  as  true  in  every  particular  by 

P.    G.    STUYVESANT,    Treasurer. 
Talman   J.    Waters,    Secretary. 
January  5,  1836. 

President  King  kept  the  promise  made  in  his  re- 
port that  the  Company  would  advertise  for  proposals 
for  grading  contracts  on  other  sections  of  the  road 
early  in  the  spring  of  1836,  but  the  advertisements 
were  withdrawn  before  the  dates  set  for  the  opening 
of  bids;  the  reason  alleged  being  that  the  Company 
had  been  unable  to  "  prepare  in  time  the  portion  of 
the  line  to  be  let." 


II.    TRYING    TO    KEEP    GOINC. 

Early  in  the  session  of  1836,  consideration  of  the 
renewed  petition  of  the  Company  for  aid  came  up  in 
the  New  York  Assembly,  and  encountered  fierce 
opposition.  The  scheme  of  the  road  was  not  only 
assailed  as  a  wild  and  visionary  one — "  the  greatest 
humbug  of  the  age,"  the  Hon.  Francis  Gra 
called  it — and  one  from  which  wise  business  men 
stood  aloof,  but  the  officers  and  Directors  of  the 
Company  were  attacked  on  personal  grounds,  and 
their  motives  impugned.  President  King  and  the 
•irs    had    to     defend     themselves    against    the 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE  39 

charges  of  using  their  connection  with  the  Company  ability  of  the  Company  to  complete  the  whole  road 

for  stock-jobbing  purposes,  and  of  having  purchased  from    the   tidewater   to  the  lake,   with   all    requisite 

lands   along   the    lines    of    the    proposed    road    as   a  vehicles,  for  the  amount  stated   in  the  report  of  the 

speculation    which    their    plan    of    constructing    the  engineer,  and  that  the  sum  will  certainly  not  exceed, 

road   would   make  a  most  profitable  one   for  them,  and  probably  will  fall  considerably  short  of,  six  mil- 

In    1S35    President    King,    Samuel    B.    Ruggles,    the  lions  of  dollars."     It  asked  the  loan  of  the  State's 

Comptroller  of  the  Company,   and   Peter   G.    Stuy-  credit  to  an  amount  not  to  exceed  three  millions  of 

vesant,  the  Treasurer,  had  made  a  tour  of  the  route  dollars,  to  be  advanced  in  instalments.     The  docu- 

from   New  York  to  Lake   Erie,  and  it  was  charged  ments  accompanying  the  communication  were  engi- 

that  on  that  trip  they  had  arranged  the  land  specu-  neers'  reports  and  estimates. 

lation,  a  charge  which  they  indignantly  denied,  and  Acting  on   these  petitions  and    memorials,  a   bill 
which  no  facts  were  ever  put  on   record  to  substan-  was  introduced  in  the  Assembly  providing  that   cer- 
tiate.      It  was  also  charged  in  the  Senate  by  Senator  tificates  of  stock  be  issued  when  a  section  of  railroad 
Young  that   the   rumor  was  current  that  agents  of  from  the   Delaware  and   Hudson  Canal  to  the  Che- 
the  Company  had  offered  large  holdings  in  land  to  nango  Canal,  near  Binghamton,  146  miles,  was  corn- 
certain   Members  of  Assembly  as  a  bribe  to  secure  pleted.    The  cost  of  this  section  was  estimated  to  be 
their    votes    for    the    Erie    aid    bill.      Assemblyman  $1,646,826.      Another    block  of    §700,000  of    State 
Campbell  offered  a   resolution   in  that  body  calling  stock  was  to  be  issued  when  the  railroad   was   ready 
upon    Senator   Young    to    give    the    names    of    the  for  operation   from    Binghamton   to   the   Alleghany 
Assemblymen  thus  alleged  to  have  been  approached  River,  184  miles.      This  would    have   compelled   an 
corruptly,    but    it   was    laid    on    the    table,    and   the  additional    outlay    by  the  Company  of    $1, 322,989. 
matter  was  probed  no   further.     Senator  Young  was  When  the  road  should  be  completed  from   the  Alle- 
arrested  on  a  criminal  charge  of  libel  made  by  citi-  ghany  River  to  Lake   Erie,  seventy-nine  miles,   the 
zens  of  Tioga  County  for  language  used   in  the  de-  Company  was  to  receive  another  instalment  of  stock 
bates  on  this  bill,  but  nothing  came  of  it.  to  the  amount  of  §300,000,  the  cost  of  that  section 
Every  county  through  which  the  railroad  was  to  being  estimated  at  §640,547;  and  when  the  railroad 
pass,   with  the  exception  of  Orange  and  Rockland,  should  be  built  from  the  Hudson  River,  in  Rockland 
sent  petitions  to  the  Legislature  asking  for  the  pas-  Count}-,  to  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  seventy- 
sage  of  a  State-aid  bill.     The  municipal  authorities  seven  miles,  the  cost  of  which  would  be  §1,664,156, 
of  the  cities  of  New  York  and   Brooklyn  also  memo-  stock  to  the  amount  of  §400,000  would  be  issued  to 
rialized  the  Legislature  in  favor  of  such  a  bill.     A  the  Company.     This  called   for  the  expenditure  by 
remonstrance   against   the   bill   was   forwarded    from  the   Company  of   §4,674,518   to    receive   §2,000,000 
Orange    Count}'.     This    was   the   result   of    political  in    State   stock.      The  remaining  §1,000,000  of  the 
feeling  in   that   county  and   had   no  real  bearing  on  State-aid  stock  was  not  to  be  issued  until  the  rail- 
the  sentiment  of  the  people  toward  the  railroad.  road  was  completed,  with   a  double  track  its  entire 
Governor  William   L.    Marcy,   in  his  annual   mes-  length,  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie.    This  second 
sage  to  the  Legislature  in    1836,  called  attention  to  track,  the  cost  of  roadbed  having  been  provided  for 
the  affairs  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  in    the  above    calculation,   the  engineers    estimated 
submitted  a  communication    from    President    King,  would  cost  $1,857,000. 

accompanied  by  documents,  and  advised  the  serious  The  certificates  of  stock  thus  to  be  issued  to  the 
consideration  of  the  questions  involved,  "  uninflu-  Company  were  to  bear  interest  at  the  rate  of  4^  per 
enced  by  any  other  views  than  such  as  are  inspired  cent,  per  annum,  payable  quarterly,  and  were  re- 
by  a  comprehensive  regard  for  the  public  good."  deemable  at  an}- time  within  twenty  years,  the  tolls 
The  communication  from  President  King  was  a  and  income  of  the  railroad  to  be  pledged  for  the  pay- 
resume-  of  the  work  in  hand,  and  assured  the  Gov-  ment  of  the  principal  and  interest.  In  default  of 
ernor  that  "no   reasonable   doubt   exists  as  to  the  the  payment  of  principal  or  interest,  the  Comptroller 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


d  by  auc- 

:  the  use  and  ben- 
riu-  bill  met  with  strong 

irhich   was   the   fact  that   it   did 
:   ad  at  the 
it  a  point  in  the  interior. 
pted  by  the  Lord  follow- 
But   the    bill    passed    the 
I  in  the  Senate  was  referred  to  the  Rail- 
mittee,  which,  having  figured  out  that  the 
with  a  single  track  and  equipment,  could  be 
built   for  $6,ooo,COO,    and   that   it   would,  on   a   low 
-     J.OOO  a  year,  net,  reported  it  favor- 
w  ith  a  strong  recommendation  for  its  passage. 
The  report   (Senate   Document   No.   62,    1836)  was 
:ed,  and  the  bill  became  a  law  April  23d.      Al- 
gh   the  Company  and   the   friends   of    the  rail- 
over  this  recognition  of  the  importance 
and   necessity  of  the  railroad  through  the  Southern 
Tier,  and  the  quick  completion  of  the  undertaking 
was  hailed  as  a  certainty  by  means  of  the  generous 
helping  hand  extended   by  the   State   (a  belief  that 
.tTected  by  the  management  of  the  Company  in 
it-  report  to  the  stockholders  as  late  as  September, 
.  it  in  reality  must  have  been  soon  apparent  to 
those  at  the  head  of  the  Company's  affairs  that  this 
bill  would  be  of  but  little  use  to  them.       To  receive 
the  first  $600,000,    first   instalment   of   State  stock, 
the  Company  would  be  obliged  to  expend   nearly  a 
million    and    three-quarters    of   dollars — more    than 
double  the  amount  to  be  received.      To  a  corpora- 
tion that  had  not  a  dollar  in    its  treasury,  nor  any 
mean  ing  a  dollar,  and   which  was  deeplv  in 

this  was  generosity  indeed  !  The  so- 
called  State  aid  could  not  be  utilized,  and  the  Com- 
pany was  soon  in  sore  straits.  In  December,  1836, 
a  call  was  made  for  an  instalment  of  §2. 50  on  each 
share  of  stock  that  had  been  subscribed  for.  The 
inted  to  settle  overdue  claims  of  con- 
tractors, who  were  becoming  clamorous.  Less  than 
one-half  of  the  subscribers  paid  the  instalment,  and 
active  operations  on  the  work  ceased  with  the  close 

of  th 

The  extrenv  nesss  of  the  Company's  situa- 

tion   spur'  ,rt   to 


extricate  it  from  its  peril.  He  brought  all  his  great 
personal  influence  in  the  business  affairs  "I  New  York 
t<.  bear  in  behalf  of  the  lagging  enterprise,  with 
the  result  that  a  call  for  a  public  meeting  to  be  held 
at  Clinton  Hall.  Friday  evening,  January  20,  1- 
at  half-past  six  o'clock,  was  signed  by  all  of  the 
leading  New  York  business  men  of  that  day.  The 
object  of  the  meeting,  as  stated  in  the  call,  was  "  to 
receive  from  the  Hoard  of  Directors  important  state- 
ments representing  the  progress  of  their  undertaking 
and  its  improved  financial  condition,  and  to  adopt 
measures  for  an  energetic  prosecution  and  early  com- 
pletion of  the  work." 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  James  N. 
Wells.  Mayor  Aaron  Clark  was  chosen  President; 
James  N.  Wells  and  Nathaniel  Weed,  Vice-Presi- 
dents; and  Thomas  R.  Merceir  and  William  Samuel 
Johnson,  Secretaries.  The  meeting  was  addressed 
by  President  King,  who  placed  the  situation,  pros- 
pects, and  needs  of  the  Railroad  Company  before  it. 
One  tempting  scheme  he  laid  stress  upon.  This  was 
the  large  provisional  donations  of  land  west  of  the 
Genesee  River  along  the  line  of  the  proposed  rail- 
road, which  he  said  were  of  such  value  that  their 
sales  would  permit  the  payment  of  6  per  cent,  per 
annum  to  the  stockholders  of  the  Company,  among 
whom,  also,  the  land  remaining  unsold  would  be 
"rateably  divided  among  the  then  holders  of  the 
three  millions  of  stock."  He  said  the  Company  had 
received  an  offer  from  Goold  Hoyt,  Nicholas  Dever- 
eaux,  and  Nevius  &  Thompson,  of  $400,000  for 
these  lands,  to  be  paid  in  such  sums,  on  July  first  of 
each  year,  until  1841,  as  should  suffice  for  the  inter- 
est at  6  per  cent.,  accruing  at  those  periods  on  the 
instalments  of  stock  paid  up.  This  offer  had  been 
declined,  however,  as  the  Company  preferred  to 
reserve  for  its  stockholders  the  rise  in  the  value  of 
these  lands  which  the  progress  of  the  road  could  not 
fail  to  occasion,  selling  only  from  time  to  time  what 
night  be  needful  to  meet  the  payment  of  dividends. 
The  road,  he  said,  could  be  completed  for  $6,000,000. 
There  had  been  subscribed  si,Soo,ooo.  The  State 
stood  pledged  for  $2,000,000,  on  the  completion  of  a 
single  track  for  the  whole  route.  New  York  City 
was  asked  to  raise  enough  to  make  the  subscription 
-     <  00,000.       No  subscription   thus  made  would   be 


THE    STORY    OF   ERIE 


41 


called  in  exceeding  instalments  of  25  per  cent,  per 
annum,  and  the  first  payment  might  be  made  in 
notes  at  three  or  four  months.  President  King 
insisted  on  the  declaration  that  he  and  his  associates 
had  no  interest  in  the  work  beyond  that  of  every  stock- 
holder in  the  value  of  the  stock.  They  owned  no  land 
along  the  route,  and  had  no  separate  pecuniary  inter- 
est. He  warned  the  New  York  business  men  against 
the  efforts  other  cities  were  making  to  secure  the 
trade  of  the  great  West  at  the  expense  of  New  York. 

John  A.  Stevens  addressed  the  meeting  in  favor  of 
going  to  the  aid  of  the  Company.  What  was  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  the  city  of  New  York,  he 
declared,  was  to  be  secured  by  the  building  of  this 
railroad  to  the  Alleghany  Valley — connection  in  the 
early  spring  between  this  part  of  New  York  and  the 
populous  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi — the 
head  of  navigation  of  which  rivers,  he  called  the 
particular  attention  of  the  meeting,  lay  within  the 
limits  of  this  State,  in  the  County  of  Cattaraugus. 
"  When  the  railroad  shall  be  completed  from  the 
Hudson  to  the  Alleghany,  the  merchandise  of  this 
city  can  be  sent  down  into  the  valley  of  the  Ohio 
before  the  10th  of  March,  earlier  even  than  the  open- 
ing of  the  Pennsylvania  Canal,  and  nearly  six  weeks 
before  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal."  Speeches 
were  made  by  George  Griswold,  Robert  Cheese- 
brough,  General  Tallmadge,  and  others,  and  resolu- 
tions favorable  to  the  increasing  of  the  available  sub- 
scriptions of  the  stock  of  the  Railroad  Company  to 
$3,000,000  were  unanimously  adopted,  and  recom- 
mending that  books  for  that  purpose  be  opened  at 
the  Merchants'  Exchange  and  other  places. 

A  committee  of  thirty-nine  was  appointed  by  the 
chair  to  obtain  subscriptions,  as  follows:  John  Hag- 
gerty,  John  A.  Stevens,  Robert  Cheesebrough, 
Moses  H.  Grinnell,  S.  S.  Howland,  James  N.  Wells, 
Charles  N.  Talbott,  Moses  Taylor,  Benjamin  Bird- 
sail,  Nathaniel  Weed,  Frederick  Sheldon,  E.  J. 
Gould,  Stephen  Allen,  Simeon  Draper,  Jr.,  Charles 
Kelsey,  A.  G.  Thompson,  T.  R.  Merceir  David 
Austin,  Daniel  Jackson,  D.  W.  Wetmore,  Sheppard 
Knapp,  Samuel  Jones,  Robert  Ray,  George  W. 
Bruen,  James  B.  Murray,  Thomas  E.  Davis,  Charles 
Hoyt,  J.  A.  Perry,  Ogden  E.  Edwards,  Charles 
Wolfe,  Henry  H.  Elliott,    David   Lee,  E.    G.    Vaile, 


Charles  Dennison,  Alfred  R.  Mount,  Jacob  Loril- 
lard,  Martin  E.  Thompson,  Philip  H.  Woodruff, 
Andrew  Lockwood. 

It  would  seem  that  it  would  have  needed  no  more 
aid  than  what  the  members  of  this  committee  could 
themselves  alone  have  offered,  then  and  there,  to 
have  not  only  tided  the  Company  over  its  pressing 
difficulties  but  insured  the  completion  of  its  rail- 
road without  further  delay  or  hindrance,  if  their  faith 
in  its  future  and  fears  for  its  failure  were  as  strong  as 
their  professions  ;  but  there  is  no  record  that  they 
did  anything  more  than  "  open  books,"  and  wait  for 
the  public  to  come  and  take  shares  in  the  Company, 
which  the  public  did  not  do. 

The  official  report  for  1836,  and  of  the  condition 
of  the  Company's  affairs,  was  as  follows  : 

The  work  of  grading  the  forty  and  a  half  miles  in  the 
Delaware  Valley  has  been  actively  prosecuted  during  the  year. 
The  amount  of  work  done  amounted  to  $165,010.78,  on  which 
the  company  paid  the  contractors  in  cash  $121,939.49.  Except 
in  ten  instances,  the  people  owning  the  land  on  that  section 
ceded  right  of  way.  and  the  land  the  company  needed,  gratu- 
itously. Legal  proceedings  before  the  Vice-Chancellor  to 
condemn  the  lands  were  taken  by  the  company,  and  the  valu- 
ation as  confirmed  by  them  amounted  to  $3,105.  The  com- 
pany has  located  a  section  of  the  road  near  the  west  side  of 
the  Hudson  River,  and  extending  into  the  same  at  or  near 
Tappan  Landing,  in  the  town  of  Orange,  in  Rockland  County, 
and  commenced  graduation  of  it.  The  company  has  paid  on 
the  account  of  the  same  during  the  year  $4,000. 

Engineers  have  been  revising  the  line,  and  particularly  in 
surveying  and  examining  with  great  care  the  several  harbors 
on  Lake  Erie  in  the  County  of  Chautauqua.  These  examina- 
tions have  enabled  the  material  shortening  and  straightening 
of  the  line  and  improvement  of  the  grades  of  the  road  which 
will  first  approach  the  Lake  at  Dunkirk. 

James  G.   King,  President. 
S.    B.    Ruggles,   Comptroller. 

January  31,  1837. 

Report  of  tin-  Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  the  New   York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  during  the  Year  iSj6. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance  on  hand  January  I,  1836 $187,742  62 

From   instalments  on  stock $22,122  50 

Interest    on    instalments    and    Minis    on 

deposit 6.968  91 

Rent  of  offices  in  buildings  Xo.  12  and 

46  Wall  Street,  relet  by  the  company 

to  May  1 ,   1836 740  14 

From  payment  of  money  advanced  for 

purchase     of     instruments     for     the 

junior     members     of     the     engineer 

corps 360  00—  $30,191  55 

$217,934  17 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


$2 17.934  '7 

EXPENDITURES. 

m- 

$125,939  49 

in- 

65.713  96 

rk.  rent, 
furniture,  fuel,  and  5.3'6  70 

iward  to 

-  in  ac- 

•ij 4.734  73 

incurred 

.2.660  93 

ub- 
Ivertisements,   printing 

documents 1.194  62 

■     for  <.'ii  gi- 
ti)  assist 

the  junior  members 1,079  87 

rs   of  the 
mpany  while  engaged  in  its  busi- 

718  07 

rent  anil  postage I25  04— $207,484  31 

ilance,  December  31,  1836 $10,449  86 

T.  J.  Waters,  Secretary. 
January  31,  1837. 

Thus   the   Company  had   received  but  §22,000  on 

stock  payments  during  the  year.     The  total  receipts 

were  little  more  than  §30,000,  and  the  expenditures 

over  §207, 000.     A  more  discouraging  situation  could 

ell  be  imagined.     President  King  made  strenu- 

•forts  to  extricate  the  Company  from  its  depth 

of  trouble,  but  without  success,  and,  in  the  spring  of 

all  work  in  the  Delaware  Valley  and  elsewhere 

ordered  discontinued.       The  Company's    debt 

then  only  $13,000,  but  there  was  much  less  than 

that  actually  in  the  treasury.     The  prospects  for  a 

railroad  from  the   Hudson   to  Lake   Erie  were  dark 

indei 

The  King  administration  steadily  became  unpopu- 
lar  at    large,    and    there   was   not  entire  and  perfect 
among  its  own   1  Work 

Mr.  King's  man- 
he  had  at  last  beconi'  ert  to  the 
litude  of  the  one  the 
Company  had  in  hand  could  not  be  successfully  con- 
structed by  .1  private  corporation,  and  that  the  work 
should  I,  by  the  State.  The  lolders 
^e"  '                       and  the    financial    depression    in 


the  country  was  becoming  greater.  A  number  of 
leading  officers  of  the  Company  had  resigned.  At 
the  annual  election  for  the  Directors  in  October, 
1S37,  the  votes  of  stockholders  who  had  not  paid 
the  instalments  called  for  were  refused.  A  memo- 
rial from  President  King  and  the  Directors  asking  an 
amendment  to  the  relief  act  of  183''  was  presented 
to  the  Senate  during  the  session  of  1837.  The 
memorial  asked  for  further  aid  for  the  railroad  be- 
cause of  the  pecunian-  disaster  that  had  overtaken 
many  of  its  large  stockholders,  preventing  them  from 
paying  the  amounts  of  their  subscriptions  to  the 
stock.  The  report  of  the  Railroad  Committee  on  it 
declared  its  sympathy  with  the  situation  the  Com- 
pany found  itself  in,  but  claimed  that  "  the  same 
causes  which  now  embarrass  the  progress  of  the 
work,  and,  in  fact,  agitate  the  whole  commercial 
world,  have  so  greatly  discouraged  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  country  as  to  render  it  inexpedient,  if 
not  impracticable,  for  the  State  to  afford  the  imme- 
diate aid  requested  by  the  memorialists."  And  none 
was  granted. 

The  official  report  of  1837,  made  January  8,  1838, 
was  signed  by  P.  G.  Stuyvesant  and  William  Beach 
Lawrence,  as  "  Directors  and  Members  of  the  Lrie 
Company."  President  King  was  in  England  using 
his  influence  as  a  financier  to  stay  the  title  of  the 
commercial  panic  in  this  country,  which  he  succeeded 
in  doing  by  inducing  the  Bank  of  England  to  advance 
a  luge-  amount  of  specie  to  New  York  banks  to 
enable  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  and 
restore  confidence  here.  Officially,  following  was 
the  status  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany at  the  close  of  1837: 

During  1837,  and  especially  in  the  month  of  February, 
2.200  additional  shares  of  stock  were  subscribed,  1.355  of 
which  instalments  wen  paid  in  cash  to  the  amount  of  $20.- 
137.50.  On  previous  subscriptions  $50,887.50  were  paid  dur- 
ing 1837.  The  total  number  of  shares  subscribed  for  since 
the  organization  of  the  company  was  25,832.  On  these,  calls 
for  15  per  cent,  of  the  face  had  been  made  up  to  1837,  and 
cash  to  the  amount  of  $325,907.50  had  been  paid  on  24,987 

Shares,  leaving  due  cm  the  calls  "ii  these  shares  $48.81)7.50.      On 

the  remaining  845  shares  nothing  had  been  paid.     No  other 

contract  been  made  on  the  line;  on  the  contrary,  the 

found      ni  li    difficulty    during    the    commercial 

embarrassments  of  the  year  in  collecting  instalments  on  stock 

that  they  had  deemed  it  their  duty   in.  and   shortly   before,  the 
month   of  May,   1837,  to  discharge  the   contractors  and   sus- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


43 


pend  all  further  operations  in  the  Delaware  Valley,  and  also 
to  discharge  their  engineers  and  surveyors  throughout  the 
whole  line  of  the  road.  The  grading  on  the  Delaware  Valley, 
forty  and  one-half  miles,  had  cost  $192,837.63,  and  on  the  sec- 
tion at  Tappan  Landing,  $5,889.40.  All  of  this  cost  has  been 
paid  to  the  contractors  except  about  $13,000,  which  is  being 
liquidated  and  settled.  The  total  amount  of  money  raised 
by  the  company  since  its  organization  to  December  31,  1837, 
was  $338,637.15.  The  total  amount  expended  during  the  same 
period  was  $337,630.43  as  follows:  Construction,  $186,116.62: 
engineering  and  surveys,  $112,147.84;  lands  for  roadbeds  and 
stations,  $10,282.26;  salaries,  rent,  etc.,  $29,083.71. 

Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  the  New  York  and  Eric  Rail- 
road Company  during  the  ]  'ear  iSjy. 

RECEITTS. 

Balance  on  hand,  January  1,  1837 $10,449  86 

From  instalments  on  stock $80,025  °° 

Interest  on  same  and  sums  on  deposit.       1.387  08 
From  rent  of  rooms  relet  by  company.  214  04 

From   rent   of  property   purchased   for 

roadbed  and  station  at  Binghamton.  157  2^ 

From  repayment  of  advances  to  junior 

members  engineer  corps 298  25 — $82,081  60 

Total $9<!.53i  46 

EXPENSES. 

Paid  contractors $60,177  13 

Surveys,  expenses,  salaries,  etc.,  Engi- 
neer Department 22.421  80 

Salaries  of  Secretary  and  Clerk,  rent, 

fuel,   sundries 4.856  44 

Salary  of  agent  and  expenses 638  76 

Paid  for  instruments  for  use  of  engi- 
neer corps 1,033  00 

Paid  interest  on  balance  due  contrac- 
tors and  on  notes  and  drafts  negoti- 
ated   793  92 

Paid  for  stationery,  blanks,  newspaper 
Miliscriptions,  and  advertisements, 
printing  notices,  reports,  etc 754  °4 

Paid  charges,  land  taken  by  process  of 

law,   deeds,   fees,   etc 495  84 

Expenses  of  Secretary  traveling  on  the 
company's  business,  services  of  Su- 
perintendent, repair  of  road,  sundry 
law    charges 273  93 

Box  lent  and  Postage 79  88— $01,524  74 

Leaving  balance,  December  31,  1837 1,006  72 

$92,531  46 
Talman  J.  Waters.  Secretary. 
January  8,  1838. 


III.    CROSS    PURPOSES. 

The  Board  of  Directors  for  183S  was  made  up  of 
the  following  eminent  business  men  of  that  day: 
James    G.     King   (who     was    re-elected    President), 


Edwin  Lord,  Samuel  B.  Rugglcs,  Charles  Hoyt, 
Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  Stephen  Whitney,  John  A. 
Stevens,  George  Griswold,  James  Boorman,  John  G. 
Coster,  David  N.  Lord,  Aaron  Clark,  John  W. 
Leavitt,  Jeremiah  II.  Pierson,  George  S.  Robbins, 
George  D.  Wickham,  William  Beach  Lawrence. 
April  27,  183S,  George  S.  Robbins  resigned  from  the 
Board.  Eleazar  Lord  was  chosen  to  the  vacancy. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  change  in  the  policy 
of  the  Company.  President  King  returned  from 
Europe  in  May,  1838.  On  May  4,  Elihu  Townsend, 
who  had  been  appointed  a  Director  in  place  of  John 
W.  Leavitt,  resigned  as  Treasurer,  and  the  duties  of 
that  office  were  performed  by  the  President  and 
Secretary  Talman  J.  Waters. 

Eleazar  Lord  had  formulated  a  plan  which  was 
presented  to  the  Legislature  in  January,  183S.  It 
called  for  a  State  loan  to  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company  of  $100,000  to  be  made  against 
even-  like  sum  to  be  paid  in  by  the  Company,  and 
provided  that  ten  miles  of  railroad  from  Tappan 
Slote  (Piermont)  west,  and  ten  miles  from  Dunkirk 
east,  must  first  be  put  under  contract.  This  was  the 
result  of  the  influence  of  Eleazar  Lord  and  the  large 
Dunkirk  landowner,  Walter  Smith.  By  this  provi- 
sion was  secured  for  all  time  the  Eastern  terminus 
of  the  railroad  at  Piermont  and  of  the  Western  at 
Dunkirk,  and  thus  private  landed  interests  at  both 
ends  of  the  line  were  assured  better  tenure.  But 
the  bill  was  greatly  to  the  general  welfare  of  the 
Company,  notwithstanding  this  not  entirely  disinter- 
ested clause,  and  was  the  only  one,  perhaps,  that 
could  have  met  with  approval  from  the  Legislature 
at  that  critical  time.  It  did  meet  with  approval, 
and  was  accepted  by  the  Company,  although  it  was 
opposed  to  the  policy  President  King  had  avowed 
himself  in  favor  of.  Upon  the  passage  of  the  bill,  in 
April,  1S38,  Samuel  P.  Lyman,  of  Syracuse,  was 
appointed  by  the  Board  of  Directors  General  Com- 
missioner of  the  Company,  "to  procure  deeds  of 
cession  and  donations  of  land  to  the  Company." 
He  was  a  friend  of  Eleazar  Lord. 

But  this  "  obtaining  of  deeds  of  cession  and  dona- 
tions of  land  "  was  not  all  the  duty  that  Commis- 
sioner Lyman  was  to  perform.  It  would  not  have 
looked  well  to  nominate  in  the  bond  the  other  part 


BETWEEN    Till     OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


•  v.     Sam  I  yman's  services  were  con- 

lable  because  he  had 

using  them.    And 

time  there  was  need  of  a  suave  and 

•    Vlbany.  Lyman's 

ner  was  the  making  of  a 

nber  21,    1838,   that   if  the  Company 

I  could  locate  and  put  under  contract  three 

hundred  miles  of  the   road   by    May   I,    1839,    from 

m  to  Hornellsville  or 
ee   River  to  Dunkirk,  and 
iware  Valley  was  fairly  under  contract. 
The  report  su  5ta1      Directors  to  be  associ- 

.vith  the  Company  Directors. 
This  was  a  direct  thrust  at  the  policy  of  President 
.  who  had  returned  from  Europe  strong  in  the 
belief  that  the  Company  positively  had  no  prospects. 
He  was  using  his  influence  to  have  the  State  itself 
take  charge  of  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad  and 
complete  it  as  a  public  work,  on  the  ground  that  in 
that  way  only  could  the  road  be  finished.  Lyman's 
utterance  was  the  voicing  of  the  Lord  policy.  How- 
ever, President  King  sent  Commissioner  Lyman  to 
Albany  during  the  session  of  the  Legislature  for 
with  the  outline  of  legislation  having  in  view 
the  making  of  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad  a 
State  work,  and  with  instructions  to  push  it  to  a 
successful  issue  if  it  could  possibly  be  done.  Infor- 
mation came  to  President  King  toward  the  close  of 
the  session  that  his  agent  had  been  working  stead- 
fastly against  such  legislation,  whereupon  he  cen- 
sured Lyman  and  Lyman  resigned. 

tzar  Lord's  influence  apparently  soon  became 
once    more    paramount    in   the    Company's    affairs, 
contracts  on   the  ten  miles  from  Piermont  and 
the  ten  miles  from  Dunkirk  were  let,  and  then   Mr. 
posed  to  the  Board  that  the  work  be  further 
a  plan  he  had  in  mind,  by  letting  con- 
1  onstruction  from  the  point  where  the 
ten-mile  contract  from  Tappan  ended  to  the  village 
n,  thirty-six  miles.      For  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  he  submitted  his  plan  as  being  one  most 
likely  to  sful.      It  called   for  authority 

from  the  B  icit  subscriptions  from  the  citi- 

of  Rockland  and  counties,  until  a  sum 

sufficient,  with   a  corresponding  amount  thus  earned 


from  the  State,  to  commence  and  carry  on  the  work, 
was  collected;  the  subscriptions  to  be  paid  monthly. 
He  proposed  a  contract  of  such  form  that  the  con- 
tractors should  have  no  claim  for  damages  under  it 
if  the  required  instalments  were  not  paid  by  the  sub- 
scribers. In  addition  to  this,  the  Company  was  to 
issue  special  certificates  for  the  stock,  entitling  them 
to  interest  on  it,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  earnings  on 
that  part  of  the  road  after  it  should  be  put  in  opera- 
tion, until  such  time  as  the  road  was  completed  to 
Erie.  The  Board  of  Directors  acquiesced  in  this 
proposition,  and  official  action  in  its  favor  was  taken. 
Eleazar  Lord  was  appointed  Commissioner  to  carry 
out  the  details  of  the  plan,  the  scope  of  which  was 
subsequently  extended  so  that  the  work  was  to  be 
put  under  contract  also  as  far  as  Middletown,  nine 
miles  west  of  Goshen.  At  tin's  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Directors,  July  14,  1S38,  it  was  also 

Resolved,  That  as  soon  as  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
1  be  subscribed  in  any  of  the  Southern  Tier  of  counties, 
and  instalments  of  15  per  cent,  paid  in  thereon,  in  cash,  and 
deposited  in  bank  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  Company.  .1 
competent  engineer  with  suitable  assistants  shall  be  forthwith 
sent  into  such  county  to  survey  the  line  of  the  road  therein 
and  prepare  it  for  location;  and  that  the  said  15  per  cent.,  or 
so  much  as  shall  be  necessary,  shall  be  applied  toward  the 
expense  of  such  survey,  and  that  the  residue  thereof,  and  of 
all  future  instalments  to  be  paid  on  such  stock,  together  with 
such  corresponding  amount  as  may  in  consequence  be  re- 
ceived from  the  State,  shall  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  road  through  such  county,  and.  if  any  such 
counties  shall  see  fit  to  anticipate  the  payments  of  future 
instalments  on  their  subscriptions,  tiny  shall  be  allowed  in- 
terest thereon  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent,  per  annum,  until  calls 
shall  be  made  by  the  Board  to  the  same  extent  upon  the 
stockholders  at  large. 

At  the  same  time,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Lord,  the 
Board  passed  a  resolution  which  provided  that  the 
railroad  should  be  constructed  of  six-foot  gauge 
instead  of  the  four-foot-eight-and-a-half-inch  gauge, 
which  was  the  standard  for  all  roads  then  building 
in  this  country.  There  were  several  reasons  for  this 
innovation.  H.  C.  Seymour,  the  Chief  Engineer, 
and  S.  S.  Post  were  the  original  controlling  minds 
in  Erie  practical  affairs.  These  advisers  advocated 
the  six-foot  gauge  because  it  was  favored  by  all  Eng- 
lish railroad  builders,  who  were  then  regarded  as 
masters  of  the  economies  of  engineering  science. 
Then,  the  grades  of  the  proposed  New-  York  and 
Erie    Railroad   were  to  be  of  extraordinary  degree. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


45 


the  overcoming  of  which,  according  to  Mr.  Post, 
would  require  the  use  of  locomotives  of  enormous 
weight,  a  weight  so  great  that  a  broad-gauged  track 
alone  could  offer  sufficient  space  for  placing  within 
the  locomotives  the  mechanism  necessary  to  give  the 
power  required  to  move  successfully  so  monstrous  a 
machine.  Mr.  Post,  also,  saw  a  great  future  for  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  insisted  that  the 
time  would  come  when  trains  would  necessarily  have 
to  run  in  "  squads  "over  it — a  number  of  trains  on 
practically  one  schedule  time — and  that  these  squads 
could  be  made  few  in  number  by  the  heavy  locomo- 
tives being  capable  of  hauling  trains  of  many  cars; 
which  argument  he  used  in  favor  of  the  practical 
economy  of  the  broad  gauge.  Mr.  Post's  prophecy 
as  to  trains  in  "  squads"  came  true  years  ago,  as 
witness  the  running  of  a  regular  passenger  train  in  a 
number  of  "  sections,"  and  regular  freight  trains 
with  many  "  extras." 

But,  if  none  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  the  adop- 
tion of  it  had  been  made,  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  would  have  had  the  broad  gauge  just  the 
same.  Eleazar  Lord  had  an  idea  of  his  own  about 
the  six-foot  gauge,  and  it  was  this  that  most  moved 
him  to  favor  and  insist  upon  it.  There  was  an  ap- 
prehension in  his  mind  that  a  change  in  a  certain 
provision  of  the  charter  of  the  Company  would  be 
sought  at  some  future  time.  The  avowed  object  of 
the  originators  of  the  project  for  a  railroad  such  as 
the  Erie  was  to  be  was,  besides  the  opening  up  and 
developing  an  isolated  portion  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  to  enhance  the  trade  and  commerce  of  New 
York  City  by  giving  it  communication  with  markets 
in  New  York  State  and  the  West  which  were  tribu- 
tary, or  likely  to  be,  to  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and 
Boston,  through  public  improvements  then  going 
forward.  Consequently,  it  was  intended  that  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  should  be  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  any  connection  that  might,  although 
indirectly,  lead  the  desired  new  trade  away  from 
New  York.  The  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad  was 
then  building,  as  was  a  local  road  from  Jersey  City 
to  Paterson.  A  railroad  from  the  New  York  State 
line,  near  Elmira,  leading  southward  into  Pennsyl- 
vania, its  ultimate  terminus  to  be  Baltimore,  was 
about  to  be   begun.       Boston  was  hastening  its  con- 


nection by  rail  with  Albany,  there  to  meet  the 
Canal  and  projected  Central  New  York  railroads. 
Hence  the  charter  for  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road expressly  prohibited,  under  penalty  of  its  for- 
feiture, connection  with  any  railroad  leading  into 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  or  Ohio,  on  the  childish 
theory  that  thus  traffic  could  not  be  diverted  from 
the  Erie. 

This  was  in  1832,  and  in  1838,  when  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  was  committed  to  the 
six-foot  gauge,  those  railroads,  and  others,  were 
either  entirely  or  partially  in  operation,  and  had  the 
lesser  gauge.  The  charter  provision  prohibiting  out- 
side connection  might  be  easily  changed  some  day. 
To  change  a  great  railroad's  gauge  so  that  connec- 
tion with  other  roads  might  be  made  would  not  be 
so  easy.  Hence  Mr.  Lord's  adoption  of  the  broad 
gauge.  Eleazar  Lord  looked  a  long  way  ahead,  but 
he  did  not  look  far  enough.  If  he  had,  he  might  not 
have  insisted  on  his  six-foot  gauge.  It  came  to  be 
responsible,  in  a  great  measure,  for  much  of  the 
Erie's  subsequent  financial  tribulation.  While  the 
Western  terminus  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road was  still  at  Middletown,  in  1845,  tne  tnen  Chief 
Engineer,  Major  T.  S.  Brown,  returned  from  Europe, 
whither  he  had  been  sent  to  study  the  best  methods 
of  railroad  building,  and  he  reported  that  English 
engineers  were  discouraging  the  six-foot  gauge,  and 
that  some  of  the  railroads  in  that  country  had  aban- 
doned it.  A.  S.  Diven,  of  the  board  of  Directors,  was 
in  favor  of  reducing  the  gauge  of  the  Erie  before  the 
work  got  further  along.  Major  Brown,  in  response 
to  a  request  of  the  Board,  estimated  that  the  change 
of  the  gauge  of  the  fifty-four  miles  of  track  between 
Piermont  and  Middletown  would  cost  not  more  than 
$250,000.  Director  Diven  offered  a  resolution  that 
the  gauge  be  changed  to  the  narrow,  or  what  is  now 
the  standard,  gauge.  James  Brown  and  Homer 
Ramsdell  were  the  only  members  of  the  Board  be- 
sides Mr.  Diven  who  voted  for  the  resolution,  and 
the  six-foot  gauge  remained.  The  road  was  com- 
pleted with  that  width  of  track.  When,  at  last,  it 
became  necessary  to  make  the  road  and  its  branches 
standard  gauge  or  go  out  of  business,  nearly  forty 
years  later,  the  change  cost  far  up  into  the  millions 
of  dollars,  this  being  actual  outlay;   not  taking  into 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


ant  the  millions  in  extra  expense  it  had  cost  to 

and  supply  a  railroad  six  feet  wide. 

I,  and   the  penny- 

nd-foolish  policy  that  persisted  in  it,  are 

■  ■[•  taking  out  of  the  Erie  treasury  not 

|   j, 000,000  01  much-needed  money. 

The  Lord  plan  for  raising  money  to  build  the  road 

to  Goshen  was  in  a  great  measure  a  success.     Leading 

e  and  Rockland  counties  lent  sub- 

al  aid  to  the  scheme;  prominent  among  them 

Hon.   John   B.   Booth,  George   D.    Wickham, 

.    Isall,  Henry  Merriam,  and  Ambrose  S.  Mur- 

Goshen,  and  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson  of  Ramapo. 

The  I  County  committee  pledged  themselves 

to  r.         -      .  OO,  and  they  did  raise  that  amount. 

The    official    report    of   the    Company    for     1838, 
which,  me  reason,  was  not  filed  with  the  Sec- 

until  January  II,  1840,  throws  inter- 
esting light  on  the  progress  the  management  was 
making.      It  is  as  follows: 

Immediately  after  the  reception  of  the  law  passed  April  16, 
amend   an   act   entitled   '  an  act   to 
■-miction  of  a  road  from  New  York  to  Lake 
Erie,  passed  April  23,  1836,'  "  the  company  adopted  measures 
for  the  active  prosecution  of  the  work,  perfected  the  surveys 
and  locations  of  the  portions  of  the  road  specified  in  the  act 
and.  in  August.   1838.  entered  into  contracts  for  grading  the 
ten  miles  of  the  road  in  Rockland  County  and  the  ten  in  Chau- 
tauqua County,  and  work  was  shortly  afterward  begun.     To- 
•  the  year  a  resurvey  was  begun  preparatory 
•1  of  the  r  Binghamton  to  the  Gene- 

ind  likewise  from  the  west  line  of  Allegany  County 
to  the  if  the  ten  miles  under  contract  in  Chautauqua 

-   taken  to  obtain  the  cessions  of  land 
• 

b.   townsend, 
William    Beach    Lawri 

Directors. 
tfi  Wall  Street,  January  7,  1840. 

its  ,ui,/  Expenditures  of  the  .Yew  York 
my  during  the   Year  ending 
.,/.  /SjS. 

M'TS. 

January  I,  $1,00672 

$20. .130  00 

1.  ;- 

Wall 

450  00 

24,500  00— $46,; 

$47. 


Total  receipts  brought  forward $47,769  56 

EXPENSES. 

Paid   on   contracts $28,204  40 

Salaries  and  expenses,  engineering 

partment 9,130  87 

Salaries  Secretary  and  Clerk,  rent,  fuel, 

sundries 4,267  68 

Expenses    of    Commissioner    and    pay 

and  expenses  of  agents  on  line 2.751  83 

Interest  paid  on  notes  and  balance  due 

contractors 757  42 

Law  expenses,  and  expenses  of  officers 

traveling  on  company's  business....  477  62 
Costs  of  acquiring   title   to   lands   for 

roadbeds 616  78 

Printing,   stationery,   advertising,   etc..  31884 

Box  rent  and  postage 63  86 — $46,589  30 

Leaving  balance  cash,   December  31,   1838...  $1,180  26 

Talman  J.  Waters.  Secretary. 
Sworn  November  6,  1839. 

Lettings  for  contracts  for  both  grading  and  super- 
structure were  advertised,  but  work  was  not  really 
begun  on  the  Goshen  extension  until  the  following 
spring.  The  subscriptions  had  been,  up  to  Decem- 
ber 1838,  S  100,000,  which  earned  the  same  amount 
from  the  State.  Contracts  for  grading  having  been 
closed  on  satisfactory  terms,  the  Eastern  end  of  the 
road  began  to  assume  that  appearance  of  activity  that 
followed  the  unfortunate  beginning  of  work  in  the 
valley  of  the  Delaware  in  1835,  and  which  ended  so 
disastrously  in  the  spring  of  1837.  Operations  on  the 
Eastern  Division  were  restricted  from  month  to 
month  to  the  amount  of  funds  at  command. 

But  toward  the  end  of  December,  183S,  the  Direc- 
tors of  the  Company,  or  a  majority  of  them,  seem  to 
have  begun  to  think  that  the  arrangement  with  the 
State  was  not  as  liberal  as  the  requirements  of  the 
work  should  have,  and,  on  the  20th  of  that  month,  the 
Company  prepared  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature, 
which  was  presented  early  in  the  session  of  1839, 
reciting  the  fact  that  the  Company  had  determined 
the  location  of  the  work  from  the  Western  end  of 
tin-  ten  miles  then  under  contract  in  Rockland 
County  to  Goshen,  in  Orange  County  ;  from  a  point 
near  the  village  of  Binghamton,  in  Broome  Count}-, 
to  a  point  near  the  village  of  Elmira,  in  Chemung 
County  ;  and  from  Corning,  in  Steuben  Count}-,  to 
tin-  west  line  of  Chemung  Count}-  ;  that  the  people 
in    the    Southern    Tier   had    subscribed    to    between 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


47 


three  and  four  thousand  shares  of  stock  and  would 
subscribe  more  in  case  of  success  of  the  petition  ; 
and  that  the  Company  was  prepared  to  locate  and 
put  under  contract  further  expensive  portions  of  the 
road  with  the  view  of  completing  a  single  track 
from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie  within  five  years  if  it 
could  command  the  requisite  funds.  The  memorial- 
ists asked  the  Legislature  to  amend  the  law  of  1838 
so  as  to  provide  for  an  issue  of  State  stock  in  the  ratio 
of  $3  to  $1  advanced  by  the  stockholders,  without 
requiring  them  to  provide  for  the  interest  thereon, 
and  that  the  Legislature  have  the  right  to  take  the 
road  at  the  completion  of  it  by  paying  what  it  had 
cost,  with  interest,  the  stock  to  bear  5  instead  of 
4' j  percent,  interest. 

The  Legislature  being  slow  to  take  any  action  on 
this  modest  request,  the  management  attempted 
what,  in  sporting  parlance,  would  be  called  a 
"  bluff."  On  February  7,  1839,  Director  William 
Beach  Lawrence,  seconded  by  Eleazar  Lord,  offered 
the  following  resolutions  before  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors of  the  Company  : 

Resolved  unanimously.  That  this  board  approve  of  the  memo- 
rial recently  presented  in  their  behalf  to  the  Legislature,  under 
the  seal  of  the  company,  and  that  no  aid  less  than  prayed  for 
therein  will  be  adequate  to  a  speedy  and  successful  prosecu- 
tion of  the  work  entrusted  to  their  charge,  or  enable  them  to 
complete  a  single  track  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
within  a  reasonable  period. 

Resolved.  That  if  the  Legislature  deem  it  expedient  to  adopt 
the  road  as  a  State  work,  this  board  will  recommend  to  the 
stockholders  a  surrender  of  their  franchises,  upon  a  just  and 
equitable  term. 

If  this  was  intended  to  frighten  the  Legislature 
and  the  people  along  the  line  into  taking  action  in 
behalf  of  the  Company,  to  save  the  one  from  having 
the  railroad  forced  upon  the  State,  and  the  other 
from  losing  the  money  they  had  invested  in  the 
work,  it  did  not  have  that  effect,  for  soon  after  the 


presentation  of  the  resolutions  in  the  Legislature, 
petitions  from  Orange,  Delaware,  Broome,  Tomp- 
kins, and  Seneca  counties,  praying  for  the  imme- 
diate construction  of  the  road  by  the  State,  were 
presented  in  the  Senate.  Senator  Johnson,  of  the 
Committee  on  Railroads,  February  14,  1S39,  made  a 
long  report  to  the  Senate  favoring  the  prayer  of  the 
petitioners,  and  accompanied  it  by  a  bill  authorizing 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  on  or 
before  July  1,  1840,  to  surrender  all  its  right,  title, 
franchises,  and  property  in  the  railroad  to  the  State. 
This  bill  was  rejected  by  the  close  vote  of  fifteen  to 
fourteen.  But  the  Assembly  passed  a  similar  bill. 
1  low  nearly  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  came  to 
passing  from  the  hands  of  the  Company  and  becoming 
part  of  the  great  public  works  of  the  State  of  New 
York  is  shown  by  the  vote  on  this  latter  bill  in  the 
Senate.  It  was  rejected  there  by  a  vote  of  seventeen 
to  fourteen.  Two  votes  alone  changed  the  whole 
history  of  Erie,  for  the  Governor  would  have  signed 
the  bill  had  it  passed. 

But  while  these  bills  did  not  pass,  neither  did  any 
bill  looking  to  the  further  relief  of  the  Company 
pass,  and  the  Directors  went  on  with  the  work  on  the 
lines  made  possible  by  the  legislation  of  1838.  Mr. 
King  remained  at  the  head  of  the  Company  until  Sep- 
tember 25,  1839,  when  he  resigned.  Elihu  Town- 
send  was  elected  President  pro  tern.  At  the  annual 
meeting  held  October  4  following,  Eleazar  Lord 
was  elected  President  of  the  Company  for  the  second 
time,  with  the  following  Board  of  Directors  :  Jere- 
miah H.  Pierson,  John  A.  Stevens,  George  D.  Wick- 
ham,  George  Griswold,  Eleazar  Lord,  Stephen  Whit- 
ney, Aaron  Clark,  Elihu  Townsend,  David  X.  Lord. 
Charles  Hoyt,  John  A.  King,  William  Beach  Law- 
rence, George  S.  Robbins,  Henry  L.  Pierson,  James 
Bowen,  William  H.  Townsend,  Isaac  L.  Varian 


CHAPTER    VI. 


ND    ADMINISTRATION    O]     ELEAZAR    LORD— 1839    TO    1841. 

Mm  —  Success  of  the  Orange  and  Rockland  Plan  followed  by  its  Extension  to  the  Susquehanna  and  Western 
.  —  Building  a  Railroad  on  Stilts —  How  100  Miles  of  Piles  came  to  be  I  'riven  at  a  ( lost  of  $1,000,000,  1 

1  t..  have   the   State  Assume  Charge  of    the   Work    Fails — More   State   Aid   Solicited' in    1840  and 

:!Cd  —  What  the  Work  ng  —  Serio  ,inst  the  Management  Investigated  by  the  Legislature;   the 

a —  The  Management  Exonerated  —  Political   Influence  Credited  with   the    Result — Lord    Retires  the  Second 
Time  nt  —  The  C  Apparently  Promising. 


TlIK  Southern  Tier  and  Western  counties  had  long 
given  up  all  hopes  of  the  railroad  ever  reaching 
them,  and  had  lost  confidence  in  the  Company. 
This  was  especially  true  of  the  Southern  Tier.  For 
a  >ear  or  more,  and  up  to  the  time  of  the  adoption 
of  the  plan  by  which  the  railroad  was  being  built 
through  Rockland  County  and  into  Orange  County, 
the  Southern  Tier  had  advocated  and  insisted  on 
the  surrender  of  the  Erie  charter  to  the  State,  and 
opposed  all  further  efforts  to  obtain  relief  from  the 
ilature.  The  reports  of  the  success  with  which 
the  Rockland  and  Orange  method  was  meeting 
changed  the  drift  of  opinion  in  the  Susquehanna  and 
Chemung  valleys,  and  in  February,  1840,  confidence 
in  the  work  was  so  much  restored  that  the  same  plan 
tccepted  by  the  Southern  Tier  counties,  and 
subscriptions  sufficient  having  been  made,  117  miles 
of  road,  from  Binidiamton  to  Hornellsville,  were  put 
under  contract,  and  the  work  of  construction  was 
immediately  begun. 

In  the  work  on  the  Susquehanna  and  Chemung 
sections  of  the  railroad,  Eleazar  Lord,  who  had 
d  himself  so  potent  in  his  direction  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Company  in  many  emergencies,  com- 
mitted himself  to  an  act  of  folly  which  went  far  to 
strengthen    the   ch  his    enemies    that  he  was 

not  a  practical   man,  but    one  of  wild   and   visionary 
This  the   substitution    of   rows   of 

roadbed   on  which   to  lay 
the  r.tiU.      Upward   of  one   h  miles  ..f   this 

piling  were  driven  along  the  route,  at  acostvarii 
estim   •  000  to  si.cjoo.ooo.     It  was  a 

I   loss.      No  track  er  laid   upon   it.        I  or 


many  years  after  the  railroad  was  completed  long 
rows  of  these  piles  could  be  seen,  and  even  to  this 
day,  in  the  Canisteo  Valley,  near  Hornellsville,  many 
of  them  are  visible,  mournful  monuments  to  misdi- 
rected effort  in  furthering  a  worth)-  cause.  Their 
interesting  story  is  told  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

February  26,  1840,  on  the  petition  of  the  citizens 
of  the  Southern  Tier  counties,  and  of  sundry  stock- 
holders of  the  Company,  Senator  Furman,  of  the 
Railroad  Committee  of  the  Senate,  presented  from 
that  committee  a  strong  report  in  favor  of  the  State 
assuming  charge  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
and  completing  it  as  a  public  work.  The  Company 
itself  was  charged  by  opponents  of  such  a  course  with 
conspiring  to  arouse  the  people  to  efforts  to  induce 
the  State  to  take  the  work  off  the  Company's  hands. 
At  this  session  of  the  Legislature  the  President  of 
the  Company,  under  date  of  January  24th,  presented 
a  memorial  asking  for  a  further  amendment  of  the 
act  of  April  16,  1838.  The  memorial  was  accom- 
panied by  a  letter  from  President  Lord  to  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Assembly  Railroad  Committee,  the  Hon. 
Demas  Hubbard,  Jr.,  in  which  he  answered  the  que- 
ries which  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Hubbard  in  regard 
to  the  Company,  in  view  of  action  on  the  proposed 
new  legislation.      In  this  letter  Mr.   Lord  said  : 

"It   is  proposed  nay   for  a  single  track  of 

rails,  with  the  nece  sar)  turnouts;  to  ereel  sub  tantial  bridges 

with  timber  in  placi   ol    torn     1 trucl  the  road  with  piles 

wherevei  thai  method  hall  1"-  Found  mosl  economical,  and 
to  laj     lion-   and  well  secured   superstructures  and  a  ll.it   iron 

rail    •.!    re    than    ordinary    thickness,      About    two    hundred 

mile-  of  the  track  can.  it  is  believed,  1"  laid  on  piles,  ill  a 
manner    far   more    satisfactory,   and    at    far    less    CO  t,    than    by 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


49 


the  ordinary  method  of  grading;  and  in  hope  that  the  desired 
change  in  the  law  may  be  granted,  and  in  order  to  be  pre- 
pared to  proceed  with  the  work  without  delay,  contracts  for 
about  one  hundred  miles  of  pile  road,  on  the  margin  of  the 
Susquehanna  and  its  tributaries,  between  Binghamton  and 
Hornellsville,  are  in  preparation  and  may  be  consummated 
within  two  or  three  weeks.  The  cost  of  the  road,  as  repeat- 
edly estimated  and  revised,  graded  for  a  double  track,  with  a 
single  track  of  rails,  the  ordinary  flat  iron,  and  the  necessary 
engines  and  vehicles,  will  fall  within  $6,000,000.  Upon  the 
plan  now  proposed,  with  the  economy  induced  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  company  and  the  use  of  piles  on  large  portions 
of  the  road,  the  utmost  confidence  is  felt  that  the  cost  of  the 
work  complete  will  not  exceed,  and  may  fall  considerably 
short  of,  the  sum  mentioned.  The  company,  without  any 
hesitation  or  doubt,  will  be  able  to  complete  the  road  without 
any  additional  amount  of  aid  beyond  the  $3,000,000  contem- 
plated in  the  act,  which  calls  for  an  issue  of  the  loan  in  the 
ratio  of  $100,000  to  every  sum  of  $50,000  collected  on  the  stock 
of  the  company  and  expended  in  the  construction  of  the  road, 
that  rate  to  be  applicable  to  the  past  as  well  as  the  future 
collections  on  the  stock,  the  stock  to  bear  interest  at  6  per 
cent,  per  annum,  or  such  rate  not  exceeding  6  per  cent.,  at 
the  option  of  the  Comptroller,  as  will  be  saleable  at  par,  and  to 
exchange  the  four  and  a  half  per  cent,  stock  heretofore  issued, 
for  stock  bearing  six,  or  not  exceeding  6  per  cent.,  that  the 
former,  which  on  account  of  its  low  rate  of  interest  is  not 
saleable  without  loss,  may  be  taken  out  of  market.  Then 
more  than  half  the  road  may  be  put  in  use  within  two  years. 
"  The  company  has  not  expressed  the  desire  or  taken  any 
measures  or  authorized  any  one  to  bring  about  the  comple- 
tion of  the  work  by  the  State.  With  the  aid  asked,  they  will 
proceed  with  the  work  rapidly  and  successfully  complete  it." 

The  petition  which  President  Lord's  letter  accom- 
panied stated  that  work  was  progressing  under  the 
contracts  made  in  August,  1838,  according  to  the 
act  of  April  16  of  that  year,  for  graduation  and  ma- 
sonry on  ten  miles  of  the  Eastern  end  and  ten 
miles  on  the  Western  end  of  the  railroad.  Seven 
miles  of  the  Western  end  were  graded  ;  the  remain- 
der nearly.  Half  the  Eastern  end  was  graded. 
Arched  stone  culverts  had  been  built  over  the  Pas- 
cac  and  other  streams,  and  one  over  the  Hackensack 
was  building.  A  pier  constructed  on  piles,  with  an 
embankment  of  earth  and  stone,  had  been  extended 
to  the  navigable  channel  of  the  Hudson  River, 
4,000  feet  from  shore,  with  transverse  wharf  at  the 
end,  120  feet  in  length.  A  single  track  of  rails  used 
in  carrying  the  materials  of  the  embankment  was  laid 
from  the  end  of  the  pier,  a  distance  of  nearly  two 
miles.  This  work  was  in  such  a  state  that  it  would 
permit  laying  of  the  superstructure  the  ensuing  sea- 
son. Legal  titles  had  been  acquired  for  lands  for 
roadway  and,  July,  1839,  contracts  were  made  for 
grading  single  track  from  the  western  end  of  the  ten- 


mile  section  to  Goshen,  thirty-five  miles,  with  the 
exception  of  two  miles  of  piles.  Proposals  at  the 
same  time  were  received  for  grading  a  further  dis- 
tance of  seven  miles  to  Middletown,  and  contract 
for  one  mile  was  let.  These  contracts  amounted  to 
$330,000,  or  $8,250  per  mile.  A  portion  of  the  tim- 
ber for  superstructure  had  been  purchased;  it  being 
deemed  practicable  to  finish  it  within  the  ensuing 
year.  New  surveys  were  begun  in  the  latter  part 
of  1839,  and  new  examinations  of  the  Shawangunk 
ridge  began  January  30,  1840.  Resurvey  of  the  Sul- 
livan route  was  making  ;  also  from  Binghamton  west 
to  the  Genesee  River,  and  from  the  western  boun- 
dary of  Allegany  County  through  Cattaraugus  and 
Chautauqua  counties.  There  had  been  finally  lo- 
cated 103  miles — fifty-three  miles  on  the  Eastern 
Division,  forty  in  the  Delaware  Valley,  and  ten  in 
Chautauqua  County.  Between  fifty  and  sixty  miles 
were  graded  ready  for  superstructure. 

This  petition  was  an  elaboration  of  the  official 
report  for  1839,  which  also  thus  stated  the  condition 
of  the  Company's  affairs: 

Report  of  the  Receipts  ami  Expenditures  of  the  New   York 

and  Erie  Railroad  Company  during  the  Year  lSj<). 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance  on  hand.  January  I,  1839 $1,180  26 

From  collections  on  stock  and  interest 

thereon $54.15'  °2 

Rents 650  00 

Temporary   loan 11,000  00 

Proceeds  of  sale  of  $300,000  of  4J/2  per 

cent.  State  stock 245,225  00—  311,026  02 

Total $312,206  28 

EXPENSES. 

For  grading,  timber  for  pier  and 
superstructure,  and  laying  of  a  por- 
tion of  latter,  compensation  of  com- 
missioners  and  agents  in  getting 
land  for  roadway  and  stations, 
fences,   etc $229,423  18 

Costs  of  said  lands  and  fences,  legal 
proceedings  in  acquiring  title,  etc..     42,899  19 

Salaries,  rent.  fuel,  stationery,  print- 
ing, postage,  and  incidental  office 
expenses 4,229  67 

Interest  on  temporary  loan,  auction- 
eer's charges  for  selling  State  stock, 
county  clerk's  fees  for  searches 5.937  75 

Amount  temporary  loans  stated  in  an- 
nual  report   for   1838 24.500  00— $306,989  79 

Leaving  balance,  December  31,  1839 $S,zi6  49 

February  19,  1840. 

William  M.  Gould,  Secretary. 


5° 


BETWEEN     1  111!    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


ng   fight   against   a  "  political   reform" 

iture,  the  amended  legislation 

I,   and   in  a  short  time  the 

tcept    forty   miles  between 

I  Bing    imti  n,   was  under  contract    and 

the  ••  tively  progressing.       The  ten-mile 

iding  from   Dunkirk  eastward  was  com- 

nd  the  forty-seven  miles  between   Piermont 

and  Goshen  were  nearly  ready  for  operation.     "All 

this,'  nl   at   the  time,  "  without   the 

aid  of  <>ne  dollar  from  a  New  York  City  stockholder, 

or  the  sympathy  of  its  citizens." 

Although  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was 
built  greatly  for  the  benefit  of  New  York  City, 
the  political  influence  of  the  Erie  Canal  was  so  great 
that  the  people  of  the  city,  the  power  of  Wall  Street, 
ami  many  of  the  metropolitan  newspapers  opposed 
the  work  and  discredited  the  Company  and  its  efforts 
at  even'  turn.  Thus  it  was  that,  in  the  face  of  the 
the  work  was  making,  and  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  in  twelve  months  the  Company  had  risen 
from  a  condition  of  weakness  and  distrust  to  strength 
and  confidence,  damaging  charges  were  set  in  circu- 
lation against   its   management.       Eleazar  Lord  and 

•adjutors  were  charged  with  sinister  and  selfish 
motives   in   locating   the   road  ;    with    favoritism    in 

-  paid  to  contractors  and  in  compensation  of 
officers  ;  with  corrupt  agreements  with  stockholders 
in  Rockland  and  Orange  counties,  by  which  amounts 
of  money  subscribed  were  represented   to  the  State 

t  to  be  much  larger  than  they  actually  were,  to 
secure  the  payment  of  the  State  instalments  ;  and 
with  other  corrupt  and  criminal  practices  and  willful 
extravagance.  In  recognition  of  this  situation,  Pres- 
ident Lord  sent  the  following  letter  to  the  Speaker 
of  th< 

HE    N'l  w    ':  D   El  II     l:  ill. ROAD 

•v  York,  December  30,  1840. 

To  the  Honorable  th  r  of  the  House  of  Assembly  of 

tin-  State  of  A 

SIR  :  This  company  having  expended  in  the  construction  of 

nd  dollars  of  money  col- 
on their  ,nri   likewise   the   proi  eeds   of 
eight  hundred  I  •  of  the  thru-  millio 
ianed  b                         of  this  State;  and  no  special  1 
ination   of  such   expenditure   having   been   instituted   on    the 


part  of  the  State,  other  than  that  made  during  the  past  year 
by  the  inspector  appointed  pursuant  to  the  act  of  29th  of  April, 
1&40.  1  beg,  through  you,  to  express  the  unanimous  wish  of 
the  directors  that  such  investigation  of  the  affairs  and  pro- 
lings  of  the  company  may  be  ordered  a  H irable 

the  Assembly  shall  appear  expedient. 
With  the  further  request  that  you  would  take  the  earliest 
-inn   alter   the    commencement    of   the    session    to   submit 
this   communication   to   the    Honorable   the    Assembly, 
I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

Respectfully,   your  obedient    servant. 

Eleazar  Lord,  President. 

The  investigation  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Railroads,  February  4,  1841.  The  result  of  its 
labors  was  a  report  vindicating  the  management. 
This  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  enemies  of  the  Rail- 
road Company  and  its  management,  and  the  fight 
against  them  was  kept  up  with  increased  bitterness, 
the  old  charges  being  reiterated  and  new  ones  made. 
Another  and  more  thorough  investigation  by  the 
Legislature  was  demanded  and,  May  24,  a  special 
investigating  committee  was  appointed.  The  report 
of  this  committee  not  only  exonerated  President 
Lord  and  his  management,  but  incorporated  in  its 
report  the  following  : 

The  result  of  this  investigation  not  only  exonerati  s  tli<- 
company,  its  officers,  and  its  agents  from  everything  like  a 
charge  of  fraud  or  mismanagement  or  attempt  to  evade  the 
law.  but  it  proves  on  the  contrary  that  they  are  justly  entitled 
to  the  confidence  which  the  Legislature  has  heretofore  re- 
posed in  them.  Instead  of  being  liable  to  censure,  the  com- 
pany  is  entitled  to  approbation." 

In  spite  of  this  official  indorsement  of  the  Erie 
management,  the  political  enemies  of  the  project 
continued  their  fight  against  it,  charging  that  the 
legislative  reports  were  influenced  by  the  behests  of 
Whig  politics.  President  Lord  resigned  May  28, 
1841,  but  before  resigning  he  took  up  the  interests 
of  original  stockholders  in  the  Company  who  had 
suffered  great  financial  loss  by  the  disastrous  fire  in 
New  York  City  in  1X35,  but  who  had  made  payments 
on  their  stock  previous  to  that  time.  lie  proposed 
to  the  Board  of  Directors  that  those  stockholders, 
by  paying  $5  per  share  on  the  stock  they  held,  be 
permitted  to  relinquish  to  the  Company  such  original 
scrip  and  receive  full  certificates  of  stock  for  the 
amount  of  payments  they  had  made,  with  a  release 
from  liability  for  all  outstanding  contracts.  This 
was  agreed  to  by  a  resolution  of   the    Hoard,  and  the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE  51 

contractors  assented  to  the  exempting  of  such  orig-  Company,  or  $1,100,000  in   all.     The  Eastern   Divi- 

inal  stockholders  from  liability.    By  this  arrangement  sion  of  the  railroad,  as  the  section  between  Piermont 

a  large  sum  of  money  was  turned  into  the  Company  and    Goshen    was    called,    was    rapidly    approaching 

treasury.    Mr.  Lord  left  the  Company  with  its  affairs  completion,  and  the  work  was  progressing  on  other 

in    apparently    sound    condition,    and    its   prospects  parts  of  the  line,  so  far  as  outward  indication  was, 

seemed  promising.    The  State  had  paid  eleven  of  the  with  an  activity  that  augured  well  for  an  early  open- 

$100,000  instalments  of  the  $3,000,000  loan  to  the  ing  of  the  entire  road. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


ADMINISTRATION   OF   JAMES    BOWEN— 1841    TO    1S43. 

Opportunity  Thrown  Away:  The  Fatal  Mistake  that  Mad-.-  Possible  All  of  Erie's  Subsequent  Woes  —  But  for  that  Mistake 
there  would  be  no  Vanderbilt  Kingdom,  and  the  History  of  Wall  Street  and  of  Railroads  in  this  Country  would  have  been  Entirely 
rcnt  —  All  of  the  Present  Great  Terminal  1'ossessions  of  the  Vanderbilt  System  at  Forty-second  Street  in  New  York  City  might 
N'od  of  the  Head  and  the  Outlay  of  Less  than  $90,000!  —  The  Offer  not  Accepted.     II.  GETTING   Rl 
Rosy  Prognostications  on  the   Threshold  of  Disaster  —  The  Company's  Treasury  again   Empty  —  And 
•  •.000  to  the  Mate  —  Politics,  the  Press,  and  the  Erie  Question — Futile  Aid  Meetings  in  New  York  —  The  State  Turns  its 
and  the   Company   Assigns  —  The   Railroad   Advertised   for  Sale,   but  the  Sale   Postponed   by  Action  of  a  Special  Session  of   the 
Legislature. 


I.    A    GOLDEN    OPPORTUNITY    THROWN    AWAY. 


road  put  in  operation.  In  fact,  a  month  after  Bowen 
became  President,  a  train  was  run  between  l'iermont 
who  was  then  Vice-President  and  and  Ramapo,  a  distance  of  twenty  miles.  Already 
Treasurer,  was  elected  to  succeed  Eleazar  Lord  as  the  fact  that,  even  with  the  railroad  in  operation  on 
ident  of  the  Company,  and  he  had  the  honor  and  the  Eastern  Division,  its  Eastern  terminus  would 
glory  of  presiding  on  the  historic  occasion  when  the  still  be  nearly  twenty-five  miles  from  New  York 
first  portion  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was  City,  which  distance  was  to  be  overcome  by  steam- 
opened  for  traffic,  although  it  was  through  no  direct  boat  between  the  city  and  Piermont,  began  to  excite 
effort  of  his  that  the  work  had  progressed  thus  far.      much    discussion,    and    the    advantage    that    would 


Others  who  had  been  striving  and  hoping  for  years 
for  even  this  consummation  of  the  long-laid  plans 
had  no  active  part  in  the  event.      Upon  many  such 

.en  the  courtesy  of  being  an  invited  guest  was 

red.  Mr.  Bowen  was  a  native  of  New  York 
City,  a  man  of  wealth,  a  member  of  the  Union  Club, 
and  of  the  Kent  Club,  famous  in  that  day,  in  which 

-  Watson  Webb,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  Richard 
M.  lilatchford,  and  similar  spirits,  were  conspicuous. 

dent   Bowen  was  a  leader  in  that  coterie,  and 

[ally  an  intimate  of  General  Webb.       The 

latter  had  supported  the  New  York  and  Erie  project 

in  his  paper,   The  New  York  Courier  and  Inquirer, 

from  the  beginning,  and  it  was  as  a  friend  of  his  that 


accrue  to  the  Company  if  it  might  have  the  terminus 
at  or  near  New  York  became  apparent  to  observant 
people  who  gave  the  matter  thought.  "  A  railroad 
that  begins  twenty-five  miles  away  from  the  place  it 
was  chartered  to  bring  into  communication  with  some 
other  place,"  the  Hon.  Francis  Granger  remarked  in 
opposing  an  effort  of  the  Company  to  obtain  public 
aid,  "  does  not  seem  to  be  warranted  in  supposing 
that  it  is  entitled  to  a  confidence  in  its  purposes  that 
it  would  have  if  it  could  show  that  it  would  deposit 
its  traffic  where  it  protested  it  intended  to  deposit 
it."  The  charter  of  the  Company  gave  it  the  privi- 
lege of  constructing  its  railroad  from  New  York,  or 
from   a  point   near  New  York.     The  uniting  of  the 


Jan  1  entered  the  Directory  of  the  Company,      seaboard    with    the   lakes  by  a  railroad  which  would 


and  through  his  influence  that  Bowen  was  advanced 
to  the  Pre  idency. 

So  far  as  the  public  knew,  the  affairs  of  Erie  were 

Work  was  actively  progressing  all  along  the 

line.     On    th  n    Division    it    had    reached    a 


attract  traffic  of  the  great  West  to  New  York  was 
the  one  idea  the  projectors  of  this  railroad  dwelt 
upon  in  seeking  the  charter.  So  the  fact  that  the 
road  was  to  come  no  nearer  the  great  center  of  the 
country's  trade  than   twenty-five  miles  grew  to  be  a 


stage  so  near  ,  that  it  was  only  a  matter  of      question  of  much  comment. 

a  few  weeks  whe:  track  would   be  laid  the  entire  April  25,  1S31,  almost  a  year  to  a  day  before  the 

distance  between  Pi        ont  and  Goshen  and  the  rail-      corporation    that   became    the    New   York   and  Erie 


£» 


GENERAL  JAMES    BOWEN. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


53 


Railroad  Company  was  chartered,  the  New  York  and 
Harlem  Railroad  Company  was  granted  letters  of 
incorporation,  with  authority  to  construct  a  single  or 
double  track  railway  "  from  any  point  on  the  north 
bounds  of  Twenty-third  Street  to  any  point  on  the 
Harlem  River,  between  the  east  bounds  of  the  Third 
Avenue  and  the  west  bounds  of  Eighth  Avenue,  with 
a  branch  to  Hudson  River,  between  124th  Street 
and  the  north  bounds  of  129th  Street."  April  6, 
1832,  the  charter  was  amended  to  authorize  the 
company,  with  permission  of  the  authorities  of  New 
York  City,  to  extend  its  railroad  "  along  the  Fourth 
Avenue  to  Fourteenth  Street."  May  12,  1836,  the 
company  was  authorized  to  unite  with  any  railroad 
or  canal  company  organized  under  the  laws  of  New 
York  State,  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  a  rail- 
road, at  any  point  which  the  directors  of  the  two 
companies  might  agree  upon.  Subsequent  legisla- 
tion empowered  the  company  to  extend  its  railroad 
to  the  City  Hall.  May  7,  1840,  the  company  was 
authorized  to  extend  its  railroad  from  the  Harlem 
River  through  the  County  of  Westchester  to  a  point 
of  intersection  with  the  proposed  New  York  and 
Albany  Railroad.  The  company  was  also  authorized 
to  build  a  drawbridge  across  the  Harlem  River. 

At  the  session  of  the  New  York  Legislature  for 
1 841,  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Company 
was  a  petitioner  for  the  aid  of  the  State  to  the 
amount  of  $350,000,  by  the  issue  of  State  stock  at  six 
per  cent,  interest,  payable  in  five  years,  to  enable 
the  company  to  continue  its  work;  the  railroad  being 
then  in  operation  from  the  City  Hall  in  New  York  to 
Fordham,  a  distance  of  thirteen  miles.  To  influence 
feeling  in  its  favor  the  company  laid  particular  stress 
on  the  fact  that  by  this  concession  a  communication 
by  rail  between  New  York  and  Albany  would  be 
greatly  hastened.  This  petition  was  presented  to 
the  Legislature,  January  26,  and  was  referred  to 
the  Senate  Committee  on  Railroads.  The  applica- 
tion was  refused. 

At  this  time  work  on  the  Erie  was  at  the  height 
of  its  activity.  Eleazar  Lord  was  President  of  the 
Company.  The  President  of  the  New  York  and 
Harlem  Railroad  was  Samuel  R.  Brooks.  He  seems 
to  have  been  a  far-seeing  man  and  a  practical  one. 
The    New   York    and    Albans-  Railroad    scheme   was 


languishing,  as  were  most  of  the  railroad  enterprises 
then,  and  President  Brooks,  failing  to  obtain  aid 
from  the  State  for  his  company,  and  seeing  no  imme- 
diate future  for  the  New  York  and  Albany  Railroad 
that  would  benefit  him,  turned  his  attention  to  the 
Erie,  a  brief  study  of  the  scope  of  which  project 
convinced  him  that  not  only  its  future  greatness, 
but  the  salvation  and  enhancement  of  his  own  rail- 
road, lay  in  a  union  of  the  two. 

There  is  no  record  to  show  how  his  idea  was  re- 
ceived by  the  Erie  management.  Eleazar  Lord,  in 
his  scathing  review  of  the  Erie,  published  in  1855, 
makes  no  reference  to  the  Erie-Harlem  incident. 
That  President  Brooks  did  submit  it  to  the  Erie 
authorities  would  seem  to  be  established  by  the  fact 
that,  March  18,  1841,  Mr.  Furman,  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Railroads,  presented  the  petition  of  the  New 
York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Company  for  an  act  au- 
thorizing it  to  connect  its  railroad  with  that  of  the 
Erie  by  branch  railroad,  and  March  27  brought  in 
a  report  from  his  committee,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  part  : 

The  New  York  and  Harlem  River  Railroad  Company  hav- 
ing been  authorized  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State, 
passed  May  7.  1840,  to  construct  their  railroad  through  the 
County  of  Westchester,  and  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
having  on  the  same  authority  built  their  road  from  its  termi- 
nation at  Piermont  opposite  the  said  County  of  Westchester 
on  the  Hudson  River,  and  arc  now  engaged  in  vigorously 
prosecuting  the  same  through  the  Southern  Tier  of  the  coun- 
ties of  this  State  to  Lake  Erie,  it  has  been  deemed  very  desir- 
able that  these  two  roads  should  be  connected  by  a  branch 
railway,  extending  from  the  Harlem  road  in  Westchester  to 
a  point  opposite,  or  nearly  so.  to  the  termination  of  the  great 
Southern  railroad  at  Piermont,  and  that  this  union  should 
be  further  effected  by  a  steamboat  ferry  across  that  river, 
being  a  distance  (if  two  miles,  for  transporting  the  cars.  etc.. 
from  the  one  road  to  the  other,  thus  opening  a  direct  com- 
munication through  those  Southern  counties  with  the  citj  ol 
New  York.  The  point  at  which  this  branch  road  should 
begin,  it  was  thought,  should  be  located  near  Kane's  quarrj . 
which  now  affords  the  marble  for  the  construction  of  the  new 
Custom  House  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  General  Post 
Office  in  the  city  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  for  other  public 
buildings,  and  which  quarry  will  of  itself  afford  a  very  large 
amount  of  business  for  that  branch  road,  in  transporting  the 
stone  to  the  Hudson  River,  in  order  that  it  may  be  shipped 
to  its  destination.  Another  important  consideration  in  the 
construction  of  the  proposed  road  is  that  it  will  enable  the 
various  descriptions  of  produce  which  are  brought  from  those 
Southern  counties  for  the  consumption  of  that  great  city  to 
be  distributed  at  the  various  depots  through  it.  from  the  Har- 
lem River  to  the  City  Hall,  where  the  same  may  be  required, 
in  place  of  being  drawn  up  from  the  wharves  at  the  rate  of 


54 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


dollar 

1 1.  ,.r  the  center 

iminution  which  the  construction  of  tln> 

■  •rt.iti. 'ti  to  the  consumer, 

ly,  it  is  believed  will 

And  during  the  winter,  when 

it  work  of  the  New 

ml   freight 

and  Harlem  Railroad  by  means  of  this 

branch  road,  it  -  t li;i t  this  on  will  not 

ilders  of  both  companies, 
but  will  aft-  nd  accommodation  to  the  pub- 

lic      In  this  view  of  the  subject  it  is  hardly  possible  to 

the    value   and    importance   of   this   connection    <>t'   the 
Harlei  the   New  York  and   Erie   Railroad 

I  te  Piermont,  a  distance  oi  hteen  miles 

and  a  quarter  from  the   Harlem   River. 

n  though  it  might  have  been  that  President 
Brooks  had  not  consulted  with  the  Erie  management 
upon  this  proposed  connecting  of  the  Harlem  with 
the  Erie,  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  the  Erie 
Directors,  representative  men  of  affairs  that  they 
were,  should  not  have  at  once  become  inspired  with 
the  greatness  of  the  idea  suggested  by  the  Harlem 
proposition.  It  does  not  alone  seem  impossible. 
In  the  light  of  present  events  it  stands  forth  as  in- 
credible, startling.  But  greater  stupidity,  or  what- 
ever it  might  have  been  that  impelled  the  Erie  man- 
agement to  its  criminal  supineness,  was  to  come. 

The  petition  for  authority  to  make  the  connection 
with  Erie  and  the  report  in  favor  of  a  bill  were  un- 
necessary, for  the  charter  of  the  Harlem  Company 
it  that  power,  a  fact  which  both  President 
Brooks  and  the  legislators  had  overlooked.  This 
oversight  was  evidently  discovered,  for  no  further 
legislative  action  was  taken  in  the  matter.  But 
although  the  Harlem  Company  had  the  power  to 
build  the  branch  railroad  to  make  connection  with 
the  Erie,  it  did  not  have  the  means,  and  this  pre- 
I  the  way  for  the  golden  opportunity  which  the 
Erie  deliberately,  and,  so  far  as  there  is  anything  to 
show  tn  tli':  contrary,  contemptuously,  threw  away. 
What  this  opportunity  was  the  following  correspond- 
ence vividly  reveals  ; 

PR]  I    BROOKS  TO    PI         DENT    BOWEN. 

w  York  \m>  Hai 

t  i 

ident  of  the N.  )'.  and  Erie  R.R.  Co. 
Dear  Sir:  I  beg  i 

branch  railroad  from  the  exten  ion  of  I  lilroad 


in  the  valley  of  the  Bronx,  in  Westchester  County,  to  a  point 
on  the   Hudson   River  opposite  I  the 

Railroad  at    I'lermont.      1   have  had  a  survey  made  oi  the 

proposed  branch,  and  have  t!  transmit  herewith 

a  i  opy  of  u  i",.r  \  our  information 

You    will    learn    from    this    report    of   a    survey    by    Allen    A. 

i. Hill.    I  -|  .   ili.it   the   distance   from   the    Harlem    Railroad, 

in  the  valley  of  the  Bronx,  to  the  Hudson  River,  opposite 
Piermont,  is  eight  ami  a  third  miles. 

railroad  between  these  points,  including 
erstructure,   as    carefully    estimated    from    minute   data,   is 
$131,618.82,    equal    to    $15,796.09   per    mile,    and    with    a    grade 
not   •  tceeding    Fortj    four  feet   per  mile. 

No  allow ame  for  the  right  of  way  is  included  in  the  above 
estimate.  The  distance  from  the  City  Hall  to  the  point  of 
commencement  of  the  present  survey  of  this  branch  is  eigh- 
teen miles — adding  thereto  the  branch  of  eight  and  one-third 
miles  gives  the  distance  from  the  City  Hall  to  the  Hudson 
River  opposite  Piermont,  twenty-six  and  one-third  miles; 
and  with  two  miles  of  ferry  across  the  Hudson  at  Tappan 
Baj  m  kes  twenty-eight  and  one-third  miles  from  the  City 
Mall  to  the  present  terminus  of  the  Erie  Railroad,  at  the  pier 
on  tb.  Hudson  River,  which,  with  the  fifty  miles  of  railroad 
already  completed  from  that  point  to  Goshen,  would  afford 
to  the  public  a  continuous  line  of  railroad  from  the  Citj  Hall 
of  seventy-eight  and  one-third  miles  toward  Albany — being 
more  than  half  the  distance  between  that  city  and  the  city  of 
New  York.  I  beg  to  inquire  whether  your  company  are 
willing  to  undertake  to  construct  this  branch  of  eight  and  one- 
third  miles  and  rent  it  to  this  company  for  a  term  of  ten  or 
twenty  years  at  7  per  cent,  interest  per  annum  on  the  cost, 
we  to  keep  it  in  perfect  repair — the  track  to  be  the  same  width 
as  our  present  road? 

On  these  conditions  we  will  undertake  to  furnish  you  a  sub- 
scription to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Co.'s  stock  for 
one-third  of  the  cost  of  the  road. 

If  your  Board  of  Directors  are  pleased  to  entertain  the  con- 
sideration of  this  subject  you  are  hereby  authorized  to  state 
that  this  company  are  prepared  to  furnish  you  at  once  with 
the  subscriptions  for  one-third  of  the  cost  of  the  road,  and 
to  offer  to  you  the  benefit  of  such  business  as  our  road  can 
furnish  to  your  road,  which  will  present  to  the  public  a  direct 
railroad  route  from  the  City  Hall  to  Goshen,  a  distance  of 
seventy-eight  and  one-third  miles,  on  or  before  tin  first  day 
of  January  next,  provided  you  decide  upon  the  adoption  of 
this  proposal  within  a  few  days.  Your  early  reply  is  respect- 
fully solicited 

With  great  respect,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

Samuel  R.   Brooks.  I 'resident. 

PRESIDENT    BROoks    TO    THE    ERIE    INVESTIGAT- 
ING  COMMITTEE. 

Office  of  thf.  N'i  w  York  and  II  \ri  1  M  Rail- 
road Co.,  New  Yurk,  September  6,  1841. 

To  the  Committee  of  Investigation  appointed  by  the  Legislature 
on  /lie  Affairs  of  the  New    York  an,/  Erie  Railroad  Co. 
GENTLEMEN:    I    beg   leave   to   enclose  herein   copies   of  the 
report  of  Allen  A.  Goodliff,  Esq.,  of  a  survey  of  a  line  of  rail- 
road from  Hi'    extension  of  the   Harlem    Railroad,  ill  the  valley 

of  the  Bronx,  in  Westchester  County,  to  tin  Hudson  River, 
opposite  the  terminus  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  at 
Piermont.    The  contractors  of  tin    extension  of  the   Harlem 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


55 


Railroad  have  engaged  to  have  the  road  complete  about  one 
mile  beyond  the  proposed  point  of  connection  on  or  before 
the  first  day  of  January  next;  the  road  is  already  complete,  and 
in  daily  use,  twelve  and  one-half  miles  from  the  City  Hall  1 
also  enclose  a  copy  of  the  letter  I  have  addressed  in  behalf  of 
this  company  to  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Co.,  proposing  to  them  the  immediate  con- 
struction of  the  eight  and  one-third  miles  which  would 
connect  these  two  important  works,  to  the  great  accommoda- 
tion of  the  public,  and  the  certain  benefit  of  both  companies. 

Permit  me  to  inform  you  that  the  Board  of  Directors  of  this 
company  will  esteem  it  a  favor  if  you  would  express  to  the 
President  and  Directors  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Co.  your  views  on  this  subject. 

With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

Samuel  R.  Brooks,  President. 

ERIE    INVESTIGATING   COMMITTEE   TO    THE  ERIE. 

New  York,  September  14,  1S41. 

To  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  New    York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company. 

The  President  of  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Com- 
pany has  made  an  official  communication  to  this  committee, 
under  date  of  the  sixth  of  September,  instant,  transmitting  a 
copy  of  a  letter  addressed  to  the  President  and  Directors  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  dated  August  17, 
1841,  in  which  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Company 
invited  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  to  extend 
their  railroad  eight  and  one-third  miles  into  the  County  of 
Westchester,  for  the  purpose  of  intersecting  and  joining  the 
New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  in  the  valley  of  the  Bronx 
at  a  point  eighteen  miles  distant  from  the  City  Hall.  In  the 
communication  referred  to,  the  committee  have  been  requested 
to  express  to  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company  the  views  suggested  to  their  minds 
from  a  consideration  of  the  subject. 

Although  desiring  to  confine  themselves  strictly  within  the 
sphere  of  their  duties,  yet  the  committee,  feeling  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  importance  and  usefulness  to  the  public  of 
a  continuous  railroad  from  our  vast  interior  to  the  very  center 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  have  most  willingly  given  to  this 
subject  their  deliberate  consideration. 

They  have  carefully  examined  the  matter  in  the  various 
aspects  it  has  been  presented,  not  only  as  regards  the  present, 
but  in  reference  to  the  future,  to  the  full  period  of  the  dura- 
tion of  the  respective  charters  of  both  companies.  From  this 
examination  they  have  been  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
proposed  connection  between  these  two  important  public 
works  would  result  in  mutual  benefit  to  both,  and  most  espe- 
cially to  the  public  at  large. 

The  undersigned  have  personally  passed  over  the  New  York 
and  Harlem  Railroad  from  the  City  Hall  to  Fordham — a  dis- 
tance of  twelve  and  one-half  miles.  They  were  conveyed  at 
the  rate  of  thirty  miles  per  hour  over  the  four  and  one-half 
miles  of  road  now  constructed  in  the  County  of  Westchester, 
with  an  edge  rail  of  the  same  weight  as  that  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad. 

The  undersigned  were  gratified  to  find,  in  their  visit  to  the 
line  of  the  proposed  extension  of  the  road,  that  the  company 
were  actively  engaged  in  extending  this  road,  not  only  to  the 
point  proposed  as  a  junction  with  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad,  but  to  the  town  of  White  Plains,  and  thence  through 


the  County  of  Westchester.  They  ascertained  from  the  con- 
tractors whom  they  met  with  on  the  line  that  they  had  actu- 
ally contracted  to  have  that  portion  of  the  road  completed 
which  extends  to  the  proposed  point  of  intersection  with  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  on  or  before  the  first 
of  January  next,  notwithstanding  the  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments of  the  period  and  the  obstacles  interposed  by  clashing 
interests. 

As  the  control  and  management  of  the  different  lines  lead- 
ing into  the  city  have  been  placed  under  one  direction,  they 
could  arrive  or  depart  without  collision  or  conflict  and  afford 
the  greatest  convenience  to  the  public.  Several  depots  may 
be  provided  for  passengers,  merchandise,  and  produce,  so  that 
the  one  may  not  embarrass  the  other,  and  the  greatest  degree 
of  punctuality,  despatch,  and  economy  be  obtained  in  the 
management  of  the  vast  inland  trade  destined,  at  no  distant 
day.  to  pour  into  the  city  of  New  York  through  the  channel 
of  communication. 

The  Xew  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  has  been  completed 
to  Fordham  by  individual  enterprise,  unaided  by  the  bonds 
of  the  State,  and  the  causes  heretofore  operative  in  creating 
opposition  or  difficulty  have  leased  to  exert  any  material  influ- 
ence. It  will  not  be  denied  at  this  day  that  the  advantages 
of  a  speedy  conveyance  are  often  of  greater  value  than  the 
whole  charges  of  transportation.  Experience  testifies  that 
increased  facilities  of  intercourse  between  distant  places  and, 
more  especially,  seaports  and  the  interior  of  a  country  are 
among  the  most  effective  means  of  extending  individual  ami 
general  prosperity.  The  proofs  and  instances  which  sustain 
this  assertion  are  not  confined  to  the  case  of  any  one  country 
or  district,  although  they  are  more  observable  in  communities 
where  the  resources  of  wealth  and  commerce  already  pos- 
sessed by  the  inhabitants  enable  them  to  turn  every  advantage, 
as  it  arises,  to  immediate  account. 

In  England,  whenever  new  channels  of  communication  have 
been  opened,  either  between  different  parts  of  the  interior,  or 
the  interior  and  the  coast,  or  between  different  seaports,  one 
with  another,  or  with  other  countries,  whose  opportunities 
have  invariably  been  embraced  without  delay,  the  degree  to 
which  intercourse  is  not  merely  promoted,  but  actually  created 
by  the  facility  of  accomplishing  it.  could  scarcely  be  credited 
but  for  the  numerous  and  authentic  examples  which  establish 
the  fact. 

This  committee  have  been  officially  informed  that  the  entire 
investment  made  by  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  rt 
this  day  amounts  to  $1,358,302,  including  cost  of  road,  real 
estate,  appendages,  and  appurtenances  of  every  kind.  That 
the  establishment,  as  now  constituted,  actually  performed  and 
traveled  in  their  cars,  in  the  year  ending  the  first  of  September. 
1840,  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  ninety-seven  thousand  five 
hundred  and  sixty-four  miles  and  conveyed,  during  the  same 
period,  upwards  of  one  million  of  passengers. 

The  committee  conceive  that  a  road  of  the  peculiar  location 
and  usefulness  of  this:  extending  from  a  great  and  growing 
city  through  an  island  of  length  without  breadth,  to  the  only 
bridge  communication  that,  in  all  probability,  can  ever  be 
made;  with  roads  extending  to  every  section  of  the  East  and 
North,  presents  strong  claims  upon  the  New  York  and  Eric 
Railroad  Company  to  unite  them  to  the  immense  continuity 
of  railroads  from  the  South  and  West:  especially  as  it  can  be 
13  the  construction  of  only  eight  and  one-third  miles  of 
railroad  and  an  expenditun  eeding  $150,000. 

With  these  facts  before  the  committee,  they  feel  themselves 
safe   in    saying   that   tiny   conceive   Mich    a   connection   cannot 


fWEEN     111!.    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


to  thi  !'"tii  com- 

ndividual  and  general 

A    G    Chatfield. 

G.   G.   Graham. 
W'm.    B.    M.Ci.av. 

There   is   no   record    of   any  reply  from    President 
any  of  the  Erie  Directors  to  either  the  com- 
munication from  President  Brooks  or  that  of  the  In- 
immittee  (the  committee  appointed  in 
■  the  Erie  management).      If  such 
made,  it  must  have  been  a   refusal  on  the 
rie  management  to  consider  the  propo- 
made   by    President    Brooks,    for   the    project 
1  no  further.      Why  a  matter  so  important 
and   vital   to    Erie   should    have    been    ignored    it  is 
difficult  at  this  late  day,  without  any  recorded  mo- 
tive for  it  to  guide  one,  to  conceive.      The    Erie,  to 
be  sure,  was  approaching  a  crisis  in  its  affairs  which 
only  those   in  the  secrets  of   the   management   knew 
the  seriousness  of,  but,  in  the  hands  of  a  directory 
competent  to  grasp  the  consequences  of  such  a  co- 
alition as  was  offered,  the  presentation  of  them  to 
public  consideration  would  have  at  once  established 
a  confidence  in  the  result  that  would  not  only  have 
averted  the  impending  crisis  but  would  have  placed 
the  Erie  for  the  first  time  on   a  substantial   footing. 
It  would  no  longer  have  been  derisively  termed  "  a 
railroad  starting  from   nowhere   and    bound    for    no 
place."     To  accomplish  the  work  this  union  of  intcr- 
dled  for,  the  Company  could  well  have  afforded 
-pend  all  operations  on  the  Western  portions  of 
■  ute  to  save  money  thus  being  used   and  use  it 
to  build  the  Harlem  branch.      Politics  played  a  lead- 
oralizing   part    in   the  affairs  of  Erie  in 
rlydaysof  it  s  struggles,  and  were  responsible 
for  many  of   the   ills   that   befell  the  Company.      It 
might  have  been  that  their  hand  was  in  this  greatest 
of  all  Erie  misfortunes.      Individual  interests  largely 
controlled   the  direction   of   Erie's   initial  policy,  as 
have   largely  controlled   the  policy  of  her  later 
and    always    to    her    undoing.       Perhaps    they 
might  have  h  did  clutch   upon   her  and  held 

way    from    this,    the    opportunity    of    her   life. 
Whal  •  have  been  that  stood 

in  the  way  of  hi  r  disenthralment  made   Erie  vulner- 
able to  the  assaults  that  have  brought  her  low  many  a 


time  since  then,  and  bowed  her  shoulders  to  the 
bunions  that  have  grown  and  grown  with  the  passing 
years  until  they  became  heavier  than  she  could  bear. 
With  the  consummation  of  President  Brooks's  pro- 
ject Erie  would  have  borne  up  even  under  the  bur- 
den of  the  broad  gauge,  that  costly  heritage  of  folly, 
whose  evil  consequences  are  entailed  on  Erie  for  all 
her  days. 

True,  the  proposed  Harlem  branch  was  to  have 
been  paid  for  by  the  Erie,  with  the  exception  of  one- 
third  of  its  cost,  and  leased  to  the  Harlem  ;  but,  if 
there  had  been  a  genius,  or  even  a  man  competent 
to  look  a  year  ahead  of  his  time,  at  the  head  of  Erie, 
how  easily  a  union  of  interests,  especially  in  the 
situation  the  Harlem  Railroad  Company  was  then, 
could  have  been  cemented  between  the  great  Erie 
and  the  little  Harlem  for  all  time,  such  as  would 
have  made  the  Erie  the  master  of  Harlem  and  all 
that  such  a  mastery  implies.  What  would  a  Jay 
Gould  or  a  Thomas  A.  Scott  have  done  with  such  an 
opportunity  ? 

But  the  incomparable  prize  was  declined  by  the 
then  controllers  of  Erie.  The  Harlem,  with  all  its 
great  privileges  in  the  heart  of  the  metropolis  of  the 
Union,  languished  and  grew  slowly,  a  companion 
football  with  Erie  in  Wall  Street.  Then  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt  dreamed  his  dream  of  railroad  empire  and 
budded  it  on  this  very  despised  little  Harlem  Rail- 
road. The  great  Vanderbilt  system  of  to-day  is 
centered  where  the  Erie  might  have  been  and  should 
have  been.  It  is  idle  to  speculate  on  how  different 
the  country's  commercial  affairs  and  individual 
power  and  fortune  would  have  been  if  shortsighted- 
ness, incompetence,  or  what  you  will,  had  not  reigned 
in  Erie  management  two  generations  ago.  It  is 
reasonable  to  say,  however,  that  there  would  have 
been  no  Vanderbilt  kingdom,  no  Gould  dukedom  to- 
day. Who  might  now  be  the  King  of  Erie  it  is  im- 
possible to  know;  but  he  would  be  the  greatest  rail- 
road monarch  of  the  age.  And  an  outlay  of  less 
than  $90,000  in  1841  would  have  made  him  such  ! 

II.    GETTING    RES1   I   I  S,    GOOD    AM'    BAD. 

Although  that  within  a  month  after  James  Bowcn 
became    President  of   the  New  York  and    Eric   Rail- 


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THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


57 


road  Company  the  road  had  been   put   in  operation  half-hearted  fashion;  for  the  Company  was  much  in 

for  more  than   twenty  miles,  and   that   this  was  fol-  arrears   to   them   for  labor  and   materials  furnished, 

lowed,  in  a  few  weeks  (September  23,  1841),  by  the  Finally,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Directors,  held  at  the 

opening    of    it    to    traffic    between    New    York    and  Company's    office,    35   Wall    Street,    November    15, 

Goshen  ;  and   in  spite  of   the  enthusiasm  shown   by  1S41,  the  fact  was  brought  forward  by  the  President 

the  distinguished  and  influential  men  from  all  walks  that  the  State  loan  was  nearly  exhausted  and  that, 

in   life  who  witnessed  and   participated   in  the  ecle-  in  consequence  of  that  emergency,  it  would   be  well 

bration    of   that   opening,  and   of  the  sanguine  elo-  to    notify   contractors,    through    the    Commissioners 

quence  and  cheerful  tone  of  confidence  that  marked  of  the  Divisions,  that  the  Company  could  pay  no  fur- 

the  sentiments  expressed  when  the  future  prospects  ther   drafts    on    their    own    responsibility    until    the 

of  the  Company  and  the  railroad  were  discussed  on  requisite  assistance    was  secured.      The    suggestion 

that   eventful   day,  the   Company  was  even  then  on  was  accepted  by  the  Board,  and  notification  to  that 

the   threshold  of  disaster,  and   none  knew  it  better  effect  was  sent  to  the  contractors,  who  were  engaged 

than  its  President,  who  still  had  the  heart  to  face  chiefly  on  the  Susquehanna  Division.  The  circular 
the  unwelcome  fact  with  glowing  and  assuring  words. 
The  unfortunate  situation  had  been  brought  about, 
according  to  the  protestations  of  the  management, 
by  delay  in  getting  iron  rails  for  laying  the  track  on 
the  Eastern  Division,  thus  postponing  the  opening 
of  that  section  weeks  beyond  the  announced  time  ; 


announcing  this  to  the  contractors  stated  that  the 
balance  of  the  State  loan,  after  paying  the  drafts 
then  accepted,  was  about  $200,000,  but  that  liabili- 
ties for  cars,  engines,  etc.,  for  the  Eastern  Division, 
and  the  interest  soon  to  be  due  on  the  State  stock, 
would  absorb  all  that  amount.  Some  of  the  con- 
the  failure  of  contractors  on  other  parts  of  the  work     tractors  on  the  Eastern  Division  decided  to  continue 


to  keep  their  terms  with  the  Company,  and  the 
rumors  that  parties  interested  in  the  road  were 
taking  advantage  of  their  places  to  serve  individual 
ends  at  the  expense  of  the  enterprise  itself — all  these 
things  and  more,  the  Company  declared,  were  made 
use  of  by  the  increasing  enemies  of  the  road,  who, 
by  skillful  methods  of  keeping  them  continually 
before  the  public  in  an  unfavorable  light,  destroyed 
confidence  in  the  management.  Moreover,  the  New- 
York  Legislature  of  1841  had  been  dominated  by 
influences  that  were  set  with  determination  against 
the  giving  of  any  further  State  aid  to  public  improve- 
ments, and  private  capital  became  more  reluctant 
and  cautious  than  ever.  There  were  evidences,  too, 
of  an  impending  revulsion  in  commercial  and  finan- 
cial affairs.  So  suspicious,  in  fact,  were  investors 
that,  in  June,  1841,  an  offering  at  public  sale  at 
$100,000  of  Erie  certificates,  with  the  State's  guar- 
antee, and  under  direction  of  the  Comptroller  of  the 
State,  had  been  withdrawn  without  a  sale,  the  bids, 


work,  on  condition  that  a  portion  of  the  money  for 
work  done  in  November  be  paid  them  in  cash  or 
acceptances  of  the  Company.  The  exact  financial 
condition  of  the  Company  was  ascertained  from  the 
Treasurer,  and  it  showed  that,  after  paying  its  out- 
standing liabilities,  the  Company  would  have  a  sur- 
plus of  §163,549.  It  was  resolved,  therefore,  to 
accept  six  months'  drafts  of  the  contractors  to  the 
amount  of  $100,000.  This  left  enough  money  in 
the  treasury  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  State  stock 
that  would  fall  due  the  following  April,  and  other 
contingent  expenses;  but,  in  the  latter  part  of  No- 
vember, the  State  6  per  cent,  stock  declined  on  the 
market  from  ninety-three  to  seventy-eight,  and 
money  was  scarce.  The  Company  was  forced  to 
hypothecate  for  temporary  loans,  at  the  depreciated 
price,  the  stock  it  had  been  reckoning  on,  and  the 
embarrassment  that  prevailed  compelled  it,  as  we 
shall  see,  to  announce  to  the  Legislature  that  default 
would   be   made   on  the  interest  due  April  1,  1842. 


owing  to  the  weakness  of  the  money  market,  being     Contractors  continued  to  work  and  advance  money 
far  below  the  value  of  the  security.  to  their  help,  relying  on  the  expected  State  aid  to 

relieve  them  in  good  time. 
Time   dragged   on   ominously.       The    contractors 
kept  at  work  on  the  road,  but  the  most  of  them  in  a  As  early  as   1836,  E.    F.  Johnson,   who  was  cngi- 


BE  fWEEN     1  HI     i  M  EAN    AND    THE    I.AKI  S 


the  new  survey  of  the  route  be- 

i  the  Hudson  River  and  Painted  Post,  in  Steu- 

.  N.  Y..  discovered  the  difficulties  of  the 

theintei  illivan  County 

mpared  with  a  route  up  the  Delaware  \ 

\    versink  Valley,  and  so  reported.     This 
mtinued  I  ;itated  until  the  people  of 

centra  irmed,  and  in   1839  agreed 

iy  for  the  services  of  a  surveyor  to  resurvey  for 
ite  through  the  interior  of  the  county,  the  pay- 
ment to  be  made  good  to  them  by  a  transfer  of  $ 

tk  of  the  Company  to  the  contributors, 
provided  the  report  of  the  engineer  on  such  a  route 
not  accepted.  The  report  was  not  accepted, 
and  the  $20,000  in  stock  was  transferred  according 
to  agreement.  The  people  concerned  were  not  con- 
tent to  abide  by  the  decision,  however.  They  had 
contributed  largely  toward  the  construction  fund  of 
the  Company,  and  John  P.  Jones,  one  of  their  num- 
id  been  of  invaluable  service  to  the  undertak- 
ing in  the  Legislature.  The  talk  in  favor  of  the 
proposed  change  of  route  to  the  Delaware  Valley  led 
to  an  emphatic  protest  against  it  by  the  people  of 
the  interior  of  the  count}-,  which  protest  was  voiced 
111  P.  Jones,  William  E.  Cady,  and  Daniel  B. 
St.  John,  who,  as  a  committee,  met  President  Elea- 
zar  Lord  at  Goshen  in  the  summer  of  1S40,  and  he 
assured  them  then,  and  by  subsequent  correspond- 
ence, that  the  change  should  never  be  made  in  Sulli- 
van Count\-  with  his  consent,  and  that  all  his  influ- 
ence should  be  used  against  it.  A  change  of  route 
between  Deposit  and  Binghamton  was  also  suggested 
l>y  Engineer  Johnson  in  1836,  and  it,  too,  began  to 
he  talked  about,  with  such  result  that  those  in  favor 
of  a  different  course  for  the  railroad  between  the 
and  the  Susquehanna  valleys  secured  the 
:'  an  act  by  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  in 
1841,  authorizing  the  Company  to  enter  that  State 
with  the  railroad  and  pass  through  Susquehanna 
County.  At  the  time  the  resurvey  was  made  in 
central  Sullivan,  the  engineers  of  the  Company  made 
surveys  for  t  route  up  the  Delaware  and 

for  the  chan  D     -.sit  and  Binghamton, 

completing  then,  in   1841  :  and   in  1X42,  under  I 
dent    Bowen,    th  tny's    attitude    became    so 

favorable  to  the  new  routes  that,  at  the  session  of  the 


New  York  Legislature  for  that  year,  citizens  .if  Sulli- 
van, Ulster,  and  Orange  counties  presented  petitions 

protesting  against  the  movement,  and  the  Committee 
on  Railroads  of  the  Senate-  made  a  report  adversely 
to  it,  and  asked  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  prevent  it. 
The  bill  was  reported,  but  rejected. 

It  was  seen  early  in  the  session  that  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature  of  1S42  were  opposed  to  the  fur- 
ther loaning  of  the  credit  of  the  State  to  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  and  that  no  hope 
of  direct  pecuniary  aid  from  that  source  could  be 
entertained.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  rely  on 
individual  subscriptions  to  the  capital  stock  of  the 
Company.  As  an  inducement  to  capitalists  to  make- 
large  investments,  it  was  important  to  obtain  the 
passage  of  a  law  tending  to  secure  the  completion 
of  the  railroad  and  relieve  the  Company  from  the 
large  annual  payments  of  interest  on  the  State  loan. 
A  bill  of  that  character  was  introduced  in  the  Senate 
by  Mr.  Faulkner.  This  bill  provided  that  the  Com- 
pany should  be  authorized  to  borrow  money  to  the 
amount  of  $3, 000,000,  ami  pledge  the  road  for  the 
payment  of  the  same,  and  that  the  debt  thus  created 
would  be  a  prior  claim  to  that  of  the  State  for  the 
$3,000,000  already  lent  to  the  Company.  In  ex- 
pectation that  the  bill  would  become  a  law,  the 
Company  obtained  subscriptions  in  the  city  of  New- 
York  amounting  to  nearly  §400,000,  the  subscriptions 
to  be  valid  only  on  the  condition  that  §  1,000,000  in 
all  should  be  subscribed.  The  Company's  manage- 
ment of  that  day  has  put  it  on  record  that  "  there  is 
abundant  evidence  to  believe  that,  from  the  interest 
manifested  by  every  class  of  citizens  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  road,  a  much  larger  sum  than  §1,000,000 
would  have  been  obtained  if  Mr.  Faulkner's  bill  had 
passed.  On  the  line  of  the  road,  assurances  were 
given  by  leading  citizens  that  large  additional  sub- 
scriptions would  be  made.  Contracts  on  highly  favor- 
able terms  could  have  been  concluded,  and  the  road 
from  Binghamton  to  Lake  Erie  would  have  been  put 
in  use  during  the  present  year  "  1  [842).  The  advo- 
cates of  the  measure  for  further  State  aid  for  the 
Company  were  content  to  assume  that  the  refusal  of 
the  Legislature  to  grant  that  aid  was  due  to  the 
critical  condition  of  the  financial  ami  commercial 
interests  of   the   country,   but    that   there  was  some 


THE    STORY   OF   ERIE 


59 


deeper  cause  than  this  was  broadly  charged  by  the 
press  and  by  public  speakers,  not  only  at  large,  but 
by  those  in  towns  directly  interested  in  the  comple- 
tion of  the  railroad. 

"  It  is  the  misfortune  of  this  great  project,"  wrote 
a  leading  Southern  Tier  editor  of  that  day,  "  that 
it  fell  into  the  hands  of  men  who  had  neither  the 
means  nor  the  will  to  carry  it  steadily  and  economi- 
cally to  its  termination,  but  of  those  thinking  to  spec- 
ulate and  enrich  themselves  upon  the  bounty  of  the 
State  and  the  few  thousands  of  the  hard  earnings  of 
the  farmers  and  others  residing  along  the  line,  who 
were  interested  in  its  completion.  The  $2,000,000, 
honestly  applied,  would  have  done  all  that  the 
$3,000,000  loaned  by  the  State  and  all  that  has  been 
paid  by  stockholders  have  done.  It  is  downright 
effrontery  for  them  to  ask  for  more,  with  the  threat 
that  unless  they  got  it,  the  State  would  lose  its  three 
millions." 

The  situation  was  put  still  more  pointedly  by  a 
communication  read  in  the  Legislature  during  the 
discussion  on  the  Faulkner  Bill,  in  1842,  as  follows  : 

In  1836  an  act  was  passed  for  loaning  three  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  coupled 
with  conditions  that  the  Company  should  construct  a  track 
from  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  to  the  Chenango  Canal, 
a  distance  of  about  145  miles,  before  any  stock  should  be  is- 
sued by  the  State,  and  when  so  much  of  the  road  was  com- 
pleted out  of  the  funds  raised  from  the  stockholders,  the  State 
was  to  advance  $600,000.  and  to  continue  its  loan  from  time 
to  time  as  the  work  progressed,  until  the  sum  amounted  to 
$2,000,000,  and  the  last  million  was  to  be  paid  not  until  the 
road  was  completed  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie. 
If  the  restrictions  of  the  law  had  not  been  relaxed  the  people 
would  have  saved  the  $3,000,000  loaned  to  the  said  Company 
by  subsequent  laws,  and  not  thrown  upon  the  treasury.  In 
1838  a  law  was  passed  providing  that  one  dollar  of  State  stock 
should  be  issued  for  each  dollar  expended  by  the  Company, 
the  expenditure  to  be  proved  by  the  affidavits  of  the  Treasurer 
and  two  of  the  Directors  of  the  Company.  By  the  aid  of  this 
law  the  Company  obtained  $100,000  of  stock  in  December, 
1838,  and  $200,000  in  June  and  August.  1839.  In  1840  an  act 
was  passed  authorizing  two  dollars  of  stock  to  be  issued  for 
each  one  dollar  raised  and  expended  by  the  Company,  and 
also  authorizing  stock  to  be  issued  equal  to  the  amount  loaned 
to  the  Company  in  1838  and  1839,  so  as  to  give  the  Company 
two  dollars  for  every  dollar  it  had  expended  since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  work.  Under  this  law  $500,000  were  is- 
sued to  the  Company  in  1840:  s~2.000.000  in  1841;  $200,000  in 
January,  1842.  From  November,  1841.  to  the  29th  of  January, 
1842,  less  than  ninety  days,  the  officers  of  the  Company  re- 
ceived from  the  Comptroller  $800,000  of  6  per  cent,  stock ; 
within  sixty  days  after  the  last  $100,000  was  received,  the 
President  of  the  Company  announced  its   insolvency  and  in- 


ability to  pay  the  interest  on  the  first  of  April  on  the  three 
millions  of  stock  loaned  to  the  Company. 

A  generation  or  so  later  the  affairs  of  Erie  came  to 
be  largely  talked  about  in  connection  with  manage- 
ments that,  with  apparent  case,  raised  millions  of 
dollars  on  account  of  this  same  Company,  the  expen- 
diture of  which  was  then  a  deep  mystery,  and  is  a 
deep  mystery  still,  so  far  as  it  showed  results  in  the 
betterment  or  extension  of  the  road  and  its  prop- 
erty ;  but  here,  perhaps,  those  later  managements 
found  a  precedent. 

The  condition  of  the  Company's  affairs  had  been 
made  officially  known  January  20,  1842,  by  a  peti- 
tion presented  to  the  Legislature    praying  for   aid. 
According   to    this,    the    railroad    was    in   operation 
between  Piermont  and  Goshen,  forty-six  miles,  with 
necessary  depots  and  cars  and  engine  houses  ;  sub- 
stantial edge  rail,  fifty-six  pounds  to  the  yard,  laid 
on  longitudinal  timbers  framed  together  and  covered 
by  cross-ties   at   short   intervals  ;    a  pier  4,120  feet 
long  ;  steam  and  tow  boats  to  carry  passengers  and 
freight  ;  five  locomotives  ;  numerous  passenger  and 
freight  cars,  and  four  trains  conveying  daily  250  pas- 
sengers and  200  tons  of  merchandise,  "  withdrawing 
from   Philadelphia  the  trade   of   West   New  Jersey, 
and  the  border  Pennsylvania  counties."     The  work, 
besides  that    between    Piermont    and    Goshen,    was 
under  contract  as  follows  :  Goshen  to  Middletown, 
seven  miles  ;  Middletown  to  the  Shawangunk  ridge, 
nine  miles  ;  Shawangunk  ridge  to  Callicoon  Creek, 
fifty-nine  miles  ;  Callicoon  Creek  to   Deposit,   forty 
miles  ;  Deposit  to  Binghamton,  thirty-nine    miles  ; 
Binghamton  to  Hornellsville,  117^  miles  ;  Hornells- 
ville  to   Dunkirk,    132,'.:    miles — total   229   miles,   of 
which    117   miles  were  graded  in    1841.       Iron   rails 
were  laid  six   miles  east  of  Dunkirk  to  stone  quar- 
ries, where  stone  was  obtained  for  the  breakwaters 
in  Dunkirk  Harbor.     Three  cargoes  of  iron  had  been 
purchased,  one  sent  to   Dunkirk,  to   be   laid  during 
the  winter  of    1842,  to  extend  the  road  to  the  wes- 
terly line  of  Cattaraugus  County.     Locomotives  were 
to  be  placed  on  that  part  of  the  road   at  an   early 
day.      The  work  between  Binghamton  and  Dunkirk 
was  so  far  advanced  that  it  would  be  completed  and 
in  operation  by  October  1,  1842,  if  adequate  pecu- 


BETWEEN    fHE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


ming.     The  petition  laid  stress 
on   t.  the   railroad    would  be  a  military 

in  army  of  25,000  men 
munition  and  camp  equipments  from  New  York 
to  thi  I   ike  Erie  in  forty-eight  hours,  and 

in  sixteen  hours.  n  the  present  dis- 

turb., 'iis  with   Great    Britain,"    the   petition 

d,  "  it  is  conceived  that  these  considerations  are 
of  the  serious  attention  of  your  honorable 
bodi 

Here  are  further  arguments  used  by  the  petition- 
er-, which  are  interesting  as  showing  the  peculiar 
commercial  relations  of  the  metropolis  with  the 
country  at  large  in  those  days,  and  the  lack  of  means 
of  transportation  it  possessed  to  collect  the  internal 
commerce  of  even  a  nearby  tributary  region  to  itself  : 

"The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  traverses  eleven  coun- 
mtaining  a  population  of  341.296  inhabitants;  and  adja- 
be  benefited  by  it  there  are,  in  this  State  and 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  twenty-four  coun- 
ting  496,000   inhabitants,    making    the    aggregate 
numtn  296.     The  number  of  taxable  acres  of  land  in 

this  area  is   10,600.000,  and  the  taxed  value  of  real   estate   is 
$80,000,000. 

"  The  population  on  the  line  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Erie 
Canal  is  680.000,  and  the  number  of  acre*  taxed  is  9.500.000. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  tile  section  of  country  to  be  benefited 
by  the  completion  of  this  road  is  greater  in  extent  than  that 
which  enjoys  the  advantages  of  the  Erie  Canal,  while  the 
■  •n  the  line  of  the  road  exceeds  that  on  the  canal 
by  150.000. 

portion  of  the  trade  of  this  vast  region  now  flows 
to  the  cities  01'  Philadelphia.  Baltimore,  Pittsburgh,  and  Cin- 
cinnati, by  the  Delaware,  Susquehanna,  and  Alleghany  Rivers. 
■■ii  of  our  State,  less  than  three  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  commercial  capita!  of  the  Union,  is  yet 
drawn  from  our  borders  to  distant  marts,  and  our  own  citi- 
mpelled  to  pay  higher  for  their  purchases  and  to 
submit  •   their  products  than  the  citizens  of 

innecticut.     Were  the  Erie  Railroad  com 
valuable   trade   would   center   in   the   city    of    New 
•ion  of  products  would  be  rapid  and   in- 
ed   foi    them, 
and  a  general  and  certain  prosperity  diffused  throughout  the 
country,    where    now    there    is    but    a    bare    remuneration    for 

"The  Mill. .11    of   freight    to   the 

largely  to  the  commerce  of  thi 

of  New  York  by  diverting  from  its  present  channels  the  trade 

I  Westeri  ed  almost 

Philadelphia    and    Haltin 
During  thi     Spring   I  of  thi-  important  trade  seeks 

nr  Southern  n<  the  inability  of 

New  Y'.rl 

the  first  of  May.  while  t'  February 

and    March.     Were    this    1  |    to    the    All' 

River,  alwa  iii  March,  tin 


independent  of  the  rapidity  01'  transportation,  would  be  suf- 
ficient to  secure  this  lucrative  and  increasing  trade 

"The  alarming  increase  of  business  on  the  Canada  canals, 
derived  chiefly  from  the  Western  State-,  clearly  -how-  the 
nee.  constructing   new   avenue-  between   the   lake-   and 

the  seaboard,  and  multiplying  the  facilities  of  communication 
with   the   West,   if   we   would   preserve   the   relations   with   that 

■ion  of  the    '  onttnue  to  reap  the  annual  hai 

of  that  rich  and  1 1  iuntry. 

It  1-  estimated  that  200,000  emigrants  annually  arrive  in 
the  ports  of  the  United  States.  Were  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Rail  ed  it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  from  the 

facility  it  would  afford  for  cheap  and  rapid  traveling  to  the 
West,  a  large  proportion  of  this  cla-s  would  prefer  vessels 
bound  to  Xew  York,  and  thus  give  a  powerful  impetus  to  the 
increase  of  our  shipping;  while,  from  the  fact  that  the  road 
could  be  traversed  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  this  city  would 
be  relieved  from  a  serious  and  increasing  evil,  caused  by  1 
bodies  of  emigrants  arriving  in  the  winter  and  spring,  and 
sojourning  here  until  the  canal  is  navigable.  Many  of  these 
people  are  thrown  on  our  shores  early  in  the  year,  with 
limited  means  of  subsistence,  ignorant  of  the  language  and 
friendless.  The  pittance  they  possess  1-  soon  expended,  and 
long  before  the  canal   is  open   ii  e   an   onerous  tax 

upon  the  charities  of  our  citizens,  or  residing  in  the  abodes  of 
squalid  poverty  and  of  crime,  they  learn  the  ways  of  infamy 
while  they  are  acquiring  the  language  of  their  adopted 
country. 

"  In  another  respect  the  completion  of  the  road  is  of  high 
importance  to  the  city  of  Xew  York.  There  are  in  the  city 
of  New  York  and  its  immediate  vicinity  near  400,000  inhabi- 
tants. A  large  portion  of  this  vast  population  is  dependent, 
from  day  to  day,  upon  manual  labor  for  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence. Owing  to  the  high  prices  of  provisions  nothing 
more  than  sufficient  to  sustain  life  is  obtained  under  the  most 
prosperous  circumstances,  and  when,  from  commercial  em- 
barrassments, or  from  other  causes,  there  is  no  demand  for 
labor,  they  are  reduced  to  extreme  distress,  ami  compelled  to 
solicit  the  assistance  of  their  more  fortunate  fellow-citizens 
or  depend  upon  the  public  charities  for  relief.  In  either  case 
the  result  is  the  same;  the  spirit  of  self-dependence  is  broken. 
their  energies  are  destroyed  and  they  are  no  longer  valuable 
citizens.  By  the  reduction  of  the  prices  of  provisions  this 
distress  and  its  consequent  evils  would  be  greatly  diminished. 
There  is  no  mode  that  will  so  effectually  accomplish  this 
de-irable  object  as  the  completion  of  this  road.  It  i-  resp 
fully  submitted  that  the  welfare  of  50  large  a  portion  of  the 
body    politic    as    is    embraced    in    the    class    referred    to    is    well 

deserving  of  your  consideration 

"Your  petitioners   have  expended,  in  the  construction  of 

the  road,  the  proceeds  of  the  loan  of  three  million-  granted 
by  the  Legislature  in  1836;  and,  in  adition,  one  ami  one-half 
millions  derived  from  subscriptions  to  the  capital  stock  of  the 
npany,  making  an  expenditure  of  four  and  a  half  millions 
of  dollars.  In  the  original  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  road 
it  wa-  supposed  that  -is  millions  of  dollar-  would  be  abund- 
antly sufficient  t mplete  it;  but  it  was  -ecu  that  to  render 

the  road  effective  as  a  mean-  for  the  Conveyance  of  the  vast 
amount  of  freight  that  •■■  ill  on  it    a  mi  n     ub  I  intial 

and    expensive    structure    w.i  iv    than    was    originally 

contemplated.     The     plan     of    construction     wa-     therefore 
•■ii.    by    substituting    shorter   bridges,   more   substantial 
masonry,    widening    the   track,    and    laying   a   heavy   edge    rail 
instead    of    the    ll.it    bar    in    general    use    in    this    State.     With 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


61 


these   modifications   of  the   original   plan   it   is   estimated   the 
road  will  cost  $9,000,000,  or  $20,000  per  mile. 

"The  means  of  your  petitioners  are  exhausted;  contractors 
and  men  employed  on  the  road,  numbering  between  4.500  and 
5,000,  wait  with  solicitude  to  learn  if  they  may  be  continued  in 
employment;  citizens  on  the  line  of  the  road,  relying  on  the 
pledge  of  your  petitioners  to  prosecute  the  work  with  un- 
abated diligence,  demand  its  fulfillment." 

This  remarkable  document   was   signed  by  James 

Bowen,    as   President   of    the    New    York    and    Erie 


The  following  exhaustive  showing  of  the  business 
of  the  road  is  of  still  more  interest  as  a  part  of  the 
original  operations  on  the  railroad,  but  it  was  not 
made  until  it  was  called  for  by  the  Legislature  dur- 
ing the  session  of  1842;  the  making  of  reports  having 
been,  apparently,  something  to  which  early  managers 
of  the  railroad  attached  but  small  importance,  al- 
though the  charter  particularly  demanded  them  : 


A  PROFILE  EXHIBITING  THE  GRADUAL  INCREASE  OF  REVENUE  UPON  THE  EASTERN  DIVISION  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE 
RAILROAD,  BETWEEN  NEW  YORK  AND  GOSHEN,  FROM  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  ROAD,  ON  THE  23D  OF  SEPTEMBER,  TO  30TH 
OF   OCTOBER,    184I — 33   WORKING   DAYS. 


Oct.  30. 


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Horizontal  scale,  ^%  days  to  1  inch — vertical,  $200  to  an  inch. 
NOTE. — The  receipts  upon  the  28th,  29th.  and  30th  of  October  average  $409.06  per  diem. 


Sept.  23. 


Railroad  Company,  and  was  read  in  the  Senate  at 
Albany  January  20,  1842.  It  was  eloquent  and 
persuasive,  but  availed  the  Company  nothing. 

Particularly  interesting  in  the  literature  of  Erie  at 
this  crisis  in  its  affairs  was  the  exhibit  made  public 
by  A.  C.  Morton,  Resident  Engineer  of  the  Company 
at  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  early  in  1842,  showing  how  the 
earnings  of  the  railroad  were  increasing.  This  ex- 
hibit accompanied  a  long  presentation  of  argument 
designed  to  induce  investors  and  the  State  to  come 
to  the  aid  of  the  Company,  and  the  show  of  earnings 
of  the  road  was  put  forward  as  indubitable  proof  of 
all  he  claimed.  It  is  interesting  now,  and  historically 
valuable,  as  being  the  very  first  report  of  Erie  earn- 
ings ever  made,  and  is  reproduced  above. 


Schedule  of  the  Receipts  and  Business  of  the  Eastern 
Division  on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  from 
September  23,  1841,  to  December  31,  1841,  both  in- 
clusive. The  Fin. [,i pwing  Gener  vl  Summary  is  liven 
from  the  Abstracts: 

FREIGHTS    FOB    THE    MONTH    OF    SEPTEMBER. 

Pounds.  Revenue. 

Passing   Westward 268,620  $341  38 

Passing   Eastward 53.49^  6331 

322,112  $404  69 

FOR   THE    MONTH    OF   OCTOBER. 

Passing   Westward 1,006,246  $1,51061 

Passing  Eastward 1,394,704  2,044  03 

2,400.950  $3,554  64 

FOR   THE    MONTH    OF    NOVEMBER. 

Passing    Westward 2.120.830  $2.55°  61 

Passing   Eastward 2.693.815  3446  01 

4,814.645  $5,996  62 


BETWEEN     11IH    OCEAN    AND    1I1H    l.AKI  S 


Revenue. 

$--'4-  44 

'  --'-5  60 


u-itclat: 
•     ird 5.683.43 1  $°-645  °4 

rd 5^4.088  7.878  95 


«,557,5I9  ?I4.523  99 

Of  this  amount  the  Steamboat  portion  is $2,{ 

Of  this  amount  the  Railroad  portion  for  toll  is 10,112  93 

ag -60  08 

iding 836  99 


$14.5^3  99 

The  Number  of  Passengers  and  Amount  Collected 
Therefrom  : 

FOR   THE    MONTH    OF   SEPTEMBER 

Passengers.  Revenue. 

Fir-:                    566^2  $67159 

2~  20   51 


Add  Steamboat  revenue. 
Total   


$203  26 
$895  36 


FOR    THE    MONTII    OF   OCTOBER. 

First-class  Passengers 3,501  $3,394  33 

tigers 20g'/i  113  57 

Steamboat 1 .236  40 


Total  for  October. 


$4,744  20 


NTH    OF   NOVEMBER. 

First-class    4.106  $3,822  83 

Second-class   67^  52  33 

Add    Steamboat    revenue 1.37438 


Total  for  November. 


$5.24'*  54 


FOR    Tin:    MONTH    OF   DECEMBER. 

First-class 3.I49J4  $3,032  62 

Add   Steamboat   revenue 1,24372 


Total   for   December. 


$4276  34 


HAL    SUMMARY. 

1  $10,921   37 

314                               l86   31 

Add    Steamboat    revenue 4.05776 


Grand    Total. 


$15.1 


The  number  of  miles  traveled  by  the  first-i  ngers 

ami  the  charge  is  2.8  cents  per  mile. 
charge   upon   ■  us,   or 

about  one  1  enl  p.  r  mile. 

The  wholi  teamboat   for  weight 

and  passengers  is  (29,689.43. 

\kl>  MlLLER,  Chief  Engineer. 


For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Company 
citizens  of  New  York  awoke  to  a  lively  interest  in 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  but  the  fact  that 
most  of  the  movers  in  it--  behalf  were  leading  Whigs, 
while  those  who  charged  that  the  Company's  affairs 
had  been  brought  to  their  critical  situation  by  gross 
mismanagement  of  those  in  charge  of  them  and  dis- 
couraged efforts  toward  aiding  the  undertaking  were 
Democrats,  made  it  palpable  that  it  was  politics  that 
had  aroused  this  sudden  interest.  An  important 
State  election  was  to  be  held  in  the  fall  of  1842,  and 
the  sympathies  of  the  large  constituency  that  was 
anxious  for  the  completion  of  the  railroad  might  nat- 
urally be  supposed  to  lean  toward  that  party  which 
championed  the  cause  of  the  enterprise,  and  Demo- 
cratic organs  charged  that  this  was  the  secret  of  the 
Whig  leaders  of  New  York  City  coming  so  unani- 
mously and  earl_\-  in  the  field  as  enthusiastic  friends 
of  the  Company.  Early  in  January  public  meetings 
began  to  be  held  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  the 
following  call  for  one  being  a  fair  sample  of  the  calls 
for  all  : 

RAILROAD   MEETING.     NEW  YORKERS.   AROUSE! 

The  citizens  of  the  First  Ward  are  invited  to  attend  a  pub- 
lic meeting  at  the  Broad  St.  House,  on  Thursday  Evening, 
the  6th  instant,  at  7J4  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  adopting 
the  m. .st  effectual  plan  for  the  completion  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad. 

Those  citizens  who  are  unwilling  to  be  robbed  of  the  trade 
of  tin  great  Wesl  bj  the  Bostonians  will  manifest  it  by  at- 
tending this  meeting. 

The  meeting  will  be  addressed  by  several  able  speakers  who 
will  point  out  the  importance  of  this  Great  Road  to  New  York 
and  tlie  absolute  necessity  .«i  its  early  completion. 

J.  Phillips  Phoenix.    W.  Waln  Drinker.  1 


1).  C.  M  \usii. 

W.   I'..  WlLMERDING. 

J.  I).  Van  Buren. 
J.  L.  Gilbert. 

si  1  ■nil  N  Win  1  my. 
IAS    G AL1 

January   6,  1842. 


Andrew  h.  M icicle. 
John   HlLLYER. 
W.  A.  V.  Pentz. 
Gi  0.  V,  Talman. 
a.m.  Cozzens. 
S  1 1  PHI  \   R.  Harris. 


Committee. 


Calls  for  similar  meetings  were  signed  by  such 
names  as  William  11.  Aspinwall,  Ogden  Haggerty, 
T.  and  A.  S.  Hope,  S.  T.  Caswell,  James  Van  Nos- 
trand,  Peter  Cooper,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  Anson 
G.  Phelps,  Zophar  Mills,  D.  K.  Doremus,  Jo  1  ph 
Karnochan,  Alexander  Hamilton.  (. ■  •  ■  Hruce,  and 
scores  of  other  representative  men  of  the  day. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


63 


The  feeling  that  the  Erie  question  engendered  was 
expressed  hotly  in  the  columns  of  the  opposition 
press,  chiefly  by  communications,  but  frequently  edi- 
torially. The  following  is  from  the  New  York  Even- 
ing Post  of  January  13,  1842  : 

It  was  my  intention  to  have  subscribed  to  some  few  shares 
of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  stock;  but  since  discover- 
ing it  is  managed  by  Bowen.  Draper,  and  Blatchford,  J  am 
fearful  that  "  the  times  have  been  so  itching  that  110  account 
has  or  will  be  kept  of  the  expenditures,"  so  that,  at  some 
future  day,  it  may  turn  out  to  be  another  Glenworth  affair, 
and  become  a  road  to  nowhere.  Before  that  road  can  suc- 
ceed you  must  pay  one  man  for  his  services  no  more  than 
$2,000  per  annum,  in  lieu  of  $6,000,  and  turn  out  all  boys 
employed  at  $1,500  to  $3,000  per  annum. 

The  road  should  be  made,  but  let  those  wanting  it  pa\  for 
it.  The  contractors,  agents,  office  holders  are  now  at  work 
like  beavers — now,  when  they  know  the  last  dollar  is  nearly 
gone,  and  no  chance  of  getting  more  out  of  a  Democratic 
Legislature.  The  value  of  the  lands  on  the  route,  and  the 
value  of  the  produce,  will  be  greatly  enhanced,  while  we  will 
get  a  more  abundant  supply  of  country  produce;  but  will  not 
the  name  of  any  pipe-layer  injure  the  cause  of  anything  in 
which  it  appears?     It  does  with  me. 

\  Yorker. 

The  Draper  referred  to  by  the  Post  was  Simeon 
Draper,  the  famous  New  York  auctioneer,  and 
Blatchford  was  Richard  M.  Blatchford — both  social 
cronies  of  James  Bowen,  and  close  in  his  counsels. 
The  "Glenworth  affair"  was  a  reference  to  the 
notorious  election  frauds  of  1838-9.  The  reference 
in  the  call  for  the  railroad  meeting,  reproduced 
above,  to  the  "  robbing  of  the  trade  of  the  great 
West  by  the  Bostonians,"  was  prompted  by  the  rapid 
progress  of  the  Western  Railroad,  which  was  to 
connect  Boston  with  Albany  and  the  Erie  Canal, 
and  the  chain  of  railroads  then  nearly  completed  be- 
tween Albany  and  Buffalo.  This  threatened  Boston 
connection  undoubtedly  induced  many  New  York- 
ers to  an  interest  in  furthering  the  fortunes  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  that  nothing  else  could 
have  done. 

State  Comptroller  Azariah  C.  Flagg  addressed  the 
following  letter  to  President  Bowen  at  this  interest- 
ing crisis  in  Erie  affairs  : 

Comptroller's  Office, 

Albany,  March  8.   1842. 

Sir:  I  have  been  assured  from  a  source  entitled  to  con- 
sideration, that  means  must  be  provided  by  the  Comptroller 
to  meet  the  interest  due  in  April  on  the  State  stock  loaned 
to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company.     Such  a  call 


would  add  essentially  to  the  embarrassment  of  the  treasury; 
hut.  11  it  must  come,  it  is  desirable  that  the  worst  should  be 
known  immediately. 

Although  the  law  provides  for  a  notice  of  five  days  only  to 
the  Comptroller,  in  case  of  non-payment,  yet  in  these  times 
a  longer  notice  is  indispensable;  and  if  you  cannot  assure 
me  that  the  interest  will  he  paid,  1  trust  that  you  will  give 
me  notice  at  once,  that  provision  may  be  made  by  the  State. 
Respect  fully  yours, 

A.  C.  Flagg. 

James  Bowen,    Esq. 

There  was  no  equivocation  or  hesitancy  in  Presi- 
dent Bowen 's  reply  to  the  Comptroller  : 

Officj    01   mi-;  X.  Y.  &  E.  R.  R.  Co., 

New   York,    12th  March.   1842. 

Sir:  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  letter  of  the  8th 
inst.  stating  that  you  had  learned  from  a  source  entitled  to 
consideration  that  means  must  be  provided  by  the  Comp- 
troller to  meet  the  interest  due  on  the  1st  of  April  on  the 
Stale  stock  loaned  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany, ami,  as  the  requisition  would  add  to  the  embarrassment 
of  the  treasury  if  made  only  at  the  time  designated  by  law, 
you  desire  to  know  at  as  early  a  period  as  possible  if  this 
information  be  corn,  i 

It  has  been  regarded  by  the  Company  as  the  settled  policy 
of  the  State  to  continue  the  same  rates  of  aid  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  road  that  has  hitherto  been  afforded.  The  r< 
of  the  railroad  committee  of  the  Assembly  of  1841  (Doc.  No. 
297),  narrated  the  several  acts  of  the  Legislature  in  regard 
to  this  road,  and  shows  it  to  have  been  the  intention  of  the 
State  to  continue  its  aid  till  the  road  be  completed.  The 
report  sets  forth  that  "by  repeated  acts  of  the  Legislature, 
passed  on  variou  occa  ions,  the  State  has  undertaken  to 
ensure  the  speedy  and  economical  construction  of  this  road. 
It  has  to  all  intents  and  purposes  made  it  a  State  work  except 
in  name.  The  Stati  executed  the  first  survey  of  the  route; 
the  State  pays  as  tin-  work  advances  nearly  two-thirds  of  its 
cost:  the  State  issues  for  this  purpose  a  stock  which  is  sold 
under  the  direction  of  the  Comptroller;  before  the  stock  is 
issued  the  certificate  of  the  Attorney-General,  another  State 
officer,  is  required:  the  money  when  realized  from  the  State 
stocks  is  then  expended  under  the  immediate  inspection  of 
a  State  officer  who  is  responsible  to  the  people  for  the  manner 
in  which  he  discharges  his  duty,  as  much  so  as  a  Canal  Com- 
iicr  or  any  member  of  the  Canal  Board;  the  State  has 
a  lien  upon  the  road  lor  the  money  expended  and  to  be  ex- 
pended, and  out  of  the  revenues  the  interest  and  the  principal 
of  the  debt  created  is  to  be  paid  like  debts  created  for  the 
Canals." 

Relying  upon  the  continuance  of  this  policy,  the  Company 
has  made  contracts  for  the  construction  of  various  sections 
of  the  road  within  given  periods  of  time;  large  bodies  of  men 

have  been  and  are  employed;  materials  have  been  purchased, 
lands  obtained,  and  every  arrangement  made  for  the  speedy 
construction  of  the  work,  and  it  is  upon  the  continuance  of 
State  aid  in  some  form  that  the  Company  relies  for  the  pay- 
ment of  its  liabilities,  including  the  interest  on  the  State  loan 
I  have  the  honor  to  I.e.  sir. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

James  Bowen.  President. 
Hon.   A.   C.    FLAGG,  Comptroller. 


o4 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


une  date,  President   Bowen  addr< 

.  who  was  a  close 

•  the  1":  i  ent  : 

id  Krik  Railri  jot's  Office, 

New  York.  12th  March,  1842. 

1  deem  it  my  dutj  u  that  the  mea 

the  w  York  and   Erie  Rail- 

re  exhaust 
Then  1  derived  irom  individual  subscriptions  to  the 

near  two  millions  of  dollars.    A  large 

ire    citizens    living    along    the 

lint  ho  have  been  induced,  From  considerations 

the  public  welfare,  to  contribute  to  the  construction   of 

the  road,  and  in  the  confident  belief  that  the   Legislature  will 

id  that   it   has  hitherto  done. 
the    work    and    the    discharge    of    the    large 
if  men  now  1  upon  it  will  produce  great  indi- 

vidual  .'.  ss   to  the   Company  and 

the   public,   from   the   temporary   abandonment    of   it    while    in 
te  of  partial  completion. 
Under  the  supposition  that  the   Legislature  would  continue 
the  .id  that  it  has  hitherto  afforded,  the  Co 

par.;  n  for  the  interest  on  the  State  loan  due 

on  the  first  of  April,  but  extended  all  their  means  in  the  con- 
str':  1      They    have    so    far   progressed    that 

with   the  Iready   finished   more   than   three   hundred 

-  may  be  put  in  use  during  the  present  year. 
I   respectfully  pray  you.  therefore,  if  you  deem   it   not   im- 
•    at  you  will  bring  the  subject  again  before  the  Legis- 
lature,  and   represent  the   serious  evils   that   must   be  created 
by  the  su  of  the  work,  while,  if  aid  be  granted,  a  new 

vie  extending  through  more  than  one-half  the  State  will  be 
i.d.  affording  facilities  for  the  1  products  to 

market  from  which  the  citizens  of  that  section  are  now  debarred. 
I   find  a  sufficient   justification   for  this  application   in   the 
Miliary  interest   the   State  has   in  this  great  work;   in 
itude  of  a  million  of  inhabitants  for  its  comple- 
I    in    your    own    expressed    opinions    concerning    the 
importance  of  the  enterprise. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest   re 

1  have  the  honor  f  1 

Sir.  your  obedient  servant, 
James   BOWEN, 
President  „f  the  New  York  &  Erie  R.  R.  Co. 

To  H  Wm.   II.  Seward. 

The  result  of  this  letter  was  a  message  from   the 

Governor  to  the  Legislature  as  follows  : 

ExFxi-TivE  Chamber, 

Albany,  March  \\.  1842. 

To  t!  ire: 

The  letter  of  ti,  ,,.w  York  and  Erie  Rail- 

transmitti  that  if  legislative 

aid  withheld  .,11    it    must    d( 

from  pro 

1;   tin-    1111-  State 

'.   will  remain 
unpaid;    the    contil  I    will    fall    immediately    upon    the 

low- 
citizens  will  be  lost;  the   New   York  and   Erie   Railroad,  in   its 
■  ly   half   -  .    at 


the   suit   of  the   State;    and   the  just    expectation    of   immeasur- 
able benefits  to  result  from  the  enterprise  will   be  suddenly 

and  popularly   disappointed. 

This  information  cannot  excite  surprise.  No  one  could 
have  expected  that  the  road  in  its  unfinished  state  could  pro- 
duce capital  or  even  revenues;  and  the  association  acted  wisely 
in  devoting  all  their  means  to  its  prosecution,  relying  upon 
the  justice  of  the  State  and  the  liberality  of  their  fellow-citizens 
uch  additional  resources  as  would  be  necessary  to  secure 
impletion. 

Ri  spectfully  referring  to  the  suggestion  mule  in  my  annual 
message  in  view  of  this  crisis.  I  will  only  add  that  no  measure 
less  favorable  to  the  enterprise  than  the  past  policy  of  the 
State  could  now  be  effectual,  while  none,  in  my  judgment,  that 
would  involve  any  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  State  is  neces- 
sary. Nevertheless,  the  responsibility  of  conducting  the  enter- 
prise to  an  early  consummation  seems  to  me  to  rest  not  with 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  but  upon  this 
State.  The  association  can  only  be  regarded  by  the  people 
as  an  agent  of  the  Legislature;  and  while,  like  all  other  agents. 
it  ought  to  be  held  to  a  just  accountability,  the  State  cannot 
discharge  itself  from  responsibility  by  pleading  the  failure  of 
its  agent,  whether  with  or  without  excuse,  to  perform  its 
duties,  or  meet  the  expectations  of  the  Legislature. 

William  II.  Seward. 

Comptroller  Flagg  placed  before  the  Legislature, 
March  21st,  the  correspondence  between  himself 
and  Bowen,  and  in  his  letter  accompanying  it  said  : 
"  This  large  amount  of  stock,  for  the  payment  of 
which  the  faith  of  the  State  is  pledged,  has  been 
disposed  of  in  market  in  a  manner  to  the  great 
injury  to  the  credit  of  the  State,  and  yet  the  Direc- 
tors of  the  Company  have  so  utterly  disregarded  the 
obligation  they  have  entered  into  to  protect  the 
faith  of  the  State  as  not  to  reserve  out  of  the  $900,- 
000  paid  to  them  within  the  past  five  months  a  sum 
sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  stock  which 
becomes  due  the  first  of  April." 

Besides  this  correspondence  with  the  Governor 
and  the  Comptroller,  President  Bowen,  at  about  the 
same  date,  sent  a  petition  to  the  Legislature,  (which 
was  read  in  the  Senate  March  16th,)  submitting  the 
report  of  Engineer  Morton  on  the  survey  of  the  new 
route  for  the  railroad  in  tin-  I  lelaware  Valley  and 
between  Deposit  and  Binghamton,  in  which  he  said 
that  "  if  the  road  were  to  be  regarded  only  as  a 
means  of  revenue  to  the  stockholders,  the  considera- 
tion of  these  lines  would  nut  In-  pressed  upon  your 
honorable  bodies  ;  for  it  is  believed  that  even  if  the 
;  expensive  be  adopted,  the  road  will  be  largely 
productive.  But  your  petitioners  are  not  permitted 
to  regard  it  as  a  private  enterprise,  or  as  a  simple 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


investment  of  capital  for  the  purpose  of  revenue,  but 
as  a  great  public  work,  in  the  proper  construction  of 
which  the  interests  of  a  million  citizens  are  deeply- 
interested.  Your  petitioners  are  therefore  unwilling 
to  assume  the  high  responsibility  of  determining  on 
questions  of  so  much  importance  ;  and  they  respect- 
fully pray  your  honorable  bodies  to  consider  and 
decide  in  regard  to  them  " — and  yet  the  Company 
had  determined  on  the  question  more  than  a  year 
before  by  letting  contracts  for  building  the  railroad 
through  the  Delaware  Valley,  further  progress  being 
checked  by  legal  process,  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Company  having  appealed  to  the  courts.  The 
petition  did  not  refer  to  the  straits  the  Company  was 
in.  It  set  forth  that  "  by  the  act  of  incorporation, 
passed  April  23,  1832,  your  petitioners  are  required 
to  construct  one-fourth  of  their  road  with  in  ten  years 
from  that  date.  Owing  to  the  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments of  a  large  number  of  stockholders,  it  has  been 
only  within  the  past  two  years  that  your  petitioners 
have  been  able  to  proceed  with  vigor  in  its  construc- 
tion. During  that  period  200  miles  have  been 
graded,  and  twenty-five  miles  completed.  The  sum 
estimated  as  sufficient  to  complete  the  whole  road  is 
therefore  more  than  one  half  expended  ;  and  it  is 
believed  that  if  aid  will  be  afforded,  that  portion  be- 
tween Dunkirk  and  Binghamton,  a  distance  of  250 
miles,  and  between  Goshen  and  Middletown,  seven 
miles,  may  be  completed  during  the  present  year  ; 
making,  of  completed  road,  303  miles,  or  nearly 
three-fourths  of  the  whole  road  ;  whereupon  your 
petitioners  pray  that  an  extension  of  one  year  may  be 
granted,  to  fulfill  the  requirements  of  their  charter." 

Saturday,  April  9,  1842,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board, 
at  the  office  of  the  Company,  No.  35  Wall  Street, 
New  York,  the  Company  took  measures  to  place 
itself  in  the  hands  of  assignees  by  perhaps  the  most 
extraordinary  method  of  procedure  ever  adopted 
before  or  since.  President  Bowen  stated  that  the 
Faulkner  bill  having  been  rejected,  the  only  thing  to 
do  was  for  the  Company  to  make  an  assignment, 
which,  by  resolution,  was  done.  In  fact,  it  made 
two  assignments.  One  was  to  cover  all  the  property 
and  effects  of  the  Company  in  the  city  of  New  York 
and    on   the    Eastern    Division    of   the   railroad,    the 


other  to  cover  all  the  remaining  effects  and  property 
of  the  Company.  President  Bowen,  Directors 
Charles  A.  Davis  and  E.  H.  Blatchford.  and  Engi- 
neers Edward  Miller  and  Thompson  S.  Brown  were 
appointed  assignees.  April  12th,  Hezekiah  C.  Sey- 
mour was  added  to  the  list  of  assignees.  On  the 
15th,  Davis  and  Blatchford  declined  to  serve.  Major 
Brown  was  not  in  the  country.  Freeman  Campbell 
was  named  in  place  of  Brown,  and  the  assignees  set- 
tled upon  were  Bowen,  Miller,  Seymour,  and  Camp- 
bell. Under  authority  given  by  the  documents  in 
the  case,  James  Bowen,  as  President  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  of  the  first  part, 
sold,  assigned,  conveyed,  and  set  over  to  James 
Bowen  and  his  associate  assignees  all  the  property  of 
the  Railroad  Company,  to  sell  and  dispose  of  it  at 
such  time  or  times,  and  in  such  manner,  and  to  such 
person  or  persons,  or  body  or  bodies  corporate,  as 
the  assignees  deemed  best  for  the  interest  of  all  con- 
cerned, for  cash,  and  settle  the  claims  against  the  Com- 
pany according  to  priority  and  character.  There  is  no 
record  of  any  authority  of  court  for  any  of  these  pro- 
ceedings, and  the  fact  that  under  the  act  granting  aid 
to  the  Company  in  1838  the  Comptroller  was  to  take 
charge  of  the  property  in  case  of  default  in  the  interest 
on  the  State  stock,  and  advertise  the  same  for  sale, 
did  not  seem  to  cut  any  figure  in  the  matter  at  all. 

The  news  of  this  assignment  seems  to  have  been 
slow  in  getting  about,  for  there  is  no  mention  of  it 
in  any  of  the  newspapers  until  April  22d.  The  Whig 
Commercial  Advertiser  of  that  date  simply  refers  to  it 
thus  :  "  The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company 
have,  as  a  prudential  measure,  made  an  assignment  of 
their  property  to  James  Bowen,  Alderman  Cooper  (?) 
and  Alderman  Campbell,  and  Messrs.  Miller  and 
Seymour,  engineers  of  the  Company."  The  Even- 
ing Post,  a  Democratic  organ,  discussed  it  as  follows  : 

The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  has.  it  scorns, 
made  an  assignment.  In  other  words,  it  has  failed  to  pay  its 
debts,  and  gone  into  liquidation.  So  much  for  the  advantages 
of  putting  this  work  under  the  care  <>!'  pipe  layers.  Tiny  have 
had  their  "railroad  parlors"  at  the  Astor  House— their  splen- 
did suite  of  rooms  in  the  most  expensive  part  of  Wall  S 
and  have  allowed  the  very  moderate  salaries  of  $4,000.  $5,000, 
or  $6,000  to  themselves.  They  have  taken  $3,000,000  of  our 
stock,  and  have  left  the  State  to  pay  the  interest  on  it.  and 
have  run  in  debt  to  every  one  on  the  line  of  the  road  who 
could  be  induced  to  trust  them,  and  now,  in  the  final  winding 


66 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    I  UK    LAKES 


that  the  same  blighting 

influence  shall  I  inanl  with  the  It  is  mel- 

such  great  interest  to  this 

nd  in  which  the  State  has  so  large  an  investment,  so 

1  and  ruined.     It  is  not  too  late  yet  to 

•     rrors    but  the  first  step  must  be  entire  purifica- 

rt  of  that  can  restore  confidence. 

des  the  default  in  interest  due  the  State,  the 
Company  owed  $600,000  for  work  done  and  materials 
furnished  on  the  road  west  of  Goshen,  chiefly  on  the 
Susquehanna  Division,  and  for  which  there  was  no 
provision.  The  Eastern  Division  (the  only  part  of 
the  road  completed  1  was  kept  in  operation,  but  work 

•here  on  the  line  ceased. 
By  the  act  of  1836,  granting  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  State  aid,  the  Comptroller  was  directed 
to  advertise  the  road  and  its  franchise  for  sale  on 
default  in  principal  or  interest  of  the  loan,  and  to 
sell  the  same  to  the  highest  bidder,  or  buy  them  in 
for  the  State.  Acting  on  this  provision,  the  Comp- 
troller advertised  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
for  sale,  the  sale  to  take  place  on  December  31,  1842. 
The  Company  was  in  default  to  the  amount  of  the 
§3,000,000  loan,  and  interest  to  the  amount  of 
$41,000,  yet  the  Comptroller  ordered  the  foreclosure 

on  the  $41,000  defaulted  interest  alone. 

Political  purpose  had  many  times  used  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  as  a  means  to  an  end,  but 
the  project  and  its  affairs  had  never  taken  on  the 
dignity  of  a  political  issue  until  they  came  forward 
as  such  in  the  State  campaign  of  1842.  The  ques- 
tion of  internal  improvements  was  uppermost  that 
year,  and  the  Whigs  took  high  ground  for  State  aid 
for  their  construction,  enlargement,  or  improvement. 
A  Governor  was  to  be  elected,  and  the  Whig  plat- 
form came  out  squarely  in  favor  of  the  State  giving 
more  aid  to  the  construction  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad.  The  Democratic  party  was  opposed 
to  increasing  the  taxes  in  the  interest  of  the  Erie 
Canal,  or  any  other  public  work,  but  met  the  New 
York   and    Erie    Railroad    question    by   dcclarit 

of  the  State  1  inasmuch  as  it  had  already  in- 
vested and  lost  $3,000,000  of  the  people's  money  in 
the  enter]  ing  possession  of  the  railroad  and 

completing  it.      Any  further  appropriation  of  public 
funds  to  a  private  corporation,  however,  the   Demo- 


crats emphatically  opposed  on  constitutional  grounds. 
So  the  Erie  question  became  the  vital  one  in  the 
campaign  in  all  the  counties  where  the  railroad  was 
located.  The  Whigs  bid  for  votes  therein  by  advo- 
cating the  lending  of  more  State  money  to  the  New 
York  ami  Erie  Railroad  Company  to  save  it  and  its 
undertaking  to  the  people  they  were  designed  to 
benefit.  The  Democrats  risked  their  chances  in  the 
election  by  demanding  the  purchase  of  the  railroad 
and  its  completion  by  the  State.  Many  and  enthu- 
siastic political  meetings  were  held  all  through  the 
Southern  Tier,  and  they  became  no  longer  Whig  and 
Democratic  meetings,  but  Railroad  and  Anti-rail- 
road. There  had  never  been  so  exciting  a  State 
campaign  in  that  portion  of  the  State.  William  II. 
Seward  had  been  elected  Governor  in  1840  on  the 
Whig  ticket,  and  was  supported  to  that  result  by  the 
vote  of  the  Southern  Tier,  although  the  Democrats 
had  made  the  issue  there  against  him  the  fact  that 
he  had  always  opposed  in  the  State  Senate  all  State 
aid  for  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company, 
even  to  speaking  and  voting  against  the  small  appro- 
priation of  $15,000  for  making  the  survey,  in  1834. 
Seward  defended  his  anti-Erie  course  on  constitu- 
tional grounds,  believing,  as  he  said,  that  the  State 
had  no  right  to  risk  the  people's  money  by  loaning 
it  to  private  corporations.  He  believed  in  State  con- 
trol of  all  internal  improvements,  and  declared  that 
he  would  have  voted  for  an  appropriation  for  build- 
ing the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  by  the  State. 
In  the  campaign  of  1842  the  Democrats  used  Sew- 
ard's argument  on  the  Erie  question  to  influence  the 
Southern  Tier  against  the  Whigs,  and  Seward,  then 
Governor,  in  his  special  message  to  the  Legislature, 
quoted  above,  illustrated  how  one  in  politics  must 
trim  his  sail  to  every  wind,  in  certain  exigencies,  for 
the  ground  he  took  in  that  message  was  directly 
opposed  to  all  his  past  argument  and  action  on  the 
Erie  question.  But  the  vote  in  1S42  demonstrated 
emphatically  that  the  Whigs  did  not  have  the  popular 
side  of  the  Erie  question  that  year,  for  the  Demo- 
crats carried  every  Southern  Tier  and  Western 
count)',  except  Chautauqua  and  Cattaraugus.  The 
special  session  of  the  Legislature  in  August,  however, 
had  come  to  the  temporary  rescue  of  the  Company 
by  postponing  the  sale  of  the  railroad  six  months. 


WILLIAM    MAXWELL. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


ADMINISTRATIONS    OF   WILLIAM    MAXWELL   AND    HORATIO    ALLEN— 1842    TO    1844. 

The  Southern  Tier  and  Western  Counties,  Disheartened  over  the  Situation,  Demand  the  Company's  Release  from  Alleged  Wall  Street  Influ- 
ences—  A  Strictly  Rural  Management  is  Chosen  —  William  Maxwell  of  Elmira  Succeeds  James  Bowen  as  President — The  New- 
York  Legislature  Passes  a  Law  for  the  Relief  of  Erie,  and  the  First  Foreshadowing  of  Erie's  Fatal  Bonded  Debt  is  Seen— The 
Railroad  Completed  to  Middletown  —  Maxwell  and  the  Rural  Directors  Retire  and  Horatio  Allen  takes  Charge  as  President  —  His 
Struggles  with  Many  Plans  to  Help  the  Work  Along  End  in  Failure —  In  the  Emergency,  Eleazar  Lord  is  Chosen  a  Third  Time  to 
Conduct  Erie's  Affairs. 


THE  people  of  the  Southern  Tier  and  Western 
counties  became  indignant  over  the  condition  of  the 
Company's  affairs  and  disheartened  over  the  pros- 
pects of  the  railroad,  toward  the  building  of  which 
they  had  so  generously  contributed  of  their  means 
and  influence.  They  believed  that  this  situation 
was  due  to  reckless  management  of  the  Company's 
affairs,  and  charged  that  the  management  had  been 
for  years  controlled  by  influences  of  Wall  Street  and 
by  New  York  business  men — men  who  had  done 
little  and  contributed  less  toward  any  measure  that 
had  in  view  the  welfare  and  interest  of  the  undertak- 
ing. These  counties,  therefore,  demanded  a  change 
in  the  management,  and  the  cutting  loose  of  New 
York  City  control  from  it.  The  demand  was  heeded 
at  the  annual  election  in  October,  1842.  A  new 
Board  of  Directors  was  chosen.  A  majority  of  the 
members  was  from  the  rural  counties.  The  new 
Board  was  made  up  as  follows  :  Samuel  Barrett, 
Chautauqua  County  ;  Benjamin  Chamberlain,  Cat- 
taraugus County  ;  Jesse  Angel,  Allegany  County  ; 
Reuben  Robie,  Steuben  County  ;  William  Maxwell, 
Chemung  County  ;  Jonathan  Piatt,  Tioga  County  ; 
Thomas  G.  Waterman,  Broome  County  ;  John  B. 
Booth,  Orange  County  ;  Thomas  E.  Blanch,  Rock- 
land County  ;  George  Griswold,  Henry  L.  Pierson, 
Samuel  Allen,  Charles  Augustus  Davis,  Shepherd 
Knapp,  Stephen  Allen,  James  Brown,  New  York. 
The  first  meeting  of  the  new  Board  was  held  at 
Elmira  December  6,  1842,  with  no  quorum  present. 
Another  meeting  was  held  on  December  26th,  when 
James  Brown  was  elected  President.  He  declined 
the    office,    and    William    Maxwell    of    Elmira    was 


elected  to  the  place.  Brown  was  elected  Vice-Presi- 
dent in  the  place  of  Henry  L.  Pierson. 

The  Maxwell  administration  distinguished  itself 
by  securing  the  passage  of  an  act  by  the  New  York 
Legislature  in  April,  1843,  which  postponed  the  sale 
of  the  railroad  under  the  State's  foreclosure  until 
July  1,  1S50,  on  condition  that  the  Company  should 
actually  resume  work  within  two  years  from  April 
18,  1843.  This  act  also  purported  to  release  the 
Company  from  the  State  lien,  and  to  authorize  it  to 
issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $3,000,000,  which 
would  be  a  first  lien  on  the  Company's  property. 
The  railroad  was  finished  to  Middletown  by  funds 
raised  by  private  citizens  organized  under  the  name 
of  the  Middletown  Association,  and  was  opened  for 
traffic  June  1,  1843. 

Prominent  among  the  constructing  engineers  and 
practical  railroad  men  of  that  day  was  Horatio  Allen. 
He  had  been  the  assistant  of  John  B.  Jervis  in  the 
construction  of  that  great  work,  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal,  which  was  finished  in  1829.  He  was 
one  of  the  earliest  of  America's  railroad  construc- 
tors, and  through  his  uncle,  James  Brown,  then  a 
member  of  the  Erie  Directory,  became  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  prospects  and  success  of  the  project  that 
Company  had  in  hand.  His  previous  experience  in 
practical  railroad  construction  had  been  attended  with 
such  satisfactory  results  that,  in  the  critical  emer- 
gency to  which  Erie  affairs  were  brought  in  1843,  the 
friends  of  the  Company  appealed  to  Horatio  Allen 
as  one  perhaps  most  capable  of  saving  the  work  from 
the  fate  that  confronted  it.  Mr.  Allen  consented 
to  undertake  the  task,  and  at  the  annual  election  in 


BETWEEN  HIE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


tnt  Maxwell  and  the  rural  B 

ffice,  and  a  new  Board  was 
Allen,   Janus   Brown, 
Cushman,   Charles   M.    Leupp,   Frank 
W.  Edmonds,  Silas  Brown,  David  Austin.  Theodore 
Dehon,  Paul  £  Griswold,  Ans< 

Phelps.  Matthew  Morgan,  John  C.  Green,  A.  S. 
Diven,  William  Maxwell,  Elijah  Risley,  Daniel  S. 
Dickinson.  Horatio  Allen  was  chosen  President  and 
lames  Brown  Vice-President.  On  taking  control 
the  new  management  issued  a  statement  as  follows  : 

TO   THE    PUBLIC. 

The  undersigned,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  a  portion  of 
their  fellow  citizens,  having  consented  to  be  elected  Directors 
oi  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  feel  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  the  public  distinctly  to  state  the  condition  upon 
which  they  have  undertaken  the  tru^t. 

They  have  been  informed  that  the  affairs  of  the  Company 
are  in  an  embarrassed  state,  and  unless  a  very  great  change 
takes  place  its  existence  will  in  all  probability  terminate  with 
the  present  year. 

The  new  Board  of  Directors  intend  immediately  to  examine 
into  its  condition  and  report  the  result  of  their  labors.    Should 
they  find  it  impracticable  to  continue  the  work,  they  will  make 
i   their   views   and    retire    from    the   direction.     On    the 
other  hand,  should  they  find  its  embarrassments  not  so  for- 
midable   but    that    with    proper   assistance    they   can   be    sur- 
mounted, they  will   call   upon   the  public  to  aid  them   in   its 
completion.     If  this  call  is  responded  to,  the  undersigned  will 
continue    their   connection    with    the    Company.     If   not.    the 
lity  will  not  rest  with  them. 
David    Austin,   James    Brown,    1).  A.  Cushman,  Charles    M. 
F.    W.    Edmonds,    Silas    Brown,    Anson    G.    Phelps. 
lien,  Matt   Morgan,   Paul  Spofford,  William   Max- 

■  ral   other  members   of  the   Board   being  absent   from 
the  city  their  names  could  not  be  affixed  to  this  document.) 

New  York,  October  y,  1&43. 


This  was  not  by  any  means  an  over-confident 
spirit  in  which  to  start  to  the  rescue  of  the  Company 
and  the  railroad  from  their  precarious  situation,  but 
the  new  management  had  good  cause  to  be  doubtful. 
The  property  of  the  Company  was  in  the  hands  of 
.  and  so  entirely  without  resources  did  the 
Directors  find  the  Company,  that  the  funds  required 
to  meet  the  ordinary  office  expenses,  and  to  carry 
into  effect  the  measures  proposed  to  remove  the 
embarrassment  under  which  it  was  lying  prostrate, 
were  only  obtained  through  gratuitous  subscriptions 
of  a  few  friends  of  the  road.       Alexander   S.   Diven, 


who  was  a  Director  at  that  time,  in  recounting,  years 
afterward,  the  trials  that  beset  them  in  Erie  affairs 
at  that  crisis,  said  : 

"  We  were  building  a  railroad  that  was  to  cost  mil- 
lions, and  we  h.uln't  money  enough  to  buy  candles. 
There  was  positively  not  one  cent  in  the  treasury. 
Every  Director  in  the  Board  had  endorsed  for  the 
Company  up  to  the  last  dollar  he  was  worth.  There- 
was  no  gas  in  those  days,  and  we  used  to  pass  a  hat 
around  among  us  to  get  money  to  pay  for  the  can- 
dles which  lighted  us  at  our  work." 

Mr.  Diven,  then  a  lawyer  at  Angelica,  Allegany 
Countv,  X.  Y.,  became  actively  interested  in  the 
Erie  project  in  1S43.  In  response  to  the  solicitation 
of  James  Brown  he  had  gone  to  New  York  and  exam- 
ined the  Company's  condition  and  prospects.  The 
Directors  had  lost  all  hope.  Frank  Edmonds,  a 
member  of  the  Board,  and  cashier  of  Shepherd 
Knapp's  bank,  had  made  an  investigation  of  the 
Company's  affairs  and  reported  that  the  enterprise 
was  ruined,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  try  and  sustain 
it  any  longer.  General  Diven  looked  over  the  papers 
and  books  and  took  a  different  view  of  it.  He  sug- 
gested the  obtaining  of  legislation  authorizing  the 
Company  to  issue  bonds  that  would  take  precedence 
as  a  lien  on  its  property  over  that  held  by  the  State 
against  the  Company,  a  plan  which  he  believed 
would  soon  provide  funds  sufficient  to  construct  the 
railroad,  at  any  rate,  as  far  as  Binghamton.  The 
legislation  was  secured,  as  has  been  stated,  but  did 
not  have  the  immediate  effect  it  was  intended  to 
have,  for  reasons  the  details  of  which  will  appear 
in  the  course  of  this  narrative  of  the  Allen  adminis- 
tration. 

Notwithstanding  the  unpromising  outlook  that 
met  the  new  management,  it  went  to  work  with  a 
will,  and  in  February,  1844,  made  a  report  to  the 
Legislature.  In  November,  1841,  the  report  stated, 
contracts  on  270  miles  of  work  were  suspended. 
They  were  still  in  force  when  the  new  management 
came  in,  with  large  claims  for  damages  likely  to  be 
made.  These  contracts,  however,  it  had  succeeded 
in  having  unconditionally  surrendered  to  the  Com- 
pany, and  all  the  possible  damage  claims  relin- 
quished.     It  had  also  lifted  the  assignment.      The 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


69 


railroad  had  cost  $4,734,872.66.  There  were  in  oper- 
ation fifty-three  miles  of  road  between  Piermont  and 
Middletown,  four  miles  west  from  Corning,  and 
seven  miles  east  from  Dunkirk,  in  all  sixty-four 
miles.  The  rest  of  the  road  was  in  different  stages 
of  construction,  but  nothing  had  been  done  on  the 
work  since  the  close  of  1841,  or  more  than  two 
years.  There  were  scattered  along  the  line  nearly 
$600,000  worth  of  timber  the  Company  had  pur- 
chased, nearly  half  of  which  was  worthless  from  long 
exposure.  According  to  the  estimate  of  Major  T. 
S.  Brown,  who  had  succeeded  H.  C.  Seymour  as 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Company,  to  complete  the 
work  would  require  a  further  outlay,  in  round  num,- 
bers,  of  $7,000,000.  President  Allen  issued  a  strong 
appeal  to  the  public,  showing  how  important  it  was 
to  the  commercial  interests  of  New  York  City  that 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  should  be  completed 
without  delay,  owing  to  the  activity  of  rival  cities  in 
adopting  means  to  secure  the  growing  trade  of  the 
great  West. 

On  April  2,  1844,  the  Board  of  Directors  adopted  a 
resolution  calling  for  an  instalment  to  be  paid,  on  or 
before  May  20,  of  five  dollars  a  share  on  all  stock 
of  the  Company  whereon  payment  already  made  did 
not  exceed  fifteen  dollars  per  share,  under  the  penalty 
of  forfeiture  of  said  stock  and  of  all  previous  pay- 
ments thereon,  as  provided  in  the  charter  of  the 
Company.  In  default  of  compliance  with  such  call, 
4,290  shares  were  forfeited,  upon  which  payments 
had  been  made  of  $48,296.90. 

April  18,  1843,  William  Baker  had  been  appointed 
Railroad  Commissioner  under  the  act  of  the  Legisla- 
ture in  relation  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad, 
with  various  powers  and  duties,  and  to  report  to 
the  Canal  Board  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  January  of 
each  year.  No  attention  was  paid  to  Mr.  Baker  by 
the  Company  until  May,  1843,  when  the  Board  of 
Directors  instructed  the  President  to  invite  him  to 
examine  all  the  books,  vouchers,  and  papers  in  the 
office  of  the  Company,  to  enable  him  to  ascertain  all 
the  material  transactions  of  the  Company  since  its 
first  organization,  and  all  its  present  condition  and 
prospects,  so  far  as  to  enable  him  to  report  to  the 
Directors  at  their  next  meeting  whether  any  funds 
of  the  Company  had  been  misapplied  ;  whether  any 


officer  of  the  Company  had  abused  his  trust  ;  whether 
any  one  was  getting  too  much  salary  :  what  the 
amount  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  Company  was  ; 
whether  there  were  any  unwarrantable  claims  against 
it  ;  to  examine  the  assignment  and  its  terms  ;  how 
the  Eastern  Division  was  being  conducted,  and 
whether  its  officers  and  agents  were  receiving  too 
high  salaries,  and  whether  any  could  be  dispensed 
with  ;  and  to  make  any  and  every  investigation  into 
all  the  affairs  of  the  Company  and  report  fully  and 
impartially  thereon,  so  that  the  public  confidence 
might  be  reassured. 

Baker  made  a  brief  and  cursory  examination  of 
the  Company's  books,  and  then  went  over  the  route 
in  company  with  Chief  Engineer  Brown.    In  October, 

1843,  he  wrote  a  report,  which  he  sent  to  the  Direc- 
tors. He  also  submitted  it  to  the  Legislature  of  1844, 
something  that  was  entirely  voluntary  on  his  part, 
and  not  required  of  him,  the  Canal  Board  being  the 
head  to  which  he  was  to  report  under  the  law  cre- 
ating his  office.  His  report  critcised  the  management 
for  certain  transactions  that  had  occurred  in  1841-42, 
they  being  matters  entirely  out  of  his  province, 
and  with  which  the  existing  management  had  had 
nothing  to  do.  As  the  Allen  management  was  to  be 
an  applicant  before  the  Legislature  of  1844  for  favors 
for  the  Company,  this  uncalled-for  and  untimelv 
deliverance  of  Commissioner  Baker  added  largely  to 
the  already  heavy  load  of  trouble,  and  called  forth 
a  strong  official  protest  and  disclaimer  from  President 
Allen  and  the  Board  of  Directors,  addressed  to  the 
President  of  the  Senate  and  the  Speaker  of  the  As- 
sembly, early  in  the  session.  (Assembly  Document 
No.  31,  1844.) 

In  behalf  of  a  favorite  plan  of  his,  President  Allen 
had   a  bill   drafted  to  present  to  the  Legislature  of 

1844,  authorizing  the  city  of  New  York  to  submit 
to  popular  vote  the  question  of  the  appropriating 
by  that  city  of  $3,000,000  toward  the  amount  still 
needed  for  the  completion  of  the  railroad.  The 
Common  Council  of  the  city  declined  to  approve  of 
the  plan,  or  to  join  with  the  Company  in  applica- 
tion to  the  Legislature  for  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
and  the  scheme  was  reluctantly  abandoned.  The 
bill  never  came  before  the  Legislature.  It  is  a  part 
of  the  odd  and  curious  in  Erie  history,  and  i;  rcpro- 


BETWEEN     1  HI-:    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


tire,  from  the  only  copy  of  it  known  to 


Authorize  the  City  of 

New  York    i  .hi  Capital  Stock  of 

rni    Niw  Y.'kk  and  Erie  Railroad  Company. 

The  I  the  Stat..-  of  Ne«  ¥ork,  represented  in  Senate 

and  Assembly,  do  enact : 

i.  The  city  of  New  York  (if  the  electors  thereof  shall  assent 
thereto  in  the  manner  hereinafter  provided)  may  subscribe  to 

the  New    York  and   Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany I  Three  Millions  of  Dollars,  to  be  exclusively 
expended   in   the   work   hereafter   done   upon,   and   materials 
ter  furnished  to.  the  said  Railroad. 
2.  I:  rtain  the  wishes  of  the  said  electors,  in 
i  subscription,  the  '  Council  of  said 
city  shall,  at  the  next  annual  election  therein  of  charter  offices, 
I,  in  each  of  the  election  districts  of  the 
said  city,  a  ballot  box.  in  which  each  elector,   entitled  to  vote 
in  that  district,  may  deposit  one  ballot  having  either  the  word 
or  the  word  "  No"  thereon  written  or  printed. 
.V  The   ballots   so  deposited   shall   be  canvassed   by  the  in- 
lection,  and  returned  to  the  county  canvassers 
1    City,   and   the    result   by   them    declared,    in    the   same 
manner  as  is  prescribed  by  law  in  regard  to  the  canvass  and 
renin                      For  charter  offices. 

4.   If  upon  such   canvass   it   shall   appear  that  a   majority   of 
tig  shall  have  deposited  ballots  containing 
the  word  "  Yes.''  then  the  corporation  of  said   City  shall  pro- 
ceed  to    borrow    Three    Millions   oi    Dollars,    in    twelve   suc- 
iwo  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  each,  and   lor 
that  purpose  shall  issue  a  public  stock  to  be  called  the  "  Erie 
Railroad  Loan  of  the  City  of  New  York."  bearing  an  interest 
ling  six  per  cent,   per  annum,   payable  half  yearly, 
><1  not  exceeding  twenty  years   from 
the  date  of  its  issue. 

'       sold,   for  not   less  than   its  par  value. 
,  and  manner,  and  at   such  times,   as  the   said 
il   shall  prescribe;   and  all  tin    provisions  of 
I   entitled  "  An  act  to  regulate  the   Finances  of  the  City 
of  N\w  York."  passed  June  8.   1812,  which  are  not  inconsis- 
tent with  t'  lis  of  this  act.  arc  hereby  applied  to  the 

ty  shall  subscribe  tin   said  sum  of  Three  Mil 
the  said  capital  Mock,  win  never,  and  as 
Company  shall  have  furnished  evidenci 

omptrollei  i 

'A  be  by   the   said   Common    I  ouncil    in   that    behalf  ap- 

t  a  like  ai  llions  of  I  (ollars,  has 

ah.  by  private  individual-,  or  bodies 

ilitic. 

".  Thi  il  pay  the  amount  of  such  subscription 

two  hundred  and  I. 

nstal  nent   of  two   hundred   and   fifty 
whenever,  and  as  often  as,  tin      tid  Company 
shall  fi 

r   in   that   behalf   appoint  d,    that    the 

iint  of  subscription  made 
idividuals  and  bodies  corpoi 

'i  tin-  -aid   road,  a  like  ar 

of  t«o  I  fifty  thousand  dollars;  until  the  whole 


lid  amount  of   Three  Millions  of  Dollars  shall  have  been 
paid 

8.  Each  of  said  instalments  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  shall,  in  the  lirst  instance,  be  deposited  m  the  city 
treasury;  and  shall  remain  there  until  drawn  out  in  order  to 
pay  for  work  done. or  materials  furnished  for  the  said  Railroad; 
and   before    the    same    shall    be    drawn    out.    the    said    Company 

shall  fnrni-h  evidence  satisfactory  to  the  said  Comptroller  or 

other  officers  in  that  behalf  appointed  as  aforesaid,  that  such 
work  has  been  done,  and  such  materials  furnished  subse- 
<  uently   to  the  passage  of  this  ait. 

o.    After  the  said  City  shall  have  made  the  said  subscription, 

the  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  Comptroller,  ami  the  President  of 
the   Boards  of  Aldermen  and   Assistant    Aldermen   of  the  said 

City  lor  the  time  being  shall  In-  ex  officio  directors  of  the 
said  Company  in  addition  to  those  elected  by  the  stockholders 
(other  than  the  said  City  I  as  provided  for  in  the  act  incor- 
porating the  said  Company,  and  He.  vote  shall  be  given  to 
any  election  of  directors  upon  the  stock  so  subscribed  by  the 
said  City. 

10.  In  order  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  the  interest  of 
the  said  Erie  Railroad  Loan,  and  the  redemption  of  the  prin- 
cipal thereof,  the  said  Common  Council  shall  levy  by  tax 
upon  the  estates,  real  and  personal,  of  the  said  City,  liable  to 
taxation,  one  twelfth  of  one  mill  upon  every  dollar  of  the 
ssed  value  of  such  estates,  for  every  successive  amount 
of  two  hundred  anil  fifty  thousand  dollars,  so  to  be  issued, 
and  alter  the  interest  on  such  loan  shall  have  been  paid  out 
of  the  proceeds  of  Such  't ax.  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking 
fund  of  said  City  shall  invest  the  residue  in  the  purchase  of 
soi in-  portion  of  the  stock  so  issii,  rj  01  il  i  nough  of  the  same 
cannot  lie  obtained  to  absorb  such  residue  then  in  the  purchase 
of  any  public  stock  issued  by  the  said  City,  and  shall  keep  the 
same  sacred  and  irrevocably  appropriated  to  the  payment  of 
the  principal  of  the  said  Erie  Railroad  Loan. 

I  I.  \\  henever  any  dividend  shall  be  received  by  the  said  City 
from  the  said  Company,  on  the  stock  so  to  be  subscribed  for, 
the  said  dividend  shall  be  appropriated  t"  the  payment  so  far 
as  it  will  go,  of  the  interest  falling  due  in  the  ensuing  year,  on 
the   public   stock,   so   to   he    issued   by   the   said    City,    and   the 

to  I'e  levied  in  that  year,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  paj 
ment  of  such  interest,  shall  be  diminished  by  an  amount  equal 
to  such   dividend  and   no   more.     And  there  shall   he  annually 
provided   for  by   the   said   City,   and   irrevocabl)    appropriated 
to    the    payment    first    of    the    interest,    and    ultimately    of    the 

principal,  of  the  said  Erie  Railroad  Loan,  either  from  divi- 
dends received  from  the  said  Company  or  by  taxation,  for 
every  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  such  public 
stock  which  shall  be  issued  by  the     iid  I  ity,  an  amount  equal 

to    one-twelfth    Il     mill    on    the    wholi     property,    real    and 

i'.il.   in   the   said   Citj    liable   to   taxation. 
[2,   Such  annual  tax  shall  be  continued  until  either  the  said 
Railroad  Loan  shall  have  been  paid  in  full;  or  the  annual  divi- 
dend d  bj   the    -'id  <  lit) .  From  thi    laid  I  i  impany  on 
the  stock   so  to  be  subscribed  For,  shall  be  equal  to  ten  per 

cent,    per  annum   on   its   par   value;    or   the   State    shall    elect  to 

purchase  the  said   Railroad,  under  the  provisions  of  thi     tcl 
Med:  An  act  in  relation  to  the  construction   o    the   New 
YotV  and  Erie  Railroad,  passed    \pril  [8,  1843 

I.?.    All    dividends    which    the    said    City    shall    receive    from 

pany,  and  all  proceeds  received  by  the  said  City, 
for  its  stock  so  to  be  subscribed  for,  should  the  said  Railroad 
bi   purchased  by  the  Pcopli   of  this  State,  under  thi   provisions 

of   the   act    above    referred    to,    are    hereby    specifically    pledged 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


7i 


and  irrevocably  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  the  interest 
and  redemption  on  the  principal  of  the  said  Erie  Railroad 
Loan,  until  the  same  shall  have  been  paid  in  full. 

14.  The  said  City  shall  have  no  power  to  alienate  or  part 
with  any  portion  of  the  stock  so  to  be  subscribed  for,  unless 
the  said  Railroad  shall  be  sold  to  the  people  of  this  State, 
under  the  provisions  of  the  act  above  referred  to,  and  then 
said  stock  may  be  surrendered  to  the  said  Company,  on  the 
receipt  of  a  corresponding  portion  of  the  proceeds  of  such 
sale,  and  after  the  said  Erie  Railroad  Loan  shall  have  been 
paid,  in  full  with  all  interest,  that  shall  accrue  thereon,  then 
all  dividends  which  the  said  City  shall  receive  from  the  said 
Company,  shall  be  appropriated  to  such  purpose  as  the  Com- 
mon Council  of  said  City  shall  from  time  to  time  direct. 

15.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


The  plan  to  have  the  city  of  New  York  take 
$3,000,000  of  the  stock  by  popular  loan  thus  having 
failed,  President  Allen,  in  a  long  address  made  public 
April  11,  1844,  and  signed  by  the  entire  Board,  sub- 
mitted another  plan  for  raising  the  required  capital. 
The  subscription  books  were  to  be  opened  and  sub- 
scriptions received  to  the  amount  of  $6,000,000,  ten 
per  cent,  to  be  paid  within  twenty  days  after  the 
books  were  closed,  and  subsequent  instalments  as 
they  might  be  called  for.  The  conditions  of  the 
plan  were  that  the  entire  amount  should  be  sub- 
scribed between  the  first  day  of  March  and  the  first 
day  of  August,  1844  ;  that  the  instalments  should 
not  exceed  33^  per  cent,  per  annum  ;  that  when 
dividends  should  be  declared,  payments  of  them 
should  be  deferred  on  75  per  cent,  of  the  stock  held 
prior  to  March  1,  1844,  until  a  dividend  of  6  per 
cent,  had  been  declared  on  the  stock  subscribed  for 
subsequent  to  that  date,  and  previous  to  August  1  ; 
that  when  the  net  earnings  should  exceed  the  amount 
necessary  to  pay  such  dividends  on  the  new  stock, 
the  excess  should  be  appropriated  to  dividends  on 
the  old  stock  ;  and  that  when  dividends  on  old  stock 
should  amount  to  six  per  cent.,  the  old  and  new 
stock  should  be  put  on  a  par,  and  all  distinction 
between  them  thereafter  to  cease. 

To  awaken  interest  in  this  new  effort  to  put  Erie 
on  its  feet,  a  call,  signed  by  a  hundred  or  more  of  the 
representative  business  men  of  New  York  City  of 
that  day,  was  issued  for  a  meeting  of  citizens  to  be 
held  at  that  city,  in  the  Tabernacle,  on  the  evening 
of  October  18,  1844.  The  meeting  is  reported  to 
have  been  large  and  enthusiastic.  George  Griswold 
presided,  and  there  was  a  long  list  of  distinguished 


vice-presidents  and  secretaries,  the  former  being 
James  Harper,  John  A.  King,  Thomas  Suffern,  C. 
\V.  Lawrence,  James  Donaldson,  William  Tucker, 
James  Boorman,  Robert  Smith,  Gardner  G.  How- 
land,  Samuel  Allen,  Moses  Taylor,  John  H.  Hicks, 
J.  De  Peyster  Ogden,  P.  S.  Van  Renssalaer,  Jacob 
Little,  R.  J.  Carman,  and  William  Burns,  and  the 
latter  being  Charles  McVean,  James  Kelley,  Charles 
Dennison,  Isaac  Townsend,  and  Charles  P.  Brown. 
Thus  was  the  best  of  the  business  and  financial  in- 
terests of  the  metropolis  represented  at  this  meet- 
ing. Addresses  that  seemed  absolutely  convincing 
were  made  by  Joseph  Blunt,  M.  C.  Patterson,  and 
others,  among  them  William  B.  Ogden  of  Chicago, 
and  from  the  enthusiasm  manifested  the  Erie  man- 
agers, if  present,  must  have  felt  that  the  completion 
of  the  railroad  was  certainly  assured.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  solicit  subscriptions  under  the 
Allen  plan,  but  investors  declined  to  respond  to  the 
appeals  of  the  committee,  if  any  such  appeals  were 
made. 

It  having  thus  become  apparent  that  popular  sub- 
scription would  not  provide  the  funds  for  complet- 
ing the  railroad,  the  Allen  management  formulated 
a  plan,  the  main  features  of  which  were  that  200 
persons  should  undertake  to  furnish  the  required 
capital  of  $6,000,000,  on  condition  that  priority  of 
dividend  at  7  per  cent,  per  annum  be  secured  to  the 
holders  of  the  new  stock,  and  that  fourteen  per  cent, 
per  annum  should  be  the  interest  to  be  paid  by 
the  State  of  New  York  in  case  it  should  elect  to 
purchase  the  railroad  when  it  was  completed.  This 
failed,  also,  although,  on  the  authority  of  a  state- 
ment made  by  the  Allen  management  on  retiring 
from  the  direction  of  Erie  affairs,  a  larger  amount 
had  been  subscribed  on  that  basis  than  on  any  other. 

Disappointed  in  the  result  of  their  measures  for 
obtaining  capital  by  private  subscription  to  the  stock 
of  the  Company,  the  attention  of  the  Board  was 
next  directed  to  the  resources  supposed  to  be  placed 
at  their  command  by  the  act  of  1S43.  By  that  act 
the  right  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $3,000,000 
was  granted,  and  the  State  lien  against  the  Company 
was  to  be  waived  for  that  object.  By  means  of 
the  bonds  so  authorized  it  was  proposed  to  raise 
$500,000  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  i=oad  to 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


-vis.  a  di  'lit  twenty  miles  beyond 

its    termination   then   was.      It 
lined  that  the  money  could  probably  be 
d    in    the   manner    p  I,    if   the    act    would 

ma]  the  security  offered.     That  the  character 

security  might  be  I  iblished  the 

ibmitted  to  legal  counsel,  from  whom 
the  opinion  was  received  that  the  waiver  of  the  State 
lien  was  made  dependent  on  the  completion  of  the 
:n  years  from  the  date  of  the  act.  and 
that  so  far  as  that  event  was  uncertain,  there  would 
.  corresponding  risk  to  the  bondholders.  In  view 
of  this  opinion,  it  was  evident  to  the  management 
that  the  bonds  could  not  be  sold,  and  the  measure 
therefore  abandoned. 
Thus,  all  its  efforts  to  raise  money  for  the  renewal 
of  the  work  having  come  to  naught,  it  was  evident 
that  the  Allen  management  was  powerless  to  lift  the 
Company  out  of  its  pressing  difficulties,  and  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders  at  New  York, 
ober  23,  1H44.  Allen  and  his  Board  resigned,  a 
new  Board  was  elected,  and  Eleazar  Lord  was  unan- 
imously chosen  to  take  the  direction  of  Erie  affairs 
for  the  third  time.  The  members  of  the  new  Board 
were  George  Griswold,  Jacob  Little,  John  C.  Green, 
James  Harper,  Eleazar  Lord,  Paul  Spofford,  Stewart 
i_.  Marsh,  Henry  L.  Pierson,  Henry  Sheldon,  C.  M. 
Leupp,  J.  \V.  Alsop,  Silas  Brown,  Robert  L.  Crooke 
(and  Sidney  Brooks,  who  declined),  of  New  York 
City,  and  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  of  Broome  County, 
A.  S.  Diven  of  Allegany  County,  and  Elijah  Risley 
of  Chautauqua  County. 

The  retiring  Board,  in  a  pessimistic  address  to  the 
stockholders,  said  that  it  was  aware  that  views  were 
entertained  by  some  of  the  earnest  friends  of  the 
road  that  were  entirely  opposed  to  the  position 
taken  by  the  Board,  that  the  work  should  not  be 
resumed  on  private  subscription,  unless  the  means 
of  its  completion  were  fully  provided.  "  It  may  be 
contended,"  the  address  declared,  "  that  with  a  sub- 
scription of  one  or  two  millions  the  road  could  have 
forward,  that  its  completion 
would  have  been  secured  almost  as  soon  as  by  a  full 
subscription  at  this  time.  The  Board  believes  that 
a  sum  sufficiently  large  to  make  it  judicious  to  com- 
mence the  work  at  all   1  ould   not  have  been  obtained 


on  the  principle  alluded  t.>."  The  confidence  that 
the  Hoard  expressed,  when  it  took  charge  of  the 
Company,  that  remunerating  dividends  would  be 
ons  subscribing  to  the  stock  (so  this  ad- 
dress explained  1,  rested  solely  on  the  completion  of 
the  railroad  to  Lake  Erie,  and  that  therefore  it  could 
nut,  consistently  with  its  view  of  responsibility  to 
subscribers  to  the  stock,  ask  for  their  subscriptions 
on  a  principle  that  left  that  event  in  great  uncer- 
tainty. "  The  contingency  may  not  be  very  great," 
the  address  declared,  "  and  by  some  may  even  be 
considered  small,  but  it  has  been  deemed  by  the 
Board  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  involve  a  responsi- 
bility which  they  do  not  feel  themselves  called  on  to 
assume."  Referring  to  the  lien  which  the  State  had 
on  the  entire  property  of  the  Company,  the  address 
said  that  there  was  no  resource  which  could  be  relied 
upon  as  a  means  of  insuring  the  construction  of  the 
road,  and  comply  with  the  stipulations  of  the  act 
to  the  completion  of  certain  portions  in  assigned 
periods.  "  Attention  is  called  to  this  position,  so 
that  if  it  be  found  to  be  correct,  those  who  are  here- 
after intrusted  with  the  management  of  the  interests 
of  the  Company  may  at  an  early  day  take  the  meas- 
ures which  it  renders  necessary.  The  Board  are  of 
opinion  that  unless  the  State  will  agree  so  to  amend 
the  act  as  to  allow  the  property  of  the  Company  to 
be  pledged  as  security  for  the  expenditure  of  new 
capital  on  the  extension  of  the  road  from  place  to 
place  as  circumstances  permit,  there  is  little  reason 
to  believe  that  any  efficient  measures  can  be  taken 
at  present  for  the  extension  and  ultimate  completion 
of  the  road." 

The  net  earnings  of  the  railroad  for  the  three  years 
it  had  been  in  operation  were  reported  as  follows, 
with  the  remark  that  they  "  presented  a  very  en- 
couraging rate  of  increase."  For  the  year  ending 
September  30,  1S42,  $31,224;  same  period,  1S43, 
$43,815;  same  period,  1844,  §58,673. 

The  following  curious  report  was  submitted  dur- 
ing the  Maxwell  administration.  It  is  interesting  as 
showing  that  the  Company  was  carrying  the  United 
States  mail  at  that  early  day,  and  was  being  paid  for 
it — how  much  the  report  does  not  show.  The  "Mid- 
dletown   Association  "   referred   to  was  the  associa- 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


73 


tion  of  citizens  of  Middletown,  N.  Y.,  that  had 
completed  the  railroad  between  Goshen  and  that 
place,  for  which  they  were  being  reimbursed  from 
the  earnings  of  the  railroad  between  the  two  places: 

Total  Receipts  and  Disbursements  from  April  16,  1842, 
Date  of  Assignment,  to  August  31,  1843. 

receipts. 

From   freight $82,886  09 

From  passengers,  including  mail 64,446  52 


$147,332  6 1 


Transportation  abstract  complete $94,734  58 

Construction  abstract  complete 19.360  45 

Charged  to  assignees 16,898  00 

Paid  I.  Newton,  for  steamboat  line  (in 

accruing    abstracts) „ 6,591  40 

Paid  sundry  vouchers,  incomplete....  1,026  66 

Paid  on  July  abstracts 5,853  92 

Middletown  Association : 
On  acct.  labor  pay  roll.. $743  96 
On  acct.  passenger  earn- 
ings   829  46—  1,573  42 

Balance  per  cash   book 1,294  3§ 


Total  amount  receipts  as  above $147,33261 


Amount  on  hand $1,294  38 

In  addition,   stage  money 109  13 

Cash  items,   and  cash   received,   not  entered   until 

September 318  46 


Account,   Dr.,   balance   cash $1,72197 


Cash  advanced  account   of  services $78069 

Assets  available  on   cash 26584 

Assets  not  available  on  cash 27083 

Due   from    Middletown,   cash 100  31 

Specie   and   copper 97  30 

Banknotes 20700—    $1,72197 

A.  Main,  Cashier. 
Piermont,  Sept.  I,  1843. 

With  the  year  1844  the  Company  began  the  mak- 
ing of  regular  annual  reports.  Following  was  the 
condition  of  the  Company  and  its  railroad  according 
to  the  report  for  that  year,  filed  January  27,  1 845  : 

REPORT    FOR   THE   YEAR    1844. 

Length  of  road  in  operation,  53  miles. 
Expenditures  upon  the  whole  road,  omitting  loss 
on  State  Stock,  and  including  present  indebt- 
edness to  contractors  not  fully  settled $4,750,000  00 

Income  from  passengers 46,178  84 

Income  from  freight  and  other  sources 79,841  60 

No.  of  through  passengers n,976j^ 

No.  of  way  passengers 68,044 

Receipts  from  through  passengers IS. 572  43 

Receipts  from   way  passengers 30,60641 

Expenses  for  repairing  and  running  the  road..  66,945  °° 

Expenses  for  construction 12.434  77 

E.  Pierson,  Secretary. 

(The  equipment  of  the  railroad,  and  full  statistics 
of  its  physical  condition,  for  this  year  and  all  subse- 
quent years  of  the  Company's  history,  will  be  found 
in  a  tabulated  exhibit  on  page  483). 


CHAPTER    IX. 


THIRD   ADMINISTRATION    OF    ELEAZAR    LORD— iS44    AND    1S45. 

Optimism  Succeeds  Pessimism — Mr.  Lord  Sees   Nothing  Discouraging  in  the  Situation  —  He  Tells  the  Public  that  it  is  only  Necessary  to 
;ich  will  be  Easy  —  Thinks  the  Act  of  :  not  Offer  Doubtful  Security  for  Erie  Bonds,  but  is  Rather  an  Eli- 

gible Reliance  —  Probable  Reason  why  New  York  bad  Always  1  (isregarded  Appeals  for  Aid  to  the  Erie  Project  —  The  Public  Share 
the  Late  Management's  Opinion  of  the  Act  of  iS43,  and  I  lecline  to  Invest  —  Mr.  Lord  becomes  of  the  Same  Opinion,  Resumes  Work, 
and  Asks  the  Legislature  to  Modify  the  Ponding  Act  —  Story  of  how  the  Needed  Legislation  was  held  up  until  the  Company  Agreed 
J  a  Railroad  to  N'ewburgh  —  Trouble  over  the  Change  of  Route  through  Sullivan  County,  and  Eleazar  Lord  Retires,  to  Interest 
Himself  no  more  in  the  Building  of  the  Railroad. 


The  cheerful,  confident,  assuring  words  with  which 
Eleazar  Lord  greeted  the  situation  were  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  hopeless,  melancholy  strain  that 
dominated  the  farewell  address  of  the  Allen  man- 
agement. Lord  prepared  an  address  intended  par- 
ticularly to  appeal  to  the  interests  of  New  York  City 
in  the  Company's  prospects,  and  it  was  made  public 
immediately  on  his  taking  charge  of  Erie  affairs 
again,  and  while  people  were  still  discussing  the  pes- 
simistic deliverance  of  the  late  management.  He 
declared,  in  strong  language,  that  it  was  the  influ- 
ence of  those  concerned  in  "the  northern  route" 
that  had  defeated  all  the  efforts  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company  had  made  toward  complet- 
ing its  railroad — the  "northern  route"  being  the 
chain  of  railroads  then  being  constructed  between 
Albany  and  Buffalo,  in  conjunction  with  the  pro- 
posed railroad  on  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson  River, 
all  now  included  in  the  New  York  Central  Railroad 
system.  The  American  Railroad  Journal,  which  had 
been  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  Erie  project  from  the 
start,  took  President  Lord  and  tin-  Directors  severely 
to  task  for  this  assertion.  "  What  is  the  use,"  wrote 
editor,  "of  declaring  war  against  'the  more 
northern  route  to  the  lakes,'  and  exciting  the  hos- 
tility of  the  Central  counties  from  Albany  to  Bu 
and  of  the  counties  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  I  [ud- 
son?  We  have  never  heard  it  hinted  that  the  appeal 
of  tlie  late  Board  to  the  public  last  spring  failed  from 
any  opposition  created  by  the  friends  of  '  the  more 
northern  route  to  the  lakes,'  and  we  doubt  whether 
any  such  influence  will  be  exerted  against  the  pres- 


ent address,  notwithstanding  its — as  we  believe — 
unfair,  and  certainly  unfortunate,  insinuations.  It  is 
less  wounding  to  our  self-love  to  ascribe  our  failures 
to  the  machinations  of  rivals,  real  or  supposed,  than 
to  our  own  incapacity.  The  present  Board,  that  is, 
the  acting  portion  of  the  Directors,  have  long  con- 
trolled the  management  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad,  and  we  would  venture  to  suggest  the  bare 
possibility  that  some  part  of  their  present  difficulties 
may  be  owing  to  the  circumstance  that  their  past 
course  has  not  been  quite  as  satisfactory  to  the  pub- 
lic, and  especially  to  the  stockholders,  as  it  appears 
to  have  been  to  themselves." 

It  is  difficult  for  one  at  this  day,  contemplating 
the  situation  of  the  Erie  project  at  the  period  of  its 
existence  now  under  review,  to  comprehend  the  con- 
duct of  its  New  York  City  sponsors  toward  it.  The 
railroad  had  been  projected  with  the  avowed  purpose 
of  making  it  a  means  to  the  establishing  of  that  city 
for  all  time  as  the  center  of  the  trade  of  the  entire 
country,  by  giving  it  such  communication  with  the 
growing  West  and  such  superior  means  of  transpor- 
tation to  and  from  the  marts  contiguous  to  and  be- 
yond the  ";reat  lakes,  and  to  and  from  the  valleys  of 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  as  neither  Boston,  Phila- 
delphia, or  Baltimore,  the  active  and  progressive 
rivals  of  New  York  in  the  struggle  for  commercial 
supremacy,  could  hope  to  secure;  yet  there  is  no 
record,  in  all  of  the  reports  of  the  ostensibly  earnest 
endeavors  of  the  conspicuous  citizens  of  the  metro- 
polis who  had  charge  of  the  affairs  of  Erie  from  the 


'/&7-c^£y 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


75 


start,  of  any  effort  or  expressed  desire  on  their  part 
to  have  the  railroad  begin  at,  or  even  near,  New 
York,  so  that  the  proposed  chief  object  of  the  un- 
dertaking could  have  some  chance  of  being  attained. 
We  have  seen  how  this  great  point  was  overlooked 
and  unheeded  when  the  magnificent  opportunity  of 
the  proposed  Erie-Harlem  alliance  was  presented  to 
the  arbiters  of  Erie  affairs  in  1841,  and  no  successor 
of  those  men,  while  the  opportunity  still  might  have 
been  grasped,  or  some  other  starting  place  for  the 
railroad  in  better  keeping  with  its  avowed  object 
might  have  been  secured,  appeared  to  be  capable  of 
discovering  what  the  trouble  was  with  the  Erie  that 
it  had  not  obtained  the  confidence  and  support  of 
the  people  of  New  York  City. 

It  would  seem,  considered  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  present,  that  those  people,  judging  of  its  im- 
portance by  the  proceedings  of  the  men  at  its  head, 
were  unable  to  regard  the  undertaking  seriously — 
hence  their  indifference  to  appeals  to  them  for  aid 
toward  the  work  of  building  the  railroad.  In  this 
address  of  Mr.  Lord,  therefore,  there  was  something 
new  for  the  New  York  public  to  consider.  For  the 
first  time  reference  was  made  to  the  railroad  as 
eventually  to  terminate  at  New  York  City.  "  It  is 
known  and  felt  by  the  friends  of  this  work  in  every 
successive  Legislature,"  said  Mr.  Lord  in  his  ad- 
dress, "  that  its  benefits  are  to  center  and  be  real- 
ized chiefly  in  this  metropolis,  the  interests  of  which 
in  that  behalf  were  so  carefully  guarded  in  the  char- 
ter, by  the  provisions  which  confine  it  within  the 
limits  of  the  State,  and  contemplate  its  approaching 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson,  and  traversing  the 
whole  length  of  the  city."  And  yet,  at  that  very 
time,  the  projectors  of  a  rival  railroad,  which  Presi- 
dent Lord  so  vigorously  denounced,  were  preempt- 
ing "  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson  "  for  their  rail- 
road, and  slowly  but  surely  destroying  the  only 
remaining  opportunity  the  Erie  had  of  getting  into 
New  York  City,  where  "  its  benefits  were  to  center 
and  be  chiefly  realized." 

We  may,  therefore,  undoubtedly  be  permitted  to 
assume  that  to  this  strange  indisposition  to  the  estab- 
lishing of  its  terminus  "at  or  near  New  York  "  was 
due  the  fact  that  the  people  of  that  city  had  not 
been    enthusiastic   in  the  support  of  the  New  York 


and  Erie  Railroad.  We  have  the  authority  of  this 
address  of  Mr.  Lord  that  up  to  November  I,  1844, 
New  York  City  had  contributed  less  than  $400,000 
in  aid  of  the  construction  of  the  road,  while  the 
people  of  the  interior  counties  had  paid  §1,200,000 
toward  it.  President  Lord,  therefore,  made  a  special 
and  strong  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  the  metropolis 
to  come  forward  and  help  the  Company  out  of  its 
difficulties.  He  presented  a  statement  of  the  con- 
dition of  its  affairs  and  of  the  road  as  an  inducement 
for  people  to  seek  the  Company's  securities  as  an 
investment  of  rare  value. 

To  complete  the  entire  line  of  road  six  millions  of 
dollars  was  deemed  necessary  and  sufficient.  Mr. 
Lord  took  a  view  entirely  opposite  to  that  of  his 
immediate  predecessor,  and  held  that  "  toward  this 
sum  the  bonds  legally  authorized  are  an  eligible  and 
safe  reliance  for  three  millions."  He  believed  it  to 
be  quite  safe  to  rely  upon  the  interior  counties  for 
further  aid  to  the  amount  of  one  million,  so  that  to 
insure  the  immediate  progress  and  early  accomplish- 
ment of  the  entire  work  a  subscription  of  two  mil- 
lions of  dollars  only  was  required.  With  such  a 
subscription,  the  address  declared  that  the  Board 
would  have  no  hesitation  in  proceeding  with  the 
work,  in  the  confidence  that  no  further  call  upon  the 
citizens  of  the  city  would  be  necessary. 

Believing  this  to  be  the  smallest  amount  that 
would  give  to  the  stockholders  confidence  of  success 
to  render  their  subscriptions  safe  as  an  investment, 
and  that  subscriptions  to  that  amount  would  not  be 
deemed  impracticable  or  out  of  proportion  for  New 
York  City,  Mr.  Lord  proposed  to  "  give  notice  in 
due  form  within  a  few  days  comprising  substantially 
the  following  conditions:  1.  That  books  of  sub- 
scription to  the  capital  stock  will  be  opened  for  two 
millions  of  dollars;  the  option  being  reserved  by 
the  Board  of  accepting  such  further  subscriptions  as 
may  be  made  prior  to  the  first  day  of  April.  1S45. 
2.  That  if  two  millions  and  no  further  sums  should 
be  subscribed  by  that  date,  the  Board  will  rely  on 
subscriptions  for  one  million  in  the  interior  counties, 
so  as  to  make  an  aggregate  of  three  millions,  which, 
with  the  like  amount  of  bonds,  as  authorized  by 
the  Legislature,  is  deemed  sufficient  to  complete  the 
road  from  the  Hudson  to  the  lake  in  such  time  and 


fWEEN    TliK    OCHAX    AND    Till-     LAKHS 


man:  ire  all   the  benefits  of  the  law  of 

April.  1843.     3.    That  .111  instalment  of  $5  per  share 

tiled  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Board  after  the  first 
day  of  January,  1845,  ;uul  t'iat  subsequent  instal- 
ments be  restricted  to  $20  per  share  in  1845 ;  $30  in 
and  $45  in  1847.  4.  That  as  an  equitable, 
and,  under  existing  circumstances,  an  expedient 
measure,  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent,  per 
annum    be   allowed    on    all    the    instalments   on    the 

.  which  shall  be  subscribed  from  the  date-  of 
the  respective  payments  until  the  whole  line  of  the 
road  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie  shall  be  put 
in  operation  ;  and  that  the  same  be  liquidated  and 
paid  yearly  on  the  first  day  of  January."  Mr.  Lord 
dwelt  on  the  earning  capacity  of  the  railroad  that 
would  follow  its  extension  beyond  Middletown,  bas- 
ing his  calculation  on  what  it  was  then  earning — 
$58,000  a  year;  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
two  years  which  the  bonding  act  of  1843  gave  the 
Company  to  resume  work  in  order  to  save  the  road 
from  sale  under  the  State  lien  would  expire  with  the 
coming  April,  then  less  than  six  months  off;  and  re- 
ferred to  the  advantages  of  the  act  of  1843,  provided 
the  Company  should  not  fail  to  avail  itself  of  them 
by  obtaining  funds  and   resuming  work. 

This  appeal  for  funds,  however,  and  the  plan  offered 
by  President  Lord,  did  not  have  the  desired  effect.  In 
spite  of  his  positive  assurance  that  bonds  issued  un- 
der the  act  of  1843  would  be  "  an  eligible  ami  safe 
reliance,"  investors  chose  to  take  the  doubtful  view 
of  the  value  of  such  a  security  that  the  .Mien  man- 
agement had  expressed,  and  declined  to  risk  their 
3  led  Mr.  Lord,  if  not  to  change  his 
opinion  about  the  sufficiency  of  the  law,  to  adopt  the 
popular  view  of  it  and  act  accordingly.  He  raised 
enough  money  among  his  personal  friends  to  protect 
certain  of  the  old  contracts  made  for  work  on  the 
railroad  beyond  Middletown,  and  in  December,  1844, 
contracted  for  the  grading  and  masonry  of  fifteen 
miles  of  the  railroad  between  Middletown  and  Port 
Jervis.  This  work  was  begun  in  time  to  save  the 
and  tin  irs  more  of  tenure,  at  any  rate, 

were  insured  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company.  Mr.  Lord  notified  the  Legislature  for 
1845  of  this  resumption  of  work,  and  asked  that  the 
relief  act  of  1843  be  modified  so  that  the  Company 


might  make  it  available.  Such  a  law  was  passed. 
That  it  was  passed,  however,  and  impending  disaster 
to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  averted,  was 
due  to  collateral  issues  entirely,  which  thus  become 
an  important  and  interesting  part  of  the  Story  of 
Erie. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  completion  of  the  Erie 
Canal,  in  1825,  Newburgh,  X.  Y.,  by  reason  of  her 
boating  facilities  on  the  Hudson  River,  and  through 
a  system  of  turnpike  roads  which  brought  her  in 
direct  comnnmic  tion  with  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  New  York  State,  and  as  far  west  as  the 
"  Lake  Country,"  was  the  most  important  commer- 
cial center  between  New  York  and  Albany,  and  had 
been  such  for  many  years.  The  canal  diverted  much 
of  Newburgh's  western  trade,  but  the  place  still  re- 
tained its  ascendancy  as  the  distributing  point  of  the 
commerce  of  Northern  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania 
and  Southern  New  York  until  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  (anal  was  opened  in  1829.  Although  this 
canal  was  constructed  by  a  private  corporation,  pri- 
marily for  the  purpose  of  transporting  that  corpora- 
tion's own  coal  to  market,  its  facilities  made  it  to 
such  a  great  extent  a  common  carrier  that  the  trade 
of  a  wide  area  of  country  that  had  long  been  con- 
trolled by  Newburgh  soon  discovered  the  advan- 
tages of  this  canal  as  a  means  of  transportation,  and 
its  outlet  to  market  and  the  inlet  of  its  commercial 
exchanges  was  removed  from  Newburgh  to  Ron- 
dout.  Although  Newburgh  still  commanded  tin- 
trade  of  a  community  large  enough  to  provide  ample 
business  for  several  lines  of  sloops,  that  class  of  craft 
being  employed  almost  exclusively  in  transportation 
on  the  Hudson  River  at  that  time,  she  was  far  from 
content  to  occupy  a  place  of  importance  secondary 
to  that  of  the  tide-water  terminus  of  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal,  which  the  increasing  favor  with 
which  anthracite  coal  was  being  received  in  the 
market  was  destined  to  carry  to  a  position  of  great 
prominence  in  the  commercial  world.  To  regain  the 
prestige  she  had  lost,  and  to  rise  to  new  ami  greater 
business  eminence,  Newburgh  decided  that  there 
could  be  no  better  means  than  the  connecting  of 
herself  with  the  Pennsylvania  coal  fields  by  a  rail- 
road.     Acting  on   this  decision,    which   was   reached 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


77 


at  a  public  meeting  of  citizens  held   in   the   fall   of 

1829,  the  Legislature  was  applied  to  for  a  charter 
incorporating  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Railroad 
Company.     The  charter  was   granted   on   April    30, 

1830.  Thomas  Powell,  whose  son-in-law,  Homer 
Ramsdell,  subsequently  became  a  power  in  New 
York  and  Erie  affairs;  Christopher  Reeve,  David 
Crawford,  Joshua  Conger,  John  P.  DeWint,  Charles 
Borland,  John  Forsyth,  and  William  Walsh  were 
named  as  the  incorporators  of  the  company.  The 
capital  of  the  company  was  placed  at  §500,000, 
with  power  to  increase  it  to  $1,000,000,  and  it  had 
authority  to  construct  a  railroad  from  any  point  in 
the  village  of  Newburgh  through  the  county  of 
Orange  to  the  Delaware  River,  with  three  years  in 
which  to  begin  work  upon  it.  Just  how  a  railroad 
from  Newburgh  to  the  Delaware  River  was  to  con- 
nect the  former  place  with  the  coal  regions  does  not 
appear,  for  from  the  nearest  point  where  it  might 
have  reached  the  Delaware  River  in  Orange  County 
the  coal  regions  were  sixty  miles  distant,  with  any 
number  of  high  and  forbidding  ranges  of  hills  inter- 
vening. But  whatever  might  have  been  the  supple- 
mental intentions  of  the  projectors  of  this  railroad, 
they  were  never  made  known,  for,  although  sub- 
scription books  were  opened  to  give  Newburgh  and 
other  Orange  County  citizens  an  opportunity  to  con- 
tribute money  toward  building  the  Hudson  and  Dela- 
ware Railroad,  the  three  years'  life  of  the  charter 
passed  away  before  a  beginning  was  made,  and  Ron- 
dout  remained  the  tide-water  terminus  of  the  anthra- 
cite coal  trade. 

It  was  not  until  1835,  after  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  project  had  been  nearly  four  years  in 
getting  any  kind  of  a  start,  that  Newburgh  awoke 
to  the  fact  that  the  time  was  probably  ripe  for  her  to 
become  a  railroad  terminus.  Differences  had  come 
among  the  men  who  had  been  instrumental  in  carry- 
ing the  New  York  and  Erie  scheme  to  public  notice. 
Some  of  these  were  not  in  favor  of  having  the  East- 
ern terminus  of  the  railroad  at  Tappan  Slote,  among 
them  the  President  of  the  Company,  James  G.  King, 
and  his  friends  in  the  Board  of  Directors.  The  New- 
burgh people  had  received  a  hint  from  King  or  his 
friends  in  the  Board,  it  was  alleged,  that  the  situa- 
tion was  such  that  it  might  avail  them  much  if  they 


should  make  an  effort  to  have  their  village  selected 
as  the  Eastern  terminus  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad.  It  was  also  alleged  that  to  give  New- 
burgh a  chance  to  obtain  legislation  that  would 
secure  that  end,  contracts  were  let  and  work  was 
begun  on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  in  the 
Delaware  Valley,  in  November,  1835,  instead  of  at 
some  point  on  the  Eastern  section  of  the  proposed 
route. 

Soon  after  work  was  begun  on  the  Erie  between 
Deposit  and  Callicoon,  the  people  of  Newburgh, 
moving,  it  was  alleged,  on  the  hint  they  had  received. 
took  decisive  action.  At  a  public  meeting  held  at  the 
Orange  Hotel  on  the  evening  of  November  30,  1835, 
to  discuss  the  course  Newburgh  ought  properly  to 
take  on  the  question  of  the  proposed  appeal  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  to  the  State 
for  aid,  that  course  was  clearly  seen,  and  the  meeting 
unanimously  resolved  that  the  people  of  Newburgh 
would  unite  in  the  petition  that  the  State  should 
become  a  subscriber  to  the  Company's  stock.  They 
also  united  in  a  petition  for  a  charter  for  a  railroad 
from  Newburgh  to  the  Delaware  River,  pledging 
their  liberal  support  to  the  building  of  such  a  road. 
This  railroad,  according  to  a  resolution  under  which 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Direct- 
ors of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company, 
was  designed  to  be  a  portion  of  the  railroad  of  that 
Company,  and  was  to  be  the  means  through  which 
the  efforts  of  the  people  of  that  vicinity  were  "  to 
be  united  with  that  (the  Erie)  Company  in  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  the  project  for  constructing  a 
railroad  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson  River." 

The  struggle  for  the  Eastern  terminus  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  that  followed  was  not  long, 
but  it  was  a  fierce  one.  New  York  City  opposed 
the  Newburgh  terminus  because  it  left  the  railroad 
too  far  from  the  metropolis.  The  Newburgh  route 
would  also  have  left  Middletown,  Goshen,  and  all 
of  Southern  Orange  County,  and  Rockland  County, 
without  a  railroad.  The  claims  of  Newburgh  were 
not  sufficient  to  overcome  the  great  opposition  the 
proposed  change  aroused,  and  Tappan  Slote  was 
officially  selected  by  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Company  as  the  Eastern  terminus  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad.      But   the  men  who  had  taken  up 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


in  the  matter  of  securing  a 

r  her  did  not  surrender  when  defeated  in 

their  effort  Erie  terminus  on  her  docks. 

If  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  would  not  come 
to  them,  they  would  go  to  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad,  and  trust  to  future  circumstances  to  adjust 
mattei  ously.      Consequently,    on    April 

21.  1836,  the  charter  of  the  Hudson  and  Delaware 
Railm.id  Company  was  renewed  by  the  Legislature, 
with  David  Crawford,  Thomas  Powell,  Christopher 
Reeve.  Oliver  Davis,  John  Forsyth.  Joshua  Conger, 
David    R  ind   Benjamin   Carpenter  as  incor- 

porators of  the  company,  which  was  organized  June 
by  the  election  of  the  following  Hoard  of 
Directors:  Thomas  Powell,  John  Forsyth,  David 
Crawford,  Benjamin  Carpenter,  John  1'.  DeWint, 
John  Ledyard,  Christopher  Reeve.  Gilbert  O.  Fow- 
ler, James  G.  Clinton.  Nathaniel  Dubois,  Samuel  G. 
Sweden,  David  W.  Bate,  and  Oliver  Davis.  Thomas 
Powell  was  made  President ;  David  W.  Bate,  Vice- 
President ;  John  Ledyard,  Treasurer;  and  James  G. 
Clinton,  Secretary.  A  route  for  the  proposed  rail- 
road was  surveyed  by  John  M.  Sargeant.  It  ex- 
tended from  the  Newburgh  water  front  southwest 
thirty-eight  miles  to  the  New  Jersey  State  line. 
Money  sufficient  being  raised,  a  section  of  the  road- 
bed between  Newburgh  and  Washingtonville  was 
put  under  contract,  and  ground  was  broken  Novem- 
ber 3,  1836.  amid  great  public  rejoicing.  Newburgh 
village,  through  its  trustees,  subscribed  to  $150,000 
worth  of  the  company's  stock  in  1838,  and  paid  in 
$10,000  of  the  amount.  This  amount  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  funds  the  company  had  raised  were  ex- 
hausted before  the  grading  on  the  first  contract  was 
completed,  and  work  was  discontinued. 

In  1840,  what  might  be  called  the  anti-Newburgh 
influence  in  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  project 
having  come  into  entire  control  of  that  Company, 
through  the  miscarriage  of  the  efforts  of  those  previ- 
ously at  the  head  of  its  affairs  to  make  any  material 
progress  with  the  work,  the  people  of  Newburgh 
came  forward  again  with  an  effort  to  save  their 
chance-  for  connection  with  that  railroad.  Con- 
tracts i,  n  let  and  work  begun  on  the  Eastern 
section  of  the  roail  between  Piermont  and  Goshen, 
but  the  financial  management  of  the  Company  had 


not  served  to  inspire  the  investing  public  with  a 
degree  of  confidence  sufficient  to  command  further 
contributions  from  it,  and  the  State  was  to  be  again 
asked  to  extend  a  helping  hand.  In  this  crisis  New- 
burgh thought  she  saw  her  opportunity.  A  public 
meeting  of  her  citizens  was  held  on  March  4,  1840, 
and  significant  resolutions,  to  be  presented  to  the 
consideration  of  the  Legislature,  were  adopted.  In 
substance,  these  resolutions  declared  that  if  any 
further  aid  was  to  be  extended  to  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  the  expenditure  of  the 
money  should  be  made  under  the  more  immediate 
supervision  of  the  State,  and  upon  the  Middle  and 
Western  sections  of  the  road,  where  connection  could 
be  made  with  existing  internal  improvements  and 
yield  immediate  profit,  which  could  not  be  effected 
by  constructing  the  Eastern  end  of  the  road  first,  as 
was  then  being  done;  and,  further,  that  no  more  aid 
be  given  the  Company  by  the  State  unless  it  be 
accompanied  by  the  legislative  requirement  that  a 
branch  of  the  railroad,  to  terminate  at  Newburgh, 
should  be  constructed  as  part  of  the  work  then  in 
hand.  But  this  effort  also  failed  of  its  purpose,  and 
Newburgh  was  obliged  to  see  additional  large  and 
profitable  sources  of  her  trade  turned  into  another 
direction  by  the  opening  of  the  railroad  between 
Piermont  and  Goshen  in  September,  1841. 

Circumstances  did  not  again  offer  opportunity  for 
Newburgh  to  move  with  any  show  of  success  toward 
securing  her  coveted  railroad  connection  until  1845, 
when  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company 
came  forward  again  as  a  supplicant  for  State  aid  in 
the  Legislature,  as  we  have  seen.  The  Erie  ques- 
tion was  complicated  by  the  fact  that,  besides  the 
relief  applied  for,  the  matter  of  a  change  of  the  route 
of  the  railroad  in  Sullivan  County  and  between  De- 
posit and  Binghamton  was  one  to  be  considered  and 
acted  upon  by  the  Legislature  at  the  same  time. 
The  opposition  to  this  in  the  localities  to  be  affected 
by  the  proposed  change  was  led  by  influential  men 
in  the  politics  of  the  State,  and  the  manner  and 
methods  of  the  representatives  of  the  Company  at 
Albany  in  efforts  to  bring  about  favorable  action 
thereon  by  the  Legislature  had  not  popularized  the 
measure  in  that  body.  Then,  again,  a  United  States 
Senator  was  to  be  chosen,  and  a  leading  candidate 


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THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


79 


for  the  office  was  from  a  part  of  the  State  particu- 
larly interested  in  the  affairs  of  Erie  then  under  dis- 
cussion. This  was  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  of  Bingham- 
ton.  The  interests  of  those  demanding  a  change  of 
the  Erie  route  were  in  the  hands  of  Alexander  S. 
Diven  and  Maj.  Thompson  S.  Brown,  the  latter  the 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Company.  The  President  of 
the  Company,  Eleazar  Lord,  and  his  friends  in  the 
Board,  were  not  in  favor  of  the  change  in  route,  but 
were  eager  for  some  measure  that  would  rescue  Erie 
from  the  difficulties  that  threatened  to  overwhelm 
it.  Taken  all  in  all,  the  situation  in  the  New  York 
Legislature  for  the  session  of  1845  was  peculiarly 
one  for  log-rolling  and  the  making  of  combinations 
dear  to  the  heart  of  the  legislator  and  the  politician. 
Robert  Denniston  of  Salisbury  Mills,  Orange  Count)', 
on  the  line  of  the  long-sought-for  railroad  from  New- 
burgh  toward  the  Pennsylvania  coal  fields,  repre- 
sented that  district  in  the  State  Senate.  Thorn- 
ton M.  Niven  of  Newburgh  was  a  member  of  the 
Assembly.  They  were  Democrats,  and  the  Legis- 
lature was  Democratic.  They  were  not  only  astute 
and  influential  politicians,  but  they  were  alert,  and 
watchful  of  the  interests  of  Newburgh.  They  were 
not  committed  in  favor  of  or  against  a  change  of 
the  Erie  route,  for  or  against  measures  for  the  Com- 
pany's relief,  nor  to  any  particular  candidate  for 
United  States  Senator.  But  they  were  solid  and 
determined  in  the  matter  of  enhancing  Newburgh's 
welfare,  and  no  opportunity  escaped  them.  The 
situation  in  the  Legislature  was  their  great  oppor- 
tunity. Assemblyman  Niven  was  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  popular  men  in  the  lower  house,  and  he 
wielded  great  influence  there.  He  was  able  to  either 
hinder  or  forward  the  plans  of  the  Erie  in  the  matter 
of  a  bill  giving  it  its  desired  relief,  for  the  feeling  in 
the  Legislature  toward  the  Erie  was  far  from  friendly. 
The  Company  was  not  asking  at  Albany  authority 
to  construct  a  branch  railroad  from  its  main  line  to 
Newburgh,  as  it  had  more  on  its  hands  then  than  it 
could  see  its  way  entirely  clear  to  accomplish,  even 
if  reenforced  by  the  legislation  it  was  seeking,  but 
the  Newburgh  legislators  were  resolved  that  the 
Company  should  have  such  authority  and  agree  to 
build  such  a  railroad  or  fail  in  its  appeal  for  relief. 
The  result  was   that   the  Company  was  obliged   to 


enter  into  an  agreement  with  them,  or  rather  with 
the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Railroad  Company  (the 
Newburgh  corporation  whose  charter  had  been  so 
often  revived),  by  which  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company  bound  itself  to  take  a  transfer 
of  all  the  rights,  franchises,  and  possessions  of  the 
Hudson  and  Delaware  Railroad  Company,  to  pay 
"  not  less  than  $40,000"  for  the  same,  and  to  build 
a  branch  railroad,  "  the  condition  of  the  building  of 
the  branch  road  being  the  passage  in  the  Legislature 
of  the  Erie  relief  bill  and  a  bill  incorporating  the 
Newburgh  Branch  Railroad,  and  the  subscribing  by 
the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Railroad  Company  of 
$140,000  to  the  capital  stock  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company,  the  work  on  the  branch  to 
progress  as  rapidly  as,  and  simultaneously  with,  the 
work  on  the  main  line,  until  §300,000  had  been  ex- 
pended on  the  branch.  If  that  sum  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  complete  it,  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Com- 
pany should  provide  the  balance  necessary  to  finish 
the  work."  This  agreement  was  prepared  at  the  in- 
stigation of  Thomas  Powell,  Homer  Ramsdell,  and 
others  of  Newburgh,  and  was  signed  March  19,  1845. 
An  act  authorizing  the  Erie  to  construct  the  New- 
burgh Branch  became  a  law  April  8,  1845,  and  an  act 
granting  relief  to  the  Erie,  so  that  work  on  the  main 
line  might  be  carried  forward,  became  a  law  May 
14th.  The  Erie  was  reorganized,  and  the  Newburgh 
Branch  was  the  first  work  put  under  contract  under 
the  new  order  of  things.  But  before  this  new  order 
of  things  came  to  pass,  the  Company  was  to  experi- 
ence much  more  of  trial  and  tribulation. 

This  relief  bill  released  the  Company  from  all 
liability  to  the  State,  provided  it  should  construct  a 
railroad  with  a  single  track  from  the  Hudson  River 
to  Lake  Erie,  within  six  years  from  the  date  of  the 
act.  It  authorized  the  issue  of  $3,000,000  of  bonds 
in  liquidation  of  the  State  lien,  on  condition  that 
a  subscription  to  the  Company's  capital  stock  of 
$3,000,000  should  be  obtained  within  a  year  and  a 
half,  and  twenty-five  per  cent,  be  collected  thereon 
and  expended  in  construction  of  the  railroad,  and 
the  real  estate  of  the  Company  be  discharged  from 
all  incumbrances,  the  bonds  to  have  priority  over  all 
other  liens,  and  the  annual  interest  upon  them  from 
the  date  of  their  issue  to  the  time  fixed  for  the  com- 


So 


BETWEEN     Mil:    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


of  the  i  sited  with  the  State 

r.     The  :<]<:d  for  an  agent  tube 

by    the     Railroad    Company,    with    the 

Governor,  and  to  give  a  bond  of 

,000,  and  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  assure  faith- 
ful ition  of  the  bonds.  The  State  reserved 
the  privilege  of  purchasing  the  railroad  within  one 

r  after  completion,  on  repayment  of  its  cost  and 
fourteen  per  cent,  additional.  The  existing  stock- 
holders were  not  to  be  subject  to  the  law  unless 
they  should  within  six  months  from  its  passage  ex- 
change two  shares  of  old  for  one  of  new  stock.  The 
mpany  was  required  to  pay  to  the  State  dividends 
that  might  accrue  on  any  unexchanged   stock,  until 

i  dividends  should  be  sufficient  to  pay  off  a  pro- 
portionate amount  of  the  State  lien,  or  the  whole 
amount  of  outstanding  stock  on  that  lien,  which  lien 
was  equal  to  about  double  the  stock.  The  act  also 
provided  for  the  examination  into  the  merits  of  the 
case  regarding  a  change  of  route.  This  was  really 
the  most  consistent  and  business-like  provision  that 
had  been  devised  for  the  advancement  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  since  the  Company  was 
formed  more  than  ten  years  before. 

Hun.  Ausburn  Birdsall,  in  his"  Reminiscences  of 
Binghamton,"  published  in  the  Binghamton  Demo- 
crat, contributes  an  interesting  chapter  on  the  inside 
history  of  the  Erie  Relief  Bill:  "  On  the  first  day  of 
March,  I S45 , "  he  writes,  "  I  received  a  letter  from 
Alexander  S.  Diven,  from  Albany,  requesting  me  to 
come  to  Albany,  at  once,  to  aid  in  securing  favor- 
able legislation  in  behalf  of  the  Erie  Railroad.  Mr. 
Diven,  as  the  agent  of  the  Company,  and  Major 
iwn,  its  Chief  Engineer,  had  been  in  Albany  dur- 
ing the  session  thus  far,  but  had  been  unable  to 
make  any  progress  in  their  efforts  to  secure  the  leg- 
islation they  desired.  They  knew  I  had  spent  the 
earlier  part  of  the  session  at  Albany  as  the  confiden- 
tial friend  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  who  had  been  elected 
United  St.i*  tor,  fur  the  full  term  of  six  years 

from  the  4th  of  March,  and  they  hoped  that  my 
acquaintance  and  influence  with  members,  obtained 
during  the  Senatorial  contest,  would  enable  me  to 
render  important  aid  in  securing  favorable  legisla- 
tion.    *     *  The  State  had  loaned  the  Company 


three  million.--  of  dollars,  and  taken  a  first  mortgage 
on  the  whole  property  of  the  Company,  The  relief 
sought  to  be  obtained,  was  the  release  and  dischai 
of  this  first  mortgage,  *  *  *  and  although  the  loan 
was  obtained  on  the  report  and  assurance  of  the  Com- 
pany and  its  engineers,  after  a  full  and  careful  sur- 
vey, th.it  a  practicable  route  was  found  through  the 
Southern  Tier  of  counties,  from  the  Hudson  River 
to  Lake  Erie,  the  Company  now  asked,  not  only  .1 
release  and  cancelment  of  the  three  million  mortgage, 
but  that  it  should  be  allowed  to  construct  a  portion 
of  the  road  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  As  the 
road  and  the  loan  of  the  three  million  was  intended 
to  benefit  the  Southern  Tier  and  the  adjacent  terri- 
tory in  New  York,  Mr.  Diven  and  Major  Brown 
found  their  efforts  blocked  by  those  opposed  to 
allowing  any  portion  of  the  road  being  taken  out  of 
the  State. 

"  When  I  reached  Albany  I  soon  ascertained  the 
exact  situation.  George  Noble  of  Unadilla,  a  man 
of  uncommon  intelligence  and  a  wonderfully  per- 
suasive tongue  and  manner,  with  his  wife,  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Hon.  Sherman  Page,  had  taken  quarters 
at  the  Bement  Hotel  on  State  Street,  for  the  winter, 
to  fight  against  any  legislation  that  should  authorize 
the  road  to  leave  the  State.  All  the  other  counties 
interested,  besides  their  members  of  the  Legislature, 
were  represented  in  force  at  Albany  to  oppose  Diven 
and  Brown.  This  opposition  extended  from  Orange 
County  to  Binghamton.  After  a  canvass  of  these 
opposing  forces  I  told  Mr.  Diven  and  Major  Brown 
that  unless  this  local  opposition  along  the  line  of  the 
road  could  be  conciliated,  there  could  be  no  hope  of 
obtaining  the  legislation  they  desired.  They  insisted 
that  the  Company  must  have  not  only  a  release  and 
discharge  of  the  three  million  mortgage,  but  also  the 
right  to  cross  into  Pennsylvania  on  certain  portions 
of  the  line,  or  the  Company  would  not  undertake 
the  further  construction  of  the  road.  The  great 
question  was,  whether  such  legislation  as  they  de- 
sired could  be  obtained  under  such  discouraging  cir- 
cumstances. All  this  local  opposition  to  Diven  and 
Brown  wanted  the  road  built  and  they  wanted  it  des- 
perately, but  they  wanted  it  built  within  the  State, 
where  it  had  been  surveyed  and  declared  feasible, 
for  the  benefit  of  our  own   people   for  whom  it  was 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


81 


intended.  They  would  have  to  be  taxed  to  pay  the 
three  million  mortgage,  if  released,  and  they  wanted 
the  pledge  of  the  Company  fulfilled. 

"  Diven  and  Brown  were  thoroughly  aware  of  the 
insurmountable  difficulties  that  seemed  to  lay  in  the 
way  of  obtaining  the  legislation  they  desired.  Their 
wheels  had  been  completely  blocked  thus  far,  and 
they  asked  me  if  I  could  not  devise  some  plan  that 
would  secure  what  they  wanted.  I  told  them  I 
would  try,  and  they  placed  the  matter  entirely  in 
my  hands. 

"  My  first  move  was  to  see  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  from  Orange  County,  for  although  a 
single  track  of  the  road  had  been  opened  to  Middle- 
town,  in  that  county,  they  were  all,  the  members 
and  Senator,  in  open  hostility  to  Diven  and  Brown. 
Thornton  N.  Niven  of  Newburgh,  one  of  the  three 
members,  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  influ- 
ential members  of  the  Assembly.  He  had  been 
among  the  most  earnest  supporters  of  Mr.  Dickinson 
for  Senator,  and  in  that  fight  I  had  won  his  devoted 
friendship.  In  casting  about  in  my  mind  by  what 
means  I  could  quiet  the  hostility  of  Orange  County, 
I  suggested  to  Mr.  Niven  a  branch  of  the  road  to 
Newburgh.  He  accepted  the  suggestion  without  a 
moment's  hesitation,  and  that  was  agreed  upon  as  a 
part  of  the  programme  of  conciliation.  A  branch  to 
Newburgh  would  not  only  help  Newburgh,  but 
would  help  the  Erie  as  well.  To  this  Diven  and 
Brown  agreeed  at  once.  And  this  not  only  more 
than  satisfied  the  delegation  in  both  branches  from 
Orange  County,  but  it  gained  their  active  support 
in  the  effort  to  conciliate  the  other  hostile  locali- 
ties. All  these  hostile  localities  wanted  the  road 
built. 

"  This  opposition  to  the  plan  of  Diven  and  Brown 
of  allowing  the  road  to  leave  the  State  extended  from 
Middletown  to  Binghamton,  and  was  resolute  and 
determined.  Diven  and  Brown  for  the  Company, 
insisted  that  the  Company  must  not  only  have  a 
release  of  the  three  million  loan,  but  the  right  to 
cross  over  into  Pennsylvania  on  certain  portions  of 
the  line.  The  great  point  was  to  provide  a  solution 
of  this  difficulty.  This  required  careful  labor,  and 
much  friendly  intercourse  with  these  hostile  ele- 
ments.   In  my  conference  with  them  I  suggested  the 


plan  of  a  commission  of  eminent  railroad  engineers, 
acquainted  with  the  location  and  construction  of  rail- 
roads, to  be  agreed  upon  and  named  in  the  bill,  who 
should  examine  the  line  as  surveyed  within  the 
State,  and  if  upon  such  careful  examination  they 
should  decide  that  the  line  as  already  surveyed  and 
located  was  practicable,  that  the  road  should  be  kept 
within  the  State — but  if  upon  such  careful  examina- 
tion the  commissioners  should  decide,  under  oath, 
that  the  location  within  the  State  at  certain  points 
was  not  practicable,  then  the  road  might  be  laid  in 
Pennsylvania,  where  the  line  within  the  State  was 
decided  to  be  impracticable.  This  proposal,  after 
full  discussion  and  consideration  by  the  hostile 
forces,  was  finally  accepted  and  agreed  upon,  and 
met  with  no  opposition  from  Diven  and  Brown,  as 
with  them  it  was  this  or  nothing.  The  names  of  the 
commissioners  were  agreed  upon  to  be  inserted  in 
the  bill,  and  the  bill  was  to  include  a  provision  for 
the  release  and  discharge  of  the  three  million  mort- 
gage held  by  the  State. 

"  By  these  arrangements  all  local  opposition  was 
changed  to  active  support,  and  the  hope  was  re- 
newed that  the  Erie  road,  which  had  lain  dead  for 
years  with  a  single  track  to  Middletown,  would  be 
brought  to  life  and  finally  sent  forward  to  completion 
to  Lake  Erie.  A  programme  of  united  effort  had 
been  reached  in  which  all  the  forces  of  the  opposition 
now  united  to  make  it  successful  in  the  Legislature, 
if  possible.  I  prepared  a  bill  to  carry  out  these  pro- 
visions, which  met  the  approval  of  all  the  interests 
involved,  which  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  and 
was  there  to  be  under  my  special  care.  A  bill  in- 
volving such  important  interests  could  not  be  rushed 
through  the  Legislature  in  a  hurry.  *  *  *  A 
feeling  of  indifference  if  not  of  hostility  would  be 
encountered.  A  release  of  a  three  million  obliga- 
tion would  involve  an  increase  of  the  State  debt  to 
that  extent,  which  the  tax-payers  of  the  whole  State 
would  have  to  meet.  And  there  was  a  general  feel- 
ing that  the  affairs  of  the  Company  had  not  been  well 
managed.  It  was  thought  that  the  three  millions 
loaned  by  the  State  had  not  been  altogether  carefully 
and  judiciously  expended.  The  wooden  piles  driven 
to  build  the  road  on  stilts  in  certain  sections  were 
rotten   in   the  ground.      But   this  did   not  lessen  the 


BE  1  WEEN    Till     I  Hi. .\\    AND    THE    LAKES 


in  the  Southern  Tier  of  State 
of  the  road,  which  now  depended 
■i   favorable  legislation.      The  road   lay  dead   at 
Middletown,  and   the  only  hope  of   its   resurrection 
i  in  the  issue  tny. 

lur  bill  was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  that  being 
the  less  numerous  body,  as  a  thorough  canvass  of 
the  Senate  could  be  more  easily  and  quickly  made 
than  in  the  Assembly.  Its  progress  in  the  Senate 
a.  It  took  a  long  while  to  get  it  acted  on 
favorably  in  committee  and  reported  to  the  Senate, 
and  a  long  while  as  it  seemed  to  advance  it  so  as  to 
be  ;  :i  the  calendar  for  final  passage.     Hut  this 

delay  gave  me  time  to  thoroughly  canvass  the  Sen- 
ate. Mr.  Diven  and  Major  Brown  became  impatient 
at  this  delay,  but  I  assured  them  that  the  prospects 
were  good,  and  they  found  consolation  and  rest  in 
playing  whist  at  their  elegant  quarters  at  the  grand 
old  Eagle  Hotel. 

"  I  had  thoroughly  canvassed  the  Senate  before 
the  bill  was  ready  for  its  third  and  final  reading.  I 
had  received  positive  assurance  that  nineteen  Sena- 
tors would  vote  for  the  bill.  It  was  a  '  two-thirds' 
bill,  requiring  twenty-two  votes  for  its  passage.  The 
Senate  consisted  of  thirty-two  members.  To  make 
the  requisite  number  of  twenty-two  I  looked  to  Sen- 
ators John  A.  Lott  of  Brooklyn,  Erastus  Coining  of 
Albany,  and  Thomas  B.  Mitchell  of  Montgomery 
County.  From  their  location  they  were  not  favor- 
ably inclined  toward  the  legislation  we  desired. 
They  had  actively  supported  Mr.  Dickinson  in  the 
Senatorial  <  and   were   his  warm   friends,  ami 

I  appealed  to  them  to  support  our  bill  on  personal 
consideration.  The}-  would  not  promise  positively 
to  vote  for  the  bill.  The  most  they  would  say 
that  they  might  vote  for  it  if  their  votes  were 
necessary  for  its  passage,  out  of  personal  considera- 
tions. 

'  Winn  the  bill  came  up  on  its  final  passage  I 
took  care  that  even-  Senator  upon  whose  vote  I  had 
depended  was  in  his  seat.  I  placed  myself  behind 
Judge  Lott  and  Mr.  Mitchell,  as  they  occupied  ad- 
joining '  I  where  I  could  whisper  in 
their  cars.  I  thought  perhaps  my  presence  might 
have  a  favorable  influence  when  the  crisis  came. 
They  could   not  help   seeing  my  great   anxiety  and 


they  indulged  in  some  pleasant   bad'  my  ex- 

pense,   which    gave   no   assurance   a>   to   how   they 
would  VI 

"  ( >n  the  first  call  of  the  roll,  Mr.  Corning,  whose 
name  stood  near  the  head  of  the  list,  did  not  vote. 
This  alarmed  me,  as  his  omission  to  vote  would  be 
fatal.  But  I  noticed  that  after  his  name  was  called 
and  he  did  not  answer,  that  he  left  his  scat  and 
walked  up  to  the  clerk's  desk,  and  stood  by  the  side 
of  the  clerk  who  was  calling  the  roll.  When  the 
names  of  Judge  Lott  and  Mr.  Mitchell  were  called, 
each  looked  smilingly  at  me,  and  voted  '  Aye.' 
When  the  roll  call  was  finished,  which  Mr.  Corning 
had  been  watching  by  the  side  of  the  clerk,  and  before 
the  result  of  the  vote  was  announced,  Mr.  Corning 
stepped  back  toward  his  seat  and  requested  that  his 
name  be  called.  The  clerk  called  '  Erastus  Corn- 
ing,' and  Mr.  Corning  responded  'Aye!'  That 
settled  the  question,  and  the  clerk  announced  the 
vote,  '  Ayes,  twenty-two.'  The  '  Noes'  I  did  not 
listen  to  hear. 

Diven  and  Brown  were  so  well  pleased  with  the 
passage  of  the  bill  through  the  Senate  that  they 
offered  me  the  enormous  sunn  of  one  hundred  dol- 
lars if  I  would  secure  its  passage  by  the  Assembly 
within  a  certain  number  of  days — I  do  not  remember 
now  how  manj-  days.  I  told  them  I  thought  they 
ought  to  be  quite  satisfied  if  the  bill  became  a  law 
at  any  time  before  the  close  of  the  session.  So 
they  returned  to  their  whist  and  euchre,  at  their 
easy  quarters  at  the  Eagle  Hotel,  and  I  turned  my 
attention  to  the  Assembly. 

"  The  field  of  labor  was  largely  extended  when 
the  bill  reached  the  Assembly.  Instead  of  thirty- 
two  members  as  in  the  Senate,  the  Assembly  con- 
sisted of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  members. 
In  this  branch  I  had  active  and  earnest  co-laborers. 
Thornton  X.  Niven,  my  friend  from  Newburgh, 
took  special  charge  of  the  bill  in  the  Assembly. 
George  Noble  of  Unadilla  became  as  earnest  in  his 
support  of  the  bill  agreed  upon  as  he  had  been  in 
opposition  to  tin-  plans  of  Diven  and  Brown.  Col- 
onel Fellows,  one  of  the  three  members  of  the 
Assembly  from  Otsego  County,  the  neighbor  of 
Mr.  Noble,  was  active  in  support  of  the  bill.  Gen. 
Frederick  Mather,  a   member  of  the   Assembly  from 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE  83 

New    York,    was    also    an    efficient    worker    in     our  fully  pay  my  expenses — eleven  weeks  at  Albany  and 

behalf.  one    in    New    York — besides    travel.        I    took    the 

"  Mr.    Niven   brought  with   him   from    Newburgh  money,  with  a  feeling,  '  What  a  poor,  mean  concern 

Homer   Ramsdell,  a  son-in-law  and  partner  of  John  you  must  represent !  '      From  subsequent  events,  I 

Powell.     Powell  and  Ramsdell  were  the  great  freight-  reached  the  conclusion,  that  Diven  and  Brown,  who 

ers    from    Newburgh,    owning    many  vessels.       Mr.  had  spent  the  entire  session  at  Albany  and  returned 

Ramsdell's  influence  was  felt  at  Albany,  for  he  was  to  the  Company  in  New  York  with  the  bill  as  passed, 

widely  known,  had  a  fine  address,  and  was  a  good  took  the  entire  credit  of  its   passage  to  themselves, 

talker.       His  presence  was  an  inspiration.      A   New  and  failed  to  disclose  the  fact  that  they  were  indebted 

York   merchant   by   the   name   of   Loder — Benjamin  to  me  for  any  material  service.       I  did  not  go  to  the 

Loder — was  then  President   of   the    Erie  Company.  Company    at    all.       I    found    further   on    my    return 

I   think   he  came  to  Albany  once,  but   he   could  do  home   that   they   had    been    trying  to  steal  into  the 

us  no  good.      He  was  so  conscious  of  being  Presi-  bill,   without  my  knowledge,   an  amendment  allow- 

dent  of  the  Erie  Company  that  his  manners  did  not  ing  the  Company  to  go  through  New  Jersey  to  New 

attract  country  members.      We  did  not  care  to  have  York.      Judge   Vincent   Whitney  afterward   told  me 

him  remain.  that  in  a  conversation  with  Diven,  Diven  complained 

"  The  detail  of  the  work  in  the  Assembly  I  shall  that  Birdsall  prevented  their  getting  an  amendment 

not  attempt  to  describe.      It  is  enough  to  say  that  it  to  the  bill  allowing  the  Company  to  go  to  New  York 

was  thorough   and   exhaustive.      No  stone  was  left  through   New   Jersey.     The   truth   was,    that    I  was 

unturned  to  secure   success.      The    progress  of  the  not   aware   that   Diven   and    Brown   were  proposing 

bill  was  slow,  as  that  gave  us  time  to  work,  and  it  any  such  amendment.      If  I  had  known  of  any  such 

was  not  ready  for  final  passage  until  the  very  close  purpose,  I  should  have  denounced  it,  not  only  as  a 

of  the  session.      By  that  time  we  were  quite  ready  breach  of  faith  with  Orange  and   Rockland  counties, 

for  the  final  vote.     It  required  eighty-eight  responses  but  as  fatal  to  the  passage  of  the  bill." 

in  the  affirmative  to  pass  the  bill.     It  received  nearly  It  does  not  detract  from  the  entertaining  charac- 

one   hundred    votes,    the    exact    number    I    do    not  ter  of  Mr.   Birdsall's  narrative  that  his  recollection 

remember.      And  in  all  this  work,  not  a  dollar  was  is    at    fault    somewhat,    but    historical    accuracy    is 

spent    to    influence    legislation.        It   was    persistent  marred   thereby.      For  instance,  Homer  Ramsdell's 

argument  in  behalf  of  the  '  Southern  Tier.'     And  in  father-in-law  and  partner  was  not  John   Powell,  but 

this  work,  neither  the   Erie  Railroad  Company  nor  Thomas   Powell.       Eleazar   Lord    was    President    of 

any  of  its  agents  or  employees,  gave  any  assistance.  Erie  while  the  relief  bill  was  being  discussed  by  the 

"  The  session  closed  on  the  14th  day  of  May,  and  New  York  Legislature,  not  Benjamin  Loder,  who 
I  think  our  bill  passed  on  the  very  last  day.  I  had  was  not  chosen  to  the  office  until  midsummer,  1845. 
made  only  one  visit  to  my  home  in  Binghamton  Mr.  Birdsall  says  that  he  was  in  ignorance  of  the  fact 
during  this  time  from  the  1st  of  March  to  the  14th  of  that  Diven  and  Brown  had  attempted  to  secure  an 
May.  I  had  paid  my  own  expenses.  Not  a  dollar  amendment  to  the  relief  bill  giving  the  Erie  author- 
had  been  furnished  me  by  Diven  and  Brown,  or  by  ity  to  enter  New  Jersey.  It  is  evident  that  he  was 
the  Company.  They  said  I  would  have  to  go  to  also  ignorant  of  the  agreement  forced  from  Erie  in 
New  York,  and  I  would  be  paid  for  my  services,  the  matter  of  the  Newburgh  Branch  by  Messrs. 
So  I  followed  them  to  New  York.  I  did  not  stop  Niven,  Ramsdell,  Dennison,  and  Powell,  before  any 
at  the  same  hotel.  They  went  to  the  Stephens  vote  was  taken  on  the  bill  in  cither  the  Senate  or 
House,  at  lower  Broadway.  I  put  up  at  the  City  Assembly,  and  without  which  all  of  Mr.  Birdsall's 
Hotel.  I  waited  patiently  about  a  week,  and  Diven  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  bill  would  have  been  lost 
finally  appeared,  bringing  to  me  the  enormous  sum  on  his  Newburgh  friends  and  those  they  might  have 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars !  He  claimed  that  influenced.  As  will  have  been  seen  on  preceding 
that   was   all   he   could   raise  for   me.     This  did  not  pages,  the  matter,  also,  of  a  Newburgh  branch  rail- 


BETWEEN  H1K  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


f  a  change  of  the  route  of  the 
nnsylvania  were  things  years  old  in 
discussion  before  this  legislation  came  up. 

this  bill  did  not  settle  the  disturbing  question 
change  of  the  railroad  route  through 
ountyand  elsewhere.  It  provided  for  a 
resurvey  and  examination  of  those  parts  of  the  orig- 
inal route,  which  was  opposed  to  the  policy  of  Pres- 
ident Lord.  Agitation  of  the  subject  increased,  and 
the  differences  of  opinion  upon  it  in  the  Board  led  to 
serious  disturbance  of  relations  in  that  body,  with 
the  result  that  no  advantage  could  be  taken  of  the 
relief  legislation  until  the  question  could  be  dis- 
posed of. 

The  first  suggestion  of  this  change  of  the  route 
that  attracted  serious  public  attention,  although 
Engineer  Johnson  had  referred  to  it  that  same  year, 
was  made  by  Dr.  John  Conkling  of  Port  Jervis,  N.  Y. 
This  was  in  September,  1836.  The  proposed  build- 
ing of  a  railroad  from  the  Hudson  to  the  lakes  had 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  Eastern  people  in  various 
localities  to  the  possibilities  of  such  an  undertaking; 
and,  although  in  those  infant  days  of  railroad  build- 
in,;,  ideas  and  plans  as  to  such  work  were  vague  and 
crude,  there  were  projected  not  a  few  schemes  that 
had  in  view,  if  not  a  consummation  similar  to  the 
X  v.  York  and  Erie  Railroad  in  its  entirety,  at  least 
the  showing  of  a  collateral  importance  of  such  weight 
as  to  attract  attention  to  them  as  factors  worth)'  of 
consideration  as  economic  forces  to  quicken  the  life 
and  insure  the  better  success  of  the  original  grand 
enterprise.  One  of  these  was  a  railroad  chartered  by 
the  New  Jersey  Legislature  at  the  session  of  1836. 
It  was  to  extend  from  Morristown  by  the  way  of 
Lake  Ilopatcong  to  Sparta,  thence  by  the  way  of 
Branchville,  Sussex  County,  up  the  valley  of  the 
Paulinskill,  through  Culver's  Gap  in  the  Blue  Moun- 
taii  Delaware   River,  and   up  the  valley  of 

the  Dela  vare  to  Carpenter's  Point,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Neversink  River,  now  a  suburb  of  Port  Jervis, 
on  tin:  bonier  lines  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
P(  nnsylvania.  It  is  not  likely  that  another  railroad 
was  ever  chartered  to  be  built  having  as  one  of  its 
termina  rope    ferry.       There    wis    then,   and    for 

many  yeai  -  afterward,  a  primitive  ferry  of  this  kind 


that  carried  an  equally  primitive  scow  to  and  fro 
5s  the  Delaware  River  between  Carpenter's 
Point  and  the  Pennsylvania  side  of  the  river;  a 
ferry  that  was  in  itself  insignificant,  but  which  was 
a  most  important  link  in  a  chain  of  stage-coach 
transportation  between  the  Hudson  River  and  the 
West.  Until  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was 
completed  to  Goshen  in  1841,  the  main  artery  of 
travel  from  New  York  to  that  then  indefinite  portion 
of  the  State  known  as  "the  Lake  Country"  was 
the  coach  road  from  Hoboken,  by  way  of  Paterson 
ami  Pompton  Plains,  northwest  through  New  Jersey 
to  the  Delaware  River,  a  mile  below  Milford,  Pa., 
thence  by  the  Milford  and  Owego  Turnpike,  over 
the  hills  and  through  the  forests  of  Northeastern 
Pennsylvania,  to  New  York  State  again.  Prom 
Newburgh  a  great  feeder  of  this  route,  (upon  which 
in  those  days  it  was  no  uncommon  sight  to  see 
six-horse  coaches  closely  following  one  another, 
laden  with  passengers,  and  immense  cavalcades  of 
heavily-burdened  freight  wagons  passing  to  and  fro) 
ran  by  the  way  of  Montgomery  on  through  Orange 
County  to  Carpenter's  Point,  where  the  rope  ferry 
carried  the  coaches  across  the  river,  the  road  leading 
thence  to  Milford,  seven  miles,  where  connection 
was  made  with  the  through  coaches  on  the  Milford 
and  Owego  Turnpike. 

And  that  was  why  the  proposed  railroad  was 
directed  toward  that  rope  ferry  as  its  northern  ter- 
minus. Independent  of  the  regular  commercial  travel 
on  these  coach'  roads,  the  tide  of  emigration  west- 
ward was  then  running  strong,  and  this  New  Jersey 
railroad  was  designed  to  divert  it  from  a  great  por- 
tion of  the  coach  route  and  hasten  it  toward  its  des- 
tination, the  belief  being  that  a  road  thus  local  in  its 
character  could  and  would  be  completed  long  before 
a  section  of  similar  length  in  a  continuous  trunk  line 
could  be  put  in  operation.  This  belief  was  shared 
by  many  friends  of  the  Erie  project,  and  Dr.  Conk- 
ling, at  that  early  day  a  leading  man  in  the  1  >ela- 
ware  Valley,  a  position  he  held  for  more  than  half  a 
century  afterward,  wrote  as  follows  to  a  friend,  after 
his  return  from  an  extended  trip  through  the  West: 

Tlic  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  i--  looked  to 
with  ;i  lively  interest  by  all  wesl  of  the  lakes  as  the  great 
thoroughfare  by  which  they  are  to  gel  to  New  York  City. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


85 


The  people  of  that  vast  region  01"  country  prefer  doing  busi- 
ness in  New  York  to  any  other  city  on  the  Atlantic  co 
and  it  is  by  means  of  this  road  that  they  expect  to  be  enabled 
to  consummate  their  wishes.  How  very  important  it  is.  then, 
that  the  best  possible  route  be  fixed  on,  that  these  just  expec- 
tations may  be  realized.  I  would  say.  therefore,  that  no  time 
should  be  lost  in  hastening  it  to  its  final  completion,  and  that 
instead  of  running  over  the  mountains  of  Sullivan.  Orange, 
and  Rockland,  and  landing  at  last  on  the  Hudson  River,  which 
is  frequently  obstructed  by  ice.  I  would  suggest  the  considera- 
tion of  a  change  in  the  termination  of  the  road  by  following 
the  Delaware  River  from  the  mouth  of  the  Callicoon  to  Car- 
penter's Point,  in  Orange  county,  and  there  connect  with  the 
Xew  Jersey  railroad,  from  this  point  to  Jersey  City,  opposite 
New  York  City.  When  at  Carpenter's  Point  we  are  nearer 
New  York  City  than  the  route  the  road  now  takes  to  the 
Hudson  River,  and  I  am  told  that  by  the  recent  survey  of 
the  New  Jersey  road  there  is  no  grade  that  will  exceed 
twenty  feet  to  the  mile,  so  that  from  Deposit  to  the  city  of 
Xew  York  a  locomotive  could  run  the  whole  distance. 

But  the  Xew  Jersey  railroad  never  got  any  further 
on  in  its  existence  than  the  survey,  and  even  if  it 
had  been  built,  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
could  not  have  made  connection  with  it,  because  of 
the  provisions  of  its  charter  preventing  junction  with 
any  railroad  out  of  New  York  State.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  when  Dr.  Conkling  wrote  as  above, 
work  was  progressing  on  the  Xew  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  in  the  Delaware  Valley,  eastward  and 
westward  between  the  mouth  of  the  Callicoon  Creek 
and  Deposit,  X.  Y.,  under  President  King's  admin- 
istration. Whether  or  not  serious  thought  was 
engendered  in  the  mind  of  the  public  interested  by 
Dr.  Conkling's  suggestion,  such  a  change  in  route 
began  to  be  agitated  four  years  later,  and  the  ulti- 
mate result  of  it  was  another  deplorable  upheaval  in 
Erie  affairs,  with  sequences  that  agitated  for  a  year 
the  Legislatures  of  Xew  York  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
kept  the  people  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
latter  Commonwealth  in  a  condition  of  long  and 
painful  suspense. 


Eleazar  Lord,  who  had  made  pledges  in  1840  to 
Sullivan  County  citizens  that  the  route  of  the  road 
should  not  be  changed,  stood  up  for  his  word.  Mem- 
bers of  the  Board  published  a  statement  that  the 
change  was  necessary,  and  the  Legislature  appointed 
a  Commission  to  examine  the  original  route  and  the 
one  proposed,  and  report  its  views.  The  labors  of 
the  Commission  also  included  an  examination  of  a 
proposed  change  in  the  route  from  Deposit  to  the 
Susquehanna  Valley.  The  members  of  the  Com- 
mission as  finally  decided  upon  were  Horatio 
Allen,  Chairman  ;  John  B.  Jervis,  Orville  W. 
Childs,  Jared  Wilson,  William  Dewey,  and  Job 
Pierson. 

The  course  President  Lord  took  in  the  matter  of 
the  proposed  change  of  route,  although  it  was  the 
only  one,  so  he  held,  that  he  could  honorably  take, 
made  him  exceedingly  unpopular,  in  and  out  of  the 
management.  The  Treasurer  of  the  Company 
refused  to  pay  interest  on  the  Company's  debts, 
or  to  pa}-  out  money  for  any  purpose.  Capitalists 
would  not  subscribe  to  the  new  Erie  loan,  they 
declared,  unless  Lord's  connection  with  the  Com- 
pany ceased.  Mr.  Lord  at  last  said  he  would  resign 
as  soon  as  S3, 000,000  were  subscribed  to  the  Erie 
fund  as  required  by  the  act  of  1H45.  A  syndicate 
of  his  opponents  pledged  themselves  to  raise  that 
amount  at  once  if  he  would  retire.  He  resigned  in 
July,  1845,  and  never  again  took  any  directing 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Company,  of  which  it 
may  be  truly  said  he  was  one  of  the  founders.  James 
Harper,  of  the  publishing  house  of  Harper  Brothers, 
and  ex-Mayor  of  Xew  York,  was  elected  to  succeed 
him,  but  declined  to  serve.  Benjamin  Loder  was 
then  chosen  as  President,  and  a  new  epoch  in  Erie 
history  began. 


CHAPTER    X. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    BENJAMIN    LODER— 1845    TO    1S53. 


j,  f  ited  in  an  Address  to  the  Public  —  $3,o<x).ooo  Loan  Subscribed  in  a  Few  Weeks — Delay  Caused  by  Tardi- 

1  ontracts  from  Port  Jervis  to  Binghamton  Re-let  —  The  Ko.nl  Opened  t"  Port  Jervis  —  The 

Route  into  Pennsylvania  and  Unforeseen  Trouble  that  Came  from  it  —  The  Matamoras  Bridge  and  the  Glass  Factory  Kinks, 

ami  the  Milford  and   Matamoras   Railroad  —  The  their  T  Rail.      II.   THROUGH   DARKNESS   n>  LIGHT  —  Again  an 

i  cpended,  and  the  Work  One-half  Done — Park   Prospects  for  the  Railroad's  Getting  any  Nearer 

t  Light  —  Another  Idea  of  Diven  —  It  Works  Well,  bul  Starts  the  Erie  on  its  Fatal  1  Jareer  of  Bonded   Indebt- 

—  But  tin.-  K.i  ■  1  to  Dunkirk.     III.   The  Triumph:   Final  Link  in  the  Chain —  rhe  Last  Spike  Driven  — 

the  Road  from  Piermont  to  Dunkirk,  May,  1-51 — Celebration  of  the G  ommercial  Eventofthe  Day  —  Th< 

Through  Excursion  Train  and  its  Distinguished   I  I  '   Fillmore,  Daniel  Webster,  William  II.  Seward,  Stephen  A. 

ivernor  Marcy,  and  many  others  —  Ovations   Along  the   Road  —  The   Historic  15th  of    May  at  Dunkirk —  The  Ocean 

United  with  the  Lakes.     IV.  Rising  Cloi  DS  :  President  Loder  Tenders  his  Resignation, but  is  Induced  to  Withdraw  it  —  A  New  York 

-  Prophecy,  made  in  1834,  Comes  True  —  Insufficiency  of  the  Piermont    Terminus  Apparent  —  The  '  I  the  Ramapo 

and  Paterson  Railroad  into  the  Kield  —  The  Ultimate  Terminus  at  Jersey  City  Inevitable — Piermont  Opposes  it   Unsuccessfully  — 

The  New  lersev  Railroads  Pass  to  the  Control  of  the  Eri« —  Events  Immediately  Following  the  Completion  of  the  Km. id  to  I  Dunkirk 

—  The  First  Dividend  —  Piling  up  the  Debt  —  The  Railroad  Becomes  Unpopular. 


I.    THE    ADVAN(  I  . 

Mr.  Loder  was  a  native  of  Westchester  County, 
N.  Y.  He  had  been  for  twenty  years  in  the  dry 
goods  trade  in  New  York,  and  had  accumulated  a 
fortune.  It  was  said  of  him  that  lie  had  never  asked 
for  bank  accommodation  in  all  his  business  career. 
According   to   a   New  York  newspaper  of  that  day, 

he  now,  while  yet  in  the  prime  of  life,  comes  into 
the  direction  of  the  Erie  Road  with  all  the  shrewd- 
ness which  characterized  the  architect  of  his  own 
fortunes,  and  the  observation  gained  from  his  own 
daily  intercourse  with  all  classes  of  men  lead  them 
to  believe  that  he  is  the  Hercules,  aided  by  a  most 
able  Hoard,  who  will,  if  any  man  can,  drain  the  pres- 
ent miry  slough." 

If  "  all  classes  of  men  "  held  that  belief,  events 
proved  that  they  had  held  it  wisely,  for  even  the 
metaphor  of  his  newspaper  friend  did  not  daunt  him. 
The  difficulties  President  Loder  overcame  during  his 
struggle  to  complete  the  work  he  had  engaged  to 
complete  were  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  the 
I,  shirking  as  he  did  no  exercise  of  physical 
endurance,  shrinking  from  no  encounter  with  phys- 
ical hardships,  nor  leaving  untried  any  effort  of  his 
mind  that  mighl  n   and  hasten  to  completion 

the  task   he  had  in    hand.       The   Board  of   Directors 


that  came  in  with  Mr.  Loder  was  composed,  besides 
himself,  of  the  following  individuals: 

James  Harper — Harper  Brothers;  Daniel  S.  Miller 
— Dater,  Miller  &  Co.  ;  Henry  L.  Pierson — Pierson 
&  Co.  ;  Stuart  C.  Marsh — Marsh  &  Compton  ;  Jacob 
Little— J.  Little  &  Co. ;  Robt.  L.  Crooke— Crooke, 
Fowkes  &  Co.  ;  Henry  Sheldon — H.  Sheldon  & 
Co. ;  Henry  Suydam,  Jr. — Suydam,  Reed  &  Co. ;  A. 
S.  Diven,  Elmira;  John  Wood — Wood  &  Merritt; 
Wm.  E.  Dodge — Phelps,  Dodge  &  Co.  ;  Shepherd 
Knapp  —President  Mechanics'  Bank  ;  Samuel  Marsh, 
Homer  Ramsdell,  Cornelius  Smith,  Thomas  'Piles- 
ton. 

President  Loder's  first  act  was  to  open  books  for 
subscriptions  to  §3,000,000  of  the  capital  stock  of 
the  Company,  September  2,  1845,  at  the  office  of 
the  Company,  50  Wall  street.  The  plan  of  subscrip- 
tion was  the  payment  of  §5  per  share  as  soon  as 
required  by  the  Company  after  the  entire  amount 
had  been  subscribed,  on  condition  that  interest  at 
six  per  cent,  per  annum  be  paid  semi-annually  on  all 
the  instalments  from  the  date  of  the  respective  pay- 
ments until  a  single  track  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake 
Erie  and  the  branch  to  Newburgh  should  be  com- 
pleted and  in  use;  no  instalment  to  be  called  in  until 
3O,O0O  shares  at  $100  each  were  subscribed  and 
accepted,  nor  any  instalment  to  be  more  than  $25 


BENJAMIN    LODEF 


THE    STORY   OF   ERIE 


87 


per  share  within  a  year  after  the  $3,000,000  had  been 
subscribed,  nor  more  than  §30  per  share  the  second, 
nor  more  than  $45  the  third  year;  every  subscriber 
to  the  stock,  after  paying  $25  per  share,  and  pur- 
chasing any  bond  or  bonds  issued  under  the  act  of 
May  14,  1845,  t0  De  entitled  to  exchange  such  bonds 
into  stock  of  the  Company  at  par,  to  an  amount 
equal  to  his  subscription. 

President  Loder  issued  an  address  to  the  public  to 
accompany  the  plan  for  raising  the  necessary  money. 
In  this  he  made  these  interesting  statements: 

To  complete  a  single  track  to  Lake  Erie,  six  millions  of 
dollars  are  required.  The  cost  of  the  work  to  the  stockhold- 
ers will  then  be  $7,350,000;  and  adding  a  liberal  amount  to 
provide  for  cars  and  engines  for  the  commencement  of  busi- 
ness, the  road,  with  a  heavy  (T)  rail  estimated  at  $65  per  ton, 
will  be  brought  into  use  for  less  than  $20,000  per  mile.  The 
actual  cost  of  the  road  will  be  over  $28,000  per  mile,  but  the 
liberality  of  the  State,  and  the  surrender  of  half  of  the  stock 
by  the  present  holders,  reduces  it  to  this  very  low  rate. 

In  reference  to  the  estimates,  it  may  be  proper  to  state, 
that  responsible  contractors  have  offered  to  take  the  whole 
work  at  prices  nine  per  cent,  less  than  those  assumed  in  the 
calculations  on  which  they  were  based.  If  the  road  can  be 
completed  it  must  pay  large  dividends.  The  results  obtained 
in  the  sections  already  in  use  prove  this.  The  great  length 
of  the  work,  the  productiveness  of  the  country  through  which 
it  passes  and  to  which  it  leads,  the  absence  of  all  danger 
of  injurious  competition  from  rival  routes,  the  numerous 
branches  already  existing  or  in  contemplation,  exceeding  in 
the  aggregate  the  length  of  the  main  trunk,  the  immense 
market  which  this  city  (New  York)  will  afford  for  agricul- 
tural products  of  every  description,  and  the  boundless  country 
whose  inhabitants  must  be  supplied  with  merchandise  to  be 
sent  in  exchange,  appear  to  leave  no  reasonable  doubt  on 
this  most  important  question.  To  these  considerations  must 
be  added  the  great  improvements  in  motive  power  which  have 
recently  been  made,  and  which  have  demonstrated  fully  that 
railroads  can,  and  do,  compete  successfully  in  the  transporta- 
tion of  articles  of  heavy  merchandise  with  any  other  mode  of 
conveyance. 

With  regard  to  the  indebtedness  of  the  company,  the 
amount  of  which  is  about  $600,000,  the  board  is  happy  to  be 
able  to  state  that,  owing  to  the  liberality  manifested  by  the 
principal  creditors,  the  time  of  payment  for  most  of  it  has 
been  extended,  on  satisfactory  terms,  the  sum  of  $486,839.37, 
in  the  shape  of  six  and  seven  per  cent,  certificates,  payable  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1849.  The  holders  of  about  one-half  the 
remainder  have  agreed  to  settle  by  taking  certificates  of  the 
same  character,  and  the  residue,  including  an  amount  due 
for  work  recently  done  on  the  Shawangunk  summit,  is  in 
course  of  settlement,  as  the  means  of  the  company  will  permit. 

Added  to  the  other  inducements  are  those  of  the  release 
by  the  State  of  the  $3,000,000  loan,  and  the  reduction  of  the 
old  stock  from  $1,500,000  to  $750,000,  making  altogether  a 
bonus  of  $3,750,000  to  the  new  stockholders.  Thus  the  whole 
work,  on  which  about  $5,000,000  has  been  expended,  will  be  rep- 
resented by  stock  and  debts  to  the  amount  of  only  $1,350,000. 


It  may  be  proper  here  to  state,  that  of  the  $3,000,000  re- 
quired to  be  raised  by  subscription,  more  than  one  million 
of  dollars  have  been  pledged  in  large  sums  by  a  very  few 
friends  of  the  road,  leaving  less  than  two  millions  to  be  raised 
by  additional  subscriptions,  to  secure  the  full  benefit  of  the 
recent  act  of  the  Legislature. 

It  will  be  doubtless  refreshing  to  the  reader  of  this 
history,  after  he  may  have  perused  the  record  of 
managements  of  the  Erie  that  came  into  existence 
something  like  a  quarter  of  a  century  or  more  later, 
to  turn  back  and  re-read  the  above  statement :  "  The 
whole  work,  on  which  about  §5,000,000  has  been 
expended,  will  be  represented  by  stock  and  debts 
to  the  amount  only  of  §1,350,000."  In  later  days 
of  Erie  management  this  could  well  have  been  read 
thus:  "  The  whole  work,  on  which  about  §1,350,000 
has  been  expended,  will  be  represented  by  stocks 
and  debts  to  the  amount  of  §5,000,000." 

A  genuine  inclination  on  the  part  of  capital  to  take 
hold  in  earnest  and  push  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  to  completion,  now  manifested  itself.  In- 
dividual members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  made 
committees  of  themselves  to  solicit  subscriptions, 
and  one  of  them,  Director  Sheldon,  raised  §100,000 
among  the  grocers  of  New  York  in  one  day.  By 
the  beginning  of  October,  1845,  the  entire  loan  of 
§3,000,000  was  subscribed,  and  Newburgh  subscribed 
§100,000  toward  the  building  of  the  Newburgh 
Branch. 

The  Commissioners  appointed  in  1845  to  examine 
the  original  route  of  the  railroad,  and  report  on  the 
advisability  of  changing  from  the  Sullivan  highlands 
to  the  Delaware  Valley,  and  from  the  circuitous 
course  from  Deposit  to  Nineveh  to  one  over  the 
Randolph  Hills  to  Lanesboro  (Susquehanna),  did 
not  complete  their  work  until  the  latter  part  of 
1846,  and  made  their  report  to  the  Legislature  in 
January,  1847.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company  having  obtained  a  perpetual  injunction 
against  the  Railroad  Company  securing  a  route  along 
the  western  border  of  Sullivan  County,  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  result  in  great  damage  to  the 
Canal  Company,  whose  canal  extended  along  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  the  Commissioners  were  com- 
pelled to  adopt  the  only  other  way  to  get  into  the 
valley,  which  was  by  crossing  the   Delaware   River 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


I    [ervis  into  Pennsylvania,  and  running  on 
the  valley  until   the  route  could  once 
to    New    York    State.       This    required 
enablii  »n  from  both   New  York  State  and 

Pennsylvania.    The  Commission,  or  a  majority  of  its 
members,    reported    in    favor   of  the   change   in    the 
.  a  decision  that   results  proved  to  be  in  every 
wise  and  proper. 
While  the  Commissioners  were   in   control  of  the 
locati  the    road    between    the    summit   of  the 

Shawangunk  Mountains,  near  Otisville,  to  Bingham- 
liles,  there  was  no  work  for  the  Company 
to  proceed  with  except  the  eight  miles  from  Middle- 
town   to  <  Itisville,  then   under  contract.     The  deci- 
sion of  the  Commissioners,  therefore,  having  been  so 
delayed  (unavoidably,  they  averred),  the  prog- 
[  the  railroad  toward  completion  was  necessarily 
correspondingly  suspended.      In   a  call  made  by  the 
Directors,  May  14,  1S41').  for  a  second  instalment  on 
the  stock,  they  made  a  statement  to  the  stockholders 
in  which  the}-  said,  referring  to  the  delay  caused  by 
waiting  for    the    Commissioners  to  complete    their 
work : 


Although  the   Director?  have  not  been  able  to  prosecute 
the  work  of  construction  as  rapidly  as  was  desired,  the  time 
in  very  advantageously  employed  in  adjusting  the  un- 
settled business  of  the  compatn  out  of  the  embarrass- 
irmer  years.     All  liens  upon  the  property  <>i  the 
iny  have  been  discharged,  and  all  liabilities  in  thi 
of  6  and  7  per  cent,   certificates,  unsettled   claims,   etc..   which 
by  the  Directors  in  their  address  to  the  public  in 
10,000,  are  now   less   than  ?475.- 
000.     The    old    stock    of   the    company,    which    at    that    time 

0,000,  has  all  been  surrendered 

th  tin-  provision  of  the  Act  of  May   14.    [845, 

the    Comptroller,    leaving   the 

I  amount,  made  up  from  all  sources,  lc^s  than  $Kjo,000, 

which,  with  the  new  subscription  bearing   inti 

tl'e    ":  account.     The    lir-t    and    second    instalments 

on  an  amount  1  1    ceeding  $3,000,- 

000.    A  large  number  of  stockholders  have  voluntarily  paid 

ithe/S  have  paid  in   full. 
mont  to  Middletown,  which,  in  1 

Ompany,    was    brought 

.01  unfinished  state,  with  miles  of  high  trestle  and 

-  d    up    with 
emban  ondition       \   difficult 

Middletown    to 
k   Mountain  will  be  completci  id)    for  use 

imn. 

tcadtly  in. 
ing.  at.  ,|,   wj||   ;„_ 

in    much  ■,    the    income,      A 


acquaintance  with  its  business,  and  the  resources  of  the 
country  through  which  it  passes  and  is  intended  to  pass,  con- 
linns  the   Directors  in  the  belief  that  the  estimate  heretofore 

Ivantages  of  the  work  fall 

of  what  will  he  realized  when  the  whole  hue  is  complel 


It  was  deemed  so  certain,  however,  that  the  route 
of  the  railroad  wotdd  be  changed  from  the  hills  of 
Sullivan  County  to  the  Delaware  Valley,  that  con- 
tracts were  let  for  the  building  of  the  road  between 
Port  Jervis  and  Binghamton  in  October,  1846,  the 
work  between  Middletown  and  Port  Jervis  being 
then  under  way.  There  were  twenty-two  contract- 
ors, and  each  contractor  accepted  one-third  of  the 
amount  of  his  contract  in  stock  of  the  Company. 
The  report  of  the  Commission  on  changing  the  route 
of  the  road,  made  to  the  Legislature  in  1S47,  aroused 
the  people  along  the  old  route  to  great  opposition, 
and  a  bitter  fight  was  made  against  the  adoption  of 
the  report.  The  probability  that  the  Commissioners 
would  adopt  a  route  that  would  necessitate  the  tak- 
ing of  the  railroad  out  of  the  State  into  Pennsylvania 
had  alarmed  certain  commercial  interests  in  that 
State,  and  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  as  early 
as  1S45,  was  petitioned  to  refuse  entrance  or  right 
of  way  to  the  railroad.  Philadelphia  opposed  the 
granting  of  such  permission,  on  the  ground  that  the 
railroad  would  divert  the  trade  of  the  upper  Dela- 
ware YaHey  to  New  York,  and  Philadelphia  would 
lose  it,  although  the  only  trade  the  valley  had  at 
that  time  was  trade  in  lumber,  which  could  not  very 
well  go  elsewhere  than  to  or  toward  Philadelphia, 
for  the  reason  that  it  was  carried  in  the  shape  of 
rafts  on  the  Delaware  River  during  times  of  freshet, 
and  the  Delaware  River  ran  direct  to  Philadelphia. 
Hut  strong  petitions  went  to  the  Pennsylvania  Leg- 
islature from  the  northern  part  of  the  State  asking 
for  the  permission  to  be  granted,  and  during  the 
session  of  [846  an  act  was  passed  granting  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  right  of  way  into  and  through 
Pike  Count)-,  right  of  way  through  Susquehanna 
County  having  been  granted  in  1S41.  The  act  of 
1846   w  1  d  on    condition    that    the    Delaware 

River  should  be  crossed  by  the  railroad  at'acertain 
point  near  Port  Jervis;  that  it  should  not  interfere 
with  or  obstruct  operations  on  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson   Canal;     that    it   should   permit    connection 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


89 


with  any  railroad  chartered  or  to  be  chartered  in 
Pike  County ;  and  that  the  Company  should  pay 
into  the  treasury  of  Pennsylvania  forever  an  annual 
bonus  of  $10,000.  The  act  was  not  to  take  effect 
until  the  New  York  Legislature  should  authorize  the 
Company,  and  the  Company  consent,  to  a  connec- 
tion with  the  Blossburg  and  Corning  Railroad  at  or 
near  Corning,  N.  Y.,  and  with  the  Elmira  and  Wil- 
liamsport  Railroad  at  or  near  the  village  of  Elmira. 
Another  provision  of  the  act  was  that  the  Com- 
pany should  so  regulate  its  tolls  that  the  charge  on 
anthracite  and  bituminous  coal  transportation  should 
not  exceed  one  and  one-half  cents  per  mile. 

Thus  did  Pennsylvania  look  well  to  the  interests 
of  her  own  citizens  and  corporations,  in  granting  this 
right  of  way  through  a  rocky  and  barren  corner  of 
her  domain. 

The  people  of  the  Pennsylvania  counties  immedi- 
ately interested  were  many  of  them  opposed  to  the 
insertion  of  the  $10,000  perpetual  bonus  clause  in  the 
bill,  because  it  seemed  to  them  to  be  an  ungenerous 
requirement  on  the  part  of  the  State,  and  the  impos- 
ing of  an  unnecessary  hardship  on  the  Company, 
straitened  as  it  was  financially.  In  after  years,  when 
the  people  woke  to  the  fact  that  the  annual  bonus 
was  a  provision  urged  by  the  Company  itself,  to  get 
in  return  exemption  from  heavy  taxation  on  the 
road  and  property  of  the  Company  in  Pennsylvania, 
they  found  that  instead  of  the  Company  having  been 
treated  ungenerously,  it  had  made  a  very  shrewd  and 
most  profitable  bargain. 

After  a  long  and  bitter  fight  in  the  New  York 
Legislature  over  the  proposed  change  of  the  rail- 
road's route,  the  Commission's  report  was  adopted, 
and  after  another  contest  over  agreeing  to  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Pennsylvania  legislation,  authority  was 
at  last  given  the  Company  to  seek  the  Delaware 
Valley  by  crossing  the  river  into  Pennsylvania  at  a 
point  situated  near  Port  Jervis,  opposite  the  village 
of  Matamoras,  in  Pike  County. 

The  railroad  was  officially  opened  to  Port  Jervis 
January  7,  1848.  (Page  — ,  "  The  Building  of  It.") 
The  engineers  of  the  Company  found  that  they  were 
confronted  by  a  greater  obstacle  than  the)-  had  cal- 
culated on  in  the  construction  of  the  railroad  up  the 
Delaware  Valley,  beyond  that  place,    on   the    Penn- 


sylvania side.  Rising  perpendicularly  from  the  west 
bank  of  the  Delaware  River,  a  mile  north  of  Port 
Jervis,  was  a  wall  of  solid  rock,  in  places  nearly  one 
hundred  feet  high.  This  precipice  was  known  as  the 
Glass  Factory  Rocks.  It  followed  the  river  three 
miles,  and  in  its  face  a  roadway  would  have  to  be 
hewn  before  the  rails  could  be  put  down  that  dis- 
tance. This  was  a  task  sufficient  even  to  dishearten 
men  hampered  by  no  conditions  as  to  time,  and  with 
an  unlimited  treasury  to  draw  upon  ;  and  the  men 
then  in  control  of  the  affairs  of  the  Company  saw 
that  unless  they  could  obtain  a  further  concession 
from  Pennsylvania,  they  must  fail  in  their  attempt  to 
finish  the  railroad  in  time  to  save  the  franchises  from 
forfeiture.  To  do  this  it  was  necessary  that  the 
work  should  be  completed  as  far  as  Binghamton  by 
December  31,  1848. 

Even  if  the  engineers  had  not  been  limited  as  to 
time,  the  cost  of  cutting  a  roadbed  in  the  face  of 
that  forbidding  precipice  would  have  called  a  halt  in 
the  work  at  once.  They  estimated  that  the  three 
miles  of  roadbed  in  the  wall  could  not  be  made 
ready  for  the  rails  for  a  less  sum  than  $300,000,  so 
that  with  the  time  condition  removed,  the  financial 
resources  of  the  Company  would  have  been  utterly 
inadequate  to  the  undertaking.  Four  miles  above 
Port  Jervis,  at  what  is  known  as  Sawmill  Rift,  a 
famous  rapid  in  the  Delaware  River,  the  road  might 
be  carried  across  the  stream  into  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  obstacle  of  Glass  Factory  Rocks  avoided.  To 
change  the  place  of  entry,  further  consent  and  au- 
thority of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  must  be 
obtained.  This,  it  would  seem,  should  have  been 
but  a  simple  thing  to  accomplish,  but  the  Company 
discovered  that  there  were  other  things  to  obstruct 
its  work  besides  rocky  barriers  and  a  scanty  treasury. 

Milford,  the  county  seat  of  Pike  County,  Pa.,  lay 
in  charming  seclusion  eight  miles  south  of  Port 
Jervis,  in  the  Delaware  Valley.  When  the  route  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was  changed  to 
enter  that  county,  certain  enterprising  citizens  of 
Milford  bethought  them  that  they  were  tired  of  the 
seclusion  of  their  village,  charming  as  it  was,  and 
that  such  seclusion  should  be  broken.  A  connection 
with  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  at  Matamoras 


go 


BETWEEN  I  Hi:  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


ch  with  the  great  outside 
and  increase  its  importance  and  prosperity 
pe<  pie  argued.  To  this 
•    they  had  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railn 

npany  chartered,  and  preliminary  preparations 
wei  onstruction  of  a  railroad  from 

Milford  to  Matamoras  when  the  application  was  made 

he  Pennsylvania  Legislature  by  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company  for  permission  to  change  its 
point   of  entry-  into  that   State   from    Matamoras  to 

mill  Rift.  The  news  of  this  came  as  a  shock  to 
the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  Company.  If 
the  New    York  and  Erie   Railroad  did  not  enter  the 

te  at  Matamoras,  the  Milford  and  Matamoras 
Railroad  would  have  no  connection  with  the  trunk 
line,  and  Milford  would  still  remain  in  seclusion. 
The  possibility  of  the  change  being  made,  therefore, 
must  be  prevented  in  the  interests  of  Milford,  and 
the  influence  of  that  local  railroad  company  was 
sufficient  to  defeat  the  efforts  of  the  great  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  to  obtain  from  the 
Pennsylvania  Legislature  permission  to  change  its 
route,  although  the  life  of  that  Company  and  of  its 
railroad  depended  on  such  legislation.  This  was 
during  the  session  of  1848,  but  before  the  Legisla- 
ture adjourned,  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company,  by  agreeing  to  a  compromise  with  the 
little  Pike  County  railroad  company,  was  granted 
the  privilege  it  asked.  The  Milford  and  Matamoras 
Railroad  required  a  connection  with  the  Erie.  By 
the  change  in  route  that  connection  could  not  be 
obtained  except  by  crossing  the  Delaware  River  at 
Matamoras  and  tapping  the  Erie  at  Port  Jervis. 
That  would  compel  the  construction  of  a  costly 
bridge  across  the  river,  and  the  laying  of  an  addi- 
tional mile  or  more  of  track  on  the  New  York  State 
side  and  across  the  bridge.  These  things  the  Milford 
and  Matamoras  Railroad  Company  could  not  afford 
to  do,  but  it  had  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  in  such  a  position  that  the  demand  could 
be  made  of  that  Company  to  do  that  necessary  work, 
as  a  condition  of  the  withdrawal  of  opposition  to  the 
change  in  the  Erie  route.  The  demand  was  made, 
and  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company 
agreed  to  construct  a  double  bridge  across  the  Del- 
aware at  Matamoras,  arranged  for  both  the  passage 


of  wagons  and  foi  a  railroad  track,  to  maintain  the 
bridge  forever,  and  to  lava  track  from  the  station  at 
Port  Jervis  to  and  across  the  bridge  to  Matamoras, 

whenever  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  Com- 
pany might  demand  it  for  connection  with  the  rail- 
road from  Milford.  The  condition  was  a  severe  one, 
but  the  right  of  way  it  assured  to  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  was  of  inestimable  value  to  that 
Company.  Without  it  the  railroad  could  not  have 
been  completed  in  time  to  save  the  charter. 

But  even  with  change  in  the  point  of  entrance  for 
its  railroad  into  Pennsylvania,  the  Company  would 
have  failed  in  its  obligation  to  New  York  State  had 
it  not  been  for  a  circumstance  which  the  late  William 
E.  Dodge  declared  was  an  intervention  of  Providence. 
The  English  rails  the  Company  had  used  as  far  as 
Otisville  were  expensive,  and  their  delivery  to  the 
Company  was  subject  to  delay  and  uncertainty. 
This  endangered  the  rapid  progress  of  the  work.  In 
1 841,  George  W.  Scranton  of  Oxford,  N.  J.,  at- 
tracted by  the  presence  of  coal  and  iron  in  the  Lack- 
awanna Valley  in  Luzerne  Count}-,  Pa.,  purchased  a 
tract  of  land  at  Slocum  Hollow,  and  established 
there  iron  works  on  a  small  scale.  The  surround- 
ings were  then  the  wilderness.  The  large  and  grow- 
ing city  of  Scranton  now  occupies  the  site,  and  the 
Lackawanna  Iron  and  Coal  Company's  great  works 
and  possessions  are  the  result  of  that  pioneer  iron 
furnace.  Subsequently,  Selden  T.  Scranton,  George 
W.'s  brother,  joined  him  in  the  enterprise.  The 
Scrantons,  owing  to  the  isolation  of  their  works  and 
the  difficulties  encountered  in  getting  to  and  from  a 
market,  had  a  severe  struggle  for  existence  during 
the  first  years  of  their  business  career  in  the  Lacka- 
wanna  Valley,  and  in  1846  they  were  in  straits  that 
threatened  them  with  ruin.  William  E.  Dodge  was 
then  a  Director  in  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company,  and  greatly  interested  in  its  success.  He- 
knew  the  Scrantons.  The  Scrantons  knew  the  quan- 
dary the  Railroad  Company  was  in  as  to  the  matter 
of  rails.  They  believed  that  if  they  could  obtain 
the  necessary  machinery  the)-  could  manufacture  T 
rails  at  their  Slocum  Hollow  works,  and  deliver  them 
at  various  points  along  the  line  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie    Railroad,   so    that    the    rails    could    lie    lain  as 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


91 


rapidly  as  the  roadbed  was  prepared  for  them,  thus 
advancing  the  work  weeks,  if  not  months.  The  cost 
of  the  rails>  moreover,  would  not  be  much  more 
than  half  the  cost  of  the  English  rails.  The  Scran- 
tons  placed  the  matter  before  the  Company,  and 
asked  for  a  loan  of  $  100,000,  in  return  for  a  mortgage 
on  the  iron  works,  and  for  a  contract  for  rails.  The 
Company  was  not  in  shape  to  make  the  loan,  but  Air. 
Dodge  visited  Slocum  Hollow,  with  the  result  that 
the  Company  made  a  contract  with  the  Scrantons  for 
12,000  tons  of  rails,  at  $46  a  ton.  The  money  to 
equip  the  iron  works  with  the  necessary  machinery 
for  rolling  the  rails  was  advanced  to  the  Scrantons 
by  Mr.  Dodge  and  others,  and  the  rails  were  ready 
for  delivery  in  the  spring  of  1847.  The  first  of  these 
rails  were  used  from  Otisville  down  the  Shawangunk 
Mountains  toward  Port  Jervis,  the  iron  being  trans- 
ported by  teams  through  the  then  almost  unbroken 
wilderness  between  the  iron  works  and  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  Company's  railroad  at  Archbald, 
Pa.,  whence  it  was  taken  to  Carbondale,  thence  by 
the  gravity  railroad  to  the  canal  at  Honesdale,  Pa., 
and  thence  on  canal  boats  to  Cuddebackville,  N.  V., 
whence  teams  hauled  it  over  the  Shawangunk  Moun- 
tains to  the  railroad.  For  the  laying  of  track  west 
of  Lackawaxen,  the  rails  were  transported  by  teams, 
as  the  following  advertisement  will  show: 

NOTICE    TO    TEAMSTERS. 

The  subscribers  have  several  hundred  tons  of  railroad  iron 
to  deliver  the  present  winter  on  the  line  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  at  Lanesboro.  Stockport,  Equinunk,  Cochecton, 
and  Big  Eddy  (Narrowsburg).  A  part  of  the  iron  will  be 
taken  from  Honesdale  and  the  balance  from  this  place.  Mr. 
J.  A.  Patmor,  at  Honesdale,  is  authorized  to  contract  for  what 
iron  goes  from  Honesdale.  Good  prices  in  cash  will  be  paid 
for  the  work. 

Scrantons  &  Pratt. 

August  24,  1847. 

(C.  J.  C.  Pratt  had  become  a  member  of  the  firm 
since  the  contract  was  made.) 

For  months  scores  of  four-horse  and  mule  teams 
were  kept  busy  carrying  the  iron  to  the  railroad  as 
the  work  advanced  westward,  some  of  it  being  hauled 
more  than  sixty  miles.  The  contract  was  fulfilled, 
and  the  railroad  was  extended  to  Binghamton  in 
time.  And  on  that  contract  the  fortunes  of  the 
Scranton    familv  were   builded.      The    prestige    and 


profit  of  it  led  to  the  formation  of  what  is  now 
the  gigantic  Lackawanna  Iron  and  Coal  Company  of 
Scranton,  with  millions  at  its  beck  and  call,  and  which 
has  taken  millions  of  other  capital  for  investment  into 
that  part  of  the  Lackawanna  Valley,  for  the  building 
ot  railroads  ami  the  establishment  of  other  indus- 
tries, until  the  proud  city  of  Scranton  has 
from  the  insignificant  and  struggling  Slocum  Hollow 
iron  works  that  the  Erie  saved,  and  that  in  turn  did 
so  much  toward  saving  Erie. 

The  story  of  the  struggle  with  the  work  of  build- 
ing the  railroad  through  the  Delaware  Valley  and  to 
Binghamton,  crowded  with  lively  incident,  is  the 
story  of  an  epoch  in  the  progress  of  Erie,  and  is 
told  in  detail  elsewhere  in  this  history. 


II.    THROUGH    DARKNESS    TO    LIGHT. 

The  railroad  reached  Binghamton  December  27, 
1848.  (Page352,"  The  Building  of  It.'  1  The  char- 
ter of  the  Company  was  then  sixteen  years  old.  Ac- 
cording to  its  provisions  there  were  but  three  years 
more  left  in  which  to  complete  the  railroad,  that  it 
and  the  Company's  franchises  might  not  revert  to 
the  State.  Since  the  railroad  was  opened  to  Mid- 
dletown,  in  1843,  less  than  150  miles  had  been  added 
to  the  line.  With  the  opening  of  the  road  to  Bing- 
hamton not  yet  half  of  it  was  completed  between  the 
Hudson  River  and  Lake  Erie.  The  railroad  had 
cost  thus  far  §8,000,000,  and  the  Company's  treasury 
was  again  empty.  That  such  was  the  fact  is  nothing 
to  be  wondered  at.  That  it  stood  the  drain  success- 
fully until  the  railroad  was  finished  from  Port  Jervis 
to  Binghamton  is  to  the  lasting  credit  and  honor  of 
the  men  who  had  the  management  of  the  Company's 
affairs.  They  had  accomplished  the  most  stupen- 
dous undertaking  in  engineering  and  construction 
that  up  to  that  time  had  ever  been  attempted  in  this 
or  any  other  country.  They  had  carved  and  hewn 
a  place  for  a  railroad  in  miles  of  the  solidest  of  rock; 
bridged  many  wide  and  rapid  rivers,  yawning  chasms, 
and  deep  defiles;  surmounted  obstructing  and 
frowning  hills,  and,  in  spite  of  them  all,  carried  the 
greeting  of  the  Hudson  to  the  Susquehanna  within 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 

ti,c  ne.    That  the  treasury  was  empty  of  into  stock  of  the  Company  at  any  time  before  matu- 

•  o.OOO  after    such  an  achievement    was   not  rity,  the  issue  to  be  secured  by  a  mortgage  upon  the 

mpty  it   was.  and   there   seemed   no  entire  property  of  the  Company  between    Piermont 

plenishment.     There  was  no  ami  Lake   Erie,  and  subject  only  to  the  lien  created 

that  the  railroad  could  get   any  farther  on  by  the  State  mortgage  bonds  of  $3,000,000.     Out  of 

.iv  toward  Lake   Erie.      It  was  as  if  the  limit  of  this   issue  of  bonds  the  contractors  were  to  receive 

all  effort  had  been  reached:  as  if  the  end  had  really  their  pay  for  building  the  road  from   Binghamton  to 

come  at  I  Corning. 

der  S.  Diven,  then  of  Elmira,  had  been  for  By  this  financing  the  Company's  purpose  was  to 

-   inclose  touch  with  matters  pertaining  to  the  not  only  obtain  the  money  to  pay  the  contractors,  but 

concerns  of    the  Company.      In   this  emergency  his  to  fund  the  floating  debt,  which  was  then  $833,833, 

genius  came  to  the  solution  of  the  vexing  and  seri-  and  extend  the  railroad   westward  to   Hornellsville, 

ous  problem  that  confronted   the  undertaking.     He  to  connect  with  the  railroad  then  building  between 

formed   a  company,    which   might   in   these  days  be  that  place  and  Buffalo,  "  by  making  as  early  connee- 

called  a  construction    syndicate,   consisting  of  John  tion  as  may  be  with  which   important  branch  road," 

Arnot  of  Elmira.  John  Magee  and  Constant  Cook  of  the  Company's  address  to  the  public  on  this  subject 

Bath.    X.  V..  Charles  Cook  of  Havana,    X.   V.,  and  said,  "  the  very  great  advantages  of  a  continuous  line 

himself.     He  afterward  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  to  the  lake  are  secured,  and  before  the  main  line  can 

company  to   John  H.  Cheddell  of   Auburn.   X.  Y.  be  extended  to  Dunkirk."     It  was  estimated  by  the 

James  S.  T.  Stranahan  subsequently   became  inter-  Company's   engineer  that  the   work   between    Bing- 

1  in  it.  hamton  and  Hornellsville  would  cost  $2,500,000,  and 

the  Directors  figured  that  with   the  proceeds  of  the 

The  original  contract  with   these  men  was  for  the  bonds  the  work  could  be  done  and  the  rolling  stock 

grading  of  the  road  and  furnishing  of  all  the  material,  necessary  to  the  increased   mileage   be   amply   pro- 

except   the   iron  rails,  and  laying  of  the  track  from  vided.     The  total  liabilities  of  the  Company  at  this 

Binghamton    to    Corning — seventy-seven  miles — the  time  were  $9. 802,433. 

contractors  agreeing  to  take  their  pay  in  an  issue  of  The  arrangement  with  the  construction  company 
paper  of  the  Railroad  Company  known  as  "  income  rescued  the  railroad  from  inevitable  suspension  of 
certificates."  payable  solely  from  the  net  income  of  further  construction,  awakened  a  new  interest  in  it, 
the  railroad  east  of  Corning;  the  principal  to  be  paid  and  insured  its  completion  to  the  lake  without  fur- 
in  six,  seven,  eight,  nine  and  ten  years;  the  road  to  be  ther  interruption.  But  it  tightened  the  grasp  of 
completed  to  Owego — twenty-two  miles — by  June  1,  bonded  debt  on  the  Company.  And  it  made  the 
1849;    to   Elmira — fifty-eight  miles — by  October    1,  fortunes  of  the  men  who  took  the  bonds  as  the  price 

. :  and  to  Corning  by  December  31,  1849.     Sub-  of  their  contract  for  earning  the  railroad  less  than 

sequently,  with  a  view  to  a  further  and  more  rapid  eighty  miles  beyond   Binghamton,    the  road   having 

extension  of  the  railroad  west  of  Corning  than  was  been  opened  to  Owego,  Elmira  and  Corning  on  the 

contemplated  at  the  time  the  contract  was  made,  an  dates  provided  in  the  contract. 

arrangement  was  perfected  by  which  the  contractors  There  had  been  an  improvement  in  business  affairs 
agreed  to  a  modification  of  the  terms,  by  which  throughout  the  country  in  the  meantime,  and  con- 
modification  all  the  income  certificates  that  had  been  fidence   in   the  prospects  of  Erie  became   stron] 

to  them  on  account  of  the  contract  were  re-  When  the  railroad  w. in  finished  to  Corning  the  Direct- 
tired,  and  the  entire  series  of  such  certificates  can-  ors  invited  contracts  for  the  remainder  of  the  road 
celled.       In    place  of  those  certificates   the  Railroad  to  Dunkirk,  169  miles,  which  the  engineers  estimated 

pany    proposed     a    second     issue    of    mortgage  could   be  built  for  $3,750,000.     To  raise  a  fund  to 

ount  of  $4,000,000,  to  run  ten  years  complete  this  work  ami  meet  other  requirements  for 

at   7  per  cent,   interest   per  annum,  and  convertible  proper    operations    on    the    railroad,    the    Directors 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE  93 

made  another  increase  in  the  bonded  debt  of  the  By  April,  1851,  the  railroad  was  in  such  shape 
Company  by  issuing  §3,500,000  of  income  bonds,  to  that  on  the  22d  of  that  month  the  Directors  of  the 
bear  interest  at  7  per  cent.,  and  redeemable  at  the  Company  made  a  tour  of  inspection  over  it  to  Dun- 
pleasure  of  the  Company  within  five  years.  To  kirk,  and  about  that  time  many  more  or  less  prom- 
secure  the  payment  of  this  loan  the  management  inent  people  throughout  the  country  received  the 
pledged  the  whole  income  of  the  railroad  after  July  1,  official  announcement  that  the  New  York  and  Erie 
1851,  until  the  net  amount  reached  §1,200,000,  "  re-  Railroad  would  be  opened  to  Lake  Erie  on  Wednes- 
serving  only  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on  day,  May  14th,  and  an  invitation  to  accompany  the 
the  mortgage  bonds."  This  the  Directors  prophe-  Directors  on  an  excursion  to  Dunkirk  on  the  oc- 
sied  that  they  could  do,  and  distribute  an  ample  casion  and  participate  in  the  celebration  of  the 
dividend  among  the  stockholders  besides,  within  the  great  event.  At  the  same  time  the  Directors  gave 
first  year  after  opening  the  railroad  to  Lake  Erie,  notice  to  the  stockholders  as  follows  in  the  public 
These  bonds  were  placed  at  a  heavy  discount,  and  prints: 

the  contracts  were  let  for  the  final  work  on  the  rail-  "  It  would  have  afforded  the  President  and  Di- 
road.  rectors  great  pleasure  if  they  could  have  extended 
In  February,  1 85 1 ,  operations  had  progressed  so  their  invitation  to  the  stockholders  and  other  friends 
well  that  the  railroad  was  as  far  as  Cuba,  Allegany  of  the  road,  but  the  disappointment  in  receiving 
County,  N.  Y.,  within  seventy-seven  miles  of  Dun-  their  passenger  cars,  and  the  limited  accommodations 
kirk,  having  reached  Hornellsville  September  1,  1850.  at  Dunkirk,  rendered  it  impossible  to  do  so.  At  an 
The  Directors  made  a  statement  to  the  stockholders  early  day  arrangements  will  be  made  to  furnish  ex- 
then  in  which  they  did  some  more  calculating  on  the  cursion  tickets  to  stockholders,  giving  them  an  op- 
future  of  the  railroad.  In  the  year  1 85 1,  they  fig-  portunity  to  examine  the  road  at  their  leisure,  and 
ured,  it  would  earn  about  8  per  cent,  on  its  existing  at  a  reduced  price." 

capital  of  §6,000,000;  in    1852,  14^  per  cent.,  and  Even  as  long  ago  as  1851,  stockholders  in  railroad 

in  1853,  17  per  cent.     There  were  then  outstanding  companies   might  have   begun  to  see  that  they  had 

and  to    be   cared    for  when   interest   day  came   the  invested  their  money  largely  for  the  pleasure  of  see- 

$3,000,000   of   mortgage  bonds   issued    in    1845,  the  ing  the  managers  of  their  property  enjoy  themselves 

second  mortgage  of  $4,000,000  issued  in    1849,  the  at  their  expense, 
issue  of  §3,500,000  of  income  bonds  of  1850,  cer- 

.  r                      .        ,  ,     .      ,    .   ,       ,                                         |.         c     .,  **tc  ef  Itir  N"Po>  JJoik  mT)  V.M  Bail  Bo.iS  €o, ) 

tificates  of    old  indebtedness  as  a  result  ot    the  S. 

M,„  lit,  1851,  \ 

resuscitation  of  the  road  in  1845,  ar>d  a  floating 
debt  of  §2,988,045,  or  a  total  indebtedness  of 
$13,988,045;  yet  the  Directors  came  cheerfully 
to  the  front  in  February,  185 1,  as  a  result  of 
the    roseate    future    they    saw   for   the    railroad, 


Sir! 


The  Bo*rd  of  I)ire:tors  of  the  New-York  and  Erie  Rail  Road  Company  contemplate 
opening  their  road  lo  Lake  Erie,  on  the  14th  inst.  They  respectfully  invite  you  to  be 
present  on  that  occasion  to  accompany  them  In  a  tour  over  the  Road,  to  examine  this  great 
work,  leaving  this  city,  from  the  Pier  foot  of  Duanc  Street,  at  six  o'clock,  on  the  morning 

and     announced     that      they     needed     §3,500,000        (lf  Wednesday,  the  14th,  and  returning  on  the  morning  of  the  17th. 

more,   and    that    to    raise    it    they    intended    to    is-  As  the  number  of  guests,  invited  is  necessarily  limited,  the  favor  of  a  reply  to  ilii* 

sue   twenty-year   7   per  cent,   convertible  bonds      invitation is solicited. 

Vou  are  particularly  requested  to  preserve  the  enclosed  ticket,  ai  .1  show  il  on  going 
on  board  the  boat,  at  Duane  Street  Pies 


to  that  amount  and  place  them  on  the  market. 
They  did  this,  submitting  to  the  "shave"  de- 
manded by  Wall  Street,  and  the  fourth  mort- 
gage was  piled  on  top  of  the  now  rapidly  accu- 
mulating mountain  of  Erie  debt.  This  money 
was  required,  the  Directors  said,  to  fund  the 
floating  debt,  and  to  provide  necessary  machin-  fac.s,MIle  of  the  official  invitation,  original  from  the 
ery  and  rolling  stock.  ™»  IP  CHURCH  °"  '  ECTION' 


CHAS.  M.  I.Kl'PP, 
SHEPHERD  KNAPP, 
JOHN  J.  PHELPS. 
HOMER  RAMSDELL, 
Till 'MA?  W.  GALE, 

CoMMittet  of  ArromftHUMil* 


FIE. 


94 


BETWT  EN     1  111     OCEAN    AND    THE    LAK1  S 


III.      IKHMI'll. 

•      rs  of  desperate 

ng  with  adverse  circumstances,  the  last  spike 

n  driven,  and  the  New  York  and   Erie  Rail- 

impleted  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake 

Eric.  The  personnel  of  the  management  in  author- 
ity when  the  great  work  was  finished  was  as  follows: 

sident,  Benjamin  Loder;  Vice-President,  Samuel 
Marsh;  ry,     Nathaniel     Marsh;     [Veasurer, 

Thomas    J.     Townsend.        I  :     William     E. 

1>  idge,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Marshall  O.  Roberts.  John 
1.  Phelps,  Homer  Ramsdell,  W.  B.  Skidmore,  Dan- 
iel  Miller.  Charles   M.    Leupp,    Henry  Suydam,  jr., 

nelius  Smith,  Thomas  W.  Gale,  Norman  White, 
Theodore  Dekon.  General  Superintendent,  Charles 
Minot;  Chief  Engineer,  Horatio  Allen.  These  were 
all  residents  of  New  York  City  except  Homer  Rams- 
dell. who  was  from  Newburgh. 

The  completion  of  the  railroad  was  at  that  time 
the  most  important  event  in  the  history  of  railroad 
building.  This  may  be  the  better  appreciated  at 
this  day  when  it  is  known  that  but  one  other  really 
great  railroad  had  been  completed  either  in  this 
country  or  abroad,  and  that,  singularly  enough,  was 
in  Russia — the  line  between  St.  Petersburg  and 
Moscow.  The  present  stupendous  Pennsylvania 
Railroad   was  then   but   a   local    line  owned   by  the 

te  of   Pennsylvania,  extending  from    Philadelphia 

Hollida)  it  the  eastern   base  of  the   .Alle- 

ghany Mountains.  New  York  was  then  connei  t<  d 
with  Albany,  Buffalo  and  Rochester  merely  by  a 
chain  of  ramshackle  local  roads  of  different  gauges, 
subsequently  combined  and  fashioned  into  one  uni- 
form system,  which  is  that  of  the  New  York  Central 
on  River  Railroad  Company  of  to-day. 
The  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  although  tin-  pioneer  great 
railroad  line  in  America,  had  as  yet  no  important 
western  connection,  and  was  conspicuous  only  as 
the  protector  of  Baltimore's  trade  against  the  attrac- 
tion of  southern  markets,  which  were  convenient  by 
Mississippi  River  navigation.  Hence  the  comple- 
tion of  ■  York  and  Erie  Railroad  marked  tin- 
first  epoch  in  rail  transportation  of  really  national 
importance.  It  initing  ol  western 
commercial    center-,  with   New    York  City  by  quick 


communication  that  had  long  been  the  the. mi  of  far- 
seeing  minds,  an  event  that  speedily  followed  in  the 
completion  of  the  Michigan  Southern  Railroad  ami 
the  lines  that  naturally  ami  necessarily  grew  ■ 
of  its  construction.  It  was  the  uniting  of  the  Ocean 
ami  the  Lakes  and  the  beginning  of  the  present 
it  era  of  railroad  supremacy  in  the  financial  and 
commercial  world.  Consequently,  it  was  justly  con- 
sidered to  be  worthv  of  national  attention,  and  the 
management  of  the  Company  arranged  for  giving 
the  very  first  long-distance  railroad  excursion  party 
ever  known  in  this  country,  and  made  of  it  one 
which  has  never  been  equalled  in  number  of  illustri- 
ous and  distinguished  guests. 

Invitations  were  sent  to  President  Millard  Fill- 
more and  his  cabinet,  and  to  numerous  of  the  most 
eminent  statesmen  and  men  of  affairs.  President 
Fillmore  accepted  the  invitation,  as  did  Daniel 
Webster,  Secretary  of  State;  John  J.  Crittenden. 
Attorney-General;  W.  C.  Graham,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  and  W.  K.  Hall.  Postmaster-General.  The 
names  of  other  notable  men  who  accepted  and  were 
present  will  appear  in  the  course  of  this  chronicle. 

When  it  was  announced  that  the  President  and 
four  of  the  most  distinguished  of  his  official  family 
were  to  participate  in  the  celebration  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  the  mu- 
nicipal authorities  of  New  York  City  joined  with 
the  officers  of  the  Company  to  make  their  stay  in 
and  start  from  New  York  a  public  affair,  to  be  cele- 
brated with  appropriate  honors  and  festivities.  The 
Presidential  party  were  to  be  guests  of  the  city,  and 
a  committee  of  two — Alderman  Robert  J.  Haws  and 
Assistant  Alderman  John  B.  Webb — were  sent  to 
Washington  to  notify  the  President  and  to  act  as  an 
escort  of  the  party  from  Washington  to  New  York, 
on  behalf  of  the  city  government.  The  authorities 
also  arranged  the  following 

PROGRAMME    OF    ARRANGEMENTS 

i  in  tii,  of  tin-  arrival  in  tlii s  eity  of  tin-  President 

of  the  United  States  and  the  membei     of  the  (    ibinet,  en 
route  i"  participate  in  I  ation  of  the  Opening  of 

the  New  York  and  I  ri<    Raili  i  tad. 

//  tpitalities  of  the  City  to  the  President  iin,/  Cabinet. 

ial  Committee  appointed  by  the  Common  Council 
of  the  City  ni  New  York  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


95 


for  the  reception  of  the   President  of  the  Uniti  and 

Members  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  General  Government,  have 
adopted  the  following  programme  of  Arrangements  for  the 
occasion,  Tuesday,  the  13th  inst.: 

The  President  is  expected  to  arrive  at  Castle  Garden  be- 
tween the  hours  of  one  and  two  o'clock  p.  m.,  where  he  will  be 
received  and  welcomed  to  the  hospitalities  of  the  city,  by  his 
Honor  the  Mayor,  after  which  the  President  will  review  troops 
on  the  Battery.  National  salute  to  be  fired  on  his  arrival, 
under  the  direction  of  Brigadier-General  Morris. 

ROUTE    OF    PROCESSION. 

From  the  Battery  up  Broadway  to  Broome  Street,  through 
Broome  Street  to  the  Bowery,  down  the  Bowery  to  Chatham 
Street,  through  Chatham  Street  to  the  East  Gate  of  the  Park, 
through  the  Park  in  front  of  the  City  Hall,  where  the  Presi- 
dent and  suite  will  receive  a  marching  salute  from  the  military 
under  command  of  Major-General  Charles  \Y.  Sanford.  After 
the  review  on  the  Battery,  the  march  will  commence  from  the 
right  of  the  division  under  command  of  Major-General  San- 
ford, as  follows: 

A  squadron  of  Horse  forming  the  mounted  escort.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  and  Suite.  General  Sanford 
and  the  Staff  of  the  First  Division. 

The  First  Brigade,  commanded  by  Brigadier-General 
Spicer.  consisting  of  the  First  Regiment,  Col.  Ryer:  Sec- 
ond Regiment,  Col.  Bogart;  Third  Regiment.  Col.  Postley. 

The  Second  Brigade,  commanded  by  Brigadier-General 
George  P.  Morris,  consisting  of  Fourth  Regiment.  Col. 
Yates:  Fifth  Regiment,  Col.  Warner;  Sixth  Regiment.  Col. 
Peers. 

The  Third  Brigade,  commanded  by  Brigadier-General  Hall, 
consisting  of  Seventh  Regiment,  Col.  Duryea;  Eighth  Regi- 
ment. Col.   Devoe:   Ninth  Regiment,  Col.   Ferris. 

The  Fourth  Brigade,  commanded  by  Brigadier-General 
Ewen,  consisting  of  Tenth  Regiment.  Col.  Halsey;  Eleventh 
Regiment.  Col.   Morri-;  Twelfth   Regiment.  Col.   Stebbins. 

Senators  and  Representatives  of  the  United  Stati  Sen- 
ators and  Assemblymen  of  State  of  New  York.  Special  Com- 
mittee of  Common  Council.  Army  and  Navy  Officers  of  the 
United  States  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  New 
York  State.  Foreign  Consuls  and  Ex-Mayors.  Collector, 
Postmaster.  Surveyor,  and  United  States  Marshal.  United 
States  District  Attorney.  United  States  Judges.  Sub-Tn 
urer  and  Naval  Officer.  Members  of  Common  Council  in 
Carriages.  Register,  Sheriff,  County  Clerk,  and  Surrogate. 
Governor  of  Alms  House,  Commissioner  of  Emigration. 
Resident  Physician  and  City  Inspector.  President  and  Direct- 
ors of  Erie  Railroad  Company.  Heads  of  Department-,  of 
the  City  Government.  Recorder  and  City  Judge.  General 
Committees  of  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties.  Citizens 
in  Carriages  and  on  Horseback. 

The  owners  and  masters  of  shipping  in  port  and  propi 
of  public  buildings  in  the  city  are  requested  to  display  their 
flags  from  the  same  from  sum:  during  thi 

The  owners  and  proprietors  of  all  public  and  licensed  car- 
riages and  vehicles  are  directed  to  withdraw  them  from  the 
streets  through  which  the  procession  is  to  pass,  after  the  hour 
of  eleven  o'clock    \.  u.  until  the  close  thereof. 

The  Chief  of  Police  is  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the 
above  order. 

The    owners    and    proprietors    of   all    public    carriages   and 


vehicles  are  a!,.,  respectfully  requested  to  conform  to  tin 
wishes  of  the  Committee  in  this  respect. 

No  obstructions  of  any  kind  will  be  permitted  in  the  street- 
through  which  the  procession  is  to  ; 

A.   C.    KlNGSLAND,  Mayor. 

Special     Committee.— Aldermen.— Oscar     W.     Sturtevant, 

Robert  T.  Haws.  Jonas  I'.  Conklin,  Daniel  Dodge.  James  M. 
Bard.  Morgan  Morgans,  President.  Assistant  Aldermen.— 
Daniel  F.  Tieman.  Nathan  C.  Ely.  John  B.  Webb,  S.  L.  H. 
Ward,   Robert  A.  San. Is.     A.  A.  Alvord,  Secretary. 

Chamber   of   Commerce   Committee   of   Cooperation  — 

P         lent  of  the  Chamber;   Elias  Hick<, 

First  Vici    Pn    idi  nl    j      tes  De  Peyster  Ogden,  Edwin  Bowen 

Graves.    Walter    R.    Jones,    Charles    11.    Marshall,    Matthew 

Maury. 


President  Fillmore  and  members  of  his  family, 
Daniel  Webster  and  his  son  Fletcher,  and  the  others 
of  the  Presidential  party,  left  Washington  at  6 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  May  12th.  They  arrived 
at  Baltimore  for  breakfast,  which  was  eaten  at  Bar- 
num's  Hotel.  Leaving  Baltimore  at  9  o'clock,  they 
arrived  at  Philadelphia  at  12,  where  they  were 
guests  of  that  city-  until  the  morning  of  the  13th. 
Accompanied  by  Benjamin  Mathias,  Speaker  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Senate,  John  Price  Wetherhill,  Dr.  J. 
T.  Wickersham,  and  a  committee  from  the  Philadel- 
phia City  Council,  the  President  and  his  illustrious 
fellow-tourists  left  Philadelphia  that  mornini 
New  York,  via  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad. 

Great  preparations  had  been  made  for  receiving 
the  part}-  at  New  York  and  Amboy.  The  steam- 
boat "  Erie,"  gayly  decorated  with  evergreens. 
flowers,  flags,  and  banners,  departed  from  the  foot  of 
Duane  Street  at  10  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
13th  to  meet  and  welcome  the  President  and  the 
other  guests  at  Amboy.  The  boat  was  in  chat 
Captain  Maybee.  Aboard  the  "  Erie"  were  Presi- 
dent Loder,  his  fellow-officers,  and  t  rd  of 
Directors  of  the  Erie  Railroad  Company,  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  city  and  county  government  as  fol- 
lows: Recorder  Talmadge,  Sheriff  Carnley,  County 
Clerk  G.  W.  Riblet,  and  District  Attorney  N.  I'.. 
Blunt.  There  was  also  a  number  of  invited  guests, 
and  a  squad  of  police  in  charge  of  Captain  Carpenter 
of  the  Fifth  Ward.  The  boat  arrived  at  Amboy 
dock  at  12  o'clock,  and  one  minute  later  the  train 
bearing  the  President  and  his  party  came  in.  The 
distinguished  guests  were  escorted  aboard  the  boat. 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


nan   Haws  introduced  the   President  and  the 
the  Cabinet   I  y  Marsh,  who 

introduced  them  to  President  Loder  and  the  Direct- 
or-.    Charles   M.    Leupp,  Chairman  of  the  Commit- 
:'   Arrangements   for  the  Company,   addi 
dent  Fillmore  as  follows: 

Mr.  ure,  in  behalf  oi  the 

•irectors  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
iu,  and  the  distinguished  en   by 

whom   you   are  accompanied,  on  board  the   steamer,   and  to 
1  and  them  on  your  safe  arrival.     The  Direct- 
the  high  honor  you  have  conferred 
ir  acceptance  of  their  invitation  to  accompany  them   in 
a  tour  over  the  road.     It  will  afford  them  the  highest   satis- 
faction tn  conduct  you  on  this  new  highway,  which  connects 
by  an  indissoluble  link  the  great  1-  '  es   with  the  ocean.     And 
they  wanting  in   proper  appreciation   of  the   magnitude 
and  importance  of  the  task  in  which  they  have  been  engaged, 
they  would  be  reminded  of  it  when  the  head  of  the  Republic 
and   its   chief  officers   of  State  honor  them   by   making   it  a 
special  object  of  examination.     They  rejoice  in  the  hope  that 
the   New   York  and   Erie   Railroad,  built  not  for  a  day.   but 
for  all   time,  will   realize  the   blessings   expected    from   it.   and 
that  while  it  serves  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  country 
through  which  it  passes,   it  will  contribute  to  bind   still   more 
together  the  distant  portions  of  our  glorious  Union. 
I  again,  dear  sir,  bid  you  a  cordial  welcome. 

To  which  President  Fillmore  responded: 

I  beg  to  return  you.  dear  sir.  and  the  Committee  of  Ar- 
rangements, my  thank';,  and  through  jrou,  the  Directors  of 
the  Erie  Railroad  Company,  for  the  very  cordial  welcome  you 
have  given  me  and  my  associates.  I  assure  you  that  we  fully 
iate  the  great  enterprise  you  have  now  so  happily  com- 
pleted. I  know  full  well  tin  difficulties  under  which  you  have 
1  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  important  work,  and 
it  is  due  to  you.  as  t)  ol  the  Board  of  Direct- 

ors,  that  the  chief  officer   of  the   nation   should   recognize   it. 
and   greatest   work   of   its   kind   on   this 
ent,  and   in  the  world,  with   one  exception.     You   say 
that  it  ]  ikes  with  the  ocean?      Yes.  sir:  and 

i  veral  States  of  this  great  Union.      I   need  not 
say  that   I  1  of  an  achievement   in   my  native  State 

which  glory   and    strength    to   the    whole 

country.      ( Loud  chi 

The  steamboat  "  Erie"  made  its  return  trip  on 
utside  route.  A  banquet  was  spread  in  the 
cabin  by  Steward  Simmons,  at  which  Mr.  Loder,  a 
chief  officer  of  tin:  Railroad  Company,  presided. 
On  the  way  up  the  Hay  tin-  boat  was  saluted  by  the 
puns  of  Fort  Hamilton  and  Diamond  uently 

ernor's   and    Bedloe's 
Islands.     Tin-  shipping  in  the  harbor  was  one 
glory  of  bunting.      At   the    Battery  50,000  people 
awaited   the   arrival  of   the  President  and   his  famed 


associates,  and  9,000  State  militia,  under  Major- 
«,  .'  I    i.iiles   Sanford,  were  drawn   up  in   line  to 

receive  them  with  military  honors.  The  boat  ar- 
rived at  the  Battery  at  2  P.  \i.  A  salute  was  fired 
by  veterans  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  from  a  field 
piece  of  the  days  of  '76.  The  air  was  rent  with  the 
shouts  of  the  populace  as  the  party  landed.  The 
distinguished  visitors  were  escorted  to  Castle  Gar- 
den, where  they  were  welcomed  to  the  city  by 
Mayor  A.  ('.  Kingsland.  .After  speeches  by  Presi- 
dent Fillmore.  Daniel  Webster,  John  J.  Crittenden, 
and  General  Sanford,  the  President  and  party, 
with  the  exception  of  Webster,  were  escorted  by  a 
formal  parade  to  the  Irving  House,  which  was  then 
a  famous  hostelry  at  Broadway  and  Twelfth  Street, 
where  quarters  had  been  engaged  for  them.  Web- 
ster went  to  the  Astor  House,  his  habitual  stopping 
place  when  in  New  York,  and  occupied  a  suite  of 
rooms  provided  by  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company — Rooms  39,  41,  and  43.  During  the  day 
and  evening  the  distinguished  visitors  were  the 
guests  of  the  city,  and  most  elaborate  preparations 
had  been  made  to  entertain  them.  There  were  many 
festivities  during  the  day  and  night,  and  the  city  was 
in  holiday  array. 

The  hour  fixed  for  departure  from  New  York  to 
Piermont,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  time-table,  was 
six  o'clock  on  Wednesday  morning.  May  14th.  A 
heavy  rain  had  begun  falling  during  the  night,  and 
it  was  raining  when  President  Fillmore  and  his  suite 
took  carriages  at'tlie  Irving  House  to  be  driven  to 
the  foot  of  Duane  Street.  The  President  was  accom- 
panied by  .Alderman  Haws  and  Assistant  Alderman 
Tieman.  Attorney-General  Crittenden  was  taken 
in  charge  by  Alderman  Franklin.  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral Hall  and  Secretary  of  the  Navy  Graham  were 
escorted  by  Assistant  Alderman  Ely.  In  spite  of 
the  rain  and  the  early  hour,  the  streets  were  crowded 
with  people.  By  the  time  the  President  and  his 
party  arrived  at  the  dock  and  were  formally  delivered 
to  the  care  of  the  Company  the  rain  had  ceased. 
Daniel  Webster  rode  to  the  dock  with  his  son.  The 
"  Erie  "  was  held  at  the  dock  until  ten  minutes  past 
six,  owing  to  delay  in  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Webster's 
baggage.  When  that  arrived,  the  representatives  of 
the  city  surrendered   their  guests  to   the   custody  of 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


97 


7 


NEW  TORK 


Ci£fijs 


5-^HE  RAHBOAD 

^•;t..rcion  gwin?)  g^  f^  15{^  16(r.  an<_  17t§)  1851# 

5ric  fcnil-lloai]  Eicr.  fool  nf  Purine  Street 


\ 


On  the  Hthof  May  inst  jjtlie  Sicaaiboat  ERIE  will  leave  tl.e  New  York  rind  E 

at  0  A.M.  forTicr.nnnt.whenec  two  Trains  of  Cars  will  start  for  Dunkirk,  and  Vn  by  tl^Thne'^bTon'thcTa^ 
hereof.    •■%        •     ■■         ■  •' 

These  Trains  shall  !,av|  the  road  against  all  other  Train,,  P^sSngcr,  F«£  cLel  ft*,  an,l  all  other  occupants  of 
the  Track,  from  their  tune,  at  any  Station,  till  their  passage;  and  no  .lb, ,  lWnmst  leave  any  Station  orTurnout, 
unless  .t  snail  have  ample  time  to  arrive  at  the  next  Station  or  Turnout,  at  hast  (  ve  minutes  prior  to  the  time  in  this 
-table  tor  these  Trains  UJleave  there. 

If  the  forward  extra  Train  shall  be  detained,  so  as  to  have  to  stop  on" the  road  t  the  time  for  the  rear  extra  Train 
to  come  up,  the.  Conduct*  of  the  former  must  immediately  send  a  man  l.adk  to.  wfcn  the  approaching  Train  ;  and  a 
J' lag-man  must  be  kept 1J  tfie  ncry  end  of  the  rear  Car,  for  this  purpose. 

The  Trains  will  stop  afj  Stations  the  number  of  minutes  indicated  by  the  following  marks  viz  :  •  5  minutes  -  f  10 
minutes ;  +15  minutes  ;>  It,  23  minutes,  for  dinner.  f 

i  CHA'S.  MIXOT,  SlTEEINTEXDEXT. 

OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION   OF  THE   OPENING   OF  THE  RAILROAD   TO   DUNKIRK 


-.    i 


I 


NEW   YORK  AND   ERIE   RAIL-ROAD— TIME   TABLE. 


May  14th,  15th,  16th  and  17th,  1851.> 


May  IT. 

Train. 


STATIONS. 


"1  _ 


.-V..ik./i-7* 


At.       l'itr.      lP-p 
Orp.    l'iemmnt.    - 

-  IHauveUville,- 

-  CwrkftOM-n,     - 

•  Spring  Valley,  - 

•  ■     Monitor, 

- 15  in  Up  Turnout 

-  .    Suffcm, 

Raman,*. 

•  S.raitsburK.     - 

•  Rhllltl'  Turnout 
-Hontvie  Works,  • 

Wilkes 

•  Turner'*, 

Monroe, 
Oxford, 

•  East  Junction,  ■ 

-  Went  Junction,  • 

Chester, 
(Jos)*  en, 

-  NYw- Hampton.  - 

•  Middletowii,    • 

Uowvll'it, 
OtisvUle, 

-  Sliin  Hollow,    - 

Delaware, 

-  Rosa  Turnout,  - 
Drp.  MicMaugh's,  - 


,-T.t  ]^.  Tminljd  Tini 


rt  00  A  ! 


8  00  A« 
S04  ' 
S.11  J 
S  21  • 
8.27 
'» :r, 

840  ! 

8.47  •: 
850 
8.52 

8  58  ( 
9-O0  i 

9  12  ; 

9  10  . 

9i4  i 
0.31 

914  i 

0.33  ' 

0.37  : 

9.47  i 

9.50  . 

11.11  ! 

10.20 

1031  : 

K.  4:.  ' 

•1104  ■ 

11  27 

1137  • 


G  111   A* 

809 
817 
810 
8.37 
•8.45 
8.52 
0.00 
904 
908 
0  10 
0.24 
9  "I 
9.39 
9  45 

0-46 
'J  57 
10116 
10.12 
10  22 
•10.31 
1041 
1052 
11.08 
'11.49 
12  10  p* 
13.87 


May  17.1 


STATIONS. 


142 
1  92 
1.18 
I  1.05 
12.35 
12.20 
IS  15 
12.00 
11  36 

II  23 
11.13 
10.58 

•10.48 

III  24 
•1003 

9  42 
9  32 
0.23 
•0  17 


822 
8,11 
1.10 


T  4" 
T  30 


rxi>7>.6liohoU,  I'- 1 

■  Lacktwiucen,    • 

-      Naatllooc,     ■ 
J|\  in  omtblirg,    - 

•  ICoborty's  T't,    - 

i  i.  hecton, 
Criljicoon, 

■  Trr 

K'|iiimink, 
Stuckuorl, 

llllM.u'K. 

•  Ihle'a  Kdily, 

DepoKit, 

S lit. 

.   S„v,,i,!,»„,ia,    . 
.     (Ir.-at  limit,      - 

•  -Kirk" 1, 

.    WMi.l.nr  atiiail. . 

llinghniTttou,^ 

Dili 

Canipvillc,  _    - 
Uwegn,       '    ■ 
Ti,>«A, 
-     Sniitlilmrn',    4- 
Itartnn,     *   - 

Wivcrlr, 

I 

VellMbofx, 

Btp.  Kliojra,       At. 


May  14. 

2.1    Tr; 


11  51  Ay 

12  4U  1 

1201  P» 

12.50 

12  14  • 

105 

'12  54 

•1-S5 

103 

1.30 

112 

1  45 

1.2! 

1  57 

139 

'2  14 

2U2 

2  40 

2.15 

2-54 

2  25 

305 

241 

3  21 

•2  Mi 

•:;  97 

.",  10 

357 

•3.43 

•4  23 

4  HO 

4  42 

410 

4. 'J 

4  17 

502 

•4  is 

•5  12 

443 

.',  27 

4  53 

9 

•5J0 

•5  55 

"5.19 

52S 

«17. 

5  38 

0  22 

541 

6  30 

549 

8.48 

i  5.1 

7.00 

May  16. j 

'J\   Tram   1*1  Tiam- 
l'f    i.VA  PM      5  57  pm| 
0.23 
0.18 

;..3S 


STATIONS. 


w>w 


i  ::ii 
5.18 
4:58 

•4.52 
4  35 
4  24 

•405 
3.45 
8.80 
3  31 

•3.18 

2  42 
12-20 
!  OS 
IM 

•i;2 

,12.52 


' 


1153 
11J0 


5  08 
50t 
4  49 
4-27 
'4  25 
3  56 
346 
•3  25 
3  00 
2  62 
2  42 
2  35 

2  05 

149 

•1134 

1  11 

1212  Pa. 
1153  A» 
1 1  25  , 
10.51  ' 
10  30  A» 


Ar.     Klnnra.   Dtp 
•ion, 
Uiu  Flata, 
mile, 

•  Painlcl  Pi  't,    - 

•  -    AddM  hi, 

•  Railili.mcuHc,  . 

UitliLtco. 
-    1[..-,.  lUiillc,  - 

1    iund, '     • 
I!..  :i       ■      Ijo, 
Aiidovcr, 
Oi>n  - 

Urll  : 

1 

•    il-o. 
lltn*la>, 
Oloan,  .       . 

■  .■  mv, 

•     Crcii-   ■ 
■    Llttlj  i       • 

ArtnoD, 

llavton, 
I 
iHr;/    Dunkirk,  A 


May  15.  .  "       ij 


TIME-TABLE   PNINTF.D   ON  THE  BACK   OF  THE   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION.        III!     FIRST   THROUGH   KK1E  TIME-TABLE.! 


(The  blurs  and  imperfection-;  on  these  far-simile  reproductions  of  this  historic  document  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  original,  which  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Curtis  family,  of  Callicoon,  N.  V..  ever  since  it  was  used  by  the 
late  Judge  Curtis,  of  that  place,  who  was  a  guest  on  the  occasion,  was  thus  marred  from  frequent  inspection  of  it  by 
curiosity  seekers  during  the  past  forty-eight  years.  The  original  was  kindly  loaned  the  author  by  C.  T.  Curtis.  Esq., 
of  Callicoon.) 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    I  III-:    LAKES 


I  itives.  and  to  the 
band  the  "  Erie  "  steamed 
iring  its   load  of  distinguished 
leave    New 
mtinuous  journey   by  rail    from    tide- 
the  lakes.     The  steamer  moved  away,  fol- 
I  by  the  turn  i  heers  of  a  witnessing  mul- 

Chief  among  the  excursionists,  besides  the 
President  and  his  suite  and  the  railroad  officials 
and  D  .  were  ex-Governor  and  United  States 

Hamilton   Fish ;  ex-Governor  Marcy,  i 
•  i.    C.     Perry,   Joseph    Hoxie,   Christopher 
tary    of    State    of  New   York;    State 
I  ;er    Silas    Seymour;    Philip    Church,    Charles 

G.    Phelps,  Richard  II.  McCurdy, 
C.  W.  Lawrence.  Leonard  Kirby,  Don  Alonzo  Cush- 
nptroller  Fuller,  of  the  State  of  New  York; 
State  Senators  Crolius,  Beekman,  Morgan,  Williams, 
Brandreth;  Ass  mblymen  Allen,  Gregory,  Yar- 
num,  Dewey,  Tuthill,  Ryan,  and  Backhouse;  W.  C. 
Hasbrouck,   ex-Speaker   of   the   Assembly;    Mayor 
Kingsland,  and   members  of  the  municipal  govern- 
ment.    There  were  300  passengers  in  all,  including 
Chief  of   Police  George   W.    Matsell   and  staff.      An 
important  adjunct  of  the  party  was  George  Downing 
and   his  corps  of  trained   assistants.       Downing   was 
the  most  famous  New  York  caterer  of   that  day,  and 
he  was  engaged   by  the  Company  to   be   the  official 
caterer    to    the    great   excursion.       That    he   did   his 
duty  well,  both   in   the  providing  of  solid  and   liquid 
•   the  recollections  of   the  oa 
r  fade  from   the  minds  of  any  of  those 
1  evidence  of  it  and  are  alive  to-day. 
On  the  .ere  the  head   of  the   United 

ivernment  and  his  chief  advisers;   Govern- 
ors; 1  ,t  munici- 
pal c                                               rinces  of  trad     and 
Rfi  ers  of  the  entire  Board  of 
ent    of    the   then   greatest   railroad    in    the 

:  Id. 

'  If  by  any  accident,"  said  Joseph  Hoxie,  the  wit 
of  th'  •  should  ■  0  to  the  bottom, 

what  consternation   there  would    be   t  it  the 

L'ni-  1  the  habitab  ie!" 

rived  at   Pi  Tinont  at   7:45,   amid 
theringin;  ol  of  cannon,  and  the  cheering 


of  an  immense  assemblage  from  all  the  surrounding 
country.  President  Fillmore  made  a  brief  speech  to 
the  people.  Everything  on  the  mile-long  pier  was 
decorated  with  flags.  On  one  large  banner  was  in- 
scribed :  "We  know  no  secluded  districts."  On 
anothi  r  was:  "  Congratulations  of  Rockland  County. 
Hud--, .n  Rivi  r  .n\A  Lake  Erie." 

Two  trains,  decorated  from  locomotives  to  tear 
cars,  were  in  readiness  for  the  guests.  The  first 
one,  carrying  President  Fillmore  and  the  noted 
guests,  started  at  eight  o'clock;  the  other  one  seven 
minutes  later.  The  conductor  of  the  first  train  was 
Henry  Avers;  of  the  second,  William  II.  Stewart. 
The  weather  being   fair  and   pleasant,  Daniel  Web- 


; 

A  D  ?l 

M 

€x\ 

sin  ti 

JO  ill;  kirk. 

y     lis  li 

• 

>  1 . 

PLEASE  SHO. 

IS    TICK! 

IT    Wl 

:en  requested 

s  Cif. 

THIS  1 

ICKH 

1     1 

FAC-SIMILE  REPRODUCTION  OF  THE  TICKET  OF  ADMISSION  TO 
I  ill  i.ii  SION  TRAIN.  ORIGINAL  OWNED  BY  BENJAMIN 
H.  LOD1  R,  I  SQ.,  BROOK!  YN,  X.  V. 

ster  rode  on   a   flat   car,  at   his  own   request,  a  b 

j  rocking  chair  being  provided  for  him  to  sit  in. 
He  chose  this  manner  of  riding  so  thai  he  could 
better  view  and  enjoy  the  fine  country  thro 
which  the  railroad  passed.  It  seemed  as  if  all  the 
inhabitants  of  that  portion  of  historic  Rockland 
Count}-,  N.  Y.,  en  one  hand,  and  of  Bergen  County. 
N.  J.,  on  the  other,  had  flocked  to  the  railroad  to 
raise  their  voices  in  rejoicing  that  the  long-awaited 
and  momentous  event  was  at  last  at  hand.  But 
b  foi  the  leading  train  had  gone  many  miles  the 
annoying  discovery  was  made  that  the  engine  was 
not  equal  to  the  task,  and  the  engine  of  the  second 
train  was  brought  into  service  to  push  the  head  0 
along,  and  thus  help  the  leading  locomotive  out. 

I  ocomotive  building   was  but    little  more  than  in 
its  infancy  in  this  country  then,  and  Paterson,  N.  J., 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE  99 

was   making   the    reputation   which    has    made    it    a  the  crooked   Delaware  Division   it  was  not  the  fault 

center  of  that  industry  for  almost  the  entire  world.  of   the   engine.       He    made   his    runs   on  time  easier 

Rogers  and  Swinburne  were  rivals  in  the  business,  with   "71  "   than   he   had   ever  done  with    previous 

and    both    had    turned    out    engines    for    the     Erie,  locomotives,  and   had   run   her  but  two  weeks  when 

Among    the    engineers    running    on    the    road    were  the   great   event   of  botli  his  and  Swinburne's  lives 

Joshua   R.    Martin   and   Gad    Lyman.     The    former  occurred. 

ran  from  Port  Jervis  to  Susquehanna,  the  latter  from  After  Gad  Lyman  had  abandoned  No.  71  as  usi 
Piermont  to  Port  Jervis.  Martin  had  been  running  he  was  given  an  engine  of  the  Rogers  make — No.  100. 
a  locomotive  from  the  Rogers  shop  named  "  Onei-  In  May,  1851,  Lyman  was  notified  that  he  was  to 
da,"  which  he  called  the  "  One  Idea,"  because  he  run  the  excursion  train  from  Piermont  with  his 
said  it  only  seemed  to  have  one  idea,  and  that  was  locomotive,  and  he  was  a  proud  man  when  he  pulled 
that  it  couldn't  do  the  work  he  wanted  it  to  do.  In  open  its  throttle  and  started  on  that  historic  day. 
December,  1850,  Swinburne  delivered  to  the  Com-  But  before  he  had  gone  many  miles  Engineer  Lyman 
pany  a  locomotive  known  as  No.  71.  Engineer  saw,  much  to  his  dismay  and  chagrin,  that  his  engine 
Martin  set  his  heart  on  the  engine,  because  he  was  with  difficult}'  hauling  the  train,  and  that  he 
believed  it  was  a  good  one,  and  for  the  further  reason  could  not  make  time.  Before  he  reached  Suffern 
that  he  was  a  firm  friend  of  Swinburne's,  and  wanted  the  engine  was  "  stuck,"  and  the  one  on  the  rear 
to  give  the  locomotive  the  best  possible  test  for  the  train  was  called  to  its  aid,  as  noted  above.  This 
benefit  of  the  builder.  The  locomotive,  however  engine  was  the  Steuben,  or  No.  6,  Onderdonk  Meritt 
was  assigned  to  Gad  Lyman,  who  was  a  strong  advo-  engineer,  James  Gillin  fireman.  The  train  reached 
cate  of  the  Rogers  locomotives.  Lyman  ran  the  en-  Goshen  in  this  way,  much  behind  time, 
gine  for  some  time,  but  complained  constantly  that  At  Chester,  N.  Y.,  where  the  Newburgh  Branch 
its  construction  was  such  that  he  could  not  make  his  then  had  its  terminus,  a  number  of  guests  from 
time  with  it.  As  he  failed  so  frequently  in  making  Newburgh  had  joined  the  party.  They  added  a 
his  time,  the  locomotive  was  condemned.  When  splendid  banner  to  the  collection  of  such  offerings 
Martin  heard  of  this  he  made  application  to  Master  already  aboard  the  excursion  train.  On  one  side 
Mechanic  John  Brandt,  who  in  those  days  ruled  in  of  it  was  a  view  of  Newburgh  Bay,  looking  toward 
all  such  matters,  to  have  charge  of  "71."  The  West  Point,  with  a  train  of  cars  in  the  foreground 
Master  Mechanic  said  that  the  machine  wasn't  worth  on  the  right,  taken  from  the  south  end  of  the  village 
bothering  with  for  regular  business,  and  he  assigned  near  the  point  where  the  branch  railroad  entered, 
it  to  duty  on  the  gravel  train.  The  failure  of  the  enclosed  in  a  medallion  or  shield,  surmounted  by  an 
engine  was  a  severe  blow  to  Swinburne,  who  had  eagle  holding  in  its  beak  a  scroll,  with  the  names  of 
exercised  his  best  skill  and  knowledge  in  the  science  the  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  Company 
of  locomotive  construction  to  turn  out  a  perfect  and  the  names  of  the  other  Directors  tastefully 
machine.  Martin  did  not  lose  faith  in  the  engine's  displayed  on  the  leaves  and  scrolls  which  formed  the 
qualities  and  capacity,  however,  and  continued  so  border  of  the  shield.  Over  it  was  the  motto :  "This 
persistently  to  solicit  Master  Mechanic  Brandt  for  its  peaceful  victory  more  glorious  in  its  triumph  than 
charge  that  the  latter,  who  was  very  emphatic  in  the  Austerlitz  or  Waterloo."  And  underneath  :  "  Neigh- 
use  of  language,  told  the  engineer  to  "take  the  bors  to-day,  strangers  yesterday.  Newburgh.  Dun- 
damned  old  thing  and  go  to  hell  with  it."  At  kirk."  On  the  1  was  a  faithful  representation 
Martin's  request,  Swinburne  took  the  locomotive  to  of  Washington's  Headquarters,  over  which  was  the 
his  shop  for  the  purpose  of  remedying  whatever  defect  motto:  "  This  day  wanting,  the  world  had  not  seen 
he  had  made  in  its  construction,  but  a  careful  exami-  the  extent  of  human  greatness."  The  banner  was 
nation  of  the  parts  failed  to  reveal  anything  wrong.  painted  by  a  Newburgh  artist  named  Charles  W. 
Martin  then  assumed  control  of  the  throttle  on  Tice. 
"  71,"  and  if  he  was  ever  late  in  making  his  time  on  At  Goshen  ex-Governor  W.    II.  Seward,  who  had 


IOO 


fWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  Nil.  LAKES 


I    the  vill  Florida,  near  by,  his 

native   v  joined   the   party.      At    Middletown 

Webster  addressed  the  people.     The  trains  were  an 
hour  late  there,  with  Cud  Lyman's  engine  still  incom- 
petent.     At     Middletown    General    Superintendent 
irles  Minot  sent  a  telegram  to  "  Josh  *'  Martin  at 
I   [ervis  over  the  first  railroad  telegraph  line  ever 
constructed,  and   then   but  recently  in  operation,  to 
be  ready  with  his  engine  "  ~i  "  when  the  first  ex- 
cursion  train   reached   Port  Jervis,   to  take  it  on  to 
lehanna. 

"  I  was  present  when  Josh  received  the  dispatch," 
5 the  Rev.  H.  Dutcher,  of  Warwick,  N.  V.  "  He 
was  in  his  glory.  With  an  extra  chew  of  tobacco, 
and  with  his  monkey  wrench  and  oil  can,  he  had  the 
'  71  '  in  order  and  blowing  off  at  140  pounds  pressure 
to  the  square  inch  long  before  the  train  came  in 
sight.  When  the  train  arrived,  forty-seven  minutes 
late,  Martin  backed  up  '  71  '  and  coupled  on.  Swin- 
burne, her  builder,  who  was  one  of  the  excursionists, 
stepped  upon  the  engine  to  ride,  and  Martin  slapped 
him  on  the  shoulder  and  said: 

'  Swinburne,  I  am  going  to  make  you  to-day,  or 
break  my  neck ! '  " 

At  Port  Jervis  a  vast  concourse  of  people,  from 
three  States  and  numerous  counties,  had  assembled 
to  welcome  the  train.  The  village  fire  department 
was  out  in  force  and  gala  attire,  and  a  local  band 
responded  to  the  strains  of  the  great  Dodsworth's 
band  as  the  train  steamed  to  the  station.  A  scarlet 
silk  banner,  beautifully  trimmed,  was  presented  to 
the  officers  of  the  Company,  bearing  the  inscription, 
on  one  side:  "  The  Banks  of  the  Delaware  Welcome 
the  Iron  Horse  from  the  Atlantic."     On  the  reverse: 

Pr<  sented  by  Citizens  of  Port  Jervis,  May  14, 
i."  As,  according  to  the  official  programme,  the 
first  train  had  only  five  minutes  to  stop  at  Port  Jervis, 
or  Delaware,  as  the  station  was  then  called,  the  train 
was  started  on  its  way  before  the  presentation  addi 
was  completed,  and  left  a  great  many  heart-burn: 
among  the  good  people  of  Port  Jervisand  vicinity 
who  ha  Med  to  do  honor  to  the  distinguished 

excui 

A  incident — to    many    amusing   and    to 

others  not — occurred  at  the  reception  of  the  excursion 
train  at  !'  liver  Young,  a  leading  lawyer 


and  citizen  of  the  place,  and  a  strong  anti-slavery 
man,  had  been  one  of  Daniel  Webster's  most  ardent 
admirers  for  years,  but  when  Webster  supported  the 

measures  that  led  to  the  passage  of  the  Fugitive- 
Slave  Law,  Counsellor  Young  denounced  him  as 
unfaithful  to  his  tru-t.  When  the  excursion  train, 
bearing  Webster  and  the  rest,  stopped  at  Port  Jervis, 
Mr.  Young  had  devised  means  to  demonstrate  the 
indignation  he  felt  toward  his  former  hero.  He  did 
this  by  moving  up  and  down,  presumbly  in  sight  of 
Webster,  bearing  a  banner  on  one  side  of  which,  in 
large  letters,  was  the  word,  "  TRAITOR!"  On  the 
other  side  was  the  inscription:  "  SLAVE-DRIVER !  " 
What  the  effect  of  this  was  upon  the  distinguished 
statesman  it  was  intended  to  rebuke  is  not  recorded; 
but  it  gave  Counsellor  Young  great  satisfaction  then 
and  during  all  his  after  life. 

It  is  declared  by  old  railroaders  to  this  day  that 
a  train  has  never  run  over  the  Delaware  Division  of 
the  Erie  at  greater  speed  since  that  memorable  day. 
The  late  Captain  Avers  was  the  conductor.  The 
distance  between  Port  Jervis  and  Narrowsburg  is 
thirty-four  miles,  and  the  run  was  made  in  thirty- 
five  minutes,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the 
conductor,  engineer,  and  several  passengers.  The 
officers  of  the  road  with  the  party  were  astounded. 
The  passengers  were  alarmed,  and  some  of  them 
wanted  the  train  stopped  so  they  could  get  off. 
The  party  dined  at  Narrowsburg,  at  the  hospitable 
house  of  Major  Fields.  The  train  was  late  in  leav- 
ing Port  Jervis,  and  it  was  necessary  to  make  up 
lost  time.  Whatever  of  this  was  really  regained 
between  Port  Jervis  and  Narrowsburg,  it  is  a  fact 
that  the  trains  were  detained  at  the  latter  place  half 
an  hour  by  hot  journals. 

During  the  repast  .it  Narrowsburg  a  set  of  resolu- 
tions was  adopted  by  the  Railroad  Company's 
guests,  and  presented  to  the  President  and  Direct- 
ors. Governor  Marcy  made  the  presentation  speech, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  said: 

"  Men  of  the  highest  genius  and  eloquence  in 
the  land  have  bestowed  the  warmest  eulogiums  on 
the  energy  and  devotion  of  the  Hoard  of  Directors 
in  the  prosecution  of  their  great  work,  but  the 
most  elegant  tribute  of  praise  is  the  work  itself." 

The    train   sped  on   through  the   Delaware  Valley, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE  101 

stopping  at  Cochecton,  Callicoon,  and  other  places  astic,  if  not  harmonious,  reception  awaited  the 
to  take  on  invited  guests  and  give  the  people  an  excursionists  there.  Susquehanna  had  then  the 
opportunity  to  see  and  hear  the  great  men  who  most  extensive  railroad  yard  on  the  line.  Sixteen 
were  the  orators  of  the  occasion.  At  Callicoon  a  locomotives  were  on  the  switches,  side-tracked  with 
banner  which  created  much  amusement  to  all  was  their  trains  until  the  special  trains  had  passed.  As 
presented  to  the  officers  of  the  Company.  On  one  the  excursion  train  drew  up  to  the  station,  the  six- 
side  of  it  was  this  inscription:  teen  locomotives  blew  their  whistles  and  rang  their 
DAMASCUS,   WAYNE   CO     PENN  l;>e"s    in    chorus — and    a    deafening    and    discordant 

chorus   it   was.       Added   to  the  din  the  locomotives 

So  long  as   Pennsylvania  Taxes   the   New   York   and   Erie  ,                  ,       ,            .            . 

Railroad  Company  $,o.ooo  a  Year  to   Run  Through  made'  WaS  the  booming  of  a  cannon  on   an   adjacent 

Pike  County,  We  are  Pennsylvanians— with  a  Proviso.  hill,    the   piece   being  kept   in   active  operation   by  a 

company  of  local   militia.      A   broad  scarlet  banner, 

On  the  reverse  side  was  this:  stretched    over    the    railroad    at    the    station,    bore 

BRING    OUT   THE    BIG   GUN,  words  of  greeting  and   welcome  to  the  visitors,  who 

T  O-DFRi 

„.     ,r                       T      "     .     ;     ,7  „              „.„  were  met  at  the  station  by  the  entire  population  of 
The  Mountains  are   Levelled,  the  Valleys  are  Filled, 

and  the  Marsh  is  Dry.  tne  place.     There  was  a  procession  of  railroad  em- 
ployees, at  their  head   Luther  Coleman,  one  of  the 

The  former  was  an  expression  in  a  jocose  way  of  pioneer    locomotive    engineers    of    the    road,    who 

the  indignation   the  people   along  the   railroad   felt  discoursed  airs  of  welcome  on  what  now  would  be 

because  the  Company  was  compelled   by   its  grant  an    old-fashioned    copper-key    bugle.      "  There  has 

from    Pennsylvania    to    pay    a    perpetual    bonus    of  been,"    says   one  who    was    present,   "  considerable 

$10,000  a  year  into  the  treasury  of  that   State,  as  is  'spiritualistic'    preparation   for  the   reception,   and, 

recorded  in  detail  in  a  preceding  chapter.     The  latter  after  the  departure  of  the  train,  the  festivities  were 

inscription  was  a  play  on  the  names  of  the  President  prolonged  the  remainder  of  the  day  and  evening." 

and  Secretary  of  the  Company,  Benjamin  Loder  and  The   trains  tarried  at  Susquehanna  a  few  minutes, 

Nathaniel  Marsh.  and   proceeded   on    their   way,    ushered   out   by  the 

At   Deposit,  which   station    was   made  on   time,  a  same  chorus  of  many-keyed  whistles  and  loud  boom- 
stop   of   five   minutes  was  made,   amid   the   roar  of  ing  of  cannon. 

saluting  cannon.     Judge  Knapp,  Maurice  R.  Hulce,  The  largest  gathering  of  people  that   had  greeted 

Esq.,  and  other  prominent   citizens  were   taken  on  the  pioneer  through-train  anywhere  along  the  route 

board.      President   Fillmore  and  Mr.  Webster  made  was  encountered     at    Binghamton,    then    a   village, 

brief  speeches.  More  than    4,000    persons,    a    large    proportion    of 

When   Starucca  Viaduct    came   into   view   as    the  them  young    women,    welcomed    the    excursionists. 

train  glided  down  the  western  slope  of  the  mountain  A    large    white    banner,    bearing    simply    the    word 

between  Deposit  and  Susquehanna,  there  was  great  'Welcome,"   was  conspicuously  displayed.      Presi- 

enthusiasm    among  the  passengers,    and   the  trains  dent  Fillmore  appeared  on  the  platform   of  his  car, 

were  stopped  for  a  few  minutes  at  the  viaduct.    The  his  head  bared,  and  spoke  as  follows: 

President's  party  and   many  others  left  their  car  to  „.                      ..  r  ,,                a          ■    ,         .     , ,    , 

1        -                        -  The  ]                        Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  un- 

inspect  and  admire  this  greatest  and  most  beautiful  seen,  and  wash-  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air,''  but  tins  can 

work  of  masonry  then  in  this  country,  and  enjoy  the  n°  lon&  '   '"    *id  "'"  Binghamton,  or  of  the  other  .lashing 

villages  on  the  track  of  a  railroad  which  connects  the  Atlantic 

landscape   scene  of   which   it   was  the  center,   then,  wjt],  Lake  Erie. 

as  now,  one  of  the  fairest  on  the  continent. 

A  mile   beyond    was    Susquehanna   Depot,  where  The  banner  was  then  presented.     Daniel  Webster 

Josh  Martin  and  "71"  landed  the  excursionists  only  addressed  the  multitude: 

eight  minutes  late,  in  spite  of  the  thirteen   minutes'  T  can  hardly  say  more  than  express  the  pleasure  I  have  in 

stop  at  Cascade  and  Starucca  Viaduct.      An  enthusi-  seeing  you  and  the  western  end  of  this  great  work  of  art.    I 


BE  I  \\  11  N     1111     I  »  E  \\    AND   Till     LAKES 


re  and  the 

I  their 

from  these 

•    •  hills.     It  utiful  and  a 

healthy   i  m   and 


retary  of  the  Navy  Graham  also  made  a  speech. 
1  laniel  S.    1  >ickinson  joined 

the  party  at  Binghamton  and  the  train  sped  on. 

The  citi  Iwego  liad  made  preparations  for 

a  fitting  reception.  The  train  arrived  there  about  5 
o'clock  P.M.  While  Webster,  in  response  to  per- 
mit calls,  was  speaking,  the  signal  was  given  and 
the  train  moved  off.  The  crowd  cheered,  but  there 
was  much  disappointment.  At  Waverly  a  handsome 
white  satin  banner,  designed  and  made  by  the  ladies 
the  villa  presented  as  the  train  stopped. 

It  bore  the  simple  inscription:  *'  Westward,  Ho!  " 

The  hour  scheduled  for  the  arrival  of  the  excursion 
at  Elmira,  where  it  was  to  remain  over  night,  was  6.40 
P.M.,  but  it  did  not  reach  there   until  7  o'clock.       A 
ind  demonstration  in  honor  of  the  event  was  ready 
for  the  ceremonies   when    the    distinguished   guests 
arrived.      The  military,  the  firemen,  the  civic  socie- 
ties of  the  town  awaited  the  train,  with  flags  flying, 
cannon  booming,  and  the  populace  cheering.      When 
i  illmore    and    his    suite    alighted    at    the 
tion  a  national  salute  was  fired.       The  party  was 
i  m,  headed   by  Alexander  S. 
;ioke  as  follows: 

in  the   name  of   Elmira,     Tl 

of   this 
-'1  evidence  of  it-  vast 
t  length  the  climax  is  capped  bj   I 

ould  tell  us  how  much 
ur  doors,  te  a  his- 

: 111- 

I  will  not,  therefore, 
although  1  di 
iterprise.    A  i 
min  1  :i  1832  it  hed. 

1  at  by  many. 
th  in  it.  and  m  nent 

estii     ted 

tl    it    WOul  i.OOO.OOO, 

il  had  the  public  known  that 
it  woul  I  would  nol  h 

\ 

ani- 

mals  alarming  the 

■  a  dollar  in  the  tn 

tircr  (,,  inin  v 


thai         nied   !••   sa>    all    was    lost,    both    \"ur 
treasurer   and   your   president   used   to   greet    them    with 
hearty  a  laugh  as   Napoleon  gave  b(  dis- 

armed  their  suspicions,  and  when  they  saw  your  smiling  : 

went  into  Wall  Street  and  said:  "T 
Our  apprehensions    were   unfounded."    Then   the   inter] 
went  "ii  prospering,  until  now  at  length  it  is  accomplished, 
ami  everythinf  iright  and  cheering.     But  there  is  bet- 

ter cheer  For  yi  men.  than  mere  words.     We  will  show 

you  with  the  products  of  our  city  market — you 

city  gentlemen.     But  For  you,  what  would  we  know  of  fresh 

:  and  living  lobsters?  (Roars  of  laughter.)  What  is 
better  than  all.  you  have  brought  us  1  dent 

(Renewed  laughter.)  Who,  a  little  while  ago,  would  have 
expected  such  an  honor  for  this  village?  You  have  brought 
us  enlightened  statesmen,  renowned  throughout  the  world. 
You  have  brought  us  Governors,  ex  Governors,  and  Com- 
manders. Oh,  little  Elmira!  how  will  you  hear  such  honors? 
Will  they  not  spoil  you,  or  will  you  receive  them  with  meek 
content,  and  improve  them  to  your  advantage  and  that  of  the 
State?     This  is  thi  since  the  first  cannon 

planted  at  Buffalo,  and  a  line  of  guns  extended  thence  to 
Albany,  which  with  one  uninterrupted  roar  announced  that 
the  waves  of  the  Hudson  were  baptized  with  the  blue  waters 
of  Lake  Erie.     Tl  i  in  which  hind-  those  extremi- 

ties and  all  the  intermediate  pari-  together  with  links  of  iron, 
dissoluble  as  the  marriage  tie.     (Great  cheei 

President  Fillmore  and  Secretaries  Webster,  Gra- 
ham, Hall,  and  Crittenden  made  graceful  speeches  in 
respons,;  to  Mr.  Diven's  address  "f  welcome. 

The  leading  hotels  in  Elmira  were  then  Haight's 
and  Brainard's.  At  the  close  of  Mr.  Diven's  speech 
the  excursionists  were  separated  into  two  divisions. 
One.  headed  by  President  I'illmore,  was  marched  to 
Brainard's.  The  other,  with  Daniel  Webster  in 
front,  proceeded  tn  Haight's.  Magnificent  enter- 
tainment had  been  provided  by  the  village.  At 
Brainard's  Geoi  '.ray  presided,  with  the  President 
of  the  United  States  and  the  President  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  on  his  right,  and 
the  Attorney-General  and  Postmaster-General  on 
his  left.  The  banquet  was  served  at  four  long 
tables,  and  besides  the  feast  1  ired 

by  the  hotel,  the  excursion's  offii  1  il  caterer,  1 'own- 
ing, lent  the  aid  of  himself  and  waiters  in  enhanc- 
ing the  service  and  adding  variety  to  the  viands  from 
the  oard  the  train.     Then-  wei  leeches, 

at  President  Fillmore's  request.  After  the  banquet 
tin-  President  held  a  levee  in  the  parlor  of  the  hotel, 
where  li  rowds  of  enthusiastic  people 

who  jammed  the  halls  and  Streets  outside. 

Similar  acted   at    Haight's   Hotel, 

where  Webster,  1  (ickinsOn,  S  -\  ard,  and  others  of  the 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE  ,o3 

distinguished   party    were    entertained.        Although  of  which   place  even  then  was  giving  promise  of  the 

weary  and   hoarse   from   much   speaking  during    the  position  it  was   destined  to  fill  as  the  metropolis  of 

day,  Webster  responded  to  calls  for  a  speech   by  a  Steuben  County.      Ilornellsville  being  the  terminus 

short  but  eloquent  address.     Seward  also  addressed  of  the  Susquehanna  and  the  beginning  of  the  West- 

the   immense  crowd.      Although    the   eminent   visi-  em   Divisions,  a  change  in  engines  was  made  there. 

tors  retired   early,  the  streets  of   Elmira  were  alive  Charles  H.  Sherman,  one  of  the  pioneer  engineers  of 

all  night  long  with  curious  and  vociferous  people.  the   Western    Division,    with    Samuel    Tyler    as    his 

The  party  left  Elmira  at  half-past  six  o'clock  next  fireman,  attached  his  engine  to  the  head  train  to 
morning.  The  cars  had  been  further  decorated  by  finish  the  run  to  Dunkirk.  The  second  train's 
the  addition,  during  the  night,  by  the  trainmen,  of  engine  was  handled  from  Hornellsville  to  Dunkirk- 
all  the  banners  and  offerings  collected  thus  far  on  the  by  William  D.  Hall,  another  of  the  original  engi- 
trip,  and  the  gilded  standards  glittered  in  the  morn-  neers  on  the  Western  Division;  and  still  another 
ing  sun  as  the  train  sped  away  again  westward.  Con-  one,  William  A.  Kimball,  brought  up  the  rear  with 
ductors  Ayers  and  Stewart  had  run  their  respective  his  locomotive,  to  act  as  helper  if  help  was  required, 
trains  to  Elmira.  Conductors  C.  L.  Robinson  and  on  any  of  the  steep  grades  between  Hornellsville 
W.  C.  Chapin  were  to  take  charge  of  the  trains  from  and  Dunkirk.  After  speeches  by  all  the  dignitaries, 
there  to  Dunkirk.  It  was  an  extraordinary  occasion.  the  train  started  on.  At  this  place  Superintendent 
Great  liberty  and  license  were  permitted  to  every  Charles  Minot  pulled  off  his  coat  and  mounted  the 
one.  Hospitality  was  unbounded.  Everybody  was  locomotive  of  the  leading  fain,  and  rode  in  the  cab 
celebrating   and    making    merry.       Men     who    were  all  the  rest  of  the  way. 

known   as   staid   and   strict   men   unbent   themselves  One   of    the   excursionists,    making    notes    of    the 

and  dallied  perhaps  overmuch  with  the  help  to  good  trip  over  the   hills  of   the   Western    Division,   gives 

cheer    that   prevailed    everywhere,    without    money  a  vivid   idea  of  the  condition  of  that   region   at  the 

and  without  price.       Hilarity  ruled  the  night.       At  time  the  locomotive's  whistle  first  awoke  the  echoes 

six  o'clock  next  morning  Conductor   Robinson  was  there.       "  Now,"    he    wrote,    "  comes    a    long  tour 

willing   to    remain   in    Elmira,    and    W.    H.    Stewart  through   vast   lumber   regions,  showing   no   evidence 

was  placed  in  charge  of  Captain  Ayers's  section,  and  of  cultivation,  except  this  noble   road,  and  now  and 

Conductor  Chapin   ran   the   second   section.       Thus  then  a  secluded  log  hut.     We  fly  rapidly  to  places 

Conductor  Stewart  became  the  first  conductor  who  called  Almond,  Baker's   Bridge,  Andovcr,    Genesee, 

ran   a  train  the  entire  length  of  the  New  York  and  Scio,     Philipsburg,     Belvidere,      Friendship,     Cuba, 

Erie  Railroad,  from  Piermont  to  Dunkirk.  Hinsdale,  Olean,  Allegany,  Albion,  Dayton,  Perrys- 

At  Corning,  which,  since  the  construction  of  the  burg,  and   Forestville.     Most   of  these  places  are  in 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was  begun,  had  sprung  the  midst  of  the  forests,  with  few  or  no  houses  vis- 

into  being  literally  out  of  the  wilderness,  President  ible,  and   wonder  is  often   expressed  as  to  where  the 

Fillmore,  Senator   Douglas,  and  William   E.   Dodge  assembled  crowds  came   from — but  they  are  there, 

addressed  the  few  people  who  had  assembled  to  greet  and   thriving  settlements    will   soon   begin    to    show 

the  historic   train   and  its   distinguished  passengers,  what   they  are  doing."      A  prophecy  that   long  ago 

There  were  few  cheers  or  hearty  greetings  there,  for  came  true. 

the  reason,  as  a  leading  citizen  of  the  place  has  in-  Among  the  numerous    and    appropriate    banners 

formed  the  author,  that  Corning  was  then  a  Demo-  presented  at  the  several  stations  on  the  route,  one  of 

cratic   stronghold,    and    many    of    the    great    people  the  happiest  was  the  one  from  Belvidere.  Allegany 

among  the    excursionists  being  Whig  leaders,   and  County.     The  poetical  inscription  arrested  attention  : 

each  one  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  Democratic 

~        .          ,.  ,                                                   •  •    _  ,          u    i    ,  Here  the  fierce  roil  man  trod  his  pathless  way, 

Corning  did   not   propose  compromising  herself    by  v 

°                     r     r                  i-  In  search,  precarious,  dailj   !<""I  to  --lay. 

turning  out  and  shouting  for  them.      An  enthusiastic  Qr,  hid  in  ambush,  sprang  upon  his  foe, 

greeting  met   the  train   at    Hornellsville,  the  growth  Striking  unseen  the  unsuspected  blow; 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


ds  his  fiery  win. 
plenty  bi 
nr  borders  ilr.iw, 
ilumbia's  I 
white  mar  ice  or  war; 

>m  ill  you  arc! 

At  large   number   of    Indians  of  the 

Ca-.  Reservation  had  assembled  to  see  their 

White  Father.     They  were  dressed  in  their  peculiar 
:iid   some  of  them  were  painted.       Presi- 
dent  Fillmore  addressed  a  few  words  to  them,  ex- 
seeing    them    in    such    good 

.'.tli.  and  some  of  the  party  purchased  articles  of 
aboriginal  fashioning.  The  excursionists  began  to 
men  frequently  mingled  among  the  whites 
at  different  stations  through  which  the  railroad 
passed,  as  it  ran  for  several  miles  through  the  re- 
served Indian  lands. 

'  The  route  through  Cattaraugus,"  wrote  the  ob- 
servant  excursionist  quoted  above,  '*  affords  a  suc- 

>ion  of  views  of  the  most  stupendous  scenery  that 
any  railway  ever  passed  through.  As  the  road 
winds  among  these  titanic  mountains,  we  are  filled 
with  awe  at  the  majestic  sublimity  of  landscape.      It 

i   perfect   wilderness;  but  down   in   the  deep  val- 

-  and  up  the  mountain  sides  a  patch  of  black 
stumps  may  be  seen,  and  now  and  then  the  smoke  of 
the  destructive  settler  rises  through  the  tops  of  the 
t.ill  pines  he  is  leveling  both  with  fire  and  axe." 

At  Dayton,  Cattaraugus  County,  on  the  summit 
from  which  the  first  glimpse  of  Lake  Erie  was  had, 
a  glimpse  which  was  greeted  with  glad  huzzas  from  a 
hundred  throats,  the  people   had  assembled   to  wel- 

ne  the  distinguished  party,  and  make  memorable 
the  important  event  with  a  military  salute  from  an 
•1  piece  which  had  done  duty  in  the  War  of 
[812.  The  gunner  was  Ebenezer  A.  Henry.  He 
had  fired  one  gun  and  had  loaded  the  piece  for  an- 
other, when  it  was  prematurely  discharged.  Both 
of  Henry's  anus  were  blown  off,  and  one  eye  de- 
The  unfortunate  man  was  carried  away, 
his  death  beinj  thi  to  i  m  itter  of  a  short 
tim  lection  in  his  behalf  was  taken  up  among 

tli«-  excu  id  a  comfortable  sum  of  money 

I  oad  Company  subsequently  con- 

tributed {   • 

At    Dunkirk,  lly,    the   western    terminu 


the  road  being  there,  most  elaborate  preparations 
had  been  made  for  the  fitting  celebration  of  the 
event  that  had  called  the  modest  little  village  on 
the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  suddenly  into  a  world-wide 
prominence,  and  for  the  suitable  entertainment  of 
the  illustrious  and  distinguished  guests  to  whom  it 
was  to  be  host  on  the  momentous  occasion.  For 
weeks  the  town  and  its  surrounding  country  had 
contributed  freely  of  their  resources,  so  that  the 
celebration  might  only  not  fail  of  success,  but  be  of 
everlasting  honor  to  the  village  and  its  people.  The 
thousands  who  were  sure  to  crowd  the  streets  on 
the  day  of  days  must  be  fed,  though  a  famine  result 
to  the  outlying  country.  So  favorable  was  the  prog- 
ress of  the  preparations,  that  when  the  morning  of 
the  15th  of  .May  broke,  it  shone  on  a  village  resplen- 
dent in  its  holiday  garb,  and  with  a  commissariat 
worth}-  of  the  sustenance  of  an  army  on  a  long  cam- 
paign, as  the  official  programme  for  the  occasion, 
here  reproduced,  well  indicated  : 

RAILROAD    FESTIVAL 
to  be  giver  to 

■   THE     PRESIDENT     AND      DIRECTORS     OF     THE     NEW     YORK 
AND     ERIE     RAILROAD     COMPANY 
And   their   invited   guests   on   the   completion   of   and 
opening     of     the     New     York     and     Erie 
Railroad,     connecting    the     Ocean 
with   tlu    Gre  a    1.  ikes,  at 
Dunkirk,     on    Thurs- 
day,   May    15. 
1851. 

■  PROGRAMME. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  Secretary  of  State,  and 
Heads  of  Departments  of  tin-  General  Government. 

The  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  Heads  of  De- 
partments  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  Mayor  and  Municipal  Officers  of  the  City,  together 
with  other  distinguished  !  ■!  by  the  President  ami 

Directors  of  the  New  York  anil  Erie  Railroad  Company,  will 
leave  Xew  York  at  6  a.  \t..  Wednesday,  May  i-i,  stopping  at 

ira    one    night,   and    will    arrive     it    Ihmkirk.    May    15.    at   4 

i'.  m.,  when  the  Company  will  he  received  with  appropriate 
ceremoi 

After  which  a  collation  will  be  served  up  at  the  Station 
House,  to  which  all  are   freely   invited. 

1111.1.     OF     1    \KK. 

Chowder,  becued  whole.  10  sheep  roasted 

whole,    heei   a    la    mo. le.    boiled    ham,    corned    beef,    buffalo 
1  .  bei  I  tongui  s  1  smoked  and  pickled), 
100  roast  fowls,  I 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


105 


In  the  evening  a  magnificent  display  of  fireworks  in  com- 
memoration of  the  great  triumph  of  art  over  nature: 

1.  Plantain  Tree. 

2.  Pride  of  America. 

3.  Egyptian  Pyramid. 

4.  Palma  Christi. 

5.  Star  of  Independence. 

6.  Chandelier  Illuminated. 

7.  Passion  Flower. 

8.  Triumphal  Arch,  with  motto  for 

occasion. 

George  A.  French,  Chairman  of  Committee. 


The  whistle  of  the  locomotive  that  signaled  the 
approach  of  the  pioneer  through-train  was  heard  in 
Dunkirk  about  half-past  four  in  the  afternoon.  This 
was  the  whistle  of  the  first  Western  Division  engine, 

Dunkirk,"  sounded  by  the  engineer  who  brought 
it  on  the  road,  set  it  up,  and  ran  it — Horatio  G. 
Brooks.  He  had  gone  out  with  his  engine  to  meet 
the  train.  Instantly  church  bells  began  pealing 
forth  a  glad  welcome,  and  cannon  roared.  The  vast 
throng  went  wild  with  excitement.  When  the  train 
came  in  sight,  the  two  having  been  made  into  one 
before  entering  Dunkirk — Brooks  and  his  engine 
leading  the  van — a  salute  of  thirteen  guns  was  fired 
from  the  United  States  steamer  "  Michigan,"  lying 
in  the  harbor,  and  by  the  artillery  of  the  65th  Regi- 
ment on  the  common  near  by,  in  honor  of  the  Pres- 
ident and  his  party.  The  train  first  ran  beneath  a 
canopy  formed  by  the  union  of  the  French,  Ameri- 
can, and  British  flags.  Beyond  this,  approaching  the 
terminus  of  the  tracks,  a  triumphal  arch  of  ever- 
greens and  flowers  had  been  erected.  It  was  sur- 
mounted by  the  American  flag.  Near  by  the  arch, 
on  a  substantial  pedestal,  and  at  the  extreme  end  of 
the  railroad,  was  an  old-fashioned  plow,  on  which 
was  printed  the  word  "  Finis."  This  was  the  plow 
used  in  breaking  ground  at  Dunkirk  in  July,  1838, 
for  the  historic  ten-mile  section. 

At  the  platform  erected  for  the  reception  of  the 
guests  were  two  banners,  which  were  afterward 
presented  to  the  President  and  Directors;  one  by 
the  ladies  of  Dunkirk  and  the  other  by  citizens.  On 
the  first  was  inscribed:  "The  ladies  of  Dunkirk 
honor  the  perseverance  of  the  officers  of  the  New- 
York  and  Erie  Railroad.  May  15,  1851."  Beneath 
the  inscription  was  a  view  of  New  York  harbor.  On 
the  other  was  inscribed:  "  The  New  York  and  Erie 


Railroad  and  Erie  Canal — Monuments  to  the  Enter- 
prise and  Resources  of  the  Empire  State.  1SJ4- 
1851."  In  the  neighborhood  of  the  terminus  there 
were  other  flags  suspended  from  the  houses  and  build- 
ings. One  was  inscribed:  "  The  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad,  the  greatest  achievement  of  human  enter- 
prise, unites  forever  the  ocean  and  the  lakes."  In 
the  extensive  shed  erected  for  the  purpose,  a  repast 
was  spread  for  the  dense  crowd.  It  extended  along 
Railroad  Avenue  from  Deer  Street  to  Lion  Street. 
The  table  was  300  feet  long,  the  whole  length  of  the 
building.  The  barbecued  oxen  excited  much  curi- 
osity. There  was  pork  and  beans  in  tin  vessels 
holding  fifty  gallons  each.  Bread  had  been  baked 
in  loaves  ten  feet  long  by  two  in  width,  and  their 
weight  was  such  that  it  took  the  strength  of  two 
men  to  carry  them.  Ranged  along  the  table  were 
barrels  of  cider  to  wash  down  the  viands.  The 
author's  home  was  in  Dunkirk  then.  As  a  six- 
year  old  boy  he  remembers  that  occasion  chiefly 
from  the  fact  that  the  shanty  in  which  an  ox  was 
being  barbecued  caught  fire  and  was  burned,  ox  and 
all. 

When  the  officers  of  the  Company  alighted  from 
the  train,  near  the  triumphal  arch,  Mr.  Loder  was 
introduced  to  the  thousands  of  people  by  Chairman 
Carpenter  of  the  Reception  Committee,  in  a  brief 
speech.  William  E.  Dodge  responded  on  behalf 
of  the  officers  and  Directors  of  the  Company,  as 
follows: 

I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to  express  my  own  feelings,  much 
less  to  give  vent  to  the  deep  emotions  of  my  associates,  as  we 
begin  to  realize  the  fact  that  we  are  at  the  end  of  our  long 
am!  toilsome  journey,  that  our  eyes  look  out  upon  this  mighty 
lake  and  backward  over  a  continuous  line  of  rail  to  our  city 
homes.  Oh,  yes!  it  is  no  fiction.  We  have  reached  the  goal 
of  our  hopes.  And  now.  as  we  look  back  on  the  days  of 
darkness,  disappointment,  and  toil — and  they  were  many — let 
us  to-day  forget  them  all  in  our  rejoicing  that  over  all  we 
have  triumphed,  and  that  at  hist  this  arduous  work  has  been 
accomplished.  The  Empire  City  and  the  gnat  West,  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  inland  seas,  are  by  this  ligature  of 
iron  made  one. 

Who  will  attempt  to  predict  the  future  of  this  road?  Al- 
though my  friends  have  called  me  crazy  in  my  estimates  of  its 
growth.  I  feel  to-day  that  if  I  am  spared  to  make  fresh  esti- 
mates ten  years  hence.  I  shall  wonder  at  my  present  tame 
views  and  stinted  calculations. 

What  mind  can  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  this 
country?  What  was  Buffalo,  or  Cleveland.  Detroit.  Cincin- 
nati,  or   St.   Louis   in    1832,    when   this   road   was   chartered' 


io6 


BETWEEN     FHE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


.iiid  Minnesota?    When 

velops,  will 
Who   can    compute    its 
■    . 

and 

nd  to  the  multitudes 

in  the  West   wi  ng  watched  for  the  completion  of 

built    this    highway    tor    you    and    your 

:  ity. 

Mr.  Dodge's  speech  was  greeted  with  enthusiastic 
cheering.  The  Dunkirk  hand  played  '  Yankee 
Doodle,'*  after  which  the  banners  were  presented  to 
the  President  and  Directors  of  the  Railroad  Com- 
pany— the  banner  prepared  by  the  ladies  of  Dunkirk 
and  the  one  tittered  by  the  citizens.  They  were 
accepted  by  Director  Dodge,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Loder 
and  his  fellow  Directors.  Three  cheers  were  given 
for  the  ladies  of  Dunkirk,  after  which  the  following 
commemorative  ode,  written  for  the  occasion,  was 
sung: 

Ay.  let  the  welkin  ring 

With  cannon's  roar. 
Tune  high  each  joyful  string 

In  this  glad  hour. 

Ring  out  a  merry  peal, 

Fling  banners  high, 
Throng  round  the  festive  board 

With  mirth  enjoy. 

Darkness  and  doubt  have  long 

Over  us  hung; 
Fitful  and  far  the  gleams 

Hope  o'er  us  flung. 

But  now  her  steady  light 

Shines  o'er  our  way. 
Sing  with  united  voice 

"  This  is  our  day." 

And  while  our  thanks  arise 

at  high   power 
Who  from  the  gloom  of  night 
Brings   this   fair  hour. 

We  to  our  faithful  friends 

Thanks  wi  i  too, 

Who  through  ; 

Stoo  nd  true. 

We  joy  with  you  o'er  labor  done, 
-t  we  greet, 
to  the  Queen  of  Hudson's  wave 
Love  and  homage  mete. 


Swell  high  the  festive  strain, 
Shout   amid   the  cannon's    ■ 

■  mvey 
The  echo  to  each  distant  shore. 


A  procession  was  then  formed  under  the  direction 
of  the  Marshal  of  the  Day.  Noah  D.  Snow.  It  was 
loci  by  President  Fillmore,  his  Cabinet,  and  the 
Erie  officials,  and  paraded  through  the  streets  to  the 
strains  of  Dodsworth's  band,  and  back  to  and  around 
the  depot  or  shed,  where  the  public  refreshments 
were  spread,  the  procession  entering  it  at  the  east 
side.  All  were  interested  in  the  grand  display.  The 
barbecued  oxen,  suspended  from  poles:  the  roasted 
sheep,  resting  leisurely  on  immense  dishes;  the  ten- 
foot  loaves  of  bread,  the  tubs  of  pork  and  beans, 
were  examined  and  praised.  President  Fillmore  was 
attracted  particularly  by  the  pork  and  beans,  and 
would  have  been  pleased  to  taste  them  had  the 
crowd  permitted  him  to  do  so.  Mr.  Webster  in- 
spected the  chowder,  but  did  not  taste  it.  He  said 
to  Crittenden  that  it  looked  nice,  and  that  he  had  no 
doubt  it  was  properly  compounded.  He  said  that 
it  was  a  dish  of  which  he  was  particularly  fond,  and 
that  when  he  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Critten- 
den at  Marshheld  he  would  invite  him  to  eat  some 
of  his  own  making.  He  said  he  had  the  reputation 
of  making  it  well. 

"A  little  port  wine,"  he  said,  "  is  a  great  improve- 
ment in  chowder,  and  if  you  ever  undertake  to  make 
any,  I  would  recommend  you,  by  all  means,  to  put 
a  pint  of  old  portinto  it.  Then  you  will  be  as  par- 
tial to  it  as  I  am  myself." 

The  barbecue  was  under  the  direction  of  Enoch 
Carter,  assisted  by  C.  \V.  Tice,  William  Lisle,  J.  H. 
II.  Chapman,  J.  K.  Lawson,  William  C.  Lawson, 
R.  Sterling,  W.  C.  Pcnnoyer,  and  W.  Caulfield,  of 
Newburgh,  X.  Y. ,  and  W.  Simonson,  of  Cold  Spring, 
N.  Y.  The  table  was  decorated  with  four  banners, 
also  the  production  of  artist  Tice.  One  was  a  view 
of  Dunkirk  harbor,  with  the  motto:  "  New  York 
welcome  to  Dunkirk."  On  the  next  was  painted  a 
shield  enclosing  a  view  of  a  train  of  cars  passing  over 
a  viaduct,  with  the  names  of  three  engineers,  Sey- 
mour, Stancliff,  and  Swift,  and  the  motto:  "  Science 
and  art  have  leveled  the  mountains,  filled  the  val- 
leys, bridged   the   rivers,   and   joined   the  lakes    and 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


107 


ocean  with  iron."  On  the  third  was  a  view  of  a 
train  of  cars  passing  through  a  deep  cut,  with  the 
motto:  "  'Tis  done — 'tis  done — the  mighty  chain 
that  binds  bright  Erie  to  the  main."  On  the  fourth 
banner  was  a  view  of  the  depot  at  Dunkirk,  with  a 
train  of  cars  entering,  together  with  the  inscription: 
"  Completed  May  15,  1851." 

The  banner  first  in  the  Dunkirk  procession  was 
the  one  presented  by  the  Waverly  ladies,  bearing 
the  significant  inscription:  "  Westward,  Ho!" 

After  inspecting  the  depot  thoroughly,  the  pro- 
cession reformed  and  marched  to  the  Loder  House, 
where  tables  were  spread  for  the  guests.  President 
Fillmore  and  the  other  distinguished  men  were 
introduced  to  the  people  by  Lieutenant-Governor 
George  W.  Patterson.  Speeches  were  made  by  ex- 
Governor  Seward,  Senators  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
and  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  Secretary  Crittenden, 
Governor  Hunt,  Ely  Parker,  the  eloquent  Seneca 
chief  who  became  General  Grant's  chief  of  staff  dur- 
ing the  civil  war;  Judge  Jessup  of  Pennsylvania, 
Benjamin  Loder,  Horatio  Allen,  and  many  others. 
President  Fillmore  and  others  addressed  the  multi- 
tude from  the  windows  of  the  hotel.  One  of  these 
was  the  famous  Joe  Hoxie,  whose  wit  and  humor  on 
that  occasion  were  a  pleasant  memory  in  Dunkirk, 
and  with  all  who  heard  him,  for  many  a  day.  Wil- 
liam B.  Ogden  made  a  speech  at  the  Loder  House 
feast,  in  which  he  reflected  savagely  on  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  for  charging  the  Erie  Company  $10,000 
a  year  for  the  privilege  of  passing  over  a  poor  portion 
of  its  territory.  This  aroused  Gen.  James  Irwin,  of 
Pittsburg,  who  repelled  the  charge  of  meanness,  and 
made  some  uncomplimentary  allusions  to  Mr.  Odgen, 
who  defended  his  position.  Angry  words  followed, 
and  a  collision  was  feared,  when  Judge  Jessup,  of 
Montrose,  Pa.,  arose  and  poured  oil  on  the  troubled 
waters  by  a  timely  explanation,  saying  that  he  had 
been  employed  by  the  Company  to  obtain  the  law  at 
Harrisburg,  and  it  was  perfectly  satisfactory.  Mr. 
Ogden  apologized  handsomely,  saying  that  he  had 
been  misinformed,  and  peace  was  restored. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  speeches 
made  on  the  occasion,  because  it  was  a  contribution 
to  railroad  history  which  should  settle  forever  the  dis- 
putations on  the  subject  that  still  prevail,  was  made 


by  Horatio  Allen,  ex-President  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  and  at  that  time  its 
Chief  Engineer.  His  subject  was  the  "  Coming  of 
the  Locomotive,"  and  he  spoke  as  follows  about  the 
trial  trip  of  the  very  first  locomotive  that  ever  turned 
a  wheel  on  the  American  continent : 


When  was  it?  Where  was  it?  And  who  awakened  its 
energies  and  directed  its  movements?  It  was  in  the  year  1829, 
the  month  August,  on  the  banks  of  the  Lackawaxen,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  railroad  connecting  the  canal  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  with  their  coal  mines, 
and  he  who  addro^i  ~  you  was  the  only  person  on  that  loco- 
motive. The  circumstances  which  led  to  my  being  alone  on 
the  engine  were  these:  The  road  had  been  built  in  the  sum- 
mer; the  structure  was  of  hemlock  timber,  and  rails  of  large 
dimensions  notched  on  caps  placed  far  apart.  The  timber 
had  cracked  and  warped  from  exposure  to  the  sun.  After 
about  300  feet  of  straight  line,  the  road  crossed  the  Lacka- 
waxen Creek  on  trestle  work  about  thirty  feet  high,  and  with 
a  curve  of  350  to  400  feet  radius.  The  impression  was  very 
general  that  this  iron  monster  would  break  down  the  road, 
or  that  it  would  leave  the  track  at  the  curve  and  plunge  into 
the  creek.  My  reply  to  such  apprehensions  was  that  it  was 
too  late  to  consider  the  probability  of  such  occurrences;  that 
there  was  no  other  course  but  to  have  the  trial  made  of  the 
strange  animal  which  had  been  brought  there  at  great  ex- 
pense; but  that  it  was  not  necessary  that  more  than  one 
should  be  involved  in  its  fate;  that  I  would  like  the  first  ride 
alone,  and  the  time  would  come  when  I  should  look  back 
to  the  incident  with  great  interest. 

As  I  placed  my  hand  on  the  throttle  valve  handle  I  was 
undecided  whether  I  should  move  slowly  or  with  a  fair  degree 
of  speed,  but  holding  that  the  road  would  prove  safe,  and  pre- 
ferring, if  we  did  go  down,  to  go  handsomely,  and  without 
any  evidence  of  timidity,  I  started  with  considerable  velocity, 
passed  the  curves  over  the  creek  safely,  and  was  soon  out  of 
hearing  of  the  cheers  of  the  vast  assemblage  present.  At  the 
end  of  two  or  three  miles  I  reversed  the  valve,  and  returned 
without  accident  to  the  place  of  starting,  having  made  the 
first  locomotive  trip  on  the  western  hemisphere. 

Dr.  Wilson,  a  full-blooded  Cayuga  Indian,  made 
a  speech  at  the  Loder  House  banquet,  which,  for 
true  eloquence  and  poetic  fire,  was  by  far  the  ablest 
speech  of  the  occasion.     It  was  as  follows: 

'Fellow-Citizens:  I  am  a  Cayugan,  and  a  regular  descen- 
dant from  the  pure  stock  of  the  native  American.  Gentlemen 
here  to-night  have  boasted  about  democracy;  but  democracy 
was  established  here  long  before  the  pale  face  came  upon 
these  shores.  My  ancestors  were  democrats  long  before  the 
arts  of  civilization  drove  them  from  their  hunting  grounds 
and  the  quiet  possession  of  their  forest  homes.  The  orator 
from  Kentucky  (Crittenden)  who  addressed  you  to-night  said 
that  the  pale  faces  came  here  a  mere  handful,  and  had  grown 
to  be  a  great  nation:  but  he  forgot  to  tell  you  that  when  they 
landed  upon  these  shores,  helpless  and  in  want,  the  red  man 
fed  them  with  the  milk  of  human  kindness,  that  he  took  them 


ioS 


BETWEEN    IH1-:   OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


them  \u-  amplest  hospitalities, 

-    1  am  "  to  the  manner  born."     1   have  no 
M>  nation  can  trace  its  his- 
I  when  the  territory  dotted  by  your  grand 
a  primitive  forest.     It  lias 
1  with  the  politic-  of  the  pale  face,  and  1  think 
gentlemen  who  have  talked  her..'  to-night  about  Whigs 
rats  had  better  left  their  politics  at  home.    ("Good. 
ompleted  a  mighty  work. 
He  has  tura!  barriers;  he  has 

'.  the  valleys  of  the  Delaware.  Susquehanna,  Chemung, 
and   levelled  the  hills  which   were   roamed   by    my 
igo.      Now    their    descendants    marvel    at 
the   mighty   pale   face.      They   cannot   but    be 
■  !    to   see   him   accomplish   his   great   destiny:   to   see   him 
m  hill  to  valley,  and  ride  upon  the  wings  of  the  light- 
ning.    If  the  New  )'ork  Tribune  is  to  be  believed,  he  has  car- 
ried   his    enterprises    beyond    this    world,   and    receives   com- 
munications  from  inhabitants  of  the  other  world.     I   tried  a 
short  time  since  to  get   communication   from   my   friends   in 
the  land  of  the  great  spirit,  but  they  had  learned  the  language 
oi   the    pale    face    since    they    have    arrived    there    and    could 
not    understand    the    idioms    of   the    Cayugan.      (Uproarious 
laugh' 

But.  fellow-citizens,  in  behalf  of  my  tribe.  I  come  to  con- 
gratulate you  upon  the  completion  of  your  great  work.  Your 
passage  through  our  territory  amazed  my  people;  nature 
seemed  to  shake  as  you  thundered  along,  and  the  gigantic 
oak  and  lofty  pine  bowed  in  token  of  your  triumph.  But 
the  heart  of  the  Cayugan  is  warm,  and  he  greets  you  and 
welcomes  you  to  his  country.     (Prolonged  applause.) 

Dr.  Wilson  then  presented  to  President  Loder 
a  banner  from  the  Cayugan  tribe,  upon  which  was 
inscribed  the  pipe  of  peace,  their  national  emblem. 
He  accompanied  the  presentation  with  a  few  appro- 
priate remarks,  to  which  Mr.  Loder  responded. 

Among  the  speeches  made  in  Dunkirk  was  one  by 
Daniel  Webster  the  evening  after  the  celebration,  he 
being  too  ill  to  deliver  an  expected  address  at  the 
Loder  House  feast.  The  popular  cry  for  him  to 
speak  had  been  clamorous  and  constant  at  every 
station.  He  was  then  in  training  for  the  Presidency, 
and  had  so  often  responded  to  these  calls  that  he 
was  nearly  worn  out,  and  his  voice  well-nigh  spent. 
He  was  quite  an  old  man,  and,  indeed,  died  the  fol- 
lowing year,  broken-hearted  at  the  ingratitude  of  his 
part}-.  On  this  occasion,  though  giving  evidence 
that  he  was  physically  exhausted,  the  majesty  of 
the  man's  person,  countenance,  and  mien  was  inde- 
scribable. His  great  black  eyes,  gleaming  out  of 
cavernous  depths,  under  heavy  brows  dark  almost 
to  a  frown,  but  with  a  droop  to  the  eyelids  that 
gave   them     i   look   of    inconceivable    gloom,   smote 


upon  the  senses  of  the  spectators  with  a  weird  and 
wondrous  fascination,  lie  appeared  at  a  window  of 
the  Loder  House,  in  response  to  the  vociferous 
clamoring  of  the  multitude,  and  made  a  few  words 
of  apology  in  a  voice  so  faint  and  hoarse  that  few  in 
the  vast  crowd  could  distinguish  what  lie  said.  In 
his  address  the  next  evening  he  spoke  as  follows 
about  the  railroad : 

Mr.  Loder.  who  devotes  so  much  of  his  time  and  atten- 
tion to  the  affairs  of  the  Company,  receives  a  small  compen- 
sation. The  other  sixteen  Directors  do  not  receive  a  cent. 
Several  of  these  gentlemen  have  for  years  given  two  hours 
of  their  time  to  the  prosecution  of  this  work  for  one  they 
have  devoted  to  their  own  private  business.  They  derive  no 
benefit  from  it.  except  what  they  derive  in  common  with  the 
of  the  community;  and  such  has  been  sometimes  the 
state  of  the  finances  that  the  whole  thing  must  have  stopped 
if  they  did  not  pledge  their  private  fortunes  and  raise  heavy 
sums  upon  their  individual  security.  I  heard  the  Secretary 
saj .  within  the  last  two  days,  that  there  was  a  time  when 
there  was  not  a  dollar  in  the  treasury,  and  not  one  could  be 
raised  except  at  a  ruinous  sacrifice.  But  these  men  came 
forward  with  $365,000  to  save  the  enterprise.  This  I  call 
public  spirit. 

Webster's  speech  was    made  in  the  large    dining 
hall  of  the  Loder  House  at  7  P.M.  of  May  16th. 

President  Fillmore  and  Mr.  Webster  were  the 
guests  in  Dunkirk  of  Hiram  Rislev,  President  of  the 
Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad  Company.  The 
other  of  the  invited  guests  slept  on  steamboats  in 
the  harbor.  Mr.  Webster  had  intended  to  accom- 
pany the  President  to  Buffalo  on  the  steamer"  Mich- 
igan," but  was  detained  in  Dunkirk  until  the  next 
day,  owing  to  the  illness  of  his  son  Fletcher.  The 
New  York  Herald,  in  commenting  on  the  excursion 
editorially,  said;  "The  unreported  speeches,  say- 
ings, talk,  and  incidents  of  the  tour  to  Dunkirk 
would  reveal  a  drama  of  the  deepest  interest  to  the 
benighted  world  around.  One  of  the  most  impas- 
sive facts  which  lias  struck  us  in  reading  the  reports 
was  the  presence  of  so  many  Presidential  candidates 
in  the  trains,  at  one  time  no  less  than  six.  Thl 
started  from  New  York — Fillmore,  Crittenden, 
Webster.  Three  jumped  up  behind,  like  naughty 
boys  on  the  way — Douglas,  Seward,  and  Matey. 
There  were  at  least  a  dozen  candidates  for  Vice- 
dent  along." 

President    Fillmore   and   his  party  continued  their 
trip  on    the   [6th  to  Buffalo  by  way  of  Lake   Erie, 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


109 


Daniel  Webster  excepted.  President  Loder  and  the 
excursionists  returned  as  they  had  come,  and  the 
journey  home  was  greeted  with  almost  as  much  of 
an  ovation  along  the  line  as  the  journey  out.  At 
Elmira  the  trains  again  remained  over  night,  and 
next  morning  were  made  into  one  for  the  rest  of  the 
return  trip. 

The  dream  of  nearly  a  score  of  years  was  realized 
at  last.  The  ocean  was  united  with  the  lakes. 
Could  they  who  had  brought  about  this  consumma- 
tion, through  toil,  tribulation,  and  sore  trial,  but 
have  gazed  into  the  future  of  the  railroad  thus  quick- 
ened through  them,  and  by  them  confidently  to  be 
consigned  to  posterity  as  a  gift  to  it  to  be  cherished 
and  preserved,  would  they  not  have  been  moved 
rather  to  lamentation  than  rejoicing?  For  would 
not  the  vision  have  been  that  they  had  reared  not  a 
proud  and  lasting  monument  to  the  honor  of  them- 
selves and  the  confidence  of  the  people,  but  rather 
had  builded  only  the  foundation  for  a  structure 
where  fraud,  corruption,  peculation,  and  robbery 
were  to  dwell  and  riot  for  many  a  year  ? 

Immediately  after  the  opening  of  the  railroad  to 
Dunkirk,  President  Loder,  broken  in  health,  and 
feeling  that  he  had  performed  fully  the  duty  he  had 
undertaken  to  perform,  six  years  before,  tendered 
his  resignation.  He  was  in  the  western  part  of  the 
State  when  this  communication  was  received  by 
the  Directors.  The  result  of  his  determination  to 
retire  is  better  explained  in  the  following  extract 
from  a  private  letter  of  his,  under  date  of  June  24, 
1851  : 

In  relation  to  my  resignation  I  would  remark  that,  when 
I  returned  from  the  West,  I  was  met  by  a  committee  of  seven 
of  the  Directors,  who  urged,  entreated,  and  pleaded  with  me  to 
withdraw  my  resignation,  anticipating  scarcely  less  than  ruin 
from  my  withdrawal  at  the  present  time— threatening  to  resign 
themselves,  etc. — offering  to  afford  me  any  amount  "t  help 
that  I  wanted,  allowing  me  to  go  away  as  long  as  I  thought 
best,  etc.,  etc.,  and  pressed  the  matter,  until  I  was  compelled 
to  withdraw  my  resignation  to  prevent  a  sort  of  break-up. 
This  unanimous  burst  of  feeling  in  expression  of  confidi 
is  certainly  gratifying,  but  brings  with  it  a  load  of  responsi- 
bility and  labor  anything  but  agreeable.  I  am  now  engaged 
in  organizing  the  running  and  working  of  the  road,  and  hope, 
when  that  is  accomplished,  that  it  will  move  on  without  my 
constant  attention. 


IV.    RISING    CLOUDS. 

As  early  as  1834,  during  the  debate  in  the  New 
York  Assembly  on  the  bill  proposing  to  extend  the 
aid  of  the  State  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company,  Assemblyman  Wilkinson,  in  his  speech 
on  the  subject,  declared  that  the  natural  eastern 
terminus  of  the  railroad  was  at  a  point  in  New 
Jersey,  opposite  New  York  City,  instead  of  on  the 
bank  of  the  Hudson,  twenty-five  miles  north  of 
the  metropolis,  and  that  such  would  eventually 
be  its  terminus.  There  were  some  long-headed 
men  in  New  Jersey  who  held  to  the  same  belief, 
and  who  were  not  by  any  means  timid  in  practi- 
cally demonstrating  the  fact.  There  was  but  one 
feasible  way  that  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road could  get  to  a  point  in  New  Jersey,  opposite 
New  York  City.  That  was  south  from  Suffern, 
through  the  Paramus  Valley  to  Paterson,  and 
thence  to  Jersey  City,  and  that  route  was  taken 
in.  possession  by  certain  shrewd  and  far-seeing  Jer- 
seymen  by  the  obtaining  of  charters  for  two  rail- 
roads, one  from  Jersey  City  to  Paterson,  to  be 
known  as  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad, 
and  one  from  Paterson  to  the  State  line  at  Suffern, 
to  be  known  as  the  Ramapo  and  Paterson  Railroad. 
The  former  was  built  and  opened  as  early  as  1S36,  but 
the  latter  was  left  lying  in  embryo  until  the  fact  be- 
came apparent  that  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
was  in  a  fair  way  to  be  completed.  The  Ramapo 
and  Paterson  Railroad  was  then  built.  It  was  put 
in  operation  in  1848,  its  terminus  being  only  a  short 
distance  from  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  at 
Suffern. 

Owing  to  the  provisions  of  the  charter  of  the  Erie, 
the  railroad  was  not  permitted  to  connect  with  any 
railroad  running  into  another  State.  For  more  than 
a  year  the  Company  ignored  the  existence  of  the 
new  railroad.  It  could  not,  however,  prevent  pas- 
sengers from  quitting  its  trains  at  Suffern  and  con- 
tinuing their  journey  to  New  York  by  the  Ramapo 
and  Paterson  and  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River 
Railroads,  or  from  coming  from  New  York  by  that 
route  and  taking  the  Erie  cars  at  Suffern.  The  new- 
route  saved  twenty  miles  of  distance,  and  from 
an    hour   to    an    hour   and    a    half    in    time,    and    a 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


majority  traveling  over  the  Erie  patronized 

it.  The  Erie  not  only  ignored  the  New  Jersey  rail- 
riminated  against  them  by  making 
the  fare  between  Stiffen)  and  Geneva,  both  ways, 
the  the  regular  fare  was  between  New  York 

and  Geneva— this  latter  point  being  then  the  western 
terminus  of  travel  to  Buffalo  by  the  Erie,  through 
the  connection  at  Elmira  with  the  Chemung  Rail- 
road, which  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany had  leased  and  was  operating.  But  passengers 
paid  the  extra  fare  between  New  York  and  Suffern 
by  way  of  the  New  Jersey  lines  to  avoid  the  tardi- 
ness and  annoyances  of  the  Piermont  and  Hudson 
River  route. 

This  discrimination  against  the  New  Jersey  inde- 
pendent railroads  continued  even  after  the  passage 
by  the  New  York  Legislature  of  the  General  Railroad 
Bill,  which  became  a  law  in  1850,  and  which  com- 
pelled all  railroads  of  the  State  to  provide  connect- 
ing railroads  every  facility  for  the  proper  interchange 
of  business.  The  Erie  provided  the  facilities  for  the 
New  Jersey  route,  but  did  not  change  its  rate  of 
fare. 

Under  this  new  law  the  Union  Railroad  Company 
was  formed,  with  authority  to  build  and  maintain 
a  railroad  from  the  terminus  of  the  Ramapo  and 
Paterson  Railroad  to  the  Erie  depot  at  Suffern,  thus 
giving  close  connection  between  the  two  roads.  Still 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  strove  to 
compete  with  the  new  connection  by  increasing  the 
speed  of  its  passenger  trains  and  steamboats,  but 
all  to  no  purpose.      I  rs  for  New  York  got  off 

the  Erie  trains  at  Suffern,  and  those  traveling  west- 
ward bought  tickets  at  New  York  over  the  New 
Jersey  line  to  Suffern,  instead  of  by  the  Erie  steam- 
boats to  Piermont.  The  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  was  at  last  forced  to  recognize  the 
decided  preference  of  the  public  for  a  shorter  and 
more  direct  and  certain  route  to  New  York  than  by 
the  way  of  Piermont,  and  to  acknowledge  the  fact 
that  its  railroad  had  become  unpopular  with  the 
traveling  public  through  the  Company's  persistence 
in  trying  to  force  patronage  over  a  roundabout  route, 
and  uary  10,  1851,  it  obtained  control  of 

the  Pati  1  m  and  Ramapo  Railroad  and  the  Paterson 
and  Hudson  River  Railroad  by  li  ich  line  dur- 


ing the  continuance  of  its  charter,  which  was  perpet- 
ual, with  the  right  to  change  the  roads  to  the  six- 
foot  gauge,  or  to  make  any  other  change  that  would 
most  benefit  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad. 

This  aroused  the  people  along  the  line  of  the  Erie 
between  Suffern  and  Piermont  to  a  state  of  great 
excitement — especially  certain  prominent  citizens  of 
Piermont,  who  knew  what  a  damaging  effect  the 
diversion  of  the  traffic  of  the  railroad  from  Piermont 
would  have  on  the  property  interests  of  that  place. 
A  meeting  of  citizens  was  called  at  Piermont,  and 
among  others  the  following  resolution  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  that  this  recent  act  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company,  in  diverting  the  travel  and  business  from 
the  County  of  Rockland,  and  in  transferring  the  terminus  of 
their  road  from  the  State  of  New  York  to  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  intentions  of  their  charter 
and  the  laws  of  the  State,  merits  and  should  receive  the  repro- 
bation of  all  citizens  of  this  State. 

The  movers  in  this  effort  to  keep  the  business  of 
the  railroad  to  the  roundabout  and  inconvenient 
route  by  the  way  of  Piermont  and  the  Hudson  River 
based  their  assertions  of  the  wrong  and  injustice  of 
the  change  on  the  allegation  that  the  people  of 
Rockland  County  had  made  large  donations  of  land 
for  the  terminal  facilities  of  the  road  at  Piermont, 
and  contributions  of  money  toward  the  building  of 
the  road.  This  was  mainly  land  under  water,  the 
right  to  improve  which  for  commercial  purposes  was 
granted  by  the  State  to  Eleazar  Lord  and  others, 
without  cost  to  them.  Up  to  1845  l'le  Railroad 
Company  had  expended  §200,000  in  making  the  sub- 
merged lands  available,  and  up  to  185 1  had  used 
$100,000  more  in  completing  the  work.  The  mate- 
rial used  in  the  filling  in  of  the  necessary  area,  as  the 
management  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  charged  in  185 1,  had  been  purchased  at  a 
large  price  from  Eleazar  Lord,  who,  with  others, 
owned  all  the  abutting  land,  making  the  cost  of  the 
land,  it  was  claimed,  more  than  its  real  value  could 
have  been  for  any  Other  purpose.  A  suit  had  1> 
brought  by  Eleazar  Lord  to  recover  a  large  portion 
of  the  land  thus  made  by  the  Company,  and  thirty 
fi  1  t  of  the  long  pier.  The  Company  was  then  en- 
ed  in  dredging  in  front  of  the  pier  to  make  it 
better  available   for  its  business,  and  an  injunction 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


1 1 1 


was   issued   in    that  suit  restraining  it   from   further 
work  there,  pending  the  result  of  the  litigation. 

The  Piermont  meeting  resulted  in  the  sending  of 
a  petition  to  the  Legislature  praying  for  the  passage 
of  an  act  prohibiting  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  from  making  any  further  arrangement 
by  which  any  of  its  trains  should  be  discontinued 
between  Suffern  and  Piermont,  the  fact  being  ap- 
parent that  the  New  Jersey  railroads  would  naturally 
become,  in  the  no  distant  future,  virtually  a  part  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad.  The  Legislature 
appointed  a  committee  to  investigate  the  merits  of 
the  controversy,  the  result  of  which  was  a  report 
against  approving  of  the  petition  of  the  Rockland 
County  people,  but  favoring  a  bill  prohibiting  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  from  run- 
ning any  of  its  freight  trains  through  New  Jersey. 
The  management  of  the  Company  gave  every  assur- 
ance that  it  was  not  its  intention  to  disturb  the  ar- 
rangement for  the  transportation  of  freight,  with  the 
termini  of  that  business  at  Piermont  and  Newburgh, 
because  it  could  be  done  cheaper  in  that  way;  but 
the  Secretary,  Nathaniel  Marsh,  at  the  same  time 
announced  that  "  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  time 
would  come  when  the  traffic  of  the  road  would  be  so 
great  that  it  could  not  be  accommodated  either  at 
Newburgh  or  Piermont,  and  that  when  that  time 
came  it  would  be  in  vain  for  directors  or  legislators 
to  attempt  to  withstand  the  demands  of  the  public, 
for  the  cheapest  and  most  convenient  route  would  be 
found  and  adopted."  The  bill  of  prohibition  was 
not  passed;  the  Piermont  litigation  was  decided  in 
favor  of  the  Company;  and  the  attempt  to  force  it 
to  continue  the  running  of  its  passenger  trains  over 
a  route,  the  delays  and  annoyances  of  which  passen- 
gers insisted  on  avoiding  by  leaving  the  Erie  cars  to 
take  those  of  another  line,  came  to  the  only  end  that 
common  sense  and  the  best  interests  of  the  Company 
could  have  foreseen. 

Although  the  railroad,  after  a  long  struggle,  was 
continuous  at  last  between  the  Hudson  River  and 
Lake  Erie,  so  much  haste  had  been  made  in  doing 
the  work  necessary  to  get  the  connection  complete 
within  the  legislative  limit,  that  much  of  the  road, 
it   may  be  said,  was  only  technically  a  railroad.     A 


large  sum  of  money  and  months  of  work  were  yet 
necessary  to  put  the  track  and  roadbed  in  such  shape 
that  traffic  could  be  entrusted  regularly  upon  the 
line  with  safety  and  profit.  This  was  particularly 
the  case  on  the  Western  Division.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  railroad  had  been  doing  active  busi- 
ness on  section  after  section  of  the  line  during  all 
the  time  the  struggle  to  complete  the  road  was 
going  on.  The  first  section  was  put  in  operation 
from  New  York  to  Goshen  in  September,  1841  (in- 
cluding the  ferry  from  New  York  to  Piermont  as 
part  of  the  system);  to  Middletown  in  June,  1843; 
to  Port  Jervis  in  January,  1848;  to  Binghaniton  in 
January,  1849;  t0  Owego  in  June,  1849;  to  Elmira 
in  October,  1849;  to  Hornellsville  in  September, 
1850.  The  Newburgh  Branch  was  opened  in  1850, 
and  the  main  line  had  connection  with  Buffalo  by 
way  of  the  Chemung  Railroad  from  Elmira  to  the 
head  of  Seneca  Lake,  by  steamboat  on  that  lake  to 
Geneva,  thence  by  the  Canandaigua  and  Buffalo 
Railroad.  The  earnings  of  the  railroad,  according 
to  the  reports  of  the  Company,  were  increasing 
every  year,  and  showed  a  promising  excess  over 
expenses.  They  were  absorbed,  however,  by  road 
repairs,  interest  payments,  and  other  obligations. 

The  railroad,  including  sixty  miles  of  double  track, 
wharves,  turnouts,  and  sidings,  locomotives,  cars, 
steamboats,  and  stations,  had  cost  §23,500,000.  Ex- 
clusive of  the  rolling  stock  and  other  property,  the 
cost  of  the  railroad  was  $43,333  per  mile,  or  six 
times  the  estimate  that  Judge  Wright  and  his  aids, 
Seymour  and  Ellet,  had  decided,  in  1834,  was  a 
"  liberal  one  "  to  place  the  cost  at.  But  the  actual 
cost  of  the  road  was  low,  for  no  line  of  railroad  ever 
built  up  to  that  time  had  greater  physical  difficulties 
to  overcome  than  this  one  encountered.  The  cost 
exceeded  the  estimate  made  by  the  Directors  in  their 
report  for  the  year  1S50  by  §3.080,000. 

In  the  first  place,  the  engineers'  report  to  the 
Company  of  the  estimated  cost  of  the  railroad  and 
right  of  way  between  Hornellsville  and  Dunkirk  was 
$1,353,368  less  than  the  actual  cost  was  found  to  be. 
The  locomotives  and  cars  exceeded  their  estimated 
cost  by  half  a  million  dollars;  unexpected  expense 
in  terminal  buildings,  wharves,  fences  (of  which 
latter  300  miles  were  built  by  the  Company  along  its 


i  i  2 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  INK  LAKES 


d  a  subscription  i     -  oo  to  the 

Line   Railroad  Company  to  secure 
•     :i    from    Dunkirk    to    Erie,    increased    the 
d  to  these,  the  Company,  in  order 
t    the  road   through   in   time,   was  obliged   to 
'"  incur inci  xpenses  in  doing  the  wdrkdayand 

night,    amid    frost    and    snow,    and    to   assume   work 
contr  led   in  performing,  and   in  transporta- 

of   materials    for  the   superstructure — doing    in 
one  year  an  amount  of  work  no  other  railroad  com- 
pany had  ever  accomplished   in   less  than    between 
and  three  ye  Yet,  large  as  the  cost  of  the 

railroad  seemed,  it  was  not  above  the  average  of  that 
of  railroads  that  had  been  built   in  other  States,  and 
nan  the  average  cost  of  many  of  the  important 
railroads  of  New  York  State.      All  this  the  Directors 
assured  the  stockholders  in  their  annual  report  after 
the  railroad  was   in   operation   between   the   Hudson 
and   Lake    Lrie,  and    it   was   undoubtedly  the  truth. 
If  any  interested  parties  to  the  matter  had  doubts 
about  the  economy  of  the  management  and  the  gen- 
uineness of  their  professions,  a  dividend  of  four  per 
cent,    on   the   earnings   of   the   road    for  the  last  six 
months   of    1851,    which    was   declared    earned,    and 
payable  January  [3,   1852.  more  than  likely  changed 
the  minds  of  such  doubters.     The   receipts  for  the 
first   six   months  of  the   railroad's  through   business 
:<j.  the  earnings  of  the  month  of  De- 
cember being  estimated  at  $300,000.     The  expenses 
■rating   the    road    were    §738,656,  and    of    the 
ed    in    the    Western    trade, 
$90,000.      Other  expenses    were    $<j,6oo,    making  a 
This  left  a  net  revenue  of  $917,- 
deducting  from  which  the  interest  charges  due 
on  the  Company's  debt,  amounting  to  $604,722,  the 
Directors  had  $312,307  surplus,   out  of  which  they 
paid  the  first  actual  dividend  the  stockholders  of  the 
and   Erie  Railroad  had  received,  previous 
payments  on    earnings    of    the    incomplete   railroad 
being  classed  as  interest. 

iening  of  the  railroad  to  Dunkirk  there 
had   b  led   to   it.    .1,   literal    roads   or  feeders, 

ind  Corning  Railroad,  from  Elmira 
to    Gei  the    Lackawanna    and    Western    Rail- 

road,   com  it    Great    Rend,  and   extending  to 

Scranton;    the    Buffalo    and    State    I. me     Raili 


connecting  at  Dunkirk.  There  were  tin  11  (Decem- 
ber, 1851)  under  way  the  Buffalo  and  New  York 
City  Railroad,  from  Buffalo  to  Hornellsville,  now 
part  of  the  Buffalo  Division,  ami  tin-  ( 'ohocton  Val- 
ley Railroad,  now  the  Rochester  Division.  At  the 
beginning  of  1852  the  financial  condition  of  the 
npany  was:  Bonded  debt,  $14,000,000;  stock, 
$6,000,000;  floating  debt,  $3,080,000 — a  total  of 
$23, oSo.OOO.  The  Company's  assets  were  525  miles 
of  railroad,  which  had  cost  $20, 150,163.56;  132  loco- 
motives. $1,118,152.26;  seventy-two  passenger  cars, 
$178,290.84;  1,505  freight  and  emigrant  cars,  $864,- 
9S6.44;  four  barges  and  two  steamboats,  $101,141; 
two  machine  shops  and  contents,  $195,381.01;  the 
Duane  Street  pier,  $10,426.69;  office  building  and 
depot  at  Duane  and  Reade  Street-.  SS.  1,677.37 ; 
wood,  $197,824;  material  on  hand,  telegraph  line, 
cash,  and  bills  due,  $170,000;  water  stations  along 
the  line,  $511,872.83;  stock  in  the  Buffalo  and  State 
Line  Railroad  Company,  $250.000 — total.  $25,787.- 
916.01.  The  circumstances  that  led  to  the  subscrib- 
ing for  the  stock  in  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Rail- 
road Company  were  as  follows:  At  the  beginning  of 
1851  measures  were  in  progress  by  persons  interested 
in  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  to  build  an  inde- 
pendent line  of  railroad  from  Dunkirk  to  the  line  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  prevent  the  diversion  of  the  trade 
of  the  West  to  the  Central  Railroad  by  way  of  the 
Buffalo  anil  State  Line  Railroad.  This  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  rivalry  was  subsequently  compromised, 
and  the  Erie  and  the  Central  joined  in  building  a 
neutral  railroad  to  subserve  the  interests  of  both,  and 
for  that  purpose  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  subscribed  and  paid  S250,OO0. 

The  double  track  was  mainly  on  the  Eastern  end 
of  the  road.  In  their  annual  report  for  185 1  the 
Directors  announced  that,  for  the  purpose  of  paying 
the  floating  debt,  and  to  aid  in  building  100  miles  of 
double  track  from  Great  Bend  westward,  the  Com- 
pany  proposed  to  issue  $6,000,000  of  bonds,  payable 
in  ten  years  (the  remaining  unissued  stock.  $4,500,- 
000,  being  1-  yet  unavailable),  convertible  into 
stock,  and  bearing  seven  per  cent,  interest.  This 
track,  it  was  estimated,  could  be  put  down  for  $10,- 
000  per  mile,  and  the  Directors  declared  it  was  im- 
peratively required  by  the  increasing  business  of  the 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


i  i 


railroad.  "A  sufficient  amount  of  the  capital  stock," 
they  said,  "  can  be  made  available  for  the  immediate 
completion  of  the  double  track.  The  security  for 
payment  of  all  the  Company's  obligations,  and  all 
the  money  they  propose  to  borrow,  is  ample  and 
undisputable. " 

Investors  must  have  been  of  the  same  mind,  for 
$3, 000,000  of  these  convertible  bonds  were  sold  on 
January  8,  1852,  at  prices  ranging  from  eighty-five 
to  eighty-eight,  and  there  were  bids  for  $8,000,000. 
Subsequently  S3, OOO, 000  more  were  sold.  Of  the 
first  issue  Homer  Ramsdell  took  $40,000,  and  Powell, 
Ramsdell  &  Co.,  $100,000.  Thus  $6,000,000  more 
was  added  to  the  already  heavy  bonded  debt  of  the 
Company.  It  was  but  the  continuance  of  that  policy 
of  impatience  that  could  not  wait  for  actual  results  in 
the  railroad's  traffic,  but  must  discount  their  future, 
estimating  their  value  without  sufficient  recognition 
of  the  effects  upon  them  of  possible  business  depres- 
sion, crop  failures,  unfavorable  seasons,  and  the 
competition  of  rival  lines — a  policy,  added  to  that  of 
submitting  to  "  shaves"  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  per 
cent,  on  the  par  value  of  the  securities  placed  on  the 
market,  securities  that  quickly  brought  par  and  even 
premium  in  the  hands  of  the  shrewd  purchasers,  that 
led  the  Erie,  step  by  step,  into  the  disastrous  entan- 
glements that  have  harassed  the  misused  property 
for  a  generation  and  a  half,  and  made  it  the  football 
in  the  most  disreputable  games  Wall  Street  stock- 
jobbers and  wreckers  have  set  going  within  that  time. 

The  evils  of  this  financial  policy  became  more  and 
more  apparent  as  time  passed,  and  the  policy  of  the 
management  in  operating  the  railroad  was  far  from 
popularizing  it  with  the  traveling  or  shipping  public. 
Local  freight  rates  were  increased  to  such  an  extent, 
and  certain  towns  along  the  line  were  so  palpably- 
discriminated  against  in  the  way  of  accommodations 
for  both  passengers  and  freight,  that  indignation 
meetings  were  called  at  various  localities,  protesting 
s 


against  the  methods  of  the  Company,  and  advocating 
appeals  for  legislative  relief.  Although  thousands 
and  thousands  of  dollars  had  been  raised  every  year 
since  1849,  to  be  used  for  the  betterment  of  the  road, 
its  condition  steadily  grew  worse  instead  of  better. 
The  roadbed  and  track  were  in  such  a  deplorable 
condition  in  1852  that  the  railroad  became  notorious 
for  the  insecurity  of  travel  upon  it,  and  that  year 
passed  into  Erie  history-  as  the  year  of  many  acci- 
dents. There  were  no  less  than  thirty  serious  acci- 
dents on  the  road  that  year,  sixteen  of  them  within 
two  months,  on  the  Delaware  Division  alone.  Some 
of  these  were  due  to  carelessness  in  the  runni- 
trains,  but  a  majority  of  them  was  caused  by  the 
breaking  of  rails,  which  were  brittle  cast  iron,  and 
badly  worn,  especially-  on  the  Delaware  Division. 
These  mishaps  were  attended  not  only  with  great 
financial  loss  to  the  Company,  but  with  sacrifice  of 
life. 

In  spite  of  all  these  obstacles  to  the  winning  of 
business  for  the  road,  the  earnings  increased,  show- 
ing for  1852  the  favorable  amount  of  $3,340,1  50.  In 
that  year  the  Erie  was  provided  with  a  direct  Buffalo 
connection  by  the  opening  of  the  Buffalo  and  New 
York  City  Railroad  from  the  former  place  to  Hor- 
nellsville.  The  tracks  of  the  Ramapo  and  Paterson 
and  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroads  were 
changed  to  the  six-foot  gauge  in  the  winter  of  1852- 
53,  so  that  the  connection  between  Jersey  City  and 
Dunkirk  became  an  unbroken  line  of  railroad.  But 
while  the  earnings  as  reported  showed  a  large  excess 
over  expenses,  for  some  reason  the  Company  stood 
in  the  anomalous  position  of  making  money  and  yet 
steadily  falling  behind  in  its  expense  account.  Wall 
Street  was  playing  with  its  shares,  and  it  was  not  a 
reassuring  fact  to  the  public  that  among  those  who 
were  speculators  in  the  Erie  stock  was  the  Com- 
pany's  own  Treasurer,  who  owned  or  controlled 
25,000  of  its  shares. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    HOMER    RAMSDELL— 1853    TO    1857. 

Ramsdell  -  ler— Charles  Minot  Retires,  and   I>.  C.  McCaUum  Comes  in  as  General   Superintendent  and   Precipitates  a 

ike  on  the  Railroad  —  More  Hard  Lines  (or  Erie  —  Bankruptcy  Imminent,  but  I  laniel  1  >rew  and  Others  Come  to  the  Rescue 

—  An  Investigation  and  the  Sinking  Fund —  A  Beautiful  Erie  Rainbow —  Ramsdell's  Master  Stroke  in  the  Matter  of  the  Long  Dock 

and  Land  for  Terminal  Facilities —  Father  of  the  liergen  Tunnel  —  Another  Strike,  Disastrous  in  the  Extreme  —  A  Ruin- 

Rate  War,  and  the  Erie  in  a  Crisis — Ramsdell  Retires  and  Charles  Moran  comes  in. 


The  discontent  among  the  stockholders,  who  saw 
the  earnings  that  they  thought  should  be  turned  into 
dividends  for  themselves  absorbed  by  interest  on 
bonds  or  by  maintaining  and  improving  a  far  from 
complete  railroad,  began  to  find  such  expression  that 
a  change  of  management  became  inevitable,  and  at 
the  annual  election  of  1S53  new  men  came  into  the 
Directory,  and  Benjamin  Loder,  who  had  virtually 
worn  himself  out  in  the  service  of  the  Company, 
gladly  retired  as  head  of  the  enterprise  he  had  done 
so  much  for,  and  was  succeeded  by  Homer  Ramsdell, 
of  Newburgh. 

The  earnings  of  the  railroad  for  1853  were  $4,318,- 
762,  an  increase  of  Si ,022,812  over  those  of  the  pre- 
vious year.  The  stock  ruled  in  the  street  at  about 
eighty,  and  the  bonds  were  at  and  above  par,  the 
long-time,  or  seventy-year  7  per  cent,  convertible 
bonds,  being  especially  strong  and  in  demand.  The 
r  1853  was  not  distinguished  for  any  exciting 
episodes  in  the  management  of  the  Company  or  of 
the  railroad,  and  the  condition  of  the  latter  was  but 
little  bettered.  Freight  rates  were  made  still  higher, 
and  discrimination  against  various  towns  were  per- 
0  that  the  Company  continued  to  be  ex- 
tremely unpopular  along  the  line. 

But  while  the  year  1853  was  not  particularly 
eventful  in  incidents  due  directly  to  the  Erie  man- 
agement, the  business  and  plans  of  the  Company 
were  greatly  disturbed  and  interfered  with  toward 
the  close  of  the  year,  and  for  months  in  1854,  by  the 
bitter,  bloody,  and  prolonged  strife  known  at  the 
time  as  the  "  War  of  the  Gauges,"  which  arose  from 
a  determination  of  the  people  of  Erie,  Pa.,  to  pre- 
vent   all   communication    by  rail   between    the    New 


York  and  Erie  Railroad,  or  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad,  and  the  desired  connection  at  the  Ohio 
line  with  the  railroad  there  (now  the  Lake  Shore), 
unless  all  freight  should  break  bulk  at  Erie  and  be 
reloaded  there,  and  all  passengers  change  cars  at  that 
place.  In  other  words,  the  people  of  Erie  refused 
to  permit  the  building  of  a  railroad  through  the  place 
or  near  it  that  did  not  have  a  different  gauge  from 
either  the  Erie  track  or  the  New  York  Central  track, 
thus  forcing  the  breaking  of  bulk  at  Erie  so  that  the 
work  would  add  to  the  resources  of  the  place.  This 
war  was  accompanied  by  much  discomfort  and  hard- 
ship to  travelers  and  great  loss  and  damage  to  freight, 
and  consequent  misfortune  to  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company.  The  full  story  of  this  most 
extraordinary  opposition  to  easy  and  quick  commu- 
nication between  the  East  and  West  is  told  in  detail 
elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

The  railroad  business  was  also  disorganized,  and  its 
profits  greatly  reduced  in  1854  by  a  war  of  rates 
between  the  New  York  Central  and  the  Erie.  In 
the  winter  of  that  year  a  convention  of  railroad  man- 
agers was  held  at  Albany,  at  which  it  was  agreed 
between  the  Erie  and  the  Central  that  their  rates  for 
passenger  and  freight  from  Buffalo  to  New  York, 
and  vice  versa,  should  be  uniform.  In  the  following 
May  the  Central,  charging  that  the  Erie  had  been 
cutting  passenger  rates  between  those  points,  over 
its  Buffalo  and  New  York  City  Railroad  connection 
(the  present  Buffalo  Division  of  the  Erie),  made  a 
heavy  reduction  in  rates  over  its  own  lines.  The 
rate  that  had  been  agreed  upon  was  $9  for  through 
passengers.  The  Central  made  a  rate  of  $7.50  from 
Buffalo    to    New  York,    and    put  on   a  second  class 


HOMER    RAMSDKLL 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE  n5 

train  to  connect  with  Hudson  River  boats  at  Albany,  bonds,  amounting  to  $337,000,  was  to  fall  due  on 
for  which  the  rate  was  §4.  These  reductions  forced  September  1st.  The  Company  also  had  bills  to  the 
the  Erie  to  a  similar  cut,  and  the  consequent  loss  amount  of  $600,000  due  in  that  month,  and  $700,- 
was  great.  In  August,  however,  at  a  general  rail-  000  in  October.  More  than  that,  the  five-year 
road  convention  held  at  New  York,  a  restoration  of  income  bonds,  issued  in  1X50  for  §3,500,000,  were 
the  regular  rate  was  effected.  to  mature  in  February,  1S55.  Hut  this  was  a  con- 
Charles  Minot,  who  had  come  in  as  General  Super-  tingency  for  future  apprehension,  and  while  its  pos- 
intendent  of  the  railroad  in  1850,  was  called  upon  by  sibilities  had  a  disheartening  effect  on  Erie  affairs, 
the  Directors  in  May,  1854,  to  put  in  force  a  code  of  it  was  the  pressing  immediate  needs  of  the  Coin- 
rules  for  the  government  of  employees  which  had  pany  that  threatened  and  harassed  the  manage- 
been  drafted  by  D.  C.  McCallum,  then  Superinten-  ment.  Nothing  but  a  substantial  temporary  loan 
dent  of  the  Susquehanna  Division.  Superintendent  could  tide  it  over  its  difficulties.  Then,  in  this  emer- 
Minot  read  the  rules,  and  reported  that  he  could  not  gency,  Henry  Sheldon,  one  of  the  leading  Direct- 
approve  of  all  of  them,  as  they  were  not  capable  of  ors,  and  a  prominent  commission  merchant,  was 
application  to  the  successful  operation  of  the  railroad.  forced  to  make  an  assignment  by  the  stringency  of 
The  Directors  informed  him  that  the  rules  must  the  times.  Sheldon's  failure  was  followed  by  that 
be  adopted  and  enforced.  Superintendent  Minot,  at  of  two  other  influential  members  of  the  Board, 
any  rate,  was  not  in  favor  with  the  ruling  influences  Edward  C.  Weeks  and  Gouverneur  Morris, 
in  the  Board,  Homer  Ramsdell  and  Daniel  Drew,  The  Company  succeeded  in  borrowing  §350,000 
although  he  was  exceedingly  popular  with  the  em-  on  acceptances  endorsed  by  various  members  of  the 
ployees  and  along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  he  having  Board,  and  secured  by  hypothecation  of  bonds  of 
more  than  once  protested  against  the  discriminations  1883.  Subsequently,  on  August  29,  1854,  Corne- 
of  the  Board  against  Goshen  and  other  towns  in  the  lius  Vanderbilt  endorsed  the  Erie's  paper  for  $400,- 
running  of  trains  and  the  arrangement  of  freight  000,  to  secure  him  in  which  a  mortgage  on  the  rail- 
charges.  Minot  refused  to  enforce  the  new  rules  road  and  its  franchises  and  on  180  locomotives,  2,975 
and  resigned,  arid  was  succeeded  by  D.  C.  McCallum,  cars,  and  upon  other  chattels  of  the  Company,  was 
who  inaugurated  a  system  of  management  so  strict,  executed.  August  31st  Daniel  Drew,  then  and  for 
and  demanding  such  discipline  among  employees,  years  afterward  a  power  in  the  financial  world,  and 
that  it  soon  gave  rise  to  discontent  and  open  acts  of  who  was  a  member  of  the  Erie  Board  of  Directors, 
revolt,  especially  among  engineers  and  firemen.  The  endorsed  for  the  Company  to  the  amount  of  over 
first  trouble  with  employees  the  Company  had  ever  $980,000,  and  took  a  mortgage  on  all  the  property 
had  came  about  in  June,  1854,  only  one  month  after  the  Company  had  left  that  could  be  mortgaged, 
McCallum  became  Superintendent.  The  engineers  which  mortgage  was  to  cover  future  endorsements, 
objected  to  two  of  his  rules,  went  on  strike,  and  the  whole  not  to  exceed  $I,000,000.  Thus  while 
gained  their  point,  after  traffic  had  been  practically  the  earnings  of  the  railroad  were  largely  above  its 
suspended  for  ten  days.  expenses,  the  Company  was  forced,  by  the  crowd- 
The  summer  of  1854  was  one  of  great  business  ing  of  such  heavy  payments  at  this  time  of  taut 
depression.  Banks  were  cautious  in  extending  ac-  purse-strings  and  want  of  confidence,  to  pledge  all 
commodation,  and  individuals  or  corporations  that  its  available  assets  to  meet  its  necessities,  and  its 
had  obligations  the  maturity  of  which  was  imminent,  stock  and  bonds  were  lamentably  depressed  in  con- 
and  which  could  not  be  met  except  by  the  obtain-  sequence.  Erie  shares  had  fallen  from  eighty  to 
ing  of  temporary  loans,  had  a  dismal  future.  It  was  forty-three.  The  bonds  had  also  declined  ten  to 
known  in  August  of  1S54  that  the  New  York  and  fifteen  per  cent.  On  September  4,  iS;.i.  President 
Erie  Railroad  Company  was  in  a  situation  such  as  Ramsdell,  in  response  to  public  demands,  published 
that.  The  semi-annual  interest  on  its  S3,ooo,ooo  a  statement.  It  simply  expressed  his  regrets  for  the 
second   mortgage  bonds   and   on    its   $5,200,000   '83  situation,  and  announced  that  the  surplus  earnings 


I  iO 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


the  road  from  October  i,  1853,  to  June  30,  1854, 

which    wen  21,    had    been    used    for    the    re- 

quiremi  the  road,  among  which  was  the  ex- 

c  of  laying  second  track. 

Late  in  the  summer  of  1854  the  fact  became  pub- 
lic that  there  were  discrepancies  in  the  report  made 
in  1S52  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Company  of  the 
floating  debt  and  the  freight  and  passenger  earnings. 
This  added  to  the  depression  in  Erie  affairs,  and 
September  14th  the  Directors  ordered  an  investi- 
gation of  the  matter  to  be  made.  James  Brown, 
Thomas  Tileston,  D.  D.  Williamson,  John  E. 
Williams,  Caleb  O.  Halsted,  David  Hoadley,  John 
II.  Gourlie,  ami  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis  were  selected 
a  committee  to  make  the  investigation.  Their  in- 
structions were  to  examine  into  all  the  books,  papers, 
accounts,  and  transactions  of  the  Company.  It  was 
expected  that  the  committee's  report  would  be  ren- 
dered before  the  annual  election  in  October,  but  it 
was  not.  That  election  of  Erie  Directors  caused 
more  than  usual  stir  in  Wall  Street. 

Two  tickets  were  in  the  field,  one  made  up  by 
the  friends  of  the  existing  Board,  and  one  by  stock- 
holders who  thought  that  the  policy  of  the  Com- 
pany required  a  change  in  management.  The  regu- 
lar ticket  contained  the  names  of  Homer  Ramsdell, 
Samuel  .Marsh,  William  E.  Dodgj,  Shepherd  Knapp, 
Cornelius  Smith,  Marhall  O.  Roberts,  Charles  M. 
Leupp,  Nelson  Robinson,  Daniel  Drew,  John 
Arnot,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  George  F.  Tallman, 
Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  William  B.  Skidmore,  Louis 
Yon  Hoffman,  Charles  Moran,  and  Ralph  Mead. 
The  independent  ticket  replaced  the  names  of 
Messrs.  Roberts,  Robinson,  and  Smith  by  those  of 
J'>hn  Compton,  James  Van  Nostrand,  Samuel 
Willets,  and  Uriah  Hendricks.  There  were  four 
vacancies  in  the  old  Board  caused  by  the  resigna- 
tion of  Henry  Sheldon,  Gouverneur  Morris,  Alanson 
on,  and  Edward  C.  Weeks.  The  names  of 
Moran,  Von  Hoffman,  Skidmore,  and  Cushman  were 
new  on  both  tickets,  all  the  rest  on  the  regular  ticket 
being  those  of  members  of  the  existing  Board.  The 
ilar  ticket  was  elected  by  35,000  votes  out  of 
44,000  cast.  October  12th  the  Board  elected  the 
old  officers.  The  election  of  Charles  Moran,  who 
was  a  !>■  'id  Louis   Von  Hoffman   as  Directors 


was  in  recognition  of  the  interests  of  foreign  cred- 
itors of  the  Company,  Moran  having  placed  a  large 
amount  of  the  Company's  unsecured,  or  income, 
bonds  in  Switzerland  and  other  parts  of  Europe. 

The  report  of  the  examining  committee  was  not 
made  until  October  21st,  the  election  having  been 
held  on  the  10th  of  that  month.  The  report  was  a 
voluminous  anil  exhaustive  analysis  of  the  Com- 
pany's financial  and  physical  condition.  The  com- 
mittee found  that  the  floating  debt  as  reported  in 
1852  was  understated  by  more  than  Si, 000,000. 
The  actual  amount  was  §2,384,406.83.  The  reported 
amount  was  $1,323,053.55.  The  earnings  had  been 
reported  as  $3,537,766.53,  while  the)-  were  in  fact 
but  §3,319,906.14.  "  We  leave  your  body,'"  said 
the  committee  in  its  report  to  the  Board,  "  to  deter- 
mine the  reasons  for  these  erroneous  statements, 
and  to  whom  they  are  to  be  charged.  We  can  see 
no  justification  for  them.  It  appears  in  evidence 
before  us  that  the  knowledge  of  them  came  to  the 
then  Board  of  Directors  a  short  time  after  the  re- 
port had  been  sent  to  Albany  by  the  Treasurer,  and 
that  the  subject  was  investigated  by  their  orders. 
We  think  they  erred  in  not  frankly  exposing  them. 
Since  September,  1S52,  your  Board  has  had  to  con- 
tend against  the  effects  of  a  dividend  when  not 
fully  earned  and  the  representation  of  your  floating 
debt  at  far  below  its  actual  amount.  A  development 
like  this,  at  the  outset,  led  us  to  regard  all  after 
transactions  with  suspicion,  and  to  scrutinize  them 
rigidly.  The  results  have  been  highly  favorable  to 
the  Company."  While  approving  the  existing  con- 
dition and  methods  of  the  management,  the  commit- 
tee nevertheless  chided  it,  and  made  suggestions  as 
follows:  "  The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  now 
earns  annually  about  as  large  a  sum  as  was  origi- 
nally proposed  to  be  expended  in  its  construction. 
*  *  *  When  we  see  what  it  has  already  done, 
while  new,  incumbered,  and  without  perfect  connec- 
tions, we  have  no  difficulty  in  agreeing  that  it  is 
destined  to  do  decidedly  more  with  experience, 
without  incumbrance  to  the  traffic,  and  with  con- 
nections established.  At  the  same  time  we  cannot 
shut  our  eyes  to  the  financial  condition.  We  are- 
aware  of  the  difficulties  with  which  your  Board  has 
had  to  contend,  and   bear  willing  testimony  to  your 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


117 


arduous  and  untiring  exertions  to  surmount  them. 
But  we  think  you  will  agree  with  us  that  the  recent 
critical  situation  of  the  Company  has  demonstrated 
the  imprudence  of  anticipating  earnings  so  largely, 
and  calls  for  frankness  and  judicious  management  on 
the  part  of  the  Directors.  If  the  public  can  be 
assured  that  the  construction  account  is  closed,  and 
a  scheme  can  be  devised  for  retiring  the  floating 
debt — making,  at  the  same  time,  prospective  pro- 
visions for  meeting  the  funded — we  see  nothing  to 
prevent  this  road  from  becoming  one  of  the  most 
valuable  railway  projects  in  the  world.  To  insure 
these  results  we  recommend:  1.  That  the  construc- 
tion account  be  closed.  2.  An  increase  in  your 
tariff  price  of  freight  and  passengers,  both  way  and 
through.  We  believe  that  an  immediate  judicious  ad- 
dition to  the  present  rate  is  not  only  due  to  the  stock- 
holders, but  will  essentially  conduce  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Company.  3.  That  no  dividends  be  paid  until 
the  floating  debt  is  disposed  of.  4.  That  a  sinking 
fund  be  established,  to  be  paid  monthly  into  the 
hands  of  trustees,  independent  of  the  Company. 
5.  That  the  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
Company  be  required  to  give  their  whole  time  and 
undivided  attention  to  the  duties  of  their  respective 
offices.  We  think  this  is  indispensable  to  the  proper 
management  of  so  large  a  corporation." 

Referring  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Company 
had  raised  money  to  tide  itself  over  impending 
trouble,  the  committee  said  that  "  the  measures 
adopted  gave  the  necessary  temporary  relief,  and  it 
is  the  opinion  of  your  financial  officers  that  such  an 
emergency  cannot  occur  again.  We  understand 
that  the  contracts  for  rolling  stock  which  increased 
the  present  heavy  floating  debt  are  either  nearly 
completed  or  are  cancelled.  No  new  contracts  have 
been  made  since  March  last.  Of  the  seventy-five 
engines  contracted  for  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the 
road,  the  contracts  for  twenty-two  have  been  can- 
celled. Sixteen  remain  to  be  delivered.  This  wise 
management  has  checked  the  increase  in  floating 
debt,  and  if  this  policy  is  persisted  in,  the  affairs  of 
the  Company  will  soon  be  put  on  a  sounder  basis. 
It  is  better  to  pause  where  you  are  until  additions 
can  be  made  at  a  less  sacrifice  of  the  means  and 
credit  of  the  Company." 


The  Board  of  Directors  acted  immediately  on  the 
suggestion  of  the  examining  committee,  and  a  spe- 
cial finance  committee,  consisting  of  Charles  Moran, 
Shepherd  Knapp,  William  E.  Dodge,  Nelson  Rob- 
inson, and  George  F.  Tallman,  was  appointed  to  for- 
mulate a  plan  to  help  the  Company  over  its  difficul- 
ties. October  21st  the  committee  reported  a  plan 
for  establishing  a  sinking  fund  by  placing  an  issue  of 
$4,000,000  7  per  cent,  twenty-year  bonds,  pledging 
the  Company  to  pay  monthly  from  March  1,  1855, 
$35,000  into  hands  of  the  trustees  to  be  invested,  as 
well  as  the  accruing  interest  on  the  instalments,  in 
the  bonds  of  the  new  issue  as  long  as  they  could  be 
purchased  at  or  below  par,  whenever  such  purchases 
could  not  be  made  at  that  rate  the  monthly  pay- 
ments and  the  accruing  interest  to  be  invested  in 
any  bond  of  the  Company  that  could  be  purchased 
at  or  below  par,  and  if  such  purchases  could  not  be 
made  at  or  below  par,  the  monthly  payments  and  all 
accruing  interest  to  be  invested  in  such  bonds  of 
the  Company  as  could  be  purchased  at  the  lowest 
rate.  All  bonds  thus  purchased  were  to  be  cancelled 
and  held  by  the  sinking  fund,  the  interest  to  be 
collected,  however,  until  the  monthly  payments 
and  interest  and  the  conversion  of  convertible 
bonds  into  stock  should  have  reduced  the  entire  debt 
of  the  Company  to  $20,000,000,  when  the  monthly 
payments  should  cease  and  the  trust  be  closed.  The 
declaration  was  made  that  this  loan  would  pay  the 
income  bonds  redeemable  on  February  1,  1855, 
"  and  the  entire  present  floating  debt  and  the 
monthly  payment  of  the  sinking  fund."  On  the 
recommendation  of  this  special  finance  committee 
the  following  were  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors: 

Whereas.  The  period  has  arrived  when  it  is  expedient  and 
necessary  to  close  the  Construction  Account  of  this  company, 
to  be  re-opened  only  when  the  imperative  necessity  of  the  in- 
creasing traffic  on  the  Road,  and  the  state  of  the  finances  of  the 
company  will  render  it  perfectly  evident  that  it  is  proper  an. I 
justifiable  to  re-open  it.  so  as  to  increase  the  present  capacity 
of  the  Road,  therefore 

Resolved,  That  any  and  all  future  expenditures  beyond  the 
amount  to  be  derived  from  the  proceeds  of  the  new  loan,  after 
reimbursing  the  [ncome  Bonds  due  1st  February  next,  be 
charged  to  Transportation  ' 

Resolved,  That  as  often  as  the  Bonds  purchased  by  the  Sink- 
ing Fund  amount  to  ten  per  cent,  on  the  Capital  Stock,  this 
company  will,  upon  receiving  due  authority  from  the  Legis- 


i  [8 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


laturc  '    the   next   semi-annual   dividend 

■   n  per  cent. 

olutions  he  published  in  the  daily 
that  the  public  have  cognizance  of  the  future  policy 


According  to  the  statement  of  President  Rams- 
dell,  announcing  the  approval  of  the  Directors  of  the 
sinking  fund  plan  (October  23,  1854V  the  debt  of 
the  Company  was  then  {  ^x>;  of  the  amount, 

-  .024,000  being  capital  stock.  The  gross  earnings 
of  the  railroad  for  the  coming  year  were  estimated 
at  §6, 000,000,  and  the  expenses  were  estimated  at 
o9o7°.  °f  which  §1,739.570  was  interest  on  the 
bonded  debt,  $3,300,000  operating  expenses,  and 
\0OO  for  the  sinking  fund,  leaving  "  net  revenue 
equal  to  over  five  per  cent,  on  stock  applicable  to 
cash  dividends  and  contingencies."  The  statement 
declared  that  "  in  the  opinion  of  the  Superintend- 
ent. Mr.  McCallum,  the  road  in  its  present  posi- 
tion and  with  its  present  equipment,  can  earn 
$S,  000,000." 

The  loan  was  placed,  and  in  his  report  to  the 
stockholders  for  1855,  President  Ramsdell  declared 
that  "  the  sacrifices  made  by  the  Company  to  meet 
promptly  all  its  engagements  have  been  wholly 
repaid.  The  credit  of  the  Company  is  entirely  re- 
established, all  the  endorsed  acceptances  have  been 
paid,  whilst  the  new  loan,  negotiated  by  the  unwea- 
ried, gratuitous  exertions  of  the  Directors,  and  the 
generous  aid  and  confidence  of  our  own  and  foreign 
capitalists  and  merchants,  enabled  the  Company  to 
pay  at  maturity  the  entire  balance  of  the  income 
bonds,  and  to  reduce  the  floating  debt  to  an  amount 
moderate  that  all  further  sacrifices  have  become 
unnecessary." 

The  entire  report  was  optimistic  to  a  degree,  and 
the  sinking  fund  established  was  confidently  relied 
upon  to"  enhance  the  value  of  the  Company's  stock 
and  favorably  effect  the  future  renewal  of  the  loans 
as  they  may  mature,"  although  it  at  present  pre- 
vented cash  dividends,  notwithstanding  they  were 
earned.  Amicable  relations  had  been  restored  with 
competing  lines.  In  conformity  with  the  terms  of 
the  sinking  fund  bonds,  the  report  said  that  the 
Company  would  declare  nd  of  ten  per  cent. 

in   stock  (the  law  authorizing    the   same   being  first 


obtained  1  in  April,  1857  ;  and  the  following  was  offered 
as  an  approximate  estimate  of  the  amount  which 
would  be  accumulated  in  the  sinking  fund  on  the  re- 
spective dividend  days,  until  the  debt  of  the  Com- 
pany should  be  reduced  to  $20,000,000: 


SIN  KING    I 

1855.  September  30 $    322.000 

1856.  April    I    estimated 580,000 

1S56.  October   I      "  834.000 

1857.  April   1  1.065.000 — 1st  Dividend. 

1857.  October  I     "         1,333.000 

1858.  April    1  "         1.609.000 

1858.  October  i    "       [,894,000 

1859.  April    1  "         2.188.000 — 2d   Dividend. 

1859.     October  I     "         2.491.000 

i860.  April    1  "  2.804.000 

i860.  October  I     "  3.127.000 — 3d  Dividend. 

1861.  April    1  3.470.000 

1861.  October  1     "  3.804.000 

1862.  April    1  "  4.159.000— 4th  Dividend. 

1862.  October  1     "         4.525.000 

1863.  April   1  "         4.906.000 — 5th  Dividend. 

Funded  Debt,  Feb.  29.  1856 $24,891,000 

Sinking  Fund,  April   I,   1863 4.906,000 

Estimated  Funded  Debt.  April  I,  1863. $19,985,000 

The  stock  and  bondholders  of  Erie  have  been 
started  on  the  chase  for  radiant  rainbows  many  a 
time  in  the  career  of  the  Company,  but  never  have 
they  had  so  magnificent  a  bow  of  promise  displayed 
before  them  to  follow  and  delight  in  as  this  one  of 
those  buoyant  days  of  1 856.  Mow  it  paled  and  dis- 
appeared and  left  the  darkest  of  horizons  where  it  had 
been,  will  develop  with  this  chronicle.  The  legisla- 
tion required  authorizing  the  declaring  and  distrib- 
uting a  stock  dividend,  as  provided  for  in  the  plan  of 
the  sinking  fund,  was  obtained  at  the  session  of  the 
New  York  Legislature  for  1857.  and  on  April  Sth  of 
that  year  the  Directors  met  and  declared  a  stock 
dividend  of  ten  per  cent.,  payable  April  27th,  on 
the  accumulation  of  the  sinking  fund,  which  then 
amounted  to  §1,300,000,  or  nearly  S25o,ooo  more 
than  President  Ramsdell's  estimate.  The  Directors 
also  re  olved  "to  make  the  dividend  on  this  fund 
hereafter  annually,  when  the  amount  divided  will  be 
5  percent."  The  renewal  of  cash  dividends,  how- 
ever, was  postponed  for  an  indefinite  pi  riod.  And 
with  that  one  dividend  the  rainbow  began  to  fade-. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE  u9 

With  all  the  drawbacks  the  railroad  had   encoun-  property  was  purchased  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Rams- 

tered,  its  business  was  steadily  increasing.     The  ter-  dell. 

minal  facilities  at  Jersey  City  were,  nevertheless,  no  The  Long  Dock  Company  was  formed,  and, 
greater  than  they  had  been  for  the  transaction  of  under  an  agreement  with  the  New  York  and  Erie 
the  business  of  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Rail-  Railroad  Company  as  to  subsequent  leases  and  ad- 
road  before  it  was  leased  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  vances,  began  the  improvement  of  the  property  and 
Railroad  Company,  and  it  was  a  railroad  but  six-  the  construction  of  necessary  buildings,  docks,  and 
teen  miles  long,  with  only  the  business  of  Paterson  ferry  facilities.  The  terminus  of  the  Paterson  and 
and  a  few  intermediate  villages  to  handle.  All  of  Hudson  River  Railroad  was  where  the  Pennsylvania 
the  Erie's  second  class  passengers  and  emigrants,  Railroad's  Jersey  City  depot  is  now,  and  a  ferry 
and  a  large  portion  of  its  fast  freight  and  express  continued  the  route  thence  to  Duane  Street,  New 
business,  had  to  be  handled  by  the  way  of  Piermont  York,  where  the  Erie  docks  and  depots  were.  To 
and  Newburgh.  Live  stock  trains,  which  were  the  reach  this  terminus  the  railroad  ran  to  the  western 
carriers  of  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  the  railroad's  extremity  of  the  Bergen  Hill,  and  through  a  deep 
traffic,  ran  only  to  Bergen,  three  miles  from  the  cut  over  the  track  of  the  New  Jersey  Railroad.  The 
Jersey  City  terminus.  proposed  new  terminus  would  take  the  Erie  a  mile 
Homer  Ramsdell,  being  of  large  experience  in  or  more  further  up  the  North  River  front.  This 
transportation  affairs,  had  long  foreseen  the  necessity  was  a  long  and  roundabout  way,  and  to  shorten  it 
of  more  room  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  road  for  there  was  in  the  plan  of  the  Erie's  terminal  facilities 
greater  facility  and  economy-  in  handling  the  New  the  tunneling  of  Bergen  Hill,  an  engineering  exploit 
York  and  Erie  Railroad's  business,  not  only  for  that  of  formidable  proportions,  and  one  to  be  attended 
time  but  for  future  exigencies.  In  the  winter  of  with  great  cost,  but  yet  warranted  by  the  consider- 
1855,  through  his  influence,  two  charters  were  ob-  able  saving  in  time  and  distance,  and  thus  in  money, 
tained  from  the  New  Jersey  Legislature — one  em-  which  it  promised  to  the  Company  on  its  future 
powering  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com-  business, 
pany  to  purchase  land  in  New  Jersey  and  to  complete 

the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  and  the  The  year  of  1855  was  one  of  short  crops  through- 
other  incorporating  the  Long  Dock  Company,  with  out  the  country,  and  one  not  of  general  activity  in 
the  right  to  construct  a  railroad  to  connect  with  any  commercial  affairs,  but  the  New  York  and  Erie 
other  railroad  then  constructed,  or  organized  to  be  Railroad  earned  §833,418.87  more  than  its  working 
constructed  according  to  law,  and  granting  it  cer-  expenses  and  interest  on  its  funded  and  floating 
tain  ferry  privileges.  Under  this  authority,  Homer  debt,  or  S';  per  cent,  on  its  capital  stock.  This 
Ramsdell  quietly  secured,  at  a  low  figure,  212  acres  surplus  was  used  for  improvements.  The  notable 
of  land,  besides  water  frontage,  and  land  underwater  event  in  the  history  of  the  railroad  during  1856  was 
half  a  mile  out  in  the  Hudson  River.  The  212  acres  the  great  strike  of  the  engineers,  the  second  on  the 
then  unoccupied  ground  between  Jersey  City  road.  Like  its  predecessor  of  1854,  it  was  caused  by 
nd  Hoboken,  which  is  now  the  property  covered  opposition  to  the  severe  rules  of  General  Superin- 
by  the  immense  Erie  Railroad  yards,  depots,  ferry  tendent  McCallum.  This  strike  began  in  October, 
buildings,  coal  docks,  freight  houses,  cattle  yards,  after  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  and  the  disastrous 
oil  storage  houses,  etc.,  at  Jersey  City,  that  city  effect  it  had  on  the  railroad's  business  did  not  ap- 
having  grown  up  and  around  the  property  since  the  pear  in  the  Directors'  report  for  that  year,  which 
purchase  in  1855.  No  one  in  the  Board  of  Di-  showed  net  earnings  to  September  30th  of  $1, 
rectors  knew  that  Mr.  Ramsdell  was  acquiring  this  712.  The  sinking  fund  absorbed  §420,000  of  tins, 
immense  property  except  Charles  Moran,  as  it  was  and  all  except  §120.000  of  the  balance  was  expended 
thought  best  for  the  interests  of  the  Company  that  for  new  railroads,  improvements,  and  lake  steam- 
the    matter    should     not    be    talked    about.       The  boats.      Work  on   the   terminal    facilities   at    Jersey 


were 
a 


I  20 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


City  was  begun  in  1856.  In  June  of  that  year  the 
tnton,  Mallory  &  Co.  of  New- 
burgh  for  putting  the  tunnel  through  Bergen  Hill. 
These  stupendous  operations  required  the  u< 
large  sums  of  money,  and  early  in  1857  the  Erie 
management  was  face  to  face  again  with  financial 
embarrassment.  Erie  stock  had,  in  June  of  that 
year,  depreciated  from  sixty-three  to  thirty-three, 
under  the  combination  of  a  clique  of  brokers  whose 
operations  were  by  no  means  a  credit  to  the  Board, 
because  Daniel  Drew,  an  Erie  Director,  was  one  of 
them.  The  stock  reached  so  low  a  point  that  many 
were  afraid  to  sell  it  any  further,  more  particularly 
that  as  the  price  fell  the  stock  was  gradually  bought 
up  by  those  who  had  confidence  in  its  value,  until 
it  became  very  scarce — so  scarce,  that  on  June  30th 
the  amount  standing  in  the  name  of  Wall  Street  brok- 
ers was  less  than  7,000  shares  out  of  1 10,000  shares 
constituting  the  capital,  the  smallest  amount  known 
for  seven  years. 

Added  to  its  other  difficulties,  the  Erie  tracks,  on 
the  western  end  of  the  road  and  on  the  Delaware 
Division,  were  so  badly  blockaded  by  heavy  snow- 
storms in  January,  1857,  that  traffic  was  disastrously 
suspended  for  days  at  a  time  during  that  month. 
In  January,  1857,  great  ice-floods  in  the  Delaware 
River  destroyed  or  blockaded  miles  of  track  on  the 
Delaware  Division,  and  swept  away  costly  bridges, 
again  crippling  the  railroad  severely,  and  draining 
the  Company's  already  scant  treasury  to  repair  the 
disastrous  breaks  in  its  transportation  line.  The 
same  month,  the  Company  being  behind  in  its  pay- 
ments to  contractors  for  work  on  the  Bergen  tun- 
nel, the  laborers  to  the  number  of  700  struck,  the 
strike  culminating  in  a  long  and  bloody  riot.  In 
February,  bridges  that  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
January  flood  and  rebuilt  were  swept  away  again  by 
another  flood.  A  June  flood  carried  off  extensive 
bridges  along  the  Susquehanna  and  Western  Divi- 
sions, and  washed  away  great  sections  of  the  track. 

ly  in  June  the  Company's  statement    of   the 
business  of  the  road  for  the  six  months  1  March, 

31,  1857,  was  made.  It  showed  that  the  expenses, 
not  including  the  §210,000  paid  into  the  sinking 
fund  during  that  period,  had  exceeded  the  earnings 
by  more  than  $72,000.      The  decreased  l.n  ine!     due 


to  the  engineers'  strike  and  the  extraordinary  cost 
of  that  strike,  and  to  the  losses  by  snow  blockades 
and  floods  during  the  winter,  was  given  in  ex- 
planation of  this  discouraging  showing.  The  most 
marked  falling  off  in  traffic  reported  was  in  freight, 
and  the  chief  increase  of  expenses  declared  to  be  in 
repair  of  cars  and  engines. 

Superintendent  McCallum  had  been  forced  to 
resign  in  March,  1857.  The  engineers'  strike  had 
cost  the  Company  upward  of  §500,000,  and  left  the 
road  in  wretched  condition.  After  the  resignation 
of  McCallum  the  railroad,  by  order  of  the  Board, 
March  12,  I  S  3  7 .  was  reduced  from  four  divisions  to 
two.  One,  from  New  York  to  Susquehanna,  with 
the  branches,  were  placed  in  charge  of  Hugh  Riddle. 
Of  the  other,  from  Susquehanna  to  Dunkirk,  J.  A. 
Hart  was  made  Superintendent.  President  Rams- 
dell  acted  also  in  the  capacity  of  General  Manager  of 
operations. 

The  New  York  Central  Railroad  Company,  unhar- 
assed  by  pressing  debts  or  urgent  need  of  money, 
had  earl}-  assumed  an  aggressive  attitude  against 
the  Erie,  and  lost  no  opportunity  of  asserting  it,  in 
spite  of  the  assurance  of  President  Ramsdell  to  the 
stockholders  that  amicable  relations  with  its  rival  had 
been  restored  to  Erie.  At  a  convention  of  railroad 
managers  held  at  Buffalo  in  May,  1857,  the  represent- 
atives of  the  New  York  Central  insisted  that  a  fast 
train  should  be  run  from  Chicago  to  Dunkirk  and 
Buffalo  over  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad,  ami  that  an 
Erie  express  train  should  connect  with  it  at  Dun- 
kirk, and  another  on  the  Central  at  Buffalo,  to  run 
through  to  New  York.  The  Erie  people  remon- 
strated, but  to  no  purpose.  They  were  compelled 
to  put  on  the  extra  train,  although  it  left  Dunkirk 
only  a  short  time  after  their  regular  train  from  that 
place.  They  soon  found  that  the  train  was  losing 
money  for  them,  and  they  withdrew  it,  giving  notice 
at  the  same  time  that  any  passengers  bound  for 
New  York  from  the  Chicago  train  who  would  remain 
over  night  at  Dunkirk  would  be  carried  to  New 
York  over  the  Erie  at  a  reduced  rate  of  fare.  The 
Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad  Company,  whose 
road  gave  the  sole  connection  the  Erie  had  with 
trains  from  tin    West,  refused  to  honor  tickets  that 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


I  21 


read  by  the  way  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad, 
and  charged  double  rates  to  passengers  holding  such 
tickets,  this  in  spite  of  the  contract  the  Erie  had 
with  that  company  to  carry  its  passengers  at  the  same 
rate  it  carried  the  Central's.  Besides  these  troubles, 
the  Erie  engineers'  strike  of  1856  had  not  only 
greatly  crippled  the  railroad  and  interfered  with  its 
traffic  for  many  weeks,  but  a  great  number  of  its 
engineers,  the  Company  stubbornly  resisting  their 
claims,  had  left  the  road  and  were  scattered  about 
the  country  on  various  railroads,  spreading  unfavor- 
able reports  of  the  condition  of  the  Erie,  to  its  great 
damage. 

Much  feeling  was  excited  among  the  New  York 
and  Erie  stockholders  by  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the 
managers  of  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad 
Company  in  breaking  its  contract  arrangements  in 
regard  to  ticketing  passengers  and  connecting  pas- 
senger and  freight  trains  to  and  from  the  West, 
over  the  Erie.  The  surprise  was  the  greater  from 
the  fact  that  Daniel  Drew,  the  Treasurer  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  was  one  of  the 
largest  stockholders  in  the  State  Line  Railroad. 
The  emphatic  expression  of  this  feeling  impelled 
Daniel  Drew  to  write  this  letter: 

New  York,  June  27,  1857. 
To  George  Palmer,  President  B.  &  S.  L.  R.  R.  Co. 

In  consequence  of  having  been  informed  to-day  that  the 
Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad  Company  have  refused  to 
recognize  through  tickets  sold  by  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company  in  New  York,  for  places  West  via  the 
former  road,  and  also  tickets  sold  at  places  West  for  New 
York  via  same  road:  and  that  said  road  exacts  the  payment 
of  fare  from  passengers  holding  such  tickets,  thereby  showing 
partiality  towards  certain  roads  and  a  hostility  to  others,  which 
I  cannot  but  regard  as  being  clearly  in  violation  of  obligations 
on  the  part  of  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Road  assumed  by 
express  contract,  as  they  are  against  sound  policy  and  fair 
business  dealing. 

I  beg  respectfully,  as  a  stockholder  in  said  road,  to  protest 
against  such  policy,  and  to  call  on  the  Board  of  Directors 
to  conform  to  that  sound  and  just  policy  in  their  official  action 
which  those  interested  in  the  property  they  administer  have  a 
right  to  demand  at  their  hands.  I  will  thank  you  to  communi- 
cate this  letter  to  that  Board. 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

Daniel  Drew. 

This  letter  met  with  no  response,  and  on  July  1st, 
the  position  of  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad 
Company  toward  the  New  York  and  Erie  remaining 
unchanged,  and  the  New  York  Central  insisting  on 


its  arbitrary  demands,  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  placed  the  fare  from  Buffalo  to  New 
York  at  $5,  and  to  Boston  at  $9.  The  Erie's  Boston 
connections  were  the  Boston  and  Bridgeport  line  of 
steamboats,  and  the  New  York  and  New  Haven 
Railroad.  Besides  the  reduction  in  fare,  the  Erie 
advertised  to  transport  passengers  free  from  Duane 
Street  to  the  steamboat  docks  and  the  New  Haven 
depot. 

In  a  statement  to  the  stockholders,  July  17th, 
Nathaniel  Marsh,  Secretary  of  the  Company,  giving 
the  history  of  the  difficulty,  said:  "The  Directors 
regret  the  necessity  for  such  a  measure  (reducing 
the  fare).  They  an-  advocates  of  higher  fare,  fewer 
trains,  slower  speed,  the  abolition  of  the  whole 
system  of  paying  commissions  for  procuring  passen- 
gers and  freight,  and  such  other  reductions  of  ex- 
penses as  will  give  to  railroad  property  a  permanent 
value;  but  they  cannot  consent  to  transfer  the  man- 
agement of  your  road  to  those  who  opposed  its  con- 
struction, and  now  seek  to  embarrass  its  operations, 
and  render  it  unproductive  to  the  stockholders.  The 
object  of  the  present  reduction  is  to  secure  the 
travel  that  belongs  to  the  road,  and  when  that 
object  is  accomplished,  and  fair  treatment  is  accorded 
by  other  roads,  prices  will  at  once  be  restored  to  the 
former  rate." 

Before  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company 
had  made  the  reduction  in  rates,  Chauncey  Vibbard, 
General  Superintendent  of  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad,  illustrated  the  methods  of  that  railroad's 
management  at  that  day,  and  its  application  of 
them  to  a  rival  in  misfortune,  by  distributing  broad- 
cast through  the  country  a  handbill  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy: 

NEW    YORK   CENTRAL    RAILROAD. 

Passengers  taking  this  route  can  feel  assured  chat  they  are 
with  careful,  experienced  engineers,  the  company,  paying  well 
for  such,  nevei  have  been  obliged  to  use  firemen,  with  no 
experience  on  account  of  strikes,  endangering  life,  and  never 
making  time,  as  is  the  case  on  the  Great  Broad  Gauge  Route. 

Passengers  should  be  particular  and  secure  tickets  by  this 
route,  as  it  is  the  only  one  having  a  uniform  gauge  from 
Cincinnati  to  Buffalo,  thence  to  New  York  and  Boston,  saving 
several  changes  of  cars  and  baggage,  and  the  annoyance  of 
missing  connections,  which  occur  so  often  on  the  New  York 
and  Erie  route. 

This  is  the  only  route  that  can  land  passengers  by  cars  in 


i :: 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


rk   City,   within  a  short   distance   of  their   principal 
•her  route?  land  their  passengers  in  Jersey  City, 

porters  and  hacks, 
in  .  •  e  river,  making  an  additional  and  disagreeable 

dent  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Ro 

'  The  only  route  that  can  land  passengers  by  cars 
in  New  York  City."  True.  The  Erie  was  already 
reaping  a  harvest  of  ills  grown  from  the  sowing  of 
the  short-sighted  management  that,  years  before, 
had  refused  to  let  Erie  itself  become  "  the  only  route 
that  could  land  passengers  by  cars  in  New  York 
City." 

Misfortune,  indeed,  seemed  to  have  marked  Erie 
for  its  own.  It  was  evident  that  the  Company's 
affairs  were  once  more  approaching  a  crisis.  This 
was  the  situation  that  confronted  the  Erie  when 
Charles  Moran  returned  from  Europe  in  July,  1857, 
whither  he  had  gone  the  previous  winter.  Homer 
Ramsdell  had  private  enterprises  of  much  magni- 
tude, and  the  increasing  depression  in  the  business 
affairs  of  the  Company,  he  declared,  required  that 
he  should  give  them  more  of  his  personal  attention, 
and  he  announced  his  determination  to  resign  the 
Presidency  of  the  Company.  The  Board  of  Direct- 
ors had  been  led  to  believe  that  Charles  Moran, 
better  than  any  other  person  available,  could  take 
hold  of  the  Company's  critical  affairs  and  straighten 
them  out.  They  notified  him  of  their  belief,  and 
solicited  him  to  take   charge   of   the   management. 


He  replied  that  he  would  undertake  the  task,  with 
assurances  that  he  could  perform  it  if  the  Company 
would  pay  him  $25,000  a  year  for  his  services.  This 
was  as  much  as  the  President  of  the  United  States 
was  paid,  and  an  unheard-of  salary  for  the  executive 
head  of  any  corporation.  The  Board  decided,  how- 
ever, that  Moran  was  worth  the  outlay,  and  they 
agreed  to  his  terms.  July  18,  1S57,  William  E. 
Dodge,  who  was  outraged  because  the  Company 
persisted  in  permitting  work  to  be  done  on  the  rail- 
road on  Sunday,  resigned  from  the  Board.  Moran 
was  chosen  in  his  place,  and  was  unanimously 
elected  President,  Mr.  Ramsdell  continuing  as  a 
member  of  the  Board.  It  was  announced  of  Mr. 
Moran  in  the  public  prints,  upon  his  election  as 
President  of  the  Eric,  that  he  was  a  man  of  high 
character  and  integrity,  of  vigorous  mind,  and  de- 
voted to  the  study  of  political  economy,  "  which  was 
at  the  foundation  of  the  success  of  any  work  of  this 
description;  that  he  had  superior  administrative 
ability,  and  that  his  election  would  give  great  satis- 
faction to  all  true  friends  of  the  enterprise,  both  at 
home  and  abroad."  All  this  about  Mr.  Moran  was 
undoubtedly  true,  but  within  the  next  two  years  he 
was  to  learn  by  bitter  experience  that  it  required 
something  more  than  devotion  "  to  the  study  of 
political  economy"  to  be  "  at  the  foundation  of  the 
success  "  of  such  a  work  as  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  was. 


CHARLES   MORAN. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHARLES  MORAN-1857  TO   1859. 

Clouds  Still  Thicken  — The  Services  of  an  Over-confident  President  whose  Salary  was  $25,000  a  Year— Resignation  of  Daniel  Drew  as 
Treasurer  — He  Raises  $1,500,000  for  the  Company  in  an  Emergency  — End  of  the  Rate  War— The  New  Management's  Earnest 
and  Persistent  Cut  —  Fruitless  Efforts  to  Sufficiently  Float  New  Erie  Mortgages—  Moran  Virtually  Assumes  the  Duties  of  the  Entire 
Executive  Force  —  Business  Decreases— All  Work  on  Improvements  Suspended  — In  Debt  to  the  Employees,  in  Arrears  of  Interest 
and  No  Prospects  of  Relief,  the  Company  Goes  into  the  Hands  of  a  Receiver. 


The  Company  began  the  year  1857  w'ta  a  floating 
debt  of  $1,575,518.77,  which  was  augmented  every 
month,  after  the  first  quarter,  by  a  payment  of  $35,- 
000  to  the  sinking  fund,  and  another  of  about  $20,- 
000  a  month  on  the  Long  Dock  improvement.  The 
income  of  the  road  after  the  first  quarter  was  insuffi- 
cient for  the  payments,  and  in  the  spring  a  loan 
became  necessary, which  was  obtained  from  the  banks 
on  an  arrangement  by  which  Daniel  Drew  endorsed 
the  notes  of  the  Company,  taking  for  his  security  a 
mortgage  on  all  the  previously  unmortgaged  prop- 
erty. The  amount  of  this  loan  from  Drew  was 
$1,500,000,  and  the  Company  paid  him  $25,000  for 
his  name. 

Daniel  Drew  was  one  of  the  principal  owners  of 
the  People's  Steamboat  Line,  between  New  York 
and  Albany,  as  well  as  a  stockholder  in  the  Buffalo 
and  State  Line  Railroad  Company.  In  1855,  during 
the  war  of  rates  between  the  New  York  Central  and 
the  New  York  and  Erie,  the  People's  Line  had 
agreed  with  the  former  railroad  company  to  carry 
passengers  from  Albany  to  New  York  at  a  rate  so 
low  that  the  Central  could  and  did  make  its  fare  for 
second  class  passengers  between  Buffalo  and  New 
York  $4.  This  was  greatly  to  the  damage  of  the 
Erie,  and  Daniel  Drew  was  then  prominent  in  the 
affairs  of  the  steamboat  company,  as  also  Treasurer  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company.  This 
made  serious  trouble  among  Erie  stockholders  in 
1855,  anci  in  this  later  war  of  rates  (1856-57)  between 
the  Central  and  the  Erie,  when  the  latter  was  handi- 
capped more  than  it  had  been  two  years  before,  the 
Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad  and   People's  Line 


of  Steamboats  were  again  being  used  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  Erie,  of  which  Company  Daniel  Drew 
was  still  Treasurer  and  a  leading  Director.  His 
equivocal  position  as  financial  officer  of  the  one 
Company,  and  sharer  in  the  profits  of  the  other 
companies;  and,  moreover,  his  partnership  in  a  firm 
of  brokers  whose  manipulation  of  Erie  stock  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  Company  was  freely  charged, 
brought  about  such  manifestations  of  displeasure 
among  the  stockholders  that,  on  July  20,  1857, 
Drew  made  a  statement  to  the  Board  in  which  he 
said  that  he  was  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  stockholders  regarded  his  various  rela- 
tions to  the  People's  Line  of  Steamboats  on  the 
Hudson  River,  and  to  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line 
Railroad  Company,  that  had  attempted  to  annoy 
and  embarrass  the  western  connection  of  the  Erie, 
and  his  participation,  as  a  general  partner,  in  a  prom- 
inent firm  of  Wall  Street  brokers,  as  inconsistent 
with  his  position  as  Treasurer  of  the  Erie,  and  so 
he  tendered  his  resignation  from  that  office.  Drew's 
resignation  was  accepted,  and  Herman  Gelpcke,  of 
the  banking  house  of  Gelpcke,  Keutgen  &  Reichelt, 
and  a  member  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the 
Board,  was  elected  to  succeed  him.  Drew  remained 
in  the  Board. 

The  folly  of  the  cut-throat  rate-war  policy  that 
had  so  long  prevailed  began  to  be  appreciated  by  all 
parties  concerned  in  it  before  the  end  of  July,  1857, 
and  the  new  Erie  administration  began  efforts  to 
bring  it  to  an  end.  A  meeting  between  the  Erie 
and  Michigan  Southern  and  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral and   Michigan  Central  Presidents  was  arranged. 


1-4 


BETWTI  \     I  Hi:    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


With  the  close  of  July  an  amicable  and  satisfactory 

■emcnt   was   concluded,  old   rates   were   restored, 

and  the  ms  war  came  to  an  end — for  the  time. 

Early  in  his  incumbency  President  Moran  demon- 
ted  that  his  policy  was  to  be  radically  different 
in  the  management  of  the  Company's  affairs  from 
that  of  any  of  his  predecessors.  It  had  been  the 
custom,  as  a  bid  for  new  business  and  an  inducement 
to  retain  old,  to  issue  free  passes  to  drovers  who 
accompanied  their  cattle  to  market  on  the  stock 
trains,  and  to  "  freighters."  who  controlled  produce 
shipments  in  those  days.  There  were  about  160 
persons  receiving  these  free  tickets,  and  the  issuing 
of  them  had  been  regarded  as  good  business  policy 
by  all  managements  up  to  the  Moran  control.  Moran 
did  not  believe  it  was  a  sound  business  principle, 
and  he  abolished  the  free  pass  system  at  once.  He 
also  dispensed  with  agencies,  runners,  advertise- 
ments, and  all  such  methods  of  increasing  the  Com- 
pany's business. 

Money  was  necessary  to  carry  forward  the  improve- 
ments the  Company  had  then  in  hand,  but  which 
were  being  delayed  by  lack  of  funds,  so  a  scheme 
for  a  fourth  mortgage  loan  was  announced  early  in 
August,  1857.  It  was  proposed  to  raise  $3,000,000 
by  creating  a  stock  for  $6,000,000,  half  to  be  paid 
in  cash  and  half  in  the  unsecured  bonds  of  the  Com- 
pany. The  object  of  the  loan  was  to  fund  the  debt 
of  the  Company,  and  to  obtain  means  to  continue 
the  construction  of  the  Bergen  tunnel,  the  depots, 
wharves  and  other  improvements  of  the  Long  Dock 
property.  It  was  calculated  that  the  debt  of  the 
Company  would  be  increased  but  about  $1,000,000 
by  this  plan. 

It  was  a  discouraging  time  for  negotiating  loans, 
however,  even  on  the  most  approved  security,  for  it 
was  at  the  height  of  the  panic  of  1857.  when  banks 
were  failing  by  the  score,  and  the  oldest  business 
houses  were  trembling  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy; 
but  President  Moran  and  his  associates  went  to  work- 
in  earnest  to  place  the  new  bonds.  The  unsecured 
bonds  of  the  Company  were  low  in  the  market — 
being  then  quoted  at  about  thirty-five— and  the 
terms  of  the  new  issue  were  favorable,  but  investors 
ignored  it.      They  wen-  shy  of  Eric  once  more.      At 


a  meeting  of  the  stock  and  bondholders  held  at  No. 
13  Broad  Street,  New  York,  September  23,  1  S 5 7 .  for 
the  purpose  of  inducing  them  to  subscribe  for  the 
new  loan.  President  Moran  made  an  address  which  is 
to-day  a  graphic— and  in  some  respects  an  amusing 
— exhibit  of  the  Company's  situation  and  tribula- 
tions in  that  critical  year.  He  began  by  presenting 
a  statement  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  Com- 
pany as  follows  : 

Sept.  30, 1855.     Sept.  30, 1856.  Sept.  30, 1857. 

Capital    Stock $10,023,959    $10,000,000  $11,000,000 

Funded  Debt 24.Ny1.ooo      24.891,000  24,891,000 

Floating   Debt 1,211,763        1.104,970  2,437,209 

[nteresi   Unpaid 69.000 


Total    Indebtedness $26,102,763 

Cash  and  Cash  Items 180,756 

Materials 504.855 

Fuel 497.1  IS 

Steamers  on  Lake  Erie...  88.N75 
Rolling    Stock    loaned    to 
Canandaigua  and   Niag- 
ara Falls  Railroad 100.000 

Other  Assets 10,456 

Due   by   Agents 

Advanced   to    Long   Dock 

Co 

Bonds  of  1875  in  Sinking 
Fund 322.000 


I.25.995.970 
300.656 
502,541 

726,723 

218,931 


100.000 
46,234 


$27,397,209 

84.551 
550,000 
610,000 
231,229 


100.000 

50.000 

250,000 


684,254 

794,000        1 ,386,000 


Total 1.703.857        2,690.425        3.9-25-934 


Liabilities  over  Assets $24,398,911     $23,305,545  $23,471,275 

Sept.  30.  1855.  Sept.  30,  1857. 

Total    Indebtedness $26,102,763  $27,397,209 

Less  Sinking  Fund 322,000  1,386,000 


Total $25,780,763        $26,011,209 

Increase  for  two  years $230,441 

But  "ii  the  30th  of  September  there  bad  been  advanced 

to  the  Long  Dock  Company 684,254 

Which  shows  an  actual  increase,  over  and  above  paying 

interest  on  bonds,  of 453.813 

Mr.  Moran  did  not  think  this  was  a  good  reason 
why  F.ric  bonds  should  be  selling  at  thirty-five.  He 
then  adverted  to  the  earnings  of  the  road  since  its 
opening  to  Dunkirk,  and  made  this  statement: 

Earnings  of  New  York  and  F.ric  Railroad. 

1852   $3,340,150 

1853   4.318,062 

[854    5.359.958 

1855— Short  crop  year  and  war  in  Europe 5,488,9  8 

E856   6.349.050 

1857— Engineers'    strike    and    short   crop    (estimated 

partly)     5,750,000 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


125 


The  most  important  difficulty  the  road  had  to 
contend  with,  he  said,  was  the  engineers'  strike  of 
the  fall  of  1856.  "  Owing  to  a  policy  which  occupied 
itself  with  minutiae  to  the  exclusion  of  the  main 
chance,  the  best  set  of  engineers  ever  gathered  in 
this  country  was  dispersed.  They  spread  reports  all 
over  the  country  unfavorable  to  the  Erie  road;  they 
said  it  was  served  by  incompetent  engineers,  by  mere 
boys,  and  what  they  said  was  in  part  true.  The 
strike  was  followed  by  a  December  and  a  January 
change  in  weather  by  which  the  road  was  blocked  by 
snows,  and  an  inundation  in  February  which  de- 
stroyed the  most  important  bridges  on  the  line. 
Constant  rains  kept  the  road  in  a  state  of  liquefaction 
until  July,  and  the  result  of  all  this  was  that  during 
the  first  six  months  of  the  present  fiscal  year  there 
had  been  a  diminution  of  receipts  of  $534,000,  and 
an  increase  of  expenditure  of  $482,000,  leaving  a 
comparative  balance  against  the  Company  of  $1,016,- 
000.  Notwithstanding  this  loss,"  declared  Mr. 
Moran,  "  the  road  has  gone  ahead  within  the  last 
two  years  between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  If,  under  such  unfavorable  cir- 
cumstances as  these,  such  results  could  be  obtained, 
what  would  they  not  be  when  the  large  crops  of 
this  year  came  in,  and  when  economical  and  active 
management  had  made  the  road  as  productive  as 
possible? 

When  I  assumed  the  Presidency  of  the  Company 
its  great  difficulty  was  that  out  of  the  two  millions 
of  floating  debt  $1,500,000  was  to  become  due  this 
month,  and  we  had  nothing  to  rely  upon  but  the 
current  receipts  of  the  railroad.  The  former  Treas- 
urer, Daniel  Drew,  said  he  would  carry  the  road 
through  August,  and  he  did  so;  but  with  the  end  of 
August,  and  the  failure  of  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust 
Company,  began  the  present  crisis.  We  then  had 
to  meet  this  enormous  payment  of  $1,500,000  with- 
out knowing  where  we  were  to  get  the  first  cent.  I 
consulted  James  Brown.  The  Board  of  Directors 
had  created  $6,000,000  of  new  mortgage  bonds, 
which  were  offered  to  the  holders  of  unsecured 
bonds,  payable  half  in  unsecured  bonds  and  the  other 
half  in  instalments  of  ten  per  cent.  We  concluded 
to  call  a  meeting  of  the  banks  and  propose  that 
if  they  would  furnish  $600,000,   private  individuals 


would  provide  $250,000,  which  would  enable  the 
Company  to  get  through.  In  1854  the  Directors  in 
a  similar  crisis  had  paid  $40,000  to  Cornelius  Van- 
derbilt  for  indorsement  on  $400,000  for  six  months 
and  created  a  chattel  mortgage  on  the  rolling  stock 
to  secure  him,  and  while  I  was  in  Europe  this  sum- 
mer, they  had  unfortunately  resorted  to  the  same 
means  of  raising  money,  paying  Mr.  Drew  $25,000 
for  indorsing  for  $1,250,000,  and  securing  him  in  the 
same  way.  This,  however,  is  destructive  to  the 
credit  of  the  Company.  I  do  not  think  that  in  this 
last  case  the  remuneration  was  too  large,  but  I  would 
not  have  agreed  to  it,  even  at  the  risk  of  the  failure 
of  the  Company.  Only  last  Monday  (September 
21st),  when,  at  half-past  two  o'clock,  our  Treasurer, 
Mr.  Gelpcke,  found  it  impossible  to  make  the  Com- 
pany's account  good  in  bank,  he  advanced  on  his 
own  responsibility  $50,000  for  that  purpose.  On 
the  same  day  we  had  to  pay  the  coupons,  and  only 
between  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock  of  that  day,  from 
four  or  five  banks,  we  got  the  required  assistance — 
$575,600  from  them,  and  $10,000  from  individuals. 
This  was  almost  entirely  due  to  the  efforts  of  Treas- 
urer Gelpcke.  We  have  found  a  reluctance  on  the 
part  of  individuals  to  aid  the  Company  that  is  very 
discouraging.  That  the  Company's  notes  have  not 
been  protested  we  owe  to  Mr.  Gelpcke.  Daniel 
Drew  can  take  possession  of  us  under  his  mortgage 
at  any  time.  Our  Treasurer  has  been  able  to  carry 
the  road  through  thus  far;  whether  he  shall  be  able 
to  do  so  in  future,  some  of  those  who  have  had  to 
raise  money  for  themselves  may  conceive. 

"  The  cost  of  the  Erie  now  stands  at  $57,000,000. 
Its  only  competitors  are  the  New  York  Central,  the 
Pennsylvania  and  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroads. 
The  New  York  Central  has  a  very  advantageous 
route,  but,  in  addition  to  the  capital  of  $39,000,000, 
a  million  will  be  required  to  build  the  Albany  bridge, 
and  the  $13,000,000  of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad 
must  be  added  to  reach  New  York,  a  total  of  | 
000,000,  exceeding  Erie's  capitalization  by  $14,000,- 
000,  before  the  Central  can  control  the  trade  of  New 
York.  I  think  the  Erie  need  fear  no  competition 
in  any  quarter. 

"  In  a  recent  journey  West  I   found  that  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad  owed  its  large  freight  traffic  to 


126 


BE  l  WEEN  I  HE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


the  fact  that  it  had  extensive  water  accommodation 
its  termini,  and   upon   my  return   I   mentioned  to 
inv  co-directors  in  Erie  that  the  only  weak  point   in 
our  railroad   was  its   lack   of  water  front  at   Jei 

Shortly  afterward  the  necessary  land  was  ten- 
dered to  the  Company  at  a  low  price,  and  the  Presi- 
dent took  the  responsibility  of  accepting  it,  as  there 
were  other  parties  who  would  have  taken  it  had  they 
known  it  was  to  be  sold.  We  now  hold  there  775 
feet  of  dock  front  where  heavy  produce  can  be  rolled 
directly  from  the  cars  into  vessels  for  foreign  ship- 
ment. This  will  secure  almost  a  monopoly  of  the 
grain  trade  from  the  West  to  Europe,  as  that  traffic 
is  called  for  mostly  after  the  close  and  before  the 
opening  of  canal  navigation.  Soon  the  expenses  of 
the  Jersey  City  ami  Piermont  ferries,  which  are  §75,- 
OOO  a  year,  will  be  replaced  by  a  revenue  from  the 
ferries  to  Duane  and  Canal  streets  of  nearly  the 
same  amount.  Then  Western  merchandise  will  be 
delivered  twelve  hours  earlier  than  now.  But  if 
we  cannot  get  assistance,  we  shall  be  compelled  to 
discontinue  the  work  at  Jersey  City,  and  dismiss  the 
trained  set  of  hands  now  at  work  there." 

ident  Moran  then  presented  the  following 
statement  and  estimates,  as  encouragement  to  falter- 
ing investors: 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company. 

;  j,  1856.     Sept.  30,  1857.       Jan.  1,  1858 
(est.). 

Total  Indebtedness $26,102,773    $27,397,209    $27,141,000 

I. • -s  Sinking  Fund 322,000         1,386,000         1,500,000 

Real  Indebtedness $25,780,773    $26.01 1,209    $25,641,000 

Advances  to  Long  Dock  Company $'■8). 254     $1,100,000 

ting  debt,  Jan.  1.  i8r°  including  inter- 
due  on  that  day,  all  payments  to  Sinking  Fund, 

!  S25S/XX)  for  the  advances  to  Long  Dock  Com- 
pany     2.250.000 

Sinking  Fund  will  hold  Dec.  31.  1857 1,500,000 

Estimate  for  Fiscal  Year,  1857-8. 

same  as  1855-6 $6,350,000 

$3,492,000 

(The  expenses  of  1X56  were  $3.1  (6,994  I 

7     per     rent,     on     $28,000,000, 
lint    of    di  Mating    of 

1 ,960.000 

1: 50.500 —  5.502.500 

lie.  7  70-100  per  cent,  on  $11.000.000. . . .    $847,500 

Leh  Fund 420.000 

Net  income  applicable  to  cash  dividends $427,500 


'  This,"  said  President  Moran,  "  is  equal  to  three 
and  seven-eighths  per  cent,  on  $1 1,000,000,  while  on 
the  first  of  February  next  the  sinking  fund  will  have 
already  in  hand  bonds  in  excess  of  last  stock  dividend 
of  $1,000,000.  The  $400,000  yearly  payments  to 
the  sinking  fund,  joined  to  the  interest  on  the  bonds 
already  purchased,  will  purchase  yearly  more  than 
equal  to  five  per  cent,  on  the  $[  1,000,000  of  stock. 

When  I  took  this  position  I  found  158  persons 
riiling  daily  on  free  passes.  I  immediately  cut  them 
off.  (Cheers.)  That  example  was  followed  by  other 
roads.  I  substituted  an  alliance  for  higher  fares 
instead  of  ruinous  competition — an  agreement  in 
which  the  four  great  roads  all  joined.  We  agreed 
to  discontinue  the  use  of  runners  and  solicitors.  I 
think  my  estimate  of  receipts  is  moderate,  and  of 
expenses  very  liberal.  Our  difficulties  are  to  con- 
tinue to  meet  present  expenses  in  case  the  loan  is 
not  taken.  I  appeal  to  stock  and  bondholders  of 
Erie  to  take  it.  In  July  our  bonds  stood  at  seventy 
to  eighty  per  cent.  They  are  now  at  thirty-five. 
This  loan  will  restore  confidence  and  the  bonds  to 
their  old  value,  which  will  be  an  actual  gain  of  prop- 
erty more  than  the  loan  asked  for.  The  moment  it 
is  taken  our  stock  will  go  up  to  the  extent  of  two 
or  three  millions.  Since  I  have  been  in  office  I 
have  been  over  the  road  but  once.  These  money 
troubles  have  occupied  me  every  day.  I  have  been 
forced  to  delay  payment  of  the  men,  and  have  had 
two  difficulties  with  those  employed  at  Long  Dock. 
On  two  occasions  these  men  have  left  the  shops  at 
Piermont,  and  the  danger  is  that  these  men  may  re- 
fuse to  work  at  any  moment,  which  will  render  all 
our  property  useless.  I  have  been  unable  to  spend 
enough  money  on  the  road  to  get  it  in  proper  condi- 
tion for  the  immense  traffic  which  will  be  offered 
in  a  fortnight  from  now.  Can  money  in  any  way 
be  used  to  better  advantage  than  in  helping  this 
n  tad  ? " 

Richard  Lathers,  a  member  of  the  Hoard,  rein- 
forced the  appeal  of  President  Moran.  '  You  must 
remember,"  said  he,  "  that  $->,ooo,ooo  of  your 
property  may  be  wiped  out  any  day.  Lip  to  a 
recent  period  we  have  managed  the  road  badly,  but 
we  have  1"  un  to  change,  and  if  anybody  here  has 
bonds  or  stock  of  this  Company  he  hail  better  come 


THE    STORY   OF   ERIE 


127 


forward  and  take  of  these  new  bonds.  It  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  we  shall  rub  through.  From  day 
to  day  it  takes  nearly  all  the  time  of  the  Directors 
and  the  Treasurer  to  raise  money  to  meet  their 
payments.  Let  no  one  express  sympathy  with  this 
Company  unless  he  make  it  substantial.  If  this 
Company  goes  to  protest,  you  may  just  as  well  go 
home  and  burn  your  bonds.  We  want  but  little 
money.  We  want  confidence,  principally.  Take 
this  into  consideration.  If  you  do  not,  and  if  in 
three  or  four  days  the  road  goes  to  protest,  you  can- 
not but  feel  that  you  have  been  duly  warned  by  at 
least  one  of  the  Directors." 

A  closing  appeal  was  made  by  President  Moran, 
and  the  following  subscriptions  were  received: 
Brown  Brothers  &  Co.,  $12,000;  Sarazin  &  Dufais, 
§6,000;  George  W.  Van  Stovorin,  §2,000;  Richard 
K.  Hoffman,  $8,000;  A.  M.  Cazzens,  §10,000 ;  W. 
B.  Bolles,  §6,000 — a  total  of  §44,000.  Gelpcke, 
Keutgen  &  Reichel  had  previously  subscribed  §100,- 
000,  making  §144,000  thus  far  taken  toward  the 
§6,000,000  loan. 

Ex-President  Benjamin  Loder  made  a  speech  in 
favor  of  an  investigation  of  the  Company's  affairs, 
and  he,  William  Whitewright,  jr.,  John  H.  Gourlie, 
and  John  Stuart,  jr.,  were  appointed  to  confer  with 
the  President  and  Directors. 

The  newspapers  announced  on  September  25th 
that  President  Moran's  explanations  at  the  meeting 

were  favorably  received  in  the  street,"  but  Erie 
stock  did  not  respond  to  the  feeling.  The  com- 
mittee appointed  at  the  meeting  to  examine  into 
the  Company's  affairs  and  their  prospects  held  its 
conference  with  the  President  and  Directors  and 
made  a  report  to  the  security  holders,  the  startling 
declaration  appearing  in  it  that  the  unsecured  bonds 
for  §10,500,000,  and  the  §11,000,000  capital  stock 
of  the  Company — which  had  been  sold  down  to 
eight  on  the  street — would  cease  to  have  any  market 
value  whatever  unless  immediate  relief  was  obtained. 
By  October  1st  the  stock  was  down  to  ten,  but  the 
subscriptions  to  the  new  loan  had  increased  to  §600,- 
OOO.  The  crisis  in  financial  affairs  continued,  and 
October  10,  1857,  President  Moran  issued  the  fol- 
lowing notice  to  the  stock  and  bondholders  of  the 
Company: 


The  event  we  dreaded  has  at  last  occurred.  This  company 
has  been  forced  to  allow  its  engagements  falling  due  yesterday 
to  be  protested,  notwithstanding  the  strenuous  efforts  of  its 
officers,  who.  unaided  by  you,  found  it  impossible  to  obtain 
temporary  loans,  although  they  showed  that  they  could  be 
reimbursed  in  a  few  days  from  the  receipts  of  the  company. 
It  now  becomes  imperatively  necessary  that  you  should  come 
forward  to  relieve  the  company  so  as  to  prevent  your  valuable 
property  from  passing  into  other  hands,  at  the  risk  of  being 
1  by  litigation  between  parties  in  interest.  A  prompt 
and  united  effort  on  your  part  will  yet  avert  any  injurious 
consequences  from  the  present  unfortunate  embarrassment. 
A  very  moderate  amount  received  in  cash  will  enable  the  com- 
pany to  resume  its  payments  at  once,  and  the  balance  of  the 
subscriptions  could  be  made  very  gradual  and  easy,  without 
danger  to  the  company.  In  view  of  the  present  state  of  things 
we  invite  you  to  meet  together  on  Wednesday  evening  next, 
tin  14th  inst.,  at  7  o'clock,  at  the  Mercantile  Library,  Astor 
Place. 


The  meeting  at  the  Mercantile  Library-  was 
largely  attended.  Strong  appeals  were  made  for 
subscriptions  to  the  new  §6,000,000  issue  of  bonds, 
but  with  no  satisfactory  result.  The  meeting  ad- 
journed to  meet  October  28th,  at  the  same  place.  A 
few  days  later  the  plan  of  the  issue  was  changed  so 
that  all  coupons  on  bonds  due  within  the  year  would 
be  taken  as  cash,  as  would  any  of  the  floating  debt 
of  the  Company.  At  the  meeting  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  28th  Richard  Lathers  again  explained 
the  situation  of  the  Company,  and  endorsed  the 
payment  of  the  §25,000  salary  to  President  Moran, 
that  having  been  a  cause  of  some  complaint  among 
the  stockholders.  "  It  was  true,"  he  said,  "  that  a 
person  might  be  found  who  would  serve  the  Com- 
pany as  President  for  nothing,  but  I  am  afraid  that 
such  a  President  could  not  be  trusted  very  far. 
These  cheap  Presidents,  who  can  afford  to  build 
splendid  palaces  out  of  the  city,  while  the  railroads 
which  they  profess  to  manage  are  going  the  wrong 
way,  make  one  begin  to  suspect  that  there  is  a  screw 
loose  somewhere.  If  the  President  is  paid  a  liberal 
salary  he  is  under  no  necessity  of  dabbling  in  stock, 
and  can  afford  to  devote  his  whole  time  and  energy 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  road." 

It  was  announced  at  the  meeting  that  instead  of 
Daniel  Drew  being  determined  to  take  advantage 
of  the  Company's  embarrassment,  and  foreclose  his 
mortgage  as  had  been  announced,  he  was  willing,  if 
he  could  have  §1,000,000  from  the  Company  toward 
cancelling  his  endorsements,  to  take  the  remaining 


BETWEEN    THE    0<  I..W    AND    THE    LAKES 


-  '',000  in  the  new  bonds.  Tor  this,  on  motion  of 
utions  expressing  the  full  confi- 
dence of  the  stock  and  bondholders  in  the  Hoard 
"and  especially  in  Mr.  Drew,"  were 
adopted.  Hon.  Erastus  Brooks.  Capt.  Charles  II. 
Marshall,  George  Kenny,  and  William  1).  Murphy 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  call  upon  the  stock- 
holders and  solicit  subscriptions  from  them  up  to  ten 
per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  stock  they  respectively 
held.  These  eager  spurts  of  financiers  toward  aiding 
Erie  resulted  in  strengthening  its  shares  in  the  street 
and  improving  the  price  of  the  bonds.  Confidence 
seemed  to  be  returning. 

A  meeting  at  Jersey  City  was  held  in  Commercial 
Hall,  Montgomery  Street,  Thursday  evening,  No- 
vember 5,  1S57,  and  the  benefits  of  the  railroad,  with 
its  terminals,  after  the  Bergen  tunnel  should  be  com- 
pleted, were  placed  eloquently  before  it.  Much  in- 
terest and  enthusiasm  were  aroused.  This  was  the 
first  Erie  meeting  ever  held  in  that  city.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  solicit  aid,  and  of  that  com- 
mittee DudleyS.  Gregory  and  Charles  G.  Sisson  sub- 
sequently became  active  Directors  in  the  Company. 
This  committee  had  a  conference  with  citizens  of 
Jersey  City  Monday  evening,  December  9th,  at  Mr. 
Gregory's  office.  Hon.  Samuel  Westcott,  Mayor 
of  the  city,  besought  the  people  of  the  place  to  con- 
tribute to  the  full  extent  of  their  means  toward  the 
aid  of  the  Company,  "  rather  than  let  the  work  be 
stopped  at  this  time,  the  completion  of  which  will 
secure  to  us  the  greatest  railroad  terminus  in  the 
United  States."  The  result  of  the  conference  was 
that  Jersey  City  contributed  $250,000  toward  the 
loan. 

The  modification  of  the  terms  of  subscription  so 
that  the  debts  and  acceptances  of  the  Company  ma- 
turing within  a  year  were  received  as  cash,  helped 
the  loan.  Subscriptions  were  received  from  Eng- 
land, and  President  Moran  suggested  that  it  would 
be  a  good  thing  for  some  one  representing  the  Com- 
pany to  go  abroad  in  the  interest  of  the  loan. 
In  December,  1X57,  the  subscriptions  had  amounted 
to  $1,200,000,  half  of  them  from  abroad,  and  Presi- 
dent Moran  declared  that  he  was  positive  that  if 
he  went  to  Europe  he  could  obtain  subscriptions 
to  at  least  one-half  the   loan.     The   Board  resolved 


to  send  him  there,  and  at  the  same  time  unani- 
mously agreed  that  the  entire  issue  of  the  Com- 
pany's unsecured  bonds  should  be  funded  in  a  fifth 
mortgage,  so  that  the  door  might  be  shut  against 
any  more  loans.  This  measure  was  not  adopted 
formally,  but  was  expressly  left  to  be  inaugurated 
by  the  President  in  England,  as  being  well  calcu- 
lated to  help  his  negotiations.  President  Moran 
sailed  in  January,  1858,  S.  T.  Headley,  of  the 
Morris  and  Essex  Railroad  Company,  having  been 
elected  Vice-President,  December,  20,  1857,  to  fill 
Moran's  place  during  his  absence.  On  the  Presi- 
dent's return  from  Europe  at  the  end  of  three 
months  (April,  1858),  he  informed  the  Board  that 
he  had  agreed,  in  England,  that  the  subscribers  to 
the  fourth  mortgage  bonds  should  have,  in  addition 
to  the  previously  announced  conditions,  the  right  to 
fund  $3,000,000  of  unsecured  bonds  in  a  fifth  mort- 
gage, which  was  for  no  reason  to  exceed  $5,000,000, 
thus  excluding  $4,000,000  from  every  protection. 
This  limitation  was  in  express  contravention  of  the 
design  of  the  Directors,  yet  they  confirmed  the  Pres- 
ident's agreement,  one  member  of  the  Board  only 
(George  Bruce)  having  his  name  recorded  against  the 
measure,  he  holding  that  instead  of  expressing  con- 
fidence in  the  situation  of  the  Company,  it  was  an 
evidence  of  distress  unexpected  by  creditors  and 
impolitic  from  the  debtor;  nor  does  it  appear  that 
any  additional  subscriptions  were  gained  from  the 
concession,  for  so  late  as  September  30,  1S58,  the 
close  of  the  fiscal  year,  the  President's  report  showed 
the  aggregate  subscriptions  to  be  only  $3,020,5  11.- 
55,  of  which  half  was  in  the  old  unsecured  bonds, 
being  an  increase  in  nine  months  of  only  $300,000 
to  the  cash  loan. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  Europe  President 
Moran,  with  astonishing  self-confidence,  he  having 
no  experience  or  knowledge  of  the  practical  workings 
of  a  railroad,  assumed  charge  of  the  duties  of  Gen- 
eral Superintendent.  He  abolished  committees  in 
the  Board  of  Directors,  and  took  upon  himself  the 
duties  of  Treasurer,  Auditor,  Chief  Engineer,  Pur- 
chasing Agent,  and  other  offices.  He  dominated 
rything,  and  took  advice  from  no  one.  He  inau- 
gurated the  system  of  regular  semi-annual  meetings 
of  the  stockholders,  after  the  English   custom.     The 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


r-9 


first  one  was  held  at  Clinton  Hall,  Astor  Place,  New 
York,  the  night  of  June  3,  1858.  The  hall  was 
crowded  with  stockholders  and  bondholders,  and 
people  who  were  there  merely  out  of  curiosity.  Pres- 
ident Moran  made  a  statement  of  the  six  months' 
business  of  the  Company  from  October  1,  1S57,  to 
April  1,  1S58,  and  it  was  by  no  means  reassuring. 
The  Company  had  lost  over  $400,000  during  the 
time,  although  the  expenses  had  been  decreased  by 
$198,000.  Most  of  the  expenses  had  been  for  repair- 
ing rolling  stock  and  putting  the  property  of  the 
Company  in  better  shape  for  doing  business.  The 
winter  of  1857-58  had  been  an  unusually  severe  one, 
and  had  interfered  with  traffic  greatly.  President 
Moran  said  that  owing  to  the  panic  of  1857  and  its 
results  no  railroad  in  the  country  was  being  operated 
at  a  profit.  He  was  sure  that  if  the  Company  could 
get  out  of  its  financial  difficulties,  and  if  the  tunnel 
and  the  Long  Dock  could  go  on,  the  revenue  of  the 
railroad  would  not  be  less  than  $7,000,000  a  year  as 
soon  as  trade  revived.  He  said  that  owing  to  compe- 
tition the  Erie  was  transporting  passengers  at  less  than 
two  cents  per  mile  per  head,  and  that  the  carriage 
of  merchandise  had  not  been  remunerative  for  some 
time.  He  trusted  the  unsecured  bondholders  would 
look  into  the  proposed  mortgage  bonds,  for,  even  in 
the  case  of  the  Company's  bankruptcy,  he  said,  they 
would  be  a  perfectly  good  investment.  He  referred 
to  the  fact  that  the  Company  was  severely  criticised 
for  paying  him  the  large  salary  of  $25,000  a  year  as 
President,  and  claimed  that  he  was  worth  it,  for  he 
was  also  filling  the  office  of  General  Superintendent, 
who  had  received  $10,000  a  year,  and  was  conse- 
quently drawing  but  $15,000  as  President,  which  was 
only  $5,000  more  than  Mr.  Ramsdell  had  received. 


that  certain  excavation  was  not  called  for  in  the  con- 
tract, although  it  was  demonstrated  that  such  exca- 
vation had  been  made  necessary  through  no  fault 
of  the  contractors.  Work  on  the  tunnel  was  not 
resumed  for  a  year  and  a  half. 

Up  to  August,  1859,  of  tne  loan  only  $1,253,500 
had  been  taken.  The  hopeless  state  of  entanglement 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Company  culminated  on  the 
4th  of  that  month  in  the  recovery  of  a  judgment 
against  it  for  $35,000  default  in  sinking  fund  bonds, 
and  an  execution  was  issued  the  same  day.  Other 
suits  were  pending  in  which  the  same  questions  were 
involved,  and  it  became  plain  that  if  the  bondholders 
wished  to  protect  the  property  of  the  corporation, 
and  hold  it  together  against  a  reorganization,  some 
steps  must  be  taken  at  once.  Proceedings  were 
begun  by  the  trustees  of  the  fourth  mortgage,  default 
having  also  been  made  on  the  first,  second,  third,  and 
fifth  mortgages.  On  motion  thus  made,  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  Secretary  of  the  Company,  was  appointed 
Receiver  by  Judge  Mason  of  Chenango  County.  He 
took  possession  of  the  road  on  August  16,  1859.  On 
the  19th  the  Directors  made  a  large  reduction  in 
President  Moran's  salary.  On  the  27th  he  resigned 
as  President,  and  retired  from  the  Directory.  Sam- 
uel Marsh  was  elected  President  to  succeed  him. 
The  bonded  debt  and  capital  stock  of  the  Company 
when  Moran  left  it  were  as  follows : 

Capital  Stock $11,000,000 

First  Mortgage  Bonds $3,000,000 

Second  Mortgage   Bonds 4,000,000 

Third  Mortgage  Bonds 6,000.000 

Fourth  Mortgage  Bonds 3,705,000 

Fifth  Mortgage  Bonds 1,253.500— $17,958,500 

Unsecured  Bonds  and  interest  due  on  them 7,825,150 

Total  Debt $36,783,650 


Time  went  on,  but  with  it  did  not  pass  the  trying 
and  threatening  situation  of  Erie.  The  new  fifth 
mortgage  bonds  were  begging  in  the  market.  Busi- 
ness on  the  railroad  went  from  bad  to  worse.  The 
Company  was  falling  into  arrears  in  the  pay  of  its 
employees.  Work  on  the  tunnel  and  other  improve- 
ments was  practically  at  a  standstill.  The  tunnel 
contractors  had  ceased  operations  in  October,  1857, 
President  Moran  having  refused  to  pay  the  bills  of 
the  contractors,  Stanton  &  Mallory,  on  the  ground 
9 


Erie  stock  in  July,  1857,  when  the  Moran  ad- 
ministration began,  was  quoted  at  thirty-three  and 
one-third.  In  August,  1859,  when  the  Moran  ad- 
ministration ended,  the  stock  was  wavering  at  eight. 
That  Charles  Moran  made  earnest  and  conscientious 
endeavor  to  extricate  the  Company  from  its  troubles 
and  start  it  forward  on  a  successful  career  it  would 
be  unjust  to  doubt.  His  ability  to  do  so  had  been 
simply  misjudged  and  overrated — and  by  nobody 
more  than  by  himself. 


CHAl'TI.R    XIII. 


ADMINISTRATIONS    OF    SAMUEL    MARSH,    PRESIDENT,   AND    NATHANIEL   MARSH, 
RECEIVER  AND  PRESIDENT— 1859  To   1864. 

The  Discouraging  Condition  that  Confronted  the  Receiver  —  Wages  Months  in  Arrears,  No  Money  in  Sight,  and  More  than  a  Million  Dollars 
in  other  Overdue  Claims  Clamoring  (or  Payment —  The  Contract  with   Davis  and  Gregory  —  The  Clouds   Dispersed  within  Two 
s  —  Vanderbilt  Appears  in  Krie —  The  New   York  and   Erie  Vanishes  Forever,  and  the  Erie  Railway  is  Born —  Bergen  Tunnel 
Finished —  Pavonia  Ferrj  Established,  and  l'iermont  Ceases  to  be  the   Terminus  of  the  Krie  Kxcept  in  Legal  Fiction. 

ALTHOUGH  Samuel  Marsh  was  the  official  head  of  payment.      These  claims  amounted    to    more   than 

the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  from  1859  $700,000.       The   forbearance   of   the    creditors,    and 

to   1862 — being  the  last   President  of  the  old  Com-  especially  of  the  employees,   whose  pay  was    some 

pany — the  direction  of  its  affairs  was  his  merely  in  a  months   in   arrears,   relieved   the    Receiver   of   much 

formal  way,  as  the  Company  was  in  the  custody  of  embarrassment,  and  increased  earnings  enabled  him, 

the  court,   and   Nathaniel   Marsh,  as   Receiver,   was  in  the  course  of  four  months  after  his  appointment, 

the   officer  and   agent  of  the  court  to   manage  and  to  discharge  all   these   claims,  and   pay  the   current 

direct  the  business  of  the  Company  until  the  legal  expenses  of  the  road.     After  that  all  payments  for 

requirements  of  the  situation  might  be  met,  and  the  labor  were  paid   regularly  as  they  became  due,  and 

property  handed  back  to  the  possession  of  its  own-  all  supplies  were  purchased  for  cash.      The  Receiver 

ers.     President   Marsh's  office  was   simply  an   advi-  on  taking  office  had  confronting  him  the  providing 

sory    one,   and    while    his    ideas,    and    those   of   the  for  the  payment  of  the  following  claims: 

Board,  might   have  been  acted   upon,   and   in  many 

,       .,       -r,                    .,       ,    .                    .  For  supplies  purchased  and  labor  performed,  pre- 

instances  were,  bv  the  Receiver,  the  latter  was  in  no  .                   .               .  .     „      .           .  , 

J  vious  to  appointment  ol  the  Receiver,  with  rents 

way  bound  to  follow  any  such    instruction  or   advice.  and  unpaid  taxes,  and  certain  claims  and  judg- 

A  man  of  less  experience  in  Erie  matters,  however,         ments  $741,510  14 

.  ,  Interest  on  tih  Mortgage,  due  April,  1859 62,10500 

might  have  been  of  much  hindrance   to  the  Receiver      Im,  ,  Mortgage>  due  Mav   [8so I02>270  M 

in   the  management  of  the  complicated  business  of      Interest  on  5th  Mortgage,  due  June,  1859 31.027  50 

the   Company.     Samuel    Marsh    having    been    Vice-  Interest  on  2d  and  3d  Mortgages,  due  Sept  1,  1859     350.ooo  00 

ident  of  the  Company  several  years,  had  a  knowl-  Amounting  in  all  to $1,287,002  64 

edge  that  was  of  much  service  to  the  Receiver,  and 

his  application  of  it  aided  greatly  in  hastening  the  The  settlement  of  these  claims,  and  providing  for 

development    and    success   of    the    plans    that   were  payment   of   future   interest  on  the    mortgage    debt 

devised  for  Erie's  rehabilitation.  out  of  the  earnings  of  the  road,  would   have  contin- 

Recciver  Marsh  found  a  most  discouraging  outlook  ued  the  road   in  the  hands  of  a   Receiver  for  years, 

when   he  took  charge  of    the  Company's  property,  so  an  agreement  was  made  between  the  stockholders 

"  The  income  of  the  road,"  he  subsequently  wrote,  and  the  creditors  of  the  Company,  by  which  the  con- 

he  depn             I    te  of  business  generally,  dieting   interests   among   the    latter   should    be   sub- 

and  to  othei                (as  the  Receiver  charitably  put  mitted  to  the  adjudication  of  Trustees.     October  22, 

it),  was   barely  sufficient   to  defray  the  current   ex-  1859,  a  contract  was  made  by  the  Company  with  J. 

penses,"   while-  claims   for  labor  and  supplies,   and  < '.    Bancroft   Davis  and    Dudley    S.    Gregory,    who, 

judgments     rendered    before   his    appointment,    and  under  its  provisions,  undertook  the  task.       The  plan 

rents  and  unpaid  taxes,  were  pressing  for  immediate  they  proposed  was  that  the   unsecured   bondholders 


••*»  01% 

*  >x*jt 

1 

I 

SAMUEL    MARSH. 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE  ,3, 

should   exchange  their  bonds,  with  four   years'   ac-  Trustees  is  interestingly  told   in   "A  Statement  of 

crued    interest,  for  seven  per  cent,    preferred  stock,  the  Operation  of  the  New  York  and   Erie  Railroad, 

and  that  the  common  stockholders  should   stand,  as  Under  the   Receivership,"  from  which  the  following 

they  then  were,  subsequent  in  interest  to  the  creditors  extracts   are   taken.      The  statement   was  made  by 

of  the  Company.     Under  the  contract  the  Trustees  the  Trustees  to  the  stockholders  in  surrendering  the 

were  called  upon  to  execute  the  following  trusts:  property  to  the  new  Company  in    1862,  and  is  a  val- 

I.  To  receive  and  hold   said  mortgage  coupons  of  uable  chapter  in  Erie  history: 

each  class,  and  issue  scrip  therefor.  "  When  we  entered   upon  this  trust  we  found  the 

II.  To  receive  and  hold  such  fourth  and  fifth  road  in  the  hands  of  a  Receiver,  with  one  coupon 
mortgage  bonds,  in  case  of  foreclosure,  and  exchange  matured  and  another  about  to  mature  upon  the  first 
them  as  herein  provided.  mortgage;  with  the  principal  of  the  second  mortgage 

III.  To  receive  and  hold  such  unsecured  bonds  matured,  and  one  coupon  also  due  upon  the  same; 
and  coupons,  and  exchange  them  for  such  preferred  with  one  coupon  matured  upon  the  third  mortgage; 
stock,  and  issue  receipts  therefor.  with  two  coupons  matured  upon  the  fourth  mortgage; 

IV.  To  receive  and  hold  such  shares  as  the  capital  with  one  coupon  matured  and  one  about  to  mature 
stock  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  upon  the  fifth  mortgage;  with  several  suits  pending 
for  the  purpose  above  named,  and  issue  receipts  upon  the  sinking  fund  bonds,  on  which  they  were 
therefor.  claimed  or  established  to  be  matured:  with  $750,000 

V.  To  cause  proper  agreements  to  be  drawn  in  of  liabilites  for  labor  and  supplies,  and  taxes  in 
order  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  agreement,  arrear,  charged  as  a  preference  claim  upon  net  earn- 
and  they  or  either  of  them,  as  the  attorney  in  fact  of  ings,  by  order  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  with  a 
the  subscribers  hereto,  to  sign  the  same.  floating  debt  estimated  at  $320,000,  for  which  fourth 

VI.  In   case  a  sale  of  the  road   under  foreclosure  mortgage    bonds    were    pledged   to    the    amount    of 

is  necessary  to  carry  out  this  agreement,  to  buy  the  $2,300,000;  or,  to  state  it  in  a  tabular  form,  the  lia- 

same   in   on  our  account,  assessing  us  as  hereinafter  bilities  of    the  Company  then  matured,   or  soon  to 

provided,  said  Trustees  being  under  no  liability  to  mature,  were: 

furnish  money  for  that  purpose.  „                      ,    ,                                                        -. 

'  r      r  Two  coupons,  first  mortgage $210,000 

VII.  After  said  railroad  passes  out  of  the  hands  of      One  coupon,  second  mortgage 140.000 

the  Receiver,  to  receive  the  net  earnings  thereof  from      °ne  coupon,  third  mortgage 210.000 

Two  coupons,  fourth  mortgage   (not  including  hy- 

the  new  management,  and  apply  them  to  the  pay-         pothccated  bonds) 2,0.000 

ment  of,  1st,  such  of  the  present  floating  debt  of  said      Two  coupons,  fifth  mortgage 125.000 

xt        tr     1  j  t-  ■      t>    m        j  /-  j        Preference  debt,  due  operatives,  etc 750.000 

New  York  and  Erie   Railroad  Company,  not  exceed- 
ing $320,000  principal  sum,  interest    to    be    added  to  Total  mortgage,  interest  and  preference  debt $1,675,000 

date  of  payment,  as  shall  be  contained  in  a  schedule     Principal  of  second  mortgage 4.000,000 

Sinking  fund  bonds 2.200.000 

■thereof  to  be  furnished  to  the  said  Trustees  by  the     Two  ,  niU.rcs,  on  sanu. 3o8ooo 

Board  of  Directors,  and   for  which   fourth  mortgage  Floating  debt,  secured  by  fourth  mortgage  collateral. 

bonds  are  pledged  as  collateral ;  2d,  to  the  expendi-        at  an  a^e  of  about  '-" :>  ^  «nt ■     320-000 

tures  upon  the  Long  Dock  property,  estimated   to  Total  matured  liabilities $8,503,000 

amount   to   $500,000;  3d,  to  the  liquidation  of  said 

delayed  mortgage  coupons,  in  the  order  of  their  pri-  "  Our  first  object   was   to   protect  the  collaterals 

ority,  which  shall  terminate  said  trust.  pledged  for  the  floating  debt.     The  contract  allowed 

VIII.  To  retain  from  said  net  earnings,  as  acorn-  this  debt  to  be  paid  from  the  net  earnings,  if  the 
pensation  for  their  own  services,  a  sum  to  be  fixed  by  assent  of  the  mortgage  bondholders  could  be  secured, 
the  Board  of  Directors.  This  could  not  be  obtained,  and,  under  the  order  of 

The  story  of  the  result  of  the  plan   for  caring  for  the  Supreme  Court  (which   we   found   it   useless   to 

the   affairs  of  the  Company  under  the   Receiver  and  attempt  to  resist\  the  net  revenues  of  the  road  were 


1  12 


BETYVLKX    THK    OCKAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


ordered  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  interest 
m  the  first  and  second  mortgages.  The  holders 
of  the  floating  debt  then  gave  notice  that  they  should 
the  fourth  mortgage  bonds  held  as  collateral  to 
their  debts,  and  as  the  whole  collateral  would  prob- 
ably have  been  sacrificed  by  such  a  course,  we  were 
obliged  to  refer  the  settlement  of  that  debt  to  the 
Directors  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany. They  authorized  the  execution  of  a  contract, 
eminently  wise  and  judicious,  in  our  opinion,  under 
which  it  was  retired. 

r  next  difficulty  was  with  the  holders  of  the 
second  mortgage  bonds.  Finding  it  impossible  to 
secure  an  exchange  of  those  bonds  into  the  third 
mortgage  bonds  on  the  terms  authorized  by  the  con- 
tract (by  giving  a  bonus  of  ten  per  cent,  in  preferred 
stocki,  we  again  referred  the  question  to  the  Corn- 
pan}-,  under  whose  authority  a  contract  was  made 
which  secured  the  entire  extension  of  the  second 
mortgage  bonds  for  twenty  years,  and  the  absolute 
retirement  of  i,  ioo  outstanding  hypothecated  fourth 
mortgage  bonds,  and  a  favorable  contract  for  the 
retirement  of  1,000  more  of  such  bonds  ($1,000,000) 
if  the  Company  desire.  As  a  part  of  this  arrange- 
ment, we  also  secured  the  entry  of  a  judgment  in  the 
pending  suit  for  the  foreclosure  of  the  fifth  mort- 
gage, affirming  the  validity  of  the  mortgage  debt  of 
the  old  Company,  and  providing  for  the  purchase 
of  the  property  at  the  sale  by  ourselves  as  your 
Tru  ind   securing  your   interest   in   the   prop- 

erty. 

"  Before  obtaining  this  judgment  we  had,  with 
great  difficulty,  and  in  the  face  of  a  determined  and 
organized  opposition,  obtained  from  the  Legislature 
of  New  York  a  recognition  of  your  organization  for 
your  protection,  and  an  authority  to  ourselves,  as 
Trustees,  to  purchase  the  road,  and  to  organize  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  for  your  benefit.  We  had 
also  obtained  from  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and 
New  Jersey  authority  to  sell  so  much  of  the  prop- 
erty, franchises,  and  estate  of  the  old  Company  as  was 
in  those  States  respectively,  at  any  sale  that  might 
be  ordered  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  and 
an  authority  for  the  purchasers  to  convey  it  to  any 
corporation  that  might  be  formed  to  receive  it.  The 
I.  gislature  of  New  York,  in  granting  us  the  neces- 


sary jiowers  to  secure  this  property  for  you,  enlarged 
the  provisions  of  the  original  contract.  That  con- 
tract contemplated  that  the  bonded  unsecured  debt 
only  should  receive  preferred  stock  in  the  new  Com- 
pany. Hut  the  Legislature,  on  the  representations 
of  sundry  contractors  and  others  holding  claims 
against  the  Company  which  were  not  secured  by 
mortgage,  directed  us  to  take  into  the  trust,  and 
grant  certificates  for  preferred  stock  for  aH  such 
unsecured  and  judgment  debts  and  claims  as  should 
be  presented  within  the  time  specified  in  the 
act. 

While  the  proceedings  to  which  we  have  referred 
were  going  on,  we  opened  offices  in  New  York  and 
London  to  receive  assents  to  the  plan  for  reorgani- 
zation. The  London  office  was  under  the  charge  of 
Mr.  Evans,  one  of  your  Directors,  and  the  New 
York  office  was  managed  by  Mr.  Otis,  your  Secre- 
tary, under  our  own  supervision.  Few  creditors 
under  the  first  and  second  mortgages  made  the  con- 
cessions required  of  them.  They  claimed  the  reve- 
nues of  the  road,  which  were  of  necessity  conceded 
to  them  for  the  payment  of  their  interest.  A  larger 
proportionate  amount  of  the  third  mortgage  coupon 
holders  made  the  proposed  concessions;  but  in  the 
execution  of  the  trust  this  became  practically  unim- 
portant, as  we  were  not  able  to  divert  the  revenues 
of  the  road  from  the  payment  of  the  current  interest 
on  that  mortgage. 

'  The  payment  of  the  coupons  in  arrear,  and  of 
the  accruing  coupons  on  these  mortgages,  left  us  at 
the  sale  to  provide  only  for  the  fourth  and  fifth  mort- 
gage coupons  in  arrear.  YVe  were  allowed,  by  the 
terms  of  the  judgment,  to  offset  against  our  bid  all 
such  coupons  held  by  us  as  Trustees,  and  we  were 
required  by  the  terms  of  the  sale  to  pay,  in  cash, 
the  amount  of  all  such  coupons  not  held  by  us.  On 
these  terms  we  bought  the  road  on  your  account,  at 
the  sale  on  the  28th  of  January  last.  We  proceeded 
at  once  to  organize  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 
pursuant  to  the  terms  of  the  acts  of  the  Legislature 
of  New  York.  We  provided,  in  the  articles  of  asso- 
ciation, that  no  new  mortgage  should  be  created  on 
the  property  covered  by  the  existing  mortgages,  un- 
less the  intention  to  create  the  same  should  be  pub- 
lished in  some  newspaper  in   the  City  of  New  York, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


once  a  week,  for  ten  weeks  next  before  the  annual 
election  of  Directors;  and  also,  that  no  floating  debt 
should  be  created,  except  for  the  ordinary  supplies, 
materials  and  expenses  of  operating  the  road,  and 
for  the  payment  of  our  bid,  unless  authorized  by  a 
vote  of  three-fourths  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  at  a 
meeting  called  for  that  purpose.  We  also,  with  the 
assent  of  your  Directors,  levied  an  assessment  of 
two  and  one-half  per  cent,  upon  the  par  value  of 
both  classes  of  the  new  stock,  and  caused  the  offices 
to  be  opened  for  the  collection  of  assessments  and 
the  issue  of  certificates. 

While  this  was  going  on,  we  devoted  ourselves 
to  the  adjustment  of  the  many  outstanding  claims 
against  the  Company,  which  were  entitled  to  share 
in  the  new  organization,  and  we  succeeded  in  ad- 
justing every  claim  presented  to  us.  As  the  result 
of  our  labors,  the  whole  amount  of  the  unsecured 
and  judgment  debts  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  is  $8,542,184,  of  which  amount  cer- 
tificates for  preferred  stock,  and  fractional  certificates 
for  such  stock,  and  Trustees'  certificates  have  been 
issued  to  the  amount  of  $8,423,675.50,  leaving  still 
outstanding  unsecured  claims  to  the  amount  of  $1 18,- 
508.50.  This  latter  sum  is  entirely  in  the  form  of 
unsecured  bonds  and  matured  coupons  on  the  same; 
and  as  it  is  small  in  amount,  we  advise  that  author- 
ity be  obtained  from  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
to  admit  it  to  participate  in  the  new  organization,  so 
that  it  may  be  said  that  no  one  has  suffered  by  the 
proceedings  which  have  been  taken. 

"  Of  the  total  capital  stock  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company,  there  have  been  already 
surrendered  for  certificates  of  common  stock  in  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  or  for  Trustees'  certificates 
not  yet  redeemed,  112,565  shares,  of  the  par  value 
of  $100  each,  leaving  still  outstanding  2,935  shares. 
The  holders  of  these  shares  should,  we  think,  still 
be  allowed  to  exchange  them  for  common  stock  in 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  on  the  same  terms  as 
the  other  stockholders. 

"In  collecting  assessments,  we  authorized  Mr. 
Otis  and  Mr.  Evans  to  receive  the  outstanding  fourth 
and  fifth  mortgage  coupons  as  cash.  By  doing  so 
the  operations  of  the  trust  were  greatly  facilitated. 
We    have    to    report    to    you    that    we    have   issueil 


assessment  receipts   for   $462,402.50,  on  which  has 
been   received  : 

In  fourth  and  fifth  mortgage  coupons $214,375  00 

In  cash 248.027  50 

Making  a  total  of $462,402  50 

'  The  sums  in  cash,  as  received,  were  deposited  in 
the  United  States  Trust  Company,  by  order  of  the 
Supreme  Coutt  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Before  paying  our  bid,  we  secured  orders  from 
the  Supreme  Court  directing  the  Receiver  to  pay 
the  October  (iS6i)  coupons  on  the  fourth  mortgage, 
and  the  December  (1861)  coupons  on  the  fifth  mort- 
gage, thus  relieving  us  from  the  necessity  of  provid- 
ing for  the  payment  of  those  coupons  from  the  as- 
sessments, and  also  carrying  out  the  spirit  of  the 
contract.  The  road  has  now,  as  contemplated  by 
the  contract,  resumed  the  regular  payment  of  its 
current  accruing  mortgage  interest. 

"  At  the  time  of  the  payment  of  the  bid,  we  were 
the  holders  of  fourth  and  fifth  mortgage  coupons  to 
the  aggregate  amount  of  $704,042,  which  had  been 
surrendered  under  the  contract.  The  outstanding 
amounts  on  the  fourth  mortgage  were  $80,570,  and 
the  outstanding  amounts  upon  the  fifth  mortgage 
were  $24,885.50.  These  amounts  we  paid  in  cash 
to  the  Referee  (Hon.  Samuel  A.  Foote),  and  he  is 
now  distributing  them  to  the  holders  of  the  mort- 
gage coupons  entitled  to  receive  them.  By  a  res- 
olution of  your  Board  of  Directors,  passed  in  Max- 
last,  the  holders  of  the  Trustees'  certificates  for 
mortgage  coupons  are  entitled  to  receive  intere 
such  coupons  from  the  1st  day  of  May,  [861. 

"  We  have  distributed  the  balance  of  the  cash 
received  from  the  assessments  among  the  holders 
of  the  Trustees'  certificates  for  the  fourth  mortgage 
coupons  of  April  and  October,  1859,  paying  inl 
on  their  coupons  for  that  time,  and  that  the  Re- 
ceiver, under  orders  of  the  Supreme  Court,  has  con- 
tributed from  the  net  earnings  of  the  road  the  bal- 
ance necessary  to  complete  the  entire  payment  of 
those  coupons  and  interest.  In  handing  over  the 
propertv  to  you,  and  terminating  our  trust  so  far  as 
you  are  concerned,  we  have  therefore  to  report,  as 
the  existing  liabilities  under  the  trust,  the  following. 


»34 


BETWEEN  I'HK  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKHS 


.vhich  th  n   certificates  bear  interest   from 

May  i.  l86l,  and  th  ment  receipts  bear  inter- 

com their  respective  dat 

April.  [860 $126,700  00 

^o I25.33S  °° 

Lpril,  e86i 125.125  00 

Fiftl                                        rune,  1859 10.10750 

mber,  [859 27,877  50 

June,  i?<« 39,35; 

December,  iJvio 39.637  50 

01'  June.  1861 30,602  50 

nt  receipts  given  in  London 155,425  00 

New   York 306,977  50 

Total $1,005,235  00 

As  Trustees  for  the  holders  of  the  mortgage 
liabilities,  we  advise  that  your  Company  pursue 
such  a  policy  as  will  ensure  the  speedy  retirement  of 
those  obligations.  It  is  but  an  act  of  justice  to 
those  mortgage  creditors  who  have  made  valuable 
concessions  to  you  for  your  benefit. 

In  surrendering  to  you  your  property,  we  give 
much  more  than  existed  when  the  trust  was 
created.  Then  your  road  was  without  a  proper 
terminus  at  Ww  York.  The  old  Company  had  in- 
ted,  directly  and  indirectly,  nearly  $2, 000, 000  in 
tile  Long  Dock  property,  which  was  intended  to  be 
the  permanent  terminus  of  your  line,  at  deep  water, 
opposite  the  City  of  New  York;  but  the  work  was 
far  from  being  finished;  there  was  no  apparent 
means  for  completing  it  so  as  to  make  it  available; 
the  contractors  had  failed,  and  the  ignorant  work- 
men had  struck,  and,  in  a  riot,  had  interfered  with 
the  passage  of  your  trains  to  Jersey  City.  Now  the 
expensive  tunnel  on  the  Long  Dock  property  is  com- 
pleted; your  ferries  are  regularly  established,  with 
connections  in  the  lower  part  of  New  York  superior 
to  those  of  any  other  ferry;  your  passenger  traffic 
is  removed  from  Jersey  City  to  your  own  ferries; 
and  your  freight  traffic  is  transferred  from  Pier- 
mont  to  your  own  docks  opposite  the  City  of  New 
York.  Those  docks,  when  completed,  will  be  ample 
for  any  probable  future  traffic  of  the  road,  and  will 
afford  terminal  facilities  for  railway  traffic  unequalled 
in  the  world,  so  far  as  our  observation  goes.  You 
receive  this  property  through  us  from  the  hands  of 
those  who  have  had  the  financial  charge  of  it  for  the 


past    two  years  and   a  half,  with   no  liability   in   the 
form  of  a  floating  debt  against  it. 

We  also  transfer  to  you  a  perpetual  lease  of 
sixty  miles  of  railway  from  1  lornellsville,  on  your' 
line,  to  Attica,  within  thirty  miles  of  Buffalo.  Per- 
ceiving an  opportunity  to  secure  this  property  for 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  on  terms  favorable  be- 
yond precedent  in  the  history  of  railways,  we  made 
the  purchase,  with  the  assent  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee. In  order  to  carry  out  our  contracts  with 
the  sellers  1  which  were  assumed  by  the  Erie  Railway 
Company),  and  to  put  the  road  in  repair  (for  which 
a  large  amount   was   necessary),    a   bonded   debt   of 

',000,  having  thirty  years  to  run,  was  created  by 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  secured  by  a  mort- 
gage of  the  road  purchased.  A  Company,  made  up 
from  your  Directors,  was  organized  under  the  Gen- 
eral Railroad  Act,  to  receive  this  property  from  us. 
We  conveyed  it  to  them,  and  they  have  leased  it  to 
you  in  perpetuity.  Thus,  without  the  payment  of 
commissions,  or  of  any  intervening  profit,  you  have 
acquired,  with  the  creation  of  a  moderate  debt,  sixty 
miles  of  new  railway,  in  perfect  order,  with  gradients 
as  favorable  as  any  on  the  main  line,  and  bringing 
you  within  thirty  miles  of  Buffalo." 

This  condition  of  the  affairs  of  the  Company  was 
led  up  to  by  the  sale  of  the  property  of  the  old  Com- 
pany, which  was  ordered  at  the  suit  of  "  James 
Brown  and  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Trustees,  and 
another  plaintiff,  against  the  New  York  ami  Erie 
Railroad  Company  and  Joseph  Walker,  Uriah  J. 
Smith,  and  William  T.  Hooker,  Trustees,  defend- 
ants," under  the  fifth  mortgage,  final  judgment 
having  been  entered  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  New 
York,  June  9,  i860,  and  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania,  September  15,  i860.  The  sale  took 
place  at  public  auction  on  the  date  mentioned  by  the 
Trustees,  at  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  New  York, 
through  A.  J.  Bleecker,  auctioneer.  It  included  all 
"  the  real  and  personal  property,  rights,  and  fran- 
chises  directed  by  tlie  said  judgments  to  be  sold," 
and  that  included  pretty  much  everything  in  the 
possession  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany.    The  sale   was  closed   at  the  nominal  sum  of 

>,000,  being  the  accrued  interest  on  the  fifth 
inoit  .age,  over  and  above  the  whole  of  the  mortgage 


THE    STORY   OF   ERIE  I35 

liens    upon    the   railroad   and    franchises    of    the  old  originally  put  on  the  road."      Disastrous  floods  in 

corporation,  principal  and  interest  of  which  were:  September,  1861,   on    the  Western   Division,  and  in 

-.    ,         .     „     rQAa  .  November,  1861,  on   the   Eastern    Division,   had   in- 
First  mortgage,  1868 $3,000,000 

Second  mortgage,  1859,  extended  to  1880 4.000,000  creased    the   expenses.       The    work   of   effecting  the 

Third  mortgage,  1883 6,000,000  change   from   the  Cascade   Bridge,    east  of   Susque- 

FrLXSf^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  :zz  hanna' t0  solid  roadbed- which  was  ■**■■  j»  ^ 

was  completed.     A  very  considerable  portion  of  the 

Total  mortgage  lien $19,692,000  track,    particularly  on    the    Delaware    Division,    had 

never  been  ballasted,  mainly  on  account  of  the  want 
The  purchasers,  who  were  the  unsecured  bond-  of  proper  material.  During  the  receivership  much 
holders  of  the  old  Company  (to  become  preference  of  the  unfinished  portions  of  the  track  on  that  divi- 
shareholders  in  the  new  one),  and  the  common  share-  sion  was  ballasted  with  broken  stone  and  gravel, 
holders  of  the  old  Company  assenting  within  six  "  Any  doubts  that  may  have  existed  as  to  the  wis- 
months  to  the  arrangement  for  reorganization,  took  dom  of  the  purchase  of  the  Long  Dock  property," 
the  property  subject  to  that  lien,  and  to  §796,400  said  the  Receiver,  "  and  as  to  the  expediency  of  the 
(including  the  $220,000  bid  at  the  sale)  overdue  and  large  expenditure  required  to  bring  it  into  use,  the 
unpaid  interest  on  the  fourth  and  fifth  mortgages,  experience  of  the  last  few  months  has  completely 
They  had  until  December  31,  1 861,  to  make  payment  dispelled.  In  May  last  the  works  had  so  far  pro- 
of the  overdue  interest,  or  such  part  of  it  as  might  gressed  that  some  of  the  passenger  trains  were  run 
then  remain  unpaid  from  the  earnings  of  the  railroad,  through  the  tunnel  to  the  new  ferry,  and  in  October 
The  further  privilege  inured  to  the  new  corporation  all  the  passenger  trains  commenced  running  there, 
of  paying  the  arrears  of  interest,  and  otherwise  com-  A  portion  of  the  freight  which  had  heretofore  gone 
pleting  their  obligations  to  the  mortgage  bondhold-  to  Jersey  City  was  transferred  to  the  Long  Dock, 
ers  in  advance  of  the  time  named,  and  to  take  the  and  as  facilities  were  furnished,  the  quantity  of  freight 
railroad  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Receiver.  How  this  sent  there  was  increased  till,  about  the  last  of  Decem- 
was  consummated  is  told  in  the  above  statement  of  ber,  the  whole  business,  freight  and  passenger,  was 
the  Trustees.  concentrated  there,  and  no  trains,  except  a  local  pas- 
According  to  the  report  of  the  Receiver,  made  in  senger  train,  have  since  been  run  to  Piermont. 
March,  1862,  the  expenditures  for  repairs  of  the  road  '  The  charter  of  the  Long  Dock  Company  author- 
and  machinery  had  been  large,  though  somewhat  less  ized,  so  far  as  the  laws  of  New  Jersey  could  do  so, 
than  the  average  of  the  three  years  preceding.  Dur-  the  establishment  of  a  ferry  from  their  property  to 
ing  the  term  of  the  Receivership,  23,514  tons  of  new  New  York,  and  a  lease  having  been  procured  from 
rails,  equal  to  more  than  230  miles,  were  laid,  and  the  City  of  New  York,  the  Receiver  established, 
956,000  new  cross-ties  placed  in  the  track.  The  ma-  about  the  first  of  May  last,  a  regular  ferry  between 
chinery  and  cars  had  been  fully  kept  up.  The  effi-  the  Long  Dock  property,  at  the  foot  of  Pavonia 
ciency  of  the  motive  power  was  considerably  increased  Avenue,  and  the  Erie  Railway  Depot  in  New  York, 
by  the  rebuilding  of  the  older  locomotives,  and  ex-  at  the  foot  of  Chambers  Street,  immediately  opposite 
tensively  repairing  others.  Twenty  were  adapted  to  the  General  Offices  of  the  Company.  At  first  the 
coal  burning,  with  a  large  saving  in  the  cost  of  fuel,  service  was  performed  by  one  boat,  making  trips 
(This  was  the  beginning  of  the  change  in  locomo-  each  half  hour,  but  soon  after  another  boat  was 
live  fuel  from  wood  to  coal,  although  several  years  added,  and  the  trips  are  now  made  regularly  every 
elapsed  before  it  was  completed,  that  result  not  fifteen  minutes.  The  expenses  of  the  ferry  have 
having  been  attained  until  the  time  of  Jay  Gould,  been  comparatively  large,  on  account  of  the  service 
1868-72. — Author.)  Pour  new  locomotives  were  being  performed  for  the  first  four  months  by  char- 
added  to  the  equipment.  Nearly  700  freight  cars  tered  boats.  Two  boats  have  since  been  purchased, 
were  rebuilt,  "  and  are  now  worth  more  than  when  and  a  new  and  very  superior  boat  has  been  built,  and 


13  ' 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


will  soon  be  placed  on  the  ferry.  The  convenience 
ami  comfort  of  passengers,  and  greater  regularity  in 

running  the  trains,  have  been  secured  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  ferry,  and  the  want  of  suitable  sta- 
tion accommodation  in  New  York  has  been  supplied 
by  spacious  and  well-arranged  ticket  offices,  passen- 
ger and  baggage  rooms." 

The  last  payment  of  the  Receiver  was  made  in 
December,  1861.  and  he  was  ordered  to  turn  the 
property  over  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company.  The 
New  York  ami  Erie  Railroad  Company  had  passed 
out  of  existence,  after  nearly  thirty  years  of  struggle 
and  vicissitude.  The  expenses  of  the  foreclosure 
had  been  $64,753.  '"•  alK'  °f  the  three  years*  receiver- 
ship $55,150.22.  A  few  years  later  a  Receiver  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  who  was  in  office  but  a 
month  with  nothing  to  receive,  was  paid  §150,000  as 
his  reward.  Receiver  Marsh  turned  over  the  property 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  with  every  claim  paid, 
and  a  balance  of  §181,451  in  the  treasury. 

The  total  cost  of  construction  and  equipment  of  the 

New  York  and   Erie  Railroad  had  been $35,320,907 

Its  capital  stock  paid  in  was 11,000.000 

Its  bonded  debt  was 26,35 1 .000 

Its  existing  floating  debt,  i860,  was 2.725,620 

It  had  earned    during  the  19  years  of  its  operative 

•  nee 51,098,106 

At  a  total  operating  expense  of. 32,346,029 

Leaving  its  net  earnings  for  the  19  years 18,752,077 

And  dividends  had  been  paid  to  the  amount  of 3,481.405 

While  interest  on  bonds,  and  other  drafts  on  the 

treasury,  had  absorbed 1 5,270.672 

The  Articles  of  Association  by  which  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  was  formed  were  entered  into 
April  30,  1 861,  pursuant  to  the  Legislature  in  New 
Y'.rk  State  of  April  4,  i860,  and  of  April  2,  1861, 
both  relating  to  the  foreclosure  and  sale  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad.  The  associates  were 
Dudley  S.  Gregory,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  Drew,  Robert  H. 
dell,  William  B.  Skidmore,  Don  Alorrzo  Cushman, 
Henry  L.  Pierson,  Ralph  Mead,  Cornelius  Vander- 
bilt,  and  Henry  A.  Tailer  of  New  York  ;  Ambrose  S. 
Murray  of  Goshen ;  Thomas  1).  Wright  ol  Bingham- 
ton ;  John  Arnot  and  Alexander  S.  Diven  of  Elmira; 
Horatio  N.  Otis  of  Westchester  County,  N.  Y. 
May  1,  1SO1,  these  associates  organized  as  a  Board 


of  Directors,  and  elected  Nathaniel  Marsh  a-  Presi- 
dent. Samuel  Marsh  Vice-President,  Horatio  N. 
Otis  Secretary,  and  Talman  J.  Waters  Treasurer. 

Thus  the  Erie  Railway  Company  came  into  exist- 
ence on  the  eve  of  the  great  civil  war.  when  the 
country  was  rent  by  the  uncertainties  and  fears  and 
foreboding  that  preceded  the  awful  clash  of  arms. 
But  for  that  the  career  of  Erie  during  the  exciting 
period  of  the  national  struggle  might  have  been  at- 
tended by  other  than  commonplace  incidents.  As 
it  was,  the  affairs  of  the  Company,  now  that  they 
had  been  freed  from  embarrassing  entanglements, 
and  were  placed  in  condition  that  practically  gave 
the  Company  a  new  start  in  life,  attracted  no  more 
attention,  and  deserved  no  more,  than  those  of 
any  other  corporation  that  was  attending  quietly  to 
its  business.  The  war  brought  an  increase  in  traffic 
that  taxed  the  capacity  of  the  railroad  to  care 
for,  and  that  this  business  was  handled  successfully, 
with  the  equipment  and  facilities  the  Company  then 
had,  is  something  to  be  wondered  at  to  this  day. 
Erie  stock  and  bonds  steadily  advanced  in  the  market. 
The  earnings  warranted  the  payment  of  eight  per 
cent,  dividends  on  the  common,  and  seven  per  cent, 
on  the  preferred  stock.  January,  1861,  Erie  stock 
was  quoted  at  thirty-eight  and  a  half.  January,  1862, 
it  was  strong  at  fifty-five  and  a  half,  and  the  year 
1  '  >2  closed  with  common  stock  at  sixty-five,  and  the 
[(referred  at  ninety-six  and  three-quarters.  Erie  first 
mortgage  bonds' were  116;  second,  116;  third,  109 ;  +  ; 
fourth,  102}4;  and  fifth,  ninety-seven  and  a  half. 
The  construction  account,  for  some  reason,  was  of  not 
much  significance  during  these  years,  and  there  was 
undoubtedly  much  cause  for  the  management  that 
came  in  toward  the  close  of  the  civil  war  to  declare 
that  the  road  and  its  equipment  were  entirely  inade- 
quate and  deplorably  out  of  repair.  The  years  of  the 
Marsh  management  were  certainly  the  most  barren 
of  exciting  incident  of  any  previous  period  in  the 
history  of  Erie;  yet  the  important  record  is,  that 
that  administration  saw  the  dawn  of  many  interests 
that  are  among  the  vital  ones  of  Erie  to-day,  and 
the  beginning  of  conditions  that  predominated  all 
Erie's  subsequent  history. 

The  development  of  the  coal  trade   on  the  road 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


137 


began  to  occupy  the  attention  of  the  Erie  managers 
in  1861-62,  "  not  only  as  an  item  of  traffic,  but  to 
provide  a  supply  of  coal  for  the  Company's  own 
consumption,  which  had  become  large  and  was  in- 
creasing, as  well  as  to  encourage  the  establishment 
of  manufactories  by  ensuring  to  them  at  low  prices 
a  constant  supply  of  the  best  fuel."  At  that  time 
anthracite  coal  was  brought  to  the  road  by  the 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  at 
Great  Bend,  Pa.,  and  by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  at  Port  Jervis.  Bituminous  coal  was  received 
from  the  Fall  Brook  Railroad  at  Corning,  from  that 
company's  mines  at  Blossburg,  Pa.,  and  anthracite 
and  bituminous  at  Elmira,  by  way  of  the  Elmira  and 
Williamsport  Railroad  (now  the  Northern  Central) 
and  the  North  Branch  Canal,  anthracite  coal  being 
transported  down  that  canal  from  Luzerne  and 
Columbia  counties  to  Northumberland,  Pa.,  and 
there  transferred  to  the  railroads  connecting  at 
Williamsport  with  the  railroad  to  Elmira.  The 
coal  carried  over  the  Erie  was  in  the  cars  of  other 
companies,  hauled  also  by  their  locomotives,  the 
Erie  merely  receiving  a  fixed  sum  for  trackage. 
Thus  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  car- 
ried anthracite  coal  to  Erie  points  west  of  Great 
Bend  to  Owego,  and  the  Fall  Brook  Company  trans- 
ported bituminous  coal  from  Corning  to  Elmira, 
and  over  part  of  what  was  then  called  the  Canan- 
daigua  Branch  of  the  Erie  to  Seneca  Lake.  Arrange- 
ments were  in  prospect  for  supplying  points  on  the 
Western  Division  with  coal  "  from  the  mines  lying 
south  of  Olean,"  and  from  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railway.  Early  in  1 86->  the  Erie  made  a 
contract  with  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  to 
transport  its  coal  from  the  termination  of  that  com- 
pany's gravity  railroad  at  Hawley,  Pa.,  to  Newburgh, 
Piermont,  and  Jersey  City,  and  to  carry  out  that  con- 
tract a  railroad  was  being  constructed,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Erie,  from  Lackawaxen,  on  the 
main  line,  to  Hawley.  This  railroad  was  completed 
in  December,  1863,  and  is  the  present  Hawley 
Branch  of  the  Erie.  The  prospective  coming  of 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway  into  con- 
nection with  the  Erie  was  looked  forward  to  with 
joyful  expressions  by  the  Erie  management,  as  be- 
ing an  event  that  would  lift  Erie  into  unassailable 


stability  as  an  avenue  of  communication  between  the 
East  and  West.  If  they  could  have  looked  forward 
a  few  years  and  seen  what  the  coming  of  that  rail- 
road into  the  field  had  actually  in  store  for  Erie,  per- 
haps the  Erie  managers  of  1862  and  1863  would  not 
have  awaited  it  with  such  pleasurable  expectation. 

At  the  beginning  of  1861  the  Company  sold  all  of 
its  steamboats  on  Lake  Erie,  and  invested  the  pro- 
ceeds in  rolling  stock  and  other  machinery.  "  much 
needed  for  the  increasing  business  of  the  road." 
The  boats  were  sold  to  the  Erie  Railway  Steamboat 
Company,  under  an  agreement  to  run  its  boats  in 
exclusive  connection  with  the  Erie  trains,  and  to  fur- 
nish new  boats  if  required.  The  Erie  Railway 
Steamboat  Company  was  another  name  for  Daniel 
Drew,  who  was  again  a  power  in  Erie.  Four  new 
boats  were  built,  and  in  1862  the  line  consisted  of 
"  ten  first-class  propellers,  running  between  Dunkirk 
and  Cleveland,  Sandusky  and  Toledo.  Connection 
with  Chicago  and  other  points  on  Lake  Michigan 
was  maintained  by  propellers  owned  by  other  parties, 
running  to  Buffalo." 

In  1862,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
road,  its  capacity  for  receiving  and  discharging  freight 
began  to  exceed  its  carrying  capacity.  This  was  due 
to  the  terminals  at  Jersey  City,  made  possible  by  the 
Long  Dock. 

From  May  I,  1862,  the  Erie  leased  the  Buffalo, 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  with  its  rolling  stock, 
depots,  and  docks.  This  railroad  began  at  Painted 
Post,  N.  Y.,  west  of  Corning,  and  extended  to 
Attica,  where  it  formed  a  junction  with  the  Buffalo 
Division  of  the  Erie,  -from  Hornellsville  (acquired 
in  1 861),  the  two  running  thence  to  Buffalo.  The 
new  leased  line  also  had  a  branch  from  Avon  to 
Rochester,  and  is  now  the  Rochester  Division  of  the 
Erie.  "  Satisfactory  arrangements  "  were  also  made 
in  1862  to  run  direct  lines  for  passengers  and  freight 
between  Buffalo  and  Philadelphia,  by  way  of  the  lines 
running  south  through  Pennsylvania  from  Elmira, 
"  with  a  change  of  cars  at  Elmira  only."  The  ex- 
pectations of  the  Company  from  this  arrangement 
were  not  realized.  The  almost  constant  employ- 
ment by  the  United  States  Government  of  the  roll- 
ing stock  of  the  Elmira  and  Williamsport  Railroad 
and  its  connections  to  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  in 


138 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


the  transp  >rtation  of  soldiers  and  military  supplies 
and  equipments  required  by  the  civil  war,  prevented 
during  the  war  for  but  little  other  business. 
ter  results  were  anticipated  in  the  future,"  Pres- 
ident Marsh  said,  but  that  day  in  the  future  when 
those  better  results  were  expected  from  that  connec- 
tion never  came  to  Erie. 

As  early  as  [862  the  Erie  began  to  show  that  it 
preferred  Buffalo  as  its  western  terminus,  although 
it  had  long  been  evident  that  the  Company  had  handi- 
capped itself  by  having  that  terminus  at  Dunkirk. 
There  could  be  no  escape  from  that  place  as  the 
perpetual  legal  western  terminus  of  the  line,  how- 
ever, for  it  was  so  fixed  in  the  charter  of  the  New 
k  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  as  amended  in 
1838;  but  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the  Company 
from  regarding  Buffalo  as  that  terminus  in  fact.  It 
was  with  that  in  view  that  the  line  from  Homellsville 
Vttica  was  secured  and  made  a  part  of  the  Erie 
in  1 861,  and  from  that  time  the  hopes  of  Dunkirk  in 
the  Erie  began  to  fade,  and  since  1863  that  place  has 
been  nothing  more,  in  fact,  than  the  terminus  of  a 
rather  insignificant  branch  of  the  Erie,  although  it  is 
really  the  termination  on  Lake  Erie  of  the  main  line. 
Tlie  number  of  trains,  either  passenger  or  freight, 
running  out  of  Dunkirk  on  the  Erie  is  just  the  same 
to-day  as  it  was  forty  years  ago,  and  none  of  the 
palatial  through  drawing-room  or  sleeping  coaches  of 
the  Erie  run  to  or  from  Dunkirk.  As  long  ago  as 
1863  "palace-like"  sleeping  cars  were  running  to 
Buffalo,  however,  and  the  new  situation  of  the  Com- 
pany's affairs  at  that  end  of  the  line  was  referred  to 
thus  in  the  Homellsville  Tribune  of  September  17, 
\:  "The  Company  have  made  Buffalo  the  per- 
manent terminus  of  the  Erie  Railway,  the  passenger 
and  freight  business  having  increased  from  that  point 
over  the  road.  It  is  gratifying  evidence  of  the  grow- 
ing prosperity  of  the  Erie  Railway  to  witness,  as  we 
frequently  do,  six  or  seven  well-filled  cars,  with 
mostly  through  passengers,  on  the  express  trains. 
These  palace-like  sleeping  cars  on  this  road  afford 
the  night  traveler  a  good  opportunity  to  enjoy  a 
comfortable  lullaby  repose  while  traveling  at  the  rate 
of  thirty  miles  an  hour — finding  himself  at  the  end 
of  his  journey  rested  and  fresh  for  bu  im 

In  October,  1863,  it  was  announced  that  "  the  Erie 


expects  to  be  able  to  run  broad-gauge  ens  through 
from  the  Long  Duck,  opposite  New  York,  to  Cl< 
land,  in  a  week  or  two,  and  to  St.  Louis  by  the  first 
of  March  next. 

The  Erie  was  doing  so  well  in  1863,  and  its  pros- 
pects were  regarded  as  being  so  cloudless,  that  a 
leading  Wall  Street  writer  of  that  day  declared  of  it 
all  as  follows:  "  Among  the  steadiest  of  the  railway 
shares  are  *  *  *  and  Erie ;  this  last  wonderfully 
strengthened  by  the  connection  with  the  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western,  the  marvel  of  the  day,  for  the 
rapidity,  quiet,  and  success  attending  its  construc- 
tion. The  Erie,  at  first  the  child  of  disaster,  is  now- 
enjoying  the  most  vigorous  manhood,  and  it  is  gath- 
ering strength  with  every  day's  existence,  and  will 
become  the  giant  of  the  railway  system." 

In  May,  1864,  the  Company  fixed  Rochester  as 
the  northern  terminus  of  the  line  from  Corning  in- 
stead of  Buffalo,  the  route  from  Avon  to  Buffalo 
being  made  a  branch,  the  branch  having  theretofore 
been  from  Avon  to  Rochester.  Accommodation 
trains  were  run  between  Avon  and  Buffalo,  and 
through  trains  between  New  York  ami  Rochester,  a 
complete  reversal  of  the  order  of  operations  on  that 
division.  In  rejoicing  over  this  change,  the  Roches- 
ter Union  was  moved  to  remark:  "The  Erie  Com- 
pany has  resolved  to  make  Rochester  an  important 
point  for  business,  and  will  enter  into  the  work  of 
getting  a  share  of  the  through  travel  by  rendering 
the  road  and  cars  inviting  to  the  public."  But  the 
Erie   did    not    carry   out    that    alluring    programme. 

The  road  and  cars"  were  never  made  "  inviting  to 
the  public,"  even  to  a  small  degree,  until  the  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  Company 
paralleled  the  Erie's  Rochester  Division  with  a  rival 
line,  almost  a  score  of  years  later. 

Nathaniel  Marsh  died  July  18,  1864.  His  death 
came  suddenly,  although  he  had  been  long  in  failing 
health.  He  had  been  a  plodding,  faithful  servant  of 
the  Company  for  many  years.  His  death  was  widely 
d.  It  is  beyond  question  that  President 
Marsh  had  stood  in  the  way  of  the  development  of 
ambitious  schemes  in  Erie  that  lay  in  the  mind 
certain  speculative  members  of  the  Board,  and  with 
his  death  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  Erie  began. 


^T^^/^^f 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  ROBERT  H.   BERDELL— 1864  TO  1867. 

Cornelius  Vanderbilt's  Hand  in  Erie—  His  Ambition  to  Control  it  in  1S64  — The  Beginning  of  Eric's  Costly  Complications  with  the  Boston, 
Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company —  Vanderbilt's  Corner  in  Harlem,  and  How  it  Cost  Daniel  Drew  a  Million  —  Drew 
Time  and  Strips  the  Commodore  of  a  Goodly  Share  of  His  Millions  by  Manipulating  Erie  to  Erie's  Great  Damage  — Aided  and 
Abetted   in   it  by  His   Fellow    Directors  in   Erii  Mi         —Drew   and    Vanderbilt  Reconciled,  and  Vanderbilt   Makes 

Another  Attempt  to  Add  Erie  to   His  1'ussessions  —  Breaks  with  Berdell  and  Takes  up  Eldridge— The   Historic  Erie  Board  Elected 
October  S,  1867. 


FOLLOWING  the  death  of  President  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  his  uncle,  Samuel  Marsh,  then  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  Company,  was  chosen  President  pro  tern. 
Samuel  Marsh  was  the  head  of  the  New  York 
Dyeing  and  Bleaching  Company,  and  had  been  for 
sixteen  years  a  member  of  the  Erie  Directory,  during 
which  time  he  had  been  Vice-President,  and  Presi- 
dent through  the  Receivership  of  Nathaniel  Marsh. 
He  was  the  logical  successor  to  the  Presidency,  and  if 
he  had  insisted  on  being  chosen,  the  honor  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  bestowed  upon  him  for  the 
term  ;  but  there  were  influences  coming  to  the  fore 
in  Erie  affairs  just  then  that  preferred  another  head 
to  the  Company,  and  Samuel  Marsh  declined  to  be 
a  candidate  for  the  office.  There  was  a  strong 
sentiment  in  the  Board  in  favor  of  the  election  of 
Alexander  S.  Diven  as  President.  He  had  been 
prominently  concerned  in  the  affairs  of  the  Com- 
pany since  1843.  Conspicuous  in  the  Board  also 
was  Robert  H.  Berdell.  He  had  come  into  the 
Erie  Directory  in  1857,  having  won  a  reputation  as 
a  wise  and  prudent  business  man  that  was  merited 
by  the  great  success  that  had  followed  his  manage- 
ment of  his  extensive  private  commercial  interests. 
He  at  once  took  a  leading  and  active  part  in  the 
Erie  Board,  being  made  a  member  of  the  Execu- 
tive and  Finance  Committees.  He  had  been  instru- 
mental in  organizing  the  Long  Dock  Company, 
upon  which  the  future  of  Erie  so  largely  depended, 
and  had  active  charge  of  completing  the  Long  Dock 
property  in  1859-60.  He  was  President  of  that 
company  when  he  came  into  the  Erie  Directory. 
He  was  a  friend  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  who  was, 


in  1864,  an  influential  member  of  the  Erie  Board, 
and  with  an  ambition  eager  to  the  control  of  the 
Company.  Vanderbilt  desired  Berdell's  selection  as 
the  successor  of  Nathaniel  Marsh.  The  frien- 
Vice-President  Diven,  however,  were  not  inclined  to 
ignore  the  claims  of  one  who  had  given  more  than  a 
score  of  years  of  his  time  to  Erie's  service;  and  thus 
Berdell  and  Diven  were  opposed  to  each  other  as 
candidates  for  President  at  the  election  in  1S64.  The 
result  of  each  ballot  was  a  tie.  The  contest  con- 
tinued day  after  day,  without  any  change  in  the  vote. 
At  last  Vanderbilt  held  a  consultation  with  Diven. 

"  Diven,"  said  he,  "  I  want  Berdell  to  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  Erie  Company.  I'm  bound  to  have  him, 
some  way,  and  that's  all  there  is  to  it.  You  can  be 
Vice-President,  have  the  general  management  of  the 
railroad,  and  the  salary  of  President,  if  you  like. 
Will  that  satisfy  you  ?  " 

Diven  replied  that  such  an  arrangement  would  be 
satisfactory.  He  withdrew  his  name,  and  Berdell 
was  chosen  President  of  the  Board,  which  composed 
the  following  persons:  Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  Drew, 
John  Arnot,  William  B.  Skidmore,  Cornelius  Vander- 
bilt, Robert  H.  Berdell,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  Ralph 
Mead,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  William  Evans.  J.  C. 
Bancroft  Davis,  Henry  S.  Pierson,  Don  Alonzo  Cush- 
man,  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Thomas  W.  Gale,  Isaac 
W.  Phelps,  Horatio  N.  Otis. 

Cornelius  Vanderbilt  was  in  1864  only  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  career  which  was,  in  a  very  few  years, 
to  revolutionize  the  railroad  systems  of  New  York 
and  adjacent  States,  and  mark  a   new  era  in  railroad 


140 


BETWEEN     THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


management.  He  had  not  yet  made  himself  master 
it  Hudson  River  and  New  York  Central 
ind  was  famous  simply  as  a  feared  ami 
successful  Wall  Street  speculator.  It  is  undoubt- 
edly true  that  in  1864  1  as  well  as  later,  his  ambition 
was  to  obtain  control  of  the  Erie  Railway.  Judging 
alts  that  followed  his  subsequent  owner- 
ship and  control  of  the  Harlem,  Hudson  River,  and 
New  York  Central  Railroads,  it  more  than  likely  has 
been  many  times  since  then  a  matter  of  great  regret 
to  the  holders  of  Erie  securities  that  he  had  not  fol- 
lowed to  success  the  promptings  of  his  early  am- 
bition and  his  later  efforts  toward  the  control  of 
Erie.  When  Yanderbilt  came  into  possession  of  the 
Harlem  Railroad  in  1863,  that  company's  stock  was 
a  drug  in  the  market  at  30.  Under  his  manipulation 
it  advanced  steadily,  and  at  last  he  had  cornered 
Harlem  stock  against  the  Street,  and  run  the  market 
on  it  up  to  285  by  the  middle  of  [864.  Daniel  Drew 
was  caught  in  the  Commodore's  Harlem  corner,  and 
plucked  to  the  amount  of  nearly  a  million.  It 
rankled  in  his  breast.  He  resolved  on  revenge.  He 
bided  his  time,  and  it  came — and  Erie  suffered,  as  a 
matter  of  course. 

In  1866  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  had  become  the 
greatest  power  in  the  land  in  railroad  control  and 
management.  He  had  practically  secured,  although 
all  the  details  were  not  yet  definitely  arranged,  abso- 
lute title  to  the  New  York  Central  system  (having 
already  secured  the  Harlem  and  Hudson  River  Rail- 
roads), and  control  of  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  from 
Buffalo.  X.  Y.,  to  Toledo,  0.  He  had  retired  from 
the  Erie  Directory  in  that  year.  His  ambition  and 
interest  were  to  possess  a  through  line  between  New 
York  and  Chicago  by  obtaining  control  of  the  Michi- 
gan Southern  Railroad  from  Toledo  to  the  latter 
city.  This  line  was  then  the  only  one  by  which 
either  the  Erie  or  the  New  York  Central  might  hope 
to  secure  a  through  route  to  Chicago,  and  the  man- 

ment  of  the   Erie  pi  ,ger  for 

such    a    connection    as    \  It    was.       Whatever 

might  have  been  the  true  motives  of  Drew  and  his 

ociates  in  the  matter,  a  desperate  struggle  for  the 
winning    of    the    intermediate    thoroughfare    began 

ween  the  Erie  and  the  Yanderbilt  interests,  with 
the  Michigan  Southern  management   inclined  favor- 


ably toward  the  Erie.  The  Erie  stood  at  a  disad- 
vantage with  Vanderbilt  in  the  matter  of  obtaining 

the  Chicago  connection,  because  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral system  carried  the  Vanderbilt  line  direct  to 
Toledo,  while  there  was  a  necessary  link  of  about 
ninety  miles  of  railroad  to  be  built  from  .Akron,  the 
nearest  point  on  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railroad,  the  new  line  that  gave  the  Erie  its  only 
direct  connection  toward  the  West,  before  the  Erie 
could  touch  Toledo.  The  Atlantic  and  Great  West- 
ern was  of  the  same  gauge  as  the  Erie,  the  six-foot 
or  broad  gauge.  The  Michigan  Southern  Railroad 
was  of  the  standard  gauge:  but  the  management  of 
the  latter  company  was  willing  to  enter  into  an  agree- 
ment to  lay  a  third  rail  on  its  route  from  Toledo  to 
Chicago,  whenever  the  necessary  broad-gauge  con- 
nection should  be  made  between  Akron  and  Toledo. 

Erie  stock  began  to  show  weakness  early  in  1866. 
The  business  of  the  road,  although  greatly  de- 
creased, owing  to  the  falling  off  of  traffic  which  the 
Civil  War  had  created,  was  good.  It  could  not  be 
concealed  that  a  speculative  spirit  was  influencing 
the  management.  It  was  an  open  secret,  in  the 
Street,  at  least,  that  the  brokerage  house  of  Daniel 
Drew  was  constantly  using  Erie  stock  in  Wall  Street 
operations,  and  always  to  I  )rew  's  advantage,  although 
the  securities  of  the  Company  had  to  suffer  discredit 
thereby.  Drew  became  known  as  the  "  Speculative 
Director."  and  his  associates  in  the  Hoard  must  have 
known  —  for  it  was  of  common  fame  in  financial  circles 
— that  depreciation  of  Erie  stock  meant  individual 
gain  to  him,  and  that  appreciation  of  the  stock,  in 
the  line  in  which  he  was  speculating,  would  be  to 
him  personal  loss.  The  New  York  Times  money 
article  of  April  6,  1866,  referring  to  Drew  in  this 
respect,  said  that  "  as  his  influence  now  stands,  and 
with  the  prevailing  feeling  against  his  conduct  in 
Wall  Street,  it  seems  doubtful  whether  he  will  be 
suffered  to  have  things  his  own  way  much  longer, 
1  in  the  Erie  direction,  blind  and  devoted  as  the 
majority  of  that  Board  have  been  to  his  financial  had 
and  arbitrary  control  for  years.  The  question  is  one 
of  self-respect  for  their  own  determination." 

It  is  one  of  the  most  unaccountable  and  lament- 
able facts  in    Eric   history  that    there   were  men  ass,.- 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


141 


ciated  with  Daniel  Drew  in  the  Directory  of  the 
Company  who  made  boast  then,  as  they  make  boast 
to-day,  such  of  them  who  live,  of  their  personal 
probity  and  business  integrity,  yet  who  looked  on  in 
unprotesting  acquiescence  at  his  raids  on  the  credit 
of  the  Company,  the  honor  and  good  name  of  which 
he  as  well  as  they  were  bound  as  sworn  trustees  to 
protect. 

The  act  of  the  New  York  Legislature  authorizing 
the  Erie  reorganization  in  1S61  expressly  provided 
that  the  issue  of  the  Company's  stock  should  not 
exceed  the  amount  of  the  outstanding  stock  of  the 
original  Company  and  the  then  existing  unsecured 
obligations  of  the  Company,  which  were  represented 
by  the  preferred  stock,  a  result  of  that  reorganiza- 
tion. The  General  Railroad  Act  of  1850  prohibited 
railroad  companies  from  increasing  their  capitals  by 
a  direct  issue  of  stock,  but  provided  that  a  company 
could  issue  its  bonds  for  the  purpose  of  borrowing 
money  to  complete,  equip,  and  operate  its  road. 
That  provision  of  the  law  gave  to  railroad  companies, 
however,  a  privilege  which,  intended  for  the  benefit 
of  corporations  in  that  respect,  led  to  the  develop- 
ment of  some  of  the  most  exciting  incidents  that 
furnish  material  for  exceedingly  enthralling  chapters 
in  Erie's  history.  This  was  the  provision  empower- 
ing any  company  issuing  its  bonds  for  the  purpose 
prescribed,  to  insert  in  the  bond  a  clause  authorizing 
the  holder  of  it  to  convert  it  into  stock  of  the  cor- 
poration, dollar  for  dollar.  The  idea  and  intent  of 
this  clause  were  that  it  would  be  an  inducement  to 
investors  to  pay  a  higher  price  for  such  company's 
bonds  because  of  the  possibility  of  its  stock  rising 
above  par,  in  which  case  the  bonds  could  be  con- 
verted into  stock  at  greater  profit;  but,  according  to 
acknowledged  authorities  on  railroad  law,  the  con- 
vertible privilege  was  made  only  to  apply  when 
money  was  actually  borrowed  on  a  bond  issue.  But 
such  was  not  the  construction  that  Daniel  Drew,  nor 
Jay  Gould  after  him,  put  upon  the  law. 

Early  in  1866  Erie  was  quoted  on  'change  at  97. 
The  Company  was  in  need  of  money.  That  per- 
sistent bete  noir  of  Erie,  the  floating  debt,  was  lifting 
its  head  to  plague  the  fated  corporation.  Daniel 
Drew  had  money  to  lend,  thanks,  in  a  great  measure, 


to  his  manipulations  of  Erie  stock.  There  was  also 
much  speculation  in  his  eye  just  then,  and  he  had 
contracted  for  deliver)-  at  a  certain  future  day,  to 
various  persons  in  Wall  Street,  many  thousands  of 
shares  of  Erie  stock  at  the  existing  quotation,  97. 
Vanderbilt  was  then  endeavoring  to  get  possession 
of  Erie  by  buying  its  stock,  and  also  had  in  his  mind 
the  plucking  of  Drew  by  a  persistent  bull  campaign 
in  Eric.  This  was  Drew's  opportunity.  The  Com- 
pany wanted  money  to  pay  the  floating  debt.  Drew 
had  money  to  lend.  He  made  a  proposition  to  the 
Company.  This  proposition  does  not  seem  to  have 
met  with  the  approval  of  every  member  of  the  Exec- 
utive Committee,  for  it  was  discussed  at  their  meet- 
ings from  May  16,  1866,  until  June  26th  following, 
before  the  potency  of  Drew's  influence  overcame 
opposition,  and  the  Committee  approved  of  it. 
June  9,  1866,  tin-  Railroad  Journal,  which  had  been 
the  firmest  of  supporters  and  friends  of  the  Erie  for 
many  years,  published  editorially  and  conspicuously 
this  significant  paragraph:  "It  cannot  be  disguised 
that  very  great  uneasiness  prevails  in  interested  cir- 
cles witli  regard  to  the  condition  of  this  road.  We 
do  not  believe  the  road,  with  every  advantage  as  to 
route  and  business,  is  doing  as  well  as  it  might,  that 
it  is  not  earning  any  dividends,  and  is  in  a  bad  con- 
dition, track  and  rolling  stock.  Rut,  on  the  other 
hand,  if  it  wants  money,  and  the  relief  it  seeks  can- 
not be  had  except  by  placing  itself  in  the  hands  of  a 
wealthy  Director,  we  do  not  see  how  this  can  be 
avoided.  The  Directors  are  in  possession  of  all  the 
facts  in  the  case,  and  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  indif- 
ferent to  their  true  interests.  If  anything  is  wrong 
about  it  they  themselves  are  to  blame.  The  public 
look  to  them  for  a  proper  guardianship  of  the  vast 
and  valuable  property  placed  in  their  hands.  If 
there  is  anything  wrong  in  their  management  they 
will  be  held  to  a  strict  account." 

Daniel  Drew's  proposition  was  that  he  would  lend 
the  Company  $3,480,000  for  two  years  at  7  per  cent., 
on  jS.ocx)  shares  of  stock,  or  $3,000,000  convertible 
hi  mkIs  at  60  per  cent,  as  collateral,  without  margin 
for  depreciation,  payable  as  wanted  for  that  amount, 
or  any  part  thereof,  at  any  time  within  four  months, 
the  Company  to  have  the  option  of  paying  off  the 
loan  or  any  portion  thereof  on  ten  days'  notice,  and 


14* 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN     WD    I'll!'.    LAKES 


iin  all  dividends.     Drew's  terms  were  agreed  to 
by  the  (  j    on  the  above  date.  President  Ber- 

being  authorized  to  make  the  loan  on  his  state- 
ment  that   "'  the    floating    debt    of    the   Company 

amounted  to  about  £5,500,000,  and  that  the  material 
hand  amounted  to  more  than  that  sum;  that  this 
iimulation  of  materials  had  been  made  necessary 
by  new  construction,  which  had  ceased;  that  in 
his  judgment  the  amount  could  be  diminished  by 
-  00,000,  and  the  revenues,  which  would  other- 
wise be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  new  material, 
could  be  applied  to  the  reduction  of  the  floating 
debt,  which,  from  time  to  time,  as  it  matured,  could 
be  provided  for  by  temporary  loans  on  the  bonds 
anil  stock  of  the  Company,  a  plan  which  he  thought 
practicable  for  relieving  the  Company  of  its  floating 
liabilities.  " 

des  being  thus  equipped  by  that  Erie  loan  for 
his  raid  on  Wall  Street,  Drew  had  also  at  his  dis- 
posal 10,000  shares  of  stock  which  the  Company  had 
obtained  by  taking  advantage  of  the  law  authorizing 
any  company  to  create  and  issue  its  own  stock  in 
exchange  for  the  stock  of  another  company  whose 
property  was  under  lease  to  it.  The  Buffalo,  Brad- 
ford and  Pittsburg  Railroad  was  leased  by  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  January  5,  1866,  for  a  term  of 
four  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years  from  January  1st 
of  that  year.  The  terms  were  a  guarantee  by  the 
Erie  of  the  interest  on  the  bonds  of  the  lessor  com- 
pany at  7  per  cent.,  and  all  the  taxes,  charges,  and 
operating  expenses.  The  lease  was  signed  by  Presi- 
dent Berdell  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  and  John 
Arnot,  Vice-President  of  the  Buffalo,  Bradford  and 
Pittsburg  Railroad  Company,  Horatio  \.  I  >tis  being 
Secretary  of  both  companies,  and  all  were  Directors 
in  Erie.  When  the  convenience  of  Drew  called  for 
help,  the  stock  of  this  leased  company  was  changed 
into  Erie  stock'  and  held  for  the  emergency. 

Upon  receiving  the  $3,000,000  issue  of  Erie  con- 
vertible bonds,  Drew  immediately  converted  them 
into  stock  of  the  Company.  With  this  great  hold- 
ing of  stock  he  fdled  his  contracts  on  the  Street,  but 
the  sudden  throwing  of  so  large  a  block  of  Erie  on 
the  market  forced  the  price  below  70.  In  this  oper- 
:i  Cornelius  Yanderbilt  was  caught  by  his  wily 
antagonist  in  a  corner  from   which  it  cost  him  more 


than  one   round   fortune  to  extricate  himself.      This 
aid  the  Company  gave  to   Drew  in  his  stock- 
schemes  opened  the  door  of   Erie  to  the  entrance  of 
ndal  and  other  questionable  transactions,  the  pen 
alty  for  which  the  Company  is  to  this  day  paying. 

As  early  as  the  fall  of  1865  Richard  Schell,  repre- 
senting the  Vanderbilt  interest  in  Wall  Street,  sug- 
gested to  members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  that  the  Boston,  Hartford 
and  Erie  Railroad  was  sure  to  be  a  valuable  prop- 
erty, and  would  become  still  more  so  by  a  connec- 
tion with  the  Erie,  a  connection  which  would  be  of 
great  future  importance  and  profit  to  the  latter.  He 
said  that  it  would  be  a  wise  stroke  of  business  on  the 
part  of  the  Erie  to  secure  a  representation  in  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company.  A  committee  from  the  Erie 
Directory,  acting  on  this  suggestion,  went  over  the 
line  of  the  proposed  Eastern  railroad,  and  the  result 
was  that  on  December  8th  Daniel  Drew.  Henry  L. 
Pierson,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Robert  11.  Berdell, 
Dudley  S.  Gregory,  Alexander  S.  Diven,  and  Will- 
iam Evans,  of  the  Erie  Board  of  Directors,  were 
elected  to  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Board. 

John  S.  Eldridge  was  President  of  the  Boston, 
Hartford  and  Erie.  He  was  a  financier  bred  in  the 
school  of  State  Street,  Boston,  and  his  subsequent 
career  in  Erie  affairs  proved  that  the  State  Street 
school  of  finance  was  one  not  far  behind  that  of  Wall 
Street  in  the  teachings  of  methods  that  kept  always 
in  view  the  best  way  of  caring  for  No.  1,  no  matter 
what  the  consequence  might  be  to  the  other  person. 
The  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company- 
was  organized  under  charters  from  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  for  the  purpose  of 
building  a  railroad  from  Boston  to  Fishkill,  N.  V., 
a  distance  of  300  miles,  with  branches  that  would 
increase  its  length  to  400  miles.  The  Company  was 
capitalized  at  $20,000,000. 

March  28,  1866,  President  Berdell  appointed  J.  C. 
Bancroft  Davis,  Daniel  Drew,  and  Dudley  S.  Gregory 
a  committee  to  confer  with  the  Boston,  Hartford  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company  in  regard  to  the  arranging 
of  traffic  relations  between  the  two  railroads.  The 
Eastern  company  was  particularly  anxious  to  make 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


143 


such  an  arrangement,  although  it  had  no  railroad 
connection  whatever  with  the  Erie,  and  the  pros- 
pects of  having  one  were  by  no  means  bright.  It 
was  not  so  much  the  railroad  connection  that  the  com- 
pany desired  as  it  was  a  guarantee  of  a  large  amount  of 
its  bonds,  which  were  by  no  means  a  very  desirable 
investment  just  then.  At  last,  on  June  3,  1867,  a 
meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  was  called  to  consider  an  applica- 
tion from  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  that  the  Erie  guarantee  the  payment  of 
interest  on  $6,000,000  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and 
Erie  bonds,  on  the  promise  of  the  Eastern  company 
to  set  aside  a  certain  amount  of  the  receipts  from  its 
coal  traffic  to  secure  the  Erie  in  its  guarantee;  in 
other  words,  giving  a  mortgage  on  receipts  that  could 
not  materialize  until  the  railroad  was  built,  and  which 
then  depended  entirely  on  the  amount  of  the  Erie's 
coal  traffic  itself,  from  which  the  business  of  the 
proposed  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  was 
to  be  obtained.  On  that  date  A.  S.  Diven  offered 
a  resolution  that  such  an  arrangement  be  agreed 
to,  guaranteeing  the  interest  on  $4,000,000  of  the 
Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  bonds,  on  the  security 
of  future  traffic,  the  receipts  from  which  were  to  be 
set  aside  for  repaying  the  Erie  guarantee,  and  the 
resolution,  with  some  amendments,  was  adopted 
June  5th.  Directors  Cushman.  Davis,  Diven, 
Drew,  Gale,  Gregory,  Lane,  Marsh,  and  Skidmore 
voted  for  it,  and  Berdell,  Arnot,  Pierson,  Lanier, 
Murray,  and  Phelps  against  it.  A  contract  cm- 
bodying  the  arrangement  was  made  and  signed 
October  8,  1867,  by  the  representatives  of  the  two 
companies. 

The  report  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  for  1867  stated  that  245  miles  of  the 
road  were  ironed  and  in  operation,  with  twelve  loco- 
motives, twelve  passenger  cars,  and  sixty  mercantile 
cars  as  its  rolling  stock.  There  were  ten  mortgages 
on  the  road  and  its  franchises,  and  the  funded  and 
floating  debt  was  $10,326,406.  The  road  had  cost 
nearly  $20,000,000.  The  total  income  of  the  com- 
pany in  1867  was  $369,577.  It  was  a  well-known 
fact  that  the  stock  and  bonds  of  the  company  had 
been  sold  and  hypothecated  far  below  100  cents 
on  the  dollar.     The  guaranteeing  of  these  bonds  by 


the  Erie  Railway  Company  secured  also  to  the 
manipulators  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  a  loan  of  $3,000,000  from  the  State 
of  Massachusetts.  The  comforting  announcement 
was  also  made  in  the  public  prints  that  "  the  Boston, 
11  ait  ford  and  Erie  has  only  to  build  a  little  more 
than  100  miles  of  railroad  between  Hartford  and 
Fishkill,  when  a  broad  gauge  will  be  in  operation 
from  Boston  to  St.  Louis."  If  there  ever  was  a 
pig-in-a-poke  transaction  this  of  Erie's  with  that 
Boston  clique  was  certainly  the  one. 

Cornelius  Vanderbilt  added  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  to  his  possessions  in  1867,  and  he  then 
turned  his  eyes  again  on  Erie.  He  resolved  to  get 
control  of  that  Company  also.  He  counted  on  the 
aid  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  people  in  this 
project,  and  favored  the  election  of  John  S.  Eldridge 
to  the  Presidency  of  Erie.  This  was  objected  to  by 
President  Berdell,  and  resulted  in  a  break  in  the  rela- 
tions between  him  and  Vanderbilt.  Berdell  opposed 
strenuously  all  of  the  action  of  the  Company  in  the 
matter  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  bond  guar- 
antee, and  warned  the  Company  of  its  consequences 
— a  warning  that  if  heeded  would  have  saved  the 
Erie  millions  of  dollars.  Vanderbilt  was  still  venge- 
ful toward  Daniel  Drew  for  cornering  him  in  Erie  in 
1866  and  stripping  him  of  a  good  share  of  his  mil- 
lions, but  as  the  Erie  election  for  1867  approached, 
Drew  made  his  peace  with  Vanderbilt  by  promising 
to  let  up  on  his  opposition  to  the  Commodore's  get- 
ting control  of  the  Erie,  and  to  aid  him  toward  that 
consummation.  Rumors  reached  the  Street  that  a 
compromise,  if  not  an  alliance,  had  been  made 
between  the  two  arch  speculators.  This  was  suffi- 
cient to  disquiet  the  Street,  for,  with  Drew  and 
Vanderbilt  working  together,  no  one  could  foresee 
what  might  happen.  When  the  Erie  election  came. 
however,  and  (October  8,  1867)  the  influence  and 
strength  of  Vanderbilt  in  Erie  affairs  were  mani- 
fested by  the  defeat  of  Daniel  Drew  as  Director,  and 
the  election  of  Frank  Work,  a  well-known  Vander- 
bilt lieutenant,  to  a  seat  in  the  Board,  and  the  subse- 
quent choice  of  John  S.  Eldridge  as  President  of  the 
Company,  any  apprehension  that  might  have  existed 
of  a   Drew  -Vanderbilt  alliance  was  dispelled,  and  it 


144 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    NIK    LAKI  S 


med  that  the  downfall  of  the  great  Erie  speculator 
te. 

At  this  surprising  election,  Jay  Gould  and  James 
..  Jr.,  were  made  members  of  the  Board.     They 
were   practically   unknown    outside   of    Wall    Str 
wh  i   member  of   the  firm  of  Smith,  Gould, 

Martin  &  Co.,  Jay  Gould  had  attracted  attention  as 
a  shrewd  and  long-headed  operator.  Fisk  was  famil- 
iar as  the  blustering,  dashing,  over-dressed  head  of 
the  house  of  Fisk  &  Belden,  brokers.  It  is  not 
recalled  that  there  had  been  more  than  a  passing 
acquaintance  between  Gould  and  Fisk  until  their 
election  as  Erie  Directors.  This  remarkable  Board 
of  Directors  was  made  up  in  full  as  follows:  John  S. 
Eldridge,  Eben  D.  Jordan,  Josiah  Bardwell,  James 
S.  Whitney,  of  Boston  ;  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Alex- 
ander S.  Diven,  William  Evans,  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  Jay 
Gould,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  George  M.  Graves,  Fred- 
erick A.  Lane,  Homer  Ramsdell,  William  B.  Skid- 
more,  Henry  Thompson,  Frank  Work,  Levi  Under- 
wood. 

The  Boston  interests  were  strongly  represented  in 
the  Board,  and  Homer  Ramsdell  was  the  conserver 
of  Newburgh's  interests.  The  new  Directors  Henry 
Thompson  (who  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Eldridge) 
and  Frederick  A.  Lane  became  conspicuous  figures 
in  events  that  were  soon  to  make  the  name  of  Erie 
familiar  in  the  most  remote  corners  of  this  and  other 
lands,  and  not  to  its  honor  or  credit.  Levi  Under- 
wood was  an  ex-Lieut.  Gov.  of  Vermont.  He  was  a 
friend  of  Vanderbilt.  Jay  Gould  was  so  little  known 
then  that  the  newspapers,  in  printing  the  names  of 
the  new  Erie  Directors,  printed  his  as  "  J.  Gould," 
whether  the  J.  stood  for  John,  James,  Joseph,  or 
Jeremiah  few  of  them  could  have  told;  and  some  of 
the  papers  print  :'s  name  with  a  final  "  e," 

and  two  recorded  the  future"  Prince  of  Erie  "  under 
the  cold   and    in  :  of  "  Fish."      But 

plain  J.  Gould   and   unfamiliar   Fiske  or  Fish  found 
their   names   in    the    papers,    correctly    and    in    full, 
before  main'  weeks  had   passed   away  from    the  elec- 
i  of  that  historic  Erie  Board. 

The  administration  of  President  Berdell  may  be 
said  to  have  marked  a  period  of  transition  in  meth- 
ods of  operation  and  equipment  of  the  railroad — the 


beginning  and  progress  in  improvements  then  radical 
in  their  changes  from  old  to  new  systems  of  railroad- 
ing, such  as  the  use  of  coal  instead  of  wood  as  fuel 
for  locomotives,  steel  instead  of  iron  in  the  mechan- 
ism of  rolling  stock,  and  the  introduction  of  auto- 
matic couplers  on  passenger  trains,  and  safety  and 
labor-saving  attachments  of  various  kinds.  The 
dawn  of  greater  expansion  of  the  Erie  system  also 
came  with  the  Berdell  management.  The  official 
records  of  this  administration  for  the  years  1S64, 
1865,  and  iS66are  therefore  of  more  than  ordinary 
historical  value  in  the  story  of  Erie's  career,  as  the 
following  extracts  from  them  will  show : 

1864. 

In  1S63  the  Directors  had  called  the  attention  of 
the  stockholders  to  the  fact  that  increased  motive 
power  and  rolling  stock  were  necessary.  There  was 
still  existing  this  same  necessity.  The  road  was 
comparatively  well  supplied  with  cars,  except  pas- 
senger and  coal  cars,  but  there  was  a  great  deficiency 
in  locomotives.  Extra  service  was  required  of  them, 
and  the  shops  were  inadequate  to  keep  them  in 
repair,  even  when  any  could  be  spared  lor  that  pur- 
pose, and  more  shops  had  to  be  provided.  The 
room  did  not  anticipate  so  large  an  increase  in  the 
rolling  stock  as  had  been  found  necessary  for  the 
increased  and  constant!)'  increasing  business  offered. 
To  meet  this  want  the  Company  began  the  erection 
of  new  shops  at  Susquehanna,  Pa.  Lack  of  motive 
power  had  made  the  running  of  the  railroad  more 
expensive  than  it  otherwise  would  have  been.  Con- 
tracts were  made  in  1864  for  sixty-seven  engines  of 
the  most  approved  pattern,  to  burn  coal.  The  Com- 
pany was  building  coal  cars  in  its  own  shops  at  the 
rate  of  three  a  daw  Passenger  cars  were  also  being 
built  in  the  Company's  shops  upon  "the  most 
approved  plans,  in  a  manner  that  is  confidently 
believed,"  said  the  report,  "  will  compare  in  the 
most  favorable  manner  with  any  similar  kinds  of  cars 
on  any  road.  It  is  expected  that  the  requirements 
of  the  travelling  public  will  be  fully  met  in  the 
increa   ed  comfort  of   these  truly  complete  coaches." 

With   less  provision   for   increased   capacity  than 

was  being  made,  the  large  amount  of  business  thrown 

•  n  the  road  by  the  opening  of  the  Atlantic  and 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


145 


Great  Western  Railway  would  become  a  source  of 
embarrassment  instead  of  profit.  The  managers  of 
that  road  had  already  complained  of  the  Erie's 
inability  to  do  the  business  resulting  from  the  con- 
nection, although  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
had  not  yet  been  operated  as  a  through  line  to  Cin- 
cinnati or  St.  Louis.  "  We  are  assured  by  the  man- 
agers of  the  roads  forming  the  broad  gauge  connec- 
tion to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  that  by  May 
or  June  (1865)  their  roads  will  be  fully  equipped. 
And  with  this  assurance  the  managers  of  this  Com- 
pany would  hardly  be  held  excusable  for  failure  to 
prepare  for  so  important  an  accession  to  its  perma- 
nent business." 

The  report  announced  that  "the  Buffalo,  Bradford 
and  Pittsburgh  Railroad,  connecting  with  the  Erie 
Railway  at  Carrollton  Station,  405  miles  from  New 
York  and  54  miles  from  Dunkirk,  will  be  open  for 
use  during  the  coming  summer.  This  road  from  its 
connection  with  the  Erie  to  Lafayette  is  about  24 
miles  in  length,  and  will  ultimately,  and  at  no  dis- 
tant period,  be  carried  into  the  very  heart  of  the 
great  bituminous  coal  region  of  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania. When  opened  to  Lafayette,  it  will  reach  a 
point  where  coal,  iron,  and  lumber  can  be  obtained 
in  almost  inexhaustible  quantities.  It  will  become 
the  natural  outlet  for  the  coal  and  iron  from  that 
great  mineral  region  to  New  York,  Canada,  and  the 
Western  States,  and  will  be  a  source  of  largely  in- 
creased business  to  the  Erie  Railway.  The  growing 
scarcity  of  wood  for  locomotives  has  been  a  source 
of  much  anxiety,  but  with  the  opening  of  the  Buffalo, 
Bradford  and  Pittsburgh  Railroad,  and  the  supply  of 
coal  from  other  tributaries  of  the  Erie,  a  source  of 
much  disquietude  will  be  removed,  as  the  supply  of 
coal  will  be  ample  for  fuel,  and  the  cost  between  the 
supply  of  wood  and  coal  for  locomotive  use  will  be 
at  least  one-third  in  favor  of  the  latter  article." 

Increase  in  expenses  was  explained  by  a  great  ad- 
vance in  the  price  of  coal,  "  of  which  a  large  amount 
is  now  used  in  the  engines  "  ;  by  increase  in  the  cost 
of  repairs,  due  to  "  the  large  amount  of  new  iron 
laid  down  in  1864,"  20,480  tons  having  been  put 
down  at  a  cost  of  $2,132,725.01,  while  in  1863, 
13,967  tons  cost  but  $817,609.67,  a  difference  of  only 
6,513  tons,  but  a  difference  in  cost  of  §1,315, 1 15-34- 


The  average  cost  of  railroad  iron  in  1863  was  $58.66 
a  ton;  in  1864  it  was  $105.  The  amount  of  new 
iron  estimated  to  be  required  for  1865  was  io.OOO 
tons,  at  the  existing  price,  $105  a  ton. 

1865. 

Increase  in  freight  traffic,  particularly  through 
West  and  way  East,  and  in  passenger  traffic  of  all 
classes,  but  particularly  way,  was  noted.  Increased 
expenses  were  due  to  enhanced  cost  of  fuel;  substi- 
tution of  steel  for  iron  in  renewal  of  axles  and  tires; 
and  general  improvement  of  bridges,  ties,  and  bal- 
lasting. There  had  been  a  great  decrease  in  the  cost 
of  railroad  iron,  it  having  fallen  to  $90  a  ton.  Thus 
20, 170  tons  were  laid  in  1865  at  a  cost  of  $1,815,300, 
against  20,480  tons  in  1864  that  cost  $2,132,725.01. 
During  the  winter  and  spring  of  the  year  there  had 
been  severe  floods,  more  destructive  in  their  effects 
than  any  that  had  ever  occurred  along  the  line.  The 
new  shops  at  Susquehanna  were  progressing,  and 
$379,056.13  had  been  expended  on  them  during 
the  year.  Depot,  engine-houses,  and  shops  were 
building  at  Salamanca,  and  had  thus  far  cost  - 
145.72.  The  ferry-boat  "  Pavonia  "  was  built  and 
cost  $121,216. 

The  branch  roads  leased  and  operated  were  the 
Buffalo  Division,  Corning  to  Buffalo,  140  miles; 
Rochester  Division,  18  miles;  Canandaigua  and 
Elmira,  66  miles;  Hawley  Branch,  16  miles;  total, 
240  miles,  which,  with  main  line,  Jersey  City  to  Dun- 
kirk, 460  miles;  Piermont  Branch,  18  miles;  New- 
burgh  Branch,  19  miles;  Northwestern  Division, 
Hornellsville  to  Attica,  60  miles,  gave  797  miles  of 
track  in  the  Erie  system.  The  Wallkill  Valley  Rail- 
road was  operated,  but  not  leased. 

"  Negotiations  are  now  in  progress  for  the  transfer 
of  freight  at  New  York  and  Jersey  City  by  contract, 
based  on  the  actual  tonnage.  It  is  expected  that 
this  will  result  in  large  reduction  of  expenses  at  these 
points.  If  so,  similar  contracts  will  be  made  at  other 
large  stations." 

1866. 

"  The  $3,000,000  first  mortgage  bonds  mature 
and  become  payable  July,  1S67.  Previous  to  their 
maturity  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Company  to  invite 


146 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


pr<  :  their  extension  fur  thirty  years  at  ~  per 

cent,    under  authority  given    by   the   State  of   New- 
York."  1  notice  was  given  April  1.   [867. 

lad  was  never  in  a  better  condition  to 
transact  business  with  economy  and  dispatch,  and 
although  the  net  results  of  last  year  have  fallen  short 
of  expectation  of  the  Board,  yet  that  result  is  mainly 
attributable  to  causes  which  will  be  inoperative  in 
the  future,  prominent  among  these  the  fact  of  the 
suspension  of  the  transportation  of  coal  for  the  Penn- 
sylvania Coal  Company  for  a  period  of  three  months 
and  a  half,  resulting  not  only  in  loss  of  profits  due 
to  that  business,  but  also  involving  this  Company  in 
a  penalty  of  upward  of  $98,000,  the  liquidated  dam- 
ages for  non-compliance  with  the  contract  between 
the  two  companies.  This  contract  has  since  been 
modified  and  arranged  to  the  mutual  satisfaction  of 
both  parties. 

"  Ruinous  competition  between  competing  lines 
during  the  first  six  months  of  the  year  also  seriously 
lessened  the  profits  of  the  year.  The  heavy  govern- 
ment and  local  taxes  have  been  a  serious  drain  on 
the  revenues  of  the  Company.  The  dilapidated  con- 
dition of  the  Buffalo  Branch  and  its  equipment  at 
tlie  time  they  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Com- 
pany, have  cost  upward  of  S1 ,000,000  to  put  in  good 
condition." 

Hugh  Riddle,  General  Superintendent  of  the  rail- 
road, reported  December  31,  1866,  that  "  the  condi- 
tion of  the  motive  power  and  equipment  of  the  road 
will,   I  am  confident,   compare   favorably  with  any 


road  in  the  country,  and  reflect  credit  on  the  officers 
in  charge  of  that  department.  The  track,  roadway, 
and  bridges  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  your 
road  have  very  perceptibly  improved  during  tin-  past 
year,  until  I  feel  warranted  in  saying  that  the  Erie 
Railway  is  in  better  condition  and  better  equipped 
than  at  any  period  during  the  past  ten  years.  Trains 
have  run  with  great  regularity  and  exemption  from 
idents,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  casualties 
attending  the  movement  of  oil  in  bulk."  (This 
report  of  the  condition  of  the  railroad  and  its  equip- 
ment is  interesting  in  view  of  the  report  made  on  the 
same  subject  a  few  months  later,  as  will  appear. 
— Author.) 

Miller's  car  platform,  coupler,  and  buffer  was 
adopted  on  passenger  trains,  and  was  described  as 
"  a  movement  in  the  right  direction,  and  has  already 
in  several  instances  averted  serious  damage  and  per- 
haps loss  of  life."  (Miller's  platform,  coupler,  and 
buffer,  the  invention  of  Dr.  Ezra  Miller,  of  Mahwah, 
N.  J.,  will  be  remembered  as  the  first  great  improve- 
ment in  that  class  of  railroad  equipment.  By  it  the 
platforms  were  brought  close  together,  easing  the 
jolting  and  jerking  in  starting  and  stopping  of  trains, 
and  forming  a  perfectly  smooth  and  safe  passageway 
from  one  coach  to  another.  As  it  was  a  continua- 
tion of,  ami  on  a  direct  line  with,  the  sills  of  the 
coaches,  the  danger  of  telescoping  of  trains  in  case 
of  collision  was  greatly  lessened.  This  attachment 
was  not  superseded  by  anything  better  for  a  score  of 
years.  — A  uthor. ) 


JOHN    S.    ELDRIDGE. 


CHAPTER    XV. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF   JOHN    S.    ELDRIDGE—  1S67    AND    1868. 

Drew's  Defeat  Only  Apparent  —  A  Truce  Between  Him  and  Vanderbilt  Broken,  and  Drew   Resumes  Mis  Former  Status  in  Erie  —  Vanderbilt 
Undertakes  to  Capture  Erie  by  Buying  Up  its  Stock,  and  Runs  Against  Drew  and  the  Erie  Printing  Press  —  The  Eamous  Coir, 
of  Millions  of  Bonds  into  Stock  that  Drew  Delivered  to  Vanderbilt  Greatly  to  the  Eatter's  Loss  and  Chagrin  —  Then  the  Lonr. 
of  Suits,  Cross-suits,  Injunctions,   and   Counter-injunctions— Judge  George  G.   Barnard  and   Erie  —  Flight  of  President  Eldridge, 
Drew,  Gould,  Fisk,  and  the  Erie  Treasury  to  New  Jersey  — The   Erie  Scandal  Reaches  the   Legislature,  and  Breeds  New  Scandal 
There  —  The  Surrender  of  Drew,  and  the  §5,000,000  Settlement  with  Vanderbilt— Official  Story  of  it  All. 


WHILE  Daniel  Drew's  apparent  fall  was  by  no 
means  a  cause  for  regret  to  the  true  friends  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  it  had  to  them  a  dreadful 
significance  as  the  beginning  of  that  ascendancy  of 
the  Vanderbilt  interest  in  the  Company  that  they  had 
long  feared.  Vanderbilt  domination  meant  entire 
subordination  of  the  Erie  and  its  interests  to  the 
New  York  Central.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before 
the  outside  friends  of  Erie  were  still  further  mystified 
by  the  resignation  of  one  of  Vanderbilt's  partisans  in 
the  Directory  (Underwood),  and  the  election  of  the 
deposed  Drew  to  the  vacancy,  a  move  that  was 
promptly  followed  by  the  great  speculator's  appoint- 
ment to  his  old  place  as  Treasurer.  It  is  held  to-day 
by  many  who  say  they  have  good  reason  to  know, 
that  the  rumored  alliance  of  Drew  and  Vanderbilt 
was  not  merely  a  rumor,  and  that  the  deposing  of 
Drew  by  Vanderbilt  at  the  October  election  was 
simply  a  collusive  trick  to  deceive  the  public.  As 
proof  of  this  they  point  to  the  quick  restoration  of 
Drew  to  place  and  power  in  the  new  Erie  manage- 
ment. Others  who  claim  to  know  as  much  about 
the  truth  of  the  situation  as  any  one  else  declare 
that  the  overthrow  of  Drew  by  Vanderbilt  was  bona 
fide,  and  that  Drew,  ever  wily,  diplomatic,  and 
plausible,  had  secured  his  own  restoration  to  power. 
The  weight  of  evidence  is  in  favor  of  the  ante-elec- 
tion compact;  but  no  matter  which  was  the  fact,  the 
result  could  be  but  the  same  to  Erie — misfortune, 
shame,  pillage.  Vanderbilt  and  Drew  operated  in 
the  Street  together — or,  at  least,  not  in  opposition 
— for  nearly  half  a  year.  Then  suddenly  it  became 
known  on   the  Street   that   Vanderbilt   had  resolved 


to  get  absolute  control  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
as  the  best  means  to  carry  out  his  private  ends  as 
well  as  to  control  matters  in  relation  to  the  New 
York  and  Chicago  connection.  This  determination, 
it  was  further  asserted,  had  been  brought  about  by 
the  fact  that  the  new  President  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  had  not  carried  out  his  part  of  the  pro- 
gramme agreed  upon  between  him  and  Vanderbilt. 
It  seems  that  as  time  passed  the  new  President  had 
become  greatly  impressed  with  the  genius  of  Daniel 
Drew,  and  as  the  Vanderbilt  succession  to  Erie  had 
not  assumed  a  condition  of  certainty  that  warranted 
longer  alliance  with  the  Vanderbilt  interest,  the 
manipulator  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie 
scheme  transferred  his  allegiance  to  the  sagacious 
Drew. 

General  Diven  brought  before  the  Board  of  Direct- 
ors, December  4,  1867,  the  question  of  the  broad- 
gauge  connection  with  Chicago,  and  offered  a  reso- 
lution authorizing  the  President,  Vice-President,  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  be  a  com- 
mittee to  act  on  such  recommendations  as  the  com- 
mittee might  make  in  the  matter.  The  resolution 
was  adopted.  This  committee  made  its  report  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1868,  which  was  an  agreement  with  the 
Michigan  Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  Railroad 
Company  for  the  laying  of  a  third  rail  from  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  from  Cleveland 
to  Toledo  and  westward,  thus  forming  a  broad-gauge 
route  to  Chicago,  and  for  operating  the  line.  The 
agreement  was  approved  ami  signed  by  President 
Edridge,  of  the   Erie,  and    E.    P.   Phillips,  President 


14S 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


of  the    Michigan    Southern   and    Northern    Indiana 
Raili  mpany. 

All  these  things  set  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  to  think- 
The  more  he  thought,  the  more  the  transgres- 
f  Daniel  Drew  and  the  deviousness  of  his 
ways  as  between  man  and  man  appeared  to  him  in 
all'their  enormity.  Something  must  be  done  to  stop 
Daniel  Drew  in  his  career,  and,  incidentally,  to  open 
an  easier  way  to  proprietorship  in  Erie.  February 
17.  [868,  something  was  done.  On  that  day  Frank 
Work,  the  member  of  the  Board  of  Erie  Directors 
elected  in  the  Vanderbilt  interest,  applied  through 
his  attorneys,  Rapallo  &  Spencer,  to  Judge  George 
G.  Barnard,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  for 
an  injunction  against  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  to  restrain  them  from  the 
settlement  of  certain  outstanding  accounts  between 
Daniel  Drew,  Treasurer  of  the  Company,  and  the 
Company  itself.  These  accounts  were  the  ones  re- 
sulting from  the  transaction  between  Drew  and  the 
Board  in  1866,  and  which  had  not  yet  come  to  settle- 
ment. This  action  was  begun  in  the  interest  of 
Y.mderbilt  as  incidental  and  auxiliary  to  his  efforts 
to  buy  a  majority  of  Erie  stock,  as  it  might  guard 
him,  as  he  said,  "  against  any  increase  of  the  gross 
amount  of  that  stock  through  a  repetition  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Drew  of  his  former  ingenious  expedient," 
meaning  the  conversion  of  bonds  into  stock.  The 
injunction  was  granted,  and,  two  days  later,  Vander- 
bilt made  another  assault  on  Drew  and  the  Erie, 
under  the  statute  authorizing  the  removal  of  officers 
or  directors  guilty  of  misconduct,  and  petitioned 
before  Judge  Barnard,  through  Attorney-General 
Marshall  B.  Champlain,  in  the  name  of  the  people, 
for  the  removal  of  Daniel  Drew  as  Treasurer  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company. 

The  grievance  that  prompted  this  move  on  the 
part  of  the  Vanderbilt  interest  was,  that  although 
they  had  been  buying  Erie  stock  right  and  left  for 
weeks,  they  found  the  market  still  flooded  with  it, 
and  there  seemed  to  be  as  much  of  it  for  sale  as  if 
never  a  single  share  of  Erie  had  been  sold.  Vander- 
bilt traced  the  responsibility  for  this  prodigality  in 
Erie  shares  to  the  resourceful  Drew,  and  found  that 
something  had  to  be  done  at  once  to  block  the  game 


of  that  wily  speculator.  On  the  very  day  this  last 
Vanderbilt  move  was  made,  February  19,  1868,  the 
Erie  Board  of  Directors  passed  this  resolution: 

It  being  necessary  for  the  completing,  finishing,  and  oper- 
ating the  road  of  the  Company,  to  borrow  money.  Resolved, 
Thai  under  the  provisions  of  tin-  statute  authorizing  the  loan 
of  money  lor  Mich  purposes,  the  Executive  Committee  be 
authorized  to  borrow  such  sum  as  may  be  necessary,  and  to 
issue  therefor  such  security  as  is  provided  for  in  such  cases  by 
the  laws  of  this  State:  and  that  the  President  and  Secretary  he 
authorized  under  the  seal  of  the  Company  to  execute  all  needful 
and  proper  agreements  and  undertakings  for  such  purposes. 

This  was  immediately  followed  by  the  issuing  of 
S;, 000,000  in  convertible  bonds,  which  were  at  once 
converted  into  stock,  and  this  was  fed  to  the  Street 
through  the  brokerage  houses  of  Smith,  Gould, 
Martin  &  Co.,  Robinson,  Cox  &  Co.,  and  William 
Heath. 

In  the  petition  for  the  removal  of  Drew  as  Treas- 
urer of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  the  main  charge 
of  misconduct  against  him  was  that  he  and  other 
Directors  "  had  induced  the  Erie  Board  to  lease  and 
contract  to  complete  a  certain  worthless  connecting 
road,  mainly  owned  by  them,  and  known  as  the 
Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad.  Having 
done  this,  they  had  then,  since  January  1st,  pro- 
cured the  issue  of  a  large  amount  of  Erie  stock  in 
exchange  for  the  stock  of  this  road." 

The  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad  was 
a  road  extending  from  the  main  line  of  the  Erie  at 
Carrollton,  N.  V.,  60  miles  east  of  Dunkirk,  the 
building  of  which  the  Erie  Railway  Company  had 
insured  by  endorsing  its  bonds.  This  agreement 
was  made  January  1,  1866.  In  the  time  when 
Charles  Minot  was  General  Superintendent  of  the 
Erie,  certain  persons  not  entirely  disinterested  in 
the  same  Company,  purchased  large  tracts  of  land 
in  McKean  and  other  counties  in  Pennsylvania, 
which  were  alleged  to  be  valuable  coal  lands.  To 
develop  the  territory  a  railroad  was  necessary.  The 
Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad  Company 
was  formed,  but  very  little  was  ever  done  toward 
completing  it  until  the  Erie  Railway  Company  leased 
it  and  practically  assumed  all  its  responsibilities  by 
agreeing  to  buy  its  7  per  cent,  construction  bonds, 
which  were  convertible  into  stock.  This  was  done, 
and  the  stock  exchanged  at  80  for  Erie  stock  at  par. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


149 


Vanderbilt's  allegation  was  that  "  the  Buffalo,  Brad- 
ford and  Pittsburg  Railroad  was  not  properly  under 
lease  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  that  Daniel 
Drew  had  obtained  the  issue  of  the  Erie  stock  simply 
to  throw  it  on  the  market." 

Judge  Barnard,  on  this  petition,  issued  an  order 
suspending  Drew  from  his  office  of  Treasurer  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  and  ordered  him  to  appear 
on  February  21st  and  show  cause  why  the  prayer  of 
the  petitioner  should  not  be  granted,  the  same  day 
having  been  fixed  by  Judge  Barnard  for  further  hear- 
ing in  the  proceedings  begun  by  Director  Frank 
Work.  Drew  appeared,  with  David  Dudley  Field, 
John  E.  Burrell,  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  Clarkson  N. 
Potter,  and  others  as  his  counsel.  A  motion  to  dis- 
miss the  writ  for  want  of  jurisdiction  was  denied  by 
Judge  Barnard.  Both  hearings  were  postponed,  and 
on  March  3d  Judge  Barnard  granted  an  injunction 
restraining  the  defendants  from  an}-  further  conver- 
sion of  bonds  into  stock,  or  from  issuing  any  capital 
stock  in  addition  to  the  241,058  shares  appearing 
in  previous  reports  of  the  Company,  and  from 
issuing  or  hypothecating  any  of  the  Boston,  Hart- 
ford and  Erie  bonds  that  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
had  endorsed  and  guaranteed,  and  from  proceeding 
toward  carrying  out  the  agreement  with  the  Michi- 
gan Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  Railroad  Com- 
pany in  respect  to  the  construction  of  the  broad- 
gauge  railroad  from  Akron  to  Toledo.  The  writ 
also  ordered  Daniel  Drew  to  restore  to  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  the  58,00x3  shares  of  stock  delivered 
to  him  in  May,  1866,  and  the  10,000  shares  received 
in  exchange  for  the  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg 
bonds.  March  10th  was  named  as  the  day  for  a  hear- 
ing on  this  and  all  the  previous  proceedings  in  the 
Vanderbilt-Drew  embroglio. 

But  injunctions  did  not  worry  Daniel  Drew.  In 
spite  of  this  one,  he  converted  $5,000,000  of  bonds 
into  Erie  stock,  and  put  the  proceeds  on  the  Street. 
In  less  than  two  weeks  the  Street  had  taken  100,000 
shares  of  Erie,  for  which  $7,000,000  had  been  paid. 
and  Vanderbilt  and  his  friends  got  the  most  of  it, 
besides  the  58,000  shares  issued  by  Drew  in  1866. 
If  they  had  not  made  their  contracts  good,  which 
they  did  at  great  loss,  a  wild  panic  would  have 
resulted.     As  it  was,  the  excitement  and  demorali- 


zation made  by  this  continuous  flow  of  Erie  stock 
caused  both  Exchanges  to  take  action  against  it. 
They  ordered  officially  that  no  certificates  of  Erie 
stock  bearing  date  after  March  "th  should  be  a  good 
delivery,  or  recognized  in  any  way.  This  had  an 
effect  that  the  solemn  orders  of  the  court  had  failed 
to  produce. 

Before  March  10th,  the  day  set  for  a  further  hear- 
ing in  the  Vanderbilt  suit,  came  round,  Daniel  Drew 
had  prepared  a  surprise  for  his  antagonists.  On 
March  5th  his  counsel  obtained  from  Judge  Ransom 
Balcom  of  Broome  Count}-,  \.  Y.,  an  order  suspend- 
ing Frank  Work  from  the  Directory  of  the  Erie  Kail- 
way  Company,  on  allegation  that  he  was  acting  in 
the  Board  against  the  interests  of  the  Company,  and 
in  the  interest  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad 
Company,  to  the  great  injury  of  the  former.  Judge 
Balcom  also  issued  a  writ  ordering  all  the  parties  in 
the  proceedings  already  begun  to  appear  before  him 
at  Cortlandville,  N.  Y.,  on  March  7th,  and  staying 
all  further  proceedings  meantime. 

March  7th  there  appeared  in  the  public  prints  a 
report  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  to  the  stock- 
holders, in  which  all  the  allegations  made  against 
the  management  of  the  Company  in  the  Vanderbilt 
suits  were  denied,  and  which  declared  that  the 
Directors  had  moved  in  entire  good  faith  in  all  they 
had  done  in  raising  money,  and  for  a  purpose  single 
to  the  interests  and  demands  of  the  road.  New  rails 
were  badly  needed,  a  double  track  was  rapidly  becom- 
ing a  necessity,  better  terminal  facilities  must  be 
secured,  new  rolling  stock  must  be  purchased,  ele- 
vators, ferry-boats,  depots,  etc.,  must  be  built.  The 
Company  had  made  a  contract  with  the  Michigan 
Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  Railroad  Company, 
according  to  this  statement,  by  which  the  latter  was 
to  put  down  a  third  rail  on  its  road  as  soon  as  other 
parties  had  completed  a  third  rail  to  Toledo,  thus 
giving  the  Erie  a  through  Chicago  connection.  To 
accomplish  this  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  consented  to  deposit  bonds  of  the 
Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  issued 
under  agreement  between  that  company  and  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  as  collateral  with  the  parties 
who  were  to  lay  that  third  rail.     The  committee  did 


'5° 


BETWEEN     rill-    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


though,  that  those   Boston,  Hartford  and 
Krie  .  ilue  until   they  were  endorsed 

by  the  Erie  Railway  Company  to  the  amount  of 
$5,000,000.     1  ol  the  Executive! 

■    that    by    these    charges    the    Erie    Railway 
my  was  suffering  deep  and   unjust   injury  was 
ntly  strengthened  by  two  letters  of  G 
Superintendent  Hugh   Riddle,  which  weir  incorpor- 
1   the  report,  and   which   made  a  most  deplor- 
able showing  for  the  condition  and  equipment  of  the 
road.      He  estimated  that   the  property  could  not  be 
sufficiently  repaired  and  renewed  for  a  less  amount 
than  I  O;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  fact  that 

the  property  of  the  Company  should  be  in  such  a 
dilapidated  state,  with  all  the  money  the  manage- 
ment had  raised  during  the  past  two  years  for  the 
ostensible  and  declared  purpose  of  improving  it.  was 
a  fact  to  weaken  and  discredit  the  Committee's  state- 
ment. There  can  be  no  doubt  of  their  further  state- 
ment, however,  that  if  they  had  consented  to  carry 
out  the  plans  Vanderbilt  had  made  for  the  future  of 
Erie,  the  discreditable  situation  would  not  have  been 
taken  into  the  courts. 

The  proceedings  before  Judge  Balcom  brought 
about  another  complication  in  this  rapidly  entan- 
gling state  of  affairs.  When  his  writ  was  served  on 
the  plaintiffs,  they,  through  Richard  Schell,  obtained 
from  Judge  Ingraham,  of  the  New  York  Supreme 
Court  in  New  York  City,  an  order  enjoining  the 
I  of  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
from  :  .  or  transacting  any  business  whatever, 

without  the  presence  of  Frank  Work  in  the  Board. 
Then  the  Drew  forces  made  a  new  move.  Dudley 
Eield,  on   the  morning  of  March    10th,  went   bi 

1    Ibert.  in   Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  with  a  petition 

by  William   Belden,  of  the  Wall   Street   firm 

of   Fi<  ing   that    a   combination   to 

ruin   the    Erie    Railway  Company  had   been    formed 

lius  Vanderbilt,  Richard  Schell,  Augustus 

Schell,   William    II.    Vanderbilt,   and  others,  among 

..    Barnard,   Justice  of  the 
Supn  .    w  York,  and  asking  for  a  writ 

the  parties  in  the  previous  suits  from 
proceeding  further,  ng  the  Erie  Directors,  with 

the    e:  Frank    Work,    to    discharge    the 

duties  of  tin  ii  and  directing  the  further  issue 


of  convertible  bonds.  Judge  Gilbert  granted  the 
injunction,  and  fixed  March  [8th  as  the  day  for  fur- 
ther hearing  before  him  in  Brooklyn.  "  Here  was 
the  turning  point  in  the  struggle,"  said  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  Jr.,  in  his  scathing  review  of  this 
chapter  in  Erie,  which  he  tersely  called  "  The  Erie 
Railroad  Row."  somewhat  incorrectly,  as  it  was 
the  Erie  Railway  row.  "  The  wily  Drew  had  again, 
in  face  of  the  courts  and  the  Exchange,  regardless  no 
less  of  the  processes  of  law  than  of  the  elements  of 
morality,  repeated  the  strategy  of  two  years  before. 
The  stock  of  the  road,  of  which  he  was  Treasurer, 
fell  fifteen  per  cent,  in  about  as  many  minutes,  and 
Vanderbilt  and  Wall  Street  realized  that  in  selling 
•  short '  so  boldly,  this  '  Speculative  Director '  had 
not  reckoned  without  his  host." 

The  Vanderbilt- Drew  litigation  had  now  become 
so  confused  and  entangled,  with  writs  and  motions 
and  counter-motions,  that  when,  on  March  10th,  the 
parties  to  the  litigation  came  before  Judge  Barnard, 
counsel  for  both  sides  were  bewildered  as  to  what 
move  to  make  next,  and  Judge  Barnard  adjourned 
the  proceedings  until  March  14th.  A  bold  and 
entirely  unexpected  coup  was  made  by  the  Erie  party 
on  the  12th,  which  changed  the  whole  course  of 
these  litigious  events,  the  news  of  which  fell  into 
the  Vanderbilt  camp  like  a  bomb.  Probably  restful 
under  the  uncertainty  of  judicial  procedure,  and 
believing  that  the  situation  had  assumed  a  degree  of 
complication  that  demanded  heroic  treatment,  Dan- 
iel Drew-,  accompanied  by  President  Eldrid^e.  Jay 
Gould,  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  and  all  the  other  members 
of  the  Board  of  Directors  except  Alexander  S. 
Diven,  Frederick  A.  Lane,  William  B.  Skidmore, 
and  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  fled  from  New  York  in 
the  night,  and  took  up  his  quarters  in  Jersey  City, 
no1  forgetting  to  carry  with  him  all  the  Company's 
books,  papers,  funds,  etc.  Directors  Diven,  Davis, 
ainl  Skidmore  were  arrested  and  arraigned  before 
Judge  Barnard  on  charge  of  contempt  of  court. 

Dn  w,  his  fellow-Directors,  and  all  the  books  and 
papers  of  the  Company  now  being  out  of  the  juris- 
diction of  the  New  York  courts  and  of  legal  reach 
of  the  Vanderbilt  people,  the  proceedings  in  this 
remarkable  litigation  took  a  new  turn.  At  the  hear- 
ing before  Judge  Barnard   in  the  matter  of  Directors 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


151 


Diven  and  Skidmore,  Judge  Barnard  held  the  ac- 
cused in  nominal  bail,  and  issued  an  alias  for  the 
missing  Directors,  announcing  that  he  would  hold 
them  in  $500,000  bail  each  should  they  be  brought 
before  him.  Horace  F.  Clark,  of  counsel  for  the 
Vanderbilt  interests,  asked  for  an  order  of  court 
appointing  a  Receiver  into  whose  hands  the  "  seven 
to  ten  millions  of  dollars  which  had  been  realized 
from  sales  of  Erie  stock,"  in  violation  of  an  injunc- 
tion, should  be  placed,  and  the  matter  sent  to  a 
referee  for  a  hearing.  Against  the  protests  of  the 
Drew  counsel,  Judge  Barnard  issued  the  order  re- 
quested, and  appointed  George  A.  Osgood  Receiver. 
As  Osgood  was  a  son-in-law  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt, 
and  a  close  personal  friend  of  Judge  Barnard,  who 
stood  charged  in  the  affidavit  made  before  Judge 
Gilbert  with  being  an  accomplice  of  his  and  Vander- 
bilt in  the  alleged  Erie  conspiracy,  the  appointment 
naturally  prompted  much  suggestive  criticism. 

The  ink  was  scarcely  dry  on  the  order  appointing 
the  Receiver  before  counsel  for  the  Erie  Directors 
had  obtained  from  Supreme  Court  Judge  Clerke  of 
Ulster  County,  on  petition  of  George  M.  Diven  of 
Elmira,  an  injunction  staying  all  proceedings  in  the 
Receivership  matter  until  the  first  Monday  in  April, 
1868.  The  venue  in  this  proceeding  was  placed  in 
Steuben  County.  Proceedings  in  the  matter  of  the 
injunction  obtained  from  Judge  Gilbert  by  the  Drew 
party  on  the  Belden  affidavit  came  up  before  that 
judge  on  March  18th,  as  appointed,  and  he  dis- 
missed the  writ,  declaring  indignantly  from  the 
bench  that  he  had  been  deceived  into  issuing  it. 
Thus  relieved  from  that  injunction,  the  Vanderbilt 
contingent  resumed  operations  on  the  old  line,  and 
filed  a  motion  before  Judge  Barnard,  on  March  19th, 
for  the  purpose  of  having  the  question  of  the  Re- 
ceivership settled.  Judge  Barnard  issued  an  order 
citing  the  Drew  party  to  appear  before  him  and 
show  cause  why  Judge  Clerke's  restraining  order 
should  not  be  vacated.  The  defendants  answered 
this  through  counsel  with  another  injunction,  issued 
by  Judge  Clerke,  which  was  so  sweeping  that  it 
enjoined  all  further  proceedings  on  the  part  of  tin- 
plaintiffs  in  any  of  the  actions  already  begun,  and 
forbade  the  beginning  of  new  ones,  and  restrained 
all  actions  in  the  appointment  of  a  Receiver  by  the 


court,  and  enjoined  all  clerks  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  New  Vork  from  entering  any  order  for  such 
appointment.  In  defiance  of  this  writ,  however, 
Judge  Barnard  proceeded  in  the  Receivership  mat- 
ter, and  a  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  found 
possessing  sufficient  temerity  to  enter  on  record  this 
order  for  Osgood's  appointment.  But  even  if  no 
further  move  had  been  made  to  interfere  with  his 
Receivership,  Osgood  would  have  had  some  diffi- 
culty in  performing  the  duties  of  a  Receiver,  for  the 
millions  he  was  appointed  to  receive  and  adjudicate 
upon  were  safe  in  the  watchful  custody  of  the  Erie 
fugitives  across  the  Hudson,  in  an  alien  State,  and 
it  is  not  likely  that  they  would  hue  gathered  them 
together,  hurried  with  them  to  the  Receiver,  and 
poured  them  into  his  lap. 

Osgood  was  not  permitted,  however,  to  enjoy  even 
the  empty  honor  of  the  place.  An  appeal  from 
Judge  Barnard's  order  was  taken  to  the  General 
Term.  This  was  not  argued  until  April  8th,  but  in 
the  meantime,  on  March  27th,  Judge  Ingraham  had 
granted  an  injunction,  the  tenth  in  this  remarkable 
and  by  no  means  laudable  litigation,  by  which 
Osgood  was  enjoined  from  acting  as  Receiver,  pend- 
ing the  appeal.  The  decision  was  handed  down  on 
June  30th.  Judges  Barnard  and  Cardozo  sustained 
the  appeal  (Barnard  having  issued  the  original  order 
of  Receivership),  and  Judge  Ingraham  dissented. 
Pending  this  appeal,  Peter  B.  Sweeny,  of  the  ! 
main-  Ring,  had  been  appointed  by  Judge  Barnard 
Receiver  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  in  place  of 
Osgood,  for  what  reason  was  not  plain  to  the  com- 
mon people. 

The  popular  excitement  over  the  "  Erie  War,"  as 
these  scandalous  proceedings  were  called,  was  in- 
tense. The  questionable  operations  of  the  principals 
in  the  litigation  were  supplemented  by  open  insinu- 
ations that  judges  concerned  in  the  matter  were 
guilty  of  briber}-  and  corruption.  The  subsequent 
fate  « •  f  at  least  two  of  the  judges  (Barnard  and  Car- 
dozo)  went  a  great  way  toward  substantiating  these 
allegations,  for  they  were  removed  in  disgrace  from 
their  high  office,  on  impeachment  proceedings  taken 
on  charges  among  which  these  Erie  scandals  were 
much  in  evidence. 


'5- 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


The  anti-Erie  party  held  that  their  cause  was  the 
hole  one,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  newspapers 
and  the  public  to  sustain  it.  The  Erie  party  de- 
clared that  theirs  was  the  righteous  cause,  and  that 
they  were  doing  battle  against  monopoly,  and  eu- 
ro avert  the  evil  consequences  t..  the 
public  which  would  result  from  the  success  of  their 
adversaries.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  Favored 
the  Erie  side,  on  the  ground  that  the  success  of 
Wmdcrbilt  would  result  in  the  consolidation  of  the 
Erie  and  New  York  Central  Companies,  and  in  the 
placing  of  New  York  at  the  mercy  of  a  gigantic  rail- 
road monopoly. 

The  flight  of  Drew  and  the  rest  did  not  strengthen 
the  Erie  cause  in  popular  estimation.  It  was  an 
admission  that  their  contention  was  an  untenable 
one.  They  had  failed  to  justify  the  over-issue  of 
stock,  and  to  extricate  themselves  from  the  dilemma 
they  made  petition  to  the  New  York  Legislature  to 
legalize  their  acts,  they  having  in  the  meantime 
obtained  from  the  New  Jersey  Legislature  an  act 
legalizing  domicile  of  the  Company  in  that  State. 
The  Erie  petition  was  referred  to  the  Railroad  Com- 
mittee of  the  New  York  Assembly,  which  held  it  in 
consideration  three  weeks,  and  then  reported  ad- 
versely upon  it,  which  report  was  concurred  in, 
M  irch  27th. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Erie  muddle  and  its  scandals 
having  become  of  common  notoriety,  the  New  York 
Senate  had  taken  the  matter  up,  and  a  special  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Senators  Pierce,  Bradley,  Mat- 
toon,  Chapman,  and  Humphrey,  was  appointed  to 
examine  into  the  condition  of  the  Company  and  the 
charges  of  corruption  made  against  its  managers. 
(Page  445,  "Under  the  Legislative  Probe."  1  A 
majority  and  a  minority  report  were  the  result  of 
this  investigation,  the  minority  report  sustaining  the 
Erie  management,  and  recommending  the  passage 
of  the  legalizing  bill  asked  for.  Senator  Mattoon  at 
first  this  report,  with  Senators  Chap- 

man and  Humphrey.     The  day  before  tin-  committee 
lorted,    however,   he  called  on  the-   fugitive    Erie 
officials  at   Jersey  City,  and   submitted  the  report  to 
them.      This  was    on    March    30th.      According  to 

ony  given  before  the  Investigating  Commit! 
he  told   the    Erie   people   that  "  the   majority  of  the 


committee  had  found  the  thing  all  right,  and  thought 
it  was  an  act  of  justice  to  the  committee  that  some 
representative  of  the  road  should  go  to  Albany  and 
explain'away  the  prejudii  nst  the  Erie  bill." 

The  Erie  exiles  in  Jersey  City  had  been  hiding 
there  under  protection  of  the  police,  to  be  guarded 

:nst  the  possibility  of  being  kidnapped  by  emis- 
saries of  their  opponents,  and  of  being  carried  by 
force  back  to  New    York  State.      Fear  of  arrest  had 

1  prevented  them  from  being  properly  represented 
at  Albany,  although  Charles  (  >'Connor,  of  Yander- 
bilt's  counsel,  guaranteed  Daniel  Drew  immunity 
from  arrest  and  safe  return  to  Jersey  City  if  he  would 
simply  appear  for  examination  before  the  Investi- 
gating Committee,  which  he  did  not  seem  inclined 
to  do.  When  Senator  Mattoon  submitted  the  re- 
port to  them  at  the  Taylor  House,  the  Erie  people 
decided  that  it  would  be  well  for  some  one  of  them 
to  go  to  Albany  and  give  attention  to  important 
business  there.  It  was  accordingly  resolved  that  an 
attachment  which  had  been  issued  against  Jay  Gould 
by  Judge  Barnard  on  Monday,  March  30th,  and 
which  was  returnable  on  Saturday,  April  4th,  should 
be  submitted  to,  and  the  Messrs.  Field,  it  was 
claimed,  made  an  agreement  with  Sheriff  James 
O'Brien  that  Mr.  Gould  should  be  present  then,  and 
that  he  should  not  be  arrested  before  that  time. 
Thereupon,  on  March  30th,  Mr.  Gould  left  Jersey 
City.  It  was  given  out  at  the  headquarters  of  the 
Erie  party  in  that  city  that  he  was  on  his  way  West 
to  complete  the  arrangement  with  the  Michigan 
Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  Railroad  Company 
for  the  laying  of  the  87  miles  of  broad-gauge  track 
from  Akron  to  Toledo.  On  the  morning  of  March 
31st,  however,  the  following  despatch,  received  by 
David  Dudley  Field,  threw  the  Drew  faction  into 
great  trepidation,  and  confused  the  public  as  to  the 
westward  journey  of  Mr.  Goul  1: 

Albany,  March  31.  1868. 
David  Dudley  Field,  New  York: 

I  run  just  arrested  by  tin-  Sheriff,  returnable  Saturday.  This 
is  in  violation  of  your  agreement  with  the  Sheriff.       Bail, 

$500,000.  Jay  il'  hi  i' 

It  seems  that  Mr.  Gould  had  arrived  at  Albany 
on  Monday  and  taken  rooms  at  the  Delavan  House. 
This  fact  was  telegraphed  to  New  York  by  emissaries 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


153 


of  the  other  side,  and  counsel  for  that  side  applied 
to  Judge  Barnard  for  the  issuance  of  a  writ  to  Sheriff 
Parr,  of  Albany,  commanding  him  to  arrest  Jay 
Gould  at  once.  The  instructions  to  the  Sheriff 
reached  him  at  I  o'clock  Tuesday  morning,  and  he 
took  Mr.  Gould  into  immediate  custody  at  his  room-, 
at  the  hotel.  Erastus  Corning,  on  notification  from 
Gould,  immediately  became  bail  for  Gould's  appear- 
ance before  Judge  Barnard  on  Saturday,  April  4th. 

On  April  1st  the  Senate  Committee  made  its  re- 
port on  the  Erie  bill,  and  Jay  Gould's  surprise  may 
be  imagined  when  he  found  that  Senator  Mattoon 
had  changed  his  mind,  and  signed  a  report  strongly 
censuring  Drew,  Eldridge,  Gould,  Fisk,  and  the  rest, 
and  approving  of  the  charges  made  against  them, 
the  other  signers  being  Senators  Pierce  and  Bradley. 
Senators  Chapman  and  Humphrey  were  left  alone 
on  the  report  recommending  the  legislation  asked 
for  by  the  Erie  management — the  very  report  Sena- 
tor Mattoon  had  exhibited  at  Jersey  City,  and  which 
the  Erie  Railway  Company  had  had  printed  at  its 
own  expense,  as  was  sworn  to  before  the  committee. 
The  popular  explanation  for  this  sudden  change  on 
the  part  of  Senator  Mattoon  was  that  he  had  met 
with  more  encouragement  from  the  Vanderbilt  side 
than  he  had  received  from  the  Erie.  The  New  York 
Tribune  flatly  charged  that  he  had  been  paid  $20,000 
for  changing  his  mind. 

This  presentation  of  two  reports  by  the  Senate 
Committee  on  the  subject,  however,  showed  a  feel- 
ing so  different  from  that  which  had  been  a  few  days 
before  expressed  so  emphatically  in  the  Assembly, 
that  the  future  of  the  legislation  became  of  intense 
interest.  Up  to  the  making  of  the  report  by  the 
Railroad  Committee  of  the  Assembly,  the  Erie  inter- 
ests in  this  legislation  had  no  apparent  head  or  effect- 
ive direction,  while  the  opposite  side  was  ably 
represented  in  the  lobby.  So  conspicuous  had  been 
the  pressure  of  anti-Erie  influence  at  Albany  that 
on  the  day  the  Senate  Committee  made  its  two 
reports,  and,  after  long  discussion,  decided  by  an 
impressive  majority  to  refer  both  reports  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole  for  future  action,  E.  M.  K. 
Glenn,  Member  of  Assembly  from  Wayne  County, 
rose  in  his  place  and  charged  that  "  the  Assembly 
report   on   the   Erie   Railroad   bill   was  bought,   and 


that  a  portion  of  the  vote  on  this  floor,  in  adopting 
said  report,  was  bought."  He  declared  that  a  mem- 
ber had  offered  him  $500  if  he  would  vote  against 
the  Erie  bill;  that  another  member  had  been  offered 
$500  for  a  similar  vote,  and  that  still  another  had 
been  offered  $1,200.  The  New  York  Herald  said  in 
its  money  article  of  April  1st: 

The  scene  in  the  Assembly  to-day  when  the  pot  called  the 
kettle  black  on  the  subject  of  bribery  and  corruption  in  con- 
nection with  tin-  recent  adverse  report  of  the  Railway  Com- 
mittee on  the  bill  legalizing  the  acts  of  the  Erie  Company, 
excited  much  amusement  in  the  Street,  and  it  goes  to  show,  if 
the  assertions  of  Mr.  Glenn  are  true,  that  the  "unanimous 
vote  "  of  the  Committee  against  the  bill,  and  the  vote  of  the 
My  accepting  the  Committee's  report,  were  paid  for 
in  the  Central  interest. 

Mr.  Gould  was  taken  from  Albany  to  New  York  in 
the  custody  of  Sheriff  James  O'Brien,  and  arraigned 
before  Judge  Barnard  on  April  4th.  for  a  hearing  on 
a  charge  of  contempt  of  court.  Although  Judge 
Barnard  and  Vanderbilt's  counsel  were  inclined  to 
proceed  summarily  in  the  case,  David  Dudley  Field, 
ex- Judge  Pierrepont,  James  T.  Brady,  and  others  of 
Gould's  counsel  showed  that  the  court  was  taking  a 
course  not  strictly  according  to  law  or  practice,  and 
one  that  was  likely  to  make  future  difficulty  for 
itself,  and  the  Judge  decided  that  there  appeared  to 
have  been  a  mistake,  and  he  adjourned  the  proceed- 
ings until  April  8th,  but  insisted  that  Jay  Gould 
must  execute  a  further  bail  bond,  with  two  sureties 
who  cotdd  qualify  in  $50,000  each,  and  volunteered 
the  declaration  that  if  Mr.  Gould  were  convicted  on 
the  charge,  the  court  would  order  him  to  refund  the 
whole  of  the  $10,000,000  worth  of  Erie  stock  which 
had  been  issued  in  violation  of  the  order  of  the 
court.  Immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  this 
action,  the  Sheriff  was  served  with  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  commanding  him  to  forthwith  produce  the 
bod_\-  of  Jay  Gould  before  Judge  Barrett  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas.  All  the  eminent  counsel  on  both  sides 
were  present  at  the  hearing,  and  the  arguments  took 
up  the  time  of  the  court  until  6  o'clock,  when  Judge 
Barrett  transferred  the  custody  of  Jay  Gould  from 
the  Sheriff  to  an  officer  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  and  appointed  James  A.  ( )liver  as  such  officer, 
to  have  charge  of  Gould  until  he  should  appear  at 
the    adjourned    hearing    before    Judge    Barnard    on 


BETWEEN  Mil-  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


n  the  liab  >us  case 

were  put  over  until  the  morning  of  April  ~\h.     Im- 

iik-  ter  this  result.  Mr.  Gould,  being  anxious 

return  to  Albany,  was  advised  by  counsel  that  he 

might  do  so. 

I  lliver,  the  officer  in  charge  of  Gould. 

Vou  are  in  my  custody." 

'  But,"  replied  Gould,  "  you  may  go  with  me.      I 
will  still  be  in  your  custody." 

That  seemed  to  be  satisfactory  to  the  officer,  and 
the  two  took  a  night  train  on  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  for  Albany.  On  the  way.  Mr.  Gould  com- 
plained of  illness,  and  his  illness  became  more  seri- 
ous as  the  journey  continued.  When  they  arrived 
Ylb. my,  Gould  immediately  sought  Ids  room  and 
sent  for  a  physician,  Dr.  Julian  T.  Williams,  a  former 
Assemblyman  from  Chautauqua  Count}-.  Gould's 
condition  remained  such  that  on  the  night  before  he 
was  to  appear  before  Judge  Barrett,  Court  Officer 
Oliver  telegraphed  to  Judge  Barrett  that  his  charge 
was  ill  in  bed,  with  physicians  attending  him,  and 
that  it  was  impossible  to  get  him  away.  This  was 
the  first  intimation  Judge  Barrett  had  that  Gould 
was  out  of  his  jurisdiction.  He  expressed  in  indig- 
nant language  his  opinion  of  the  situation,  and  ad- 
journed the  case  until  Saturday,  April  ioth. 

.April  ioth  came,  but  Jay  Gould  did  not  appear 
before  Judge  Barrett.  Oliver  was  present,  though, 
and  made  affidavit  that  he  had  accompanied  Jay 
Gould  t  y,  and,  on  arriving  there,  .Mr.  Gould 

had  said  that  he  was  ill,  and  retired  to  his  room.  A 
physician  was  summoned,  who  reported  that  Mr. 
Gould  could  not  return  to  New  York,  without  grave 
risk  to  his  health,  in  time  for  the  hearing  on  April 
ioth;  "  but,"  the  affidavit  said,  "  Gould  was  able  to 
attend  sessions  of  the  Legislature,  and  do  business 
in  his  room  with  numerous  nun."  When  Oliver 
insi  the  affidavit   declared)  that    Mr.   Gould 

should  return  with  him  to  New  York,  Gould,  on  the 
advice  of  Hamilton  Harris,  his  counsel,  locked  him- 
self in  his  room  ami  refused  to  hold  any  further  com- 
munication with  Oliver,  and  therefore  the  discom- 
fited officer  v.. i-  compelled  to  return  to  New  York 
and  face  Judge  Barrett  alone.  Tin:  indignation  of 
the  Jud  noring  the  pleas  of  emi- 

nent counsel  for  G  mid,  he  issued  an  order  directing 


Jay  Gould  and  Hamilton  Harris  to  appear  before 
him  on  April  14th,  to  show  cause  why  they  should 
not  he  punished  for  their  alleged  misconduct. 

On  April  14th  the  proceedin  re  Judge  Bar- 

rett were  resumed.  Jay  Gould  was  not  there,  hut 
he  sent  an  affidavit  denying  Oliver's  allegations,  and 
insisting  that  he  was  too  ill  to  leave  Albany.  He 
said  he  hail  kept  Oliver  out  of  his  room  because 
Oliver  spent  his  time  in  the  apartments  of  Senators 
William  M.  Tweed  and  Thomas  J.  Creamer,  who 
were  antagonistic  to  Erie  interests,  and  to  whom 
he  believed  Oliver  reported  what  occurred  in  his 
(Gould's)  room.  Hamilton  Harris  made  an  affidavit 
which  was  satisfactory  to  Judge  Barrett,  but  the 
Judge  was  not  so  considerate  in  Gould's  case,  and 
postponed  action  on  his  order  until  Saturday,  April 
1 8th. 

In  the  meantime,  a  committee  had  been  appointed 
by  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  to  investigate  the 
charges  made  by  Assemblyman  Glenn.  The  Com- 
mittee held  one  session.  Mr.  Glenn  gave  his  sworn 
testimony  substantially  as  he  had  charged  in  the 
Assembly,  and  another  witness  corroborated  him. 
Mark  Lewis,  a  notorious  lobbyist,  and  Assembly- 
man Frear,  whom  Glenn  mentioned  as  one  that  had 
accepted  a  bribe,  swore  that  Glenn's  testimony  was 
false.  The  committee  reported  that  the  charges 
were  not  sustained,  and  Mr.  Glenn  resigned  his  seat 
in  the  Assembly. 

The  action  of  the  Senate  on  the  Erie  matter  left 
the  question  in  abeyance  in  the  Legislature.  Jay 
Gould,  as  will  have  been  seen,  remained  in  Albany. 
The  bill  as  recommended  in  the  minority  report  of 
the  Senate  Committee  was  introduced  in  the  Senate. 
Before  a  vote  upon  it  was  reached  the  Yanderbilt 
opposition  to  it  began  to  grow  lukewarm,  and  finally 
disappeared  entirely,  much  to  the  expressed  indig- 
nation of  many  legislators.  The  bill  having  passed 
the  Senate  1  Senator  Mattoon  being  one  of  its  sup- 
porters, he  having  had  another  sudden  change  of 
faith  1,  when  it  came  up  for  final  action  in  the  Assem- 
bly on  April  29th  the  sentiment  that  had  caused  an 
almost  unanimous  rejection  of  it  there  only  a  month 
before  had  undergone  such  a  radical  change  that  it 
received  the  emphatic  sanction  of  that  body,  and 
became  a  law.     The  aits  of   tin-  Erie  Directory  w<  re 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


155 


legalized.  The  Erie  War  was,  for  a  time,  ended, 
and  the  Erie  exiles  returned  to  New  York. 

The  sudden  withdrawal  of  the  Vanderbilt  opposi- 
tion to  the  Erie  bill  was  a  mystery  to  many.  One 
reason,  which  found  much  credence,  was  said  to  be- 
that  Vanderbilt  had  suddenly  discovered  that  he 
himself  held  several  millions  of  the  stock  he  was 
seeking  to  prevent  being  made  a  legal  issue,  and 
that  if  he  succeeded  in  his  fight  he  would  be  a  loser 
to  just  that  amount,  so  he  withdrew  his  forces  that 
he  might  protect  himself.  This  reason  for  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Vanderbilt  opposition  is  believed  to 
be  the  true  one  by  many  persons  to  this  day,  but 
the  absurdity  of  it  should  be  obvious.  The  fact  is, 
negotiations  for  a  settlement  between  Vanderbilt 
and,  ostensibly,  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  but  in 
reality  Daniel  Drew,  had  been  begun,  with  a  good 
show  of  success,  and  the  terms  of  the  proposed  set- 
tlement were  so  advantageous  to  the  Vanderbilt 
party  that  they  were  content  to  let  the  Erie  people 
secure  the  legislation  they  were  seeking. 

While  Gould  was  at  Albany  engineering  Erie's 
affairs  there,  Drew  was  making  stealthy  visits  to  New- 
York  and  consulting  with  Vanderbilt.  The  result  of 
these  clandestine  meetings  he  reported  to  Eldridge, 
and  by  the  time  matters  were  settled  at  Albany  a 
plan  of  compromise  with  Vanderbilt  had  been  out- 
lined. Gould  had  his  reasons  for  not  wanting  to 
compromise  with  Vanderbilt,  and,  of  course,  Fisk 
agreed  with  Gould;  consequently  it  was  attempted 
to  be  made  without  the  knowledge  of  those  two 
Directors,  and  a  meeting  was  secretly  arranged  to  be 
held  at  the  residence  of  ex-Judge  Pierrepont  on  an 
evening  in  the  early  part  of  June,  1868,  no  record 
being  available  now  to  fix  it  exactly.  President 
Eldridge  had  made  an  appointment  to  meet  Gould 
and  Fisk  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  the  very  night 
that  meeting  of  the  Directors  was  to  be  held.  The 
two  men  called  at  the  hotel  according  to  appoint- 
ment, but  Eldridge  was  not  there.  Then  Gould 
suspected  that  rumors  he  had  heard  might  have 
some  foundation,  and  he  and  Fisk  went  to  the 
Pierrepont  residence.  There  they  surprised  the 
Erie  Board  and  counsel  in  conference  with  Vander- 
bilt and  his  counsel,  and  after  making,  as  they 
declared,  vain  protest  against  the  transaction    and 


tlie  mystery  of  it,  they  acquiesced  in  the  settlement, 
although,  according  to  the  sworn  testimony  of  Fisk, 
they  protested  to  the  last  that  it  was  illegal  and 
would  breed  further  trouble — which  it  most  surely 
did. 

<  >n   the    [2th  of  June,  1868,  on  motion  of  Charles 

A.  Rapello,  of  the  Vanderbilt  counsel,  the  various 
charges  against  the  Erie  party — all  of  which  had  been 
decided  against  them  on  appeal — were  dismissed, 
and  on  July  2d  the  settlement  with  Vanderbilt  was 
made  final.  By  this  settlement  Vanderbilt  was  paid 
a  subsidy  of  $1,000,000  in  cash  and  guaranteed 
Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  bonds,  and  $5, 000,000  of 
the  Erie  shares  he  held  were  bought  back  from  him 
at  70,  the  cash  equivalent  being  $3,500,000.  Van- 
derbilt was  also  allowed  to  have  two  seats  in  the 
Eric  Board,  and  Drew  was  to  retire.  Richard  Schell 
and  Frank  Work  were  paid  $429,250  in  cash,  to 
recompense  them  for  the  losses  they  alleged  they 
had  sustained  in  speculating  in  Erie  through  Daniel 
Drew's  manipulations  against  them.  There  had 
been  nothing  for  a  Receiver  to  receive,  and  as  a 
balm  for  his  not  having  had  a  chance  at  the  Erie 
treasury,  Peter  B.  Sweeny,  who  had  been  appointed 
to  an  impossible  task,  was  paid  $150,000.  These 
difficulties  and  scandals  had  primarily  been  inflicted 
on  the  Erie  Railway  Company  by  Daniel  Drew  in 
his  individual  capacity,  working  for  his  own  inter- 
ests, but  their  enormous  cost  was  paid  from  Erie's 
beleaguered  treasury.  The  cost  in  lawyers'  fees  to 
tin-  Erie  of  this  "  War"  also  ran  up  into  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands,  as  may  well  be  imagined  from 
the  calibre  of  counsel  engaged  in  the  Company's 
behalf — David  Dudley  Field,  Thomas  G.  Shearman, 
Dudley  Field,  ex-Judge  James  K.  Porter,  Dorman 

B.  Eaton,  A.  F.  Smith,  and  a  host  of  other  legal 
lights.  What  the  legislation  this  disgraceful  "  Erie 
War"  made  necessary  cost  the  Company  is  known 
only  to  those  now  living  who  were  in  the  secrets  of 
that  shady  chapter  in  Erie  history. 

The  last  act  in  all  the  blustering,  opera-bouffe  in- 
cidents of  the  Erie  litigation  of  [868  occurred  on 
June  30th  of  that  year,  when  Judge  Barnard,  whose 
feelings  had  been  so  frequently  lacerated  by  insinua- 
tions, if  not  positive  charges,  of  counsel  that  li 
by  no  means  a  party   entirely  disinterested  in   the 


1,6 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


the    anti-Eric    litigants,   fined    Directors 

I  »a>  is,   Thompson,  and  Skid- 

ich  for  technical  contempt.      The  punish- 

mei  '  inflicted  on  those  larger  defiers  of  the 

lity  of  the  court.  .Messrs.  Drew,  Gould,  and  Fisk, 

Judge  Barnard  took  further  time  to  consider.    What 

penalty   he  decided   upon   was  never  known,   for  he 

never  announced  it,  and    with   the   confirmation,  on 

the    same    day,    by    Judges    Barnard    and  Cardo 

sitting  with  Judge  Ingraham  in  General  Term  of  the 

Supreme  Court,  of  the  action  of  Judge  Barnard  in 

the  appointment  of  Charles  A.  Osgood  as  Receiver 

of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  the  curtain  fell  on 

the  costly  and  malodorous  farce. 

The  documents  of  the  Company  bearing  on  this 
almost  incredible  chapter  of  Erie  history  tell  the 
story  in  cold  detail  and  sequence,  but  establish  its 
facts  by  the  incontrovertible  seal  of  official  authority. 

GENERAL   SUPERINTENDENT    RIDDLE  TO  PRESIDENT 
ELDRIDGE. 

Office  of  General  Superintendent. 

New  York.  March  3,  1868. 
Hon.  John  S.  Eldridgc.  President  line  Railway  : 

Sir: — On  the  3d  of  December  I  addressed  a  communication 
to  the  Vice-President  recommending  the  purchase  of  5.000 
tons  (if  steel  rails,  and  at  an  interview  with  you.  I  expressi  d 
the  opinion  that  15.000  to  18,000  tons  of  rails  would  be  re- 
quired for  the  repairs  of  track  during  the  year  1868.  Since 
that  opinion  was  given,  we  have  passed  through  three  months 
re  winter  weather  and  moved  more  than  an 
average  winter  tonnage,  with  the  road  bid  frozen  solid  a-  a 
k,  the  rail-   encased   in   snow   and   1  hat   it   lias   been 

imp.  .  do  much  in  the  way  of  repairs;  the  iron  rails  have 

en.    laminated   and   worn    out    beyond    all    precedent,    until 
ther  ile  of  your  road,  except  that  laid  with  sti    1 

rail  ind   Salamanca   or   Buffalo,    w  :. 

it  is  -;<u   tn  run  a  train  at  the  ordinary  pa!  in     pi  1  d, 

and  iad  'in  only  be  traversed  safely  by 

red''  d  of  all  train-  in  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  per 

hoi:  n  account  of  the  worn  out  and  rotten  condition 

of  the  r.  axles,  engines,  and  trains  run  off 

the  track  havi  daily,  almost  hourly,  occurrence  for  the 

last  two  msed  mostly  by  defective  rails.     Fullj 

thousand  broken  rail-  from  the  track  in  the  mouth 

of  January,  while  the  number  removed  on  account  of  lamina- 
tion-, crushing   or  wearing  out   was   much   greater.      Febru 
will  than  January. 

The   failui  particular   make,   al- 

tllOUgh    11  My    nbserv.  d,    b<  tween    r 

made  at  at  Elmira.    The  former 

k  readily  into  many  pii  by  so  doing  are  pretty 

sure  to  throw  a  train  from  the  track:  a  large  number  of  these 


rails  have  broken  with  less  than  six  months'  service,  some  with 
111.  null'-  wear. 

The  Elmira  re-rolled  iron  seldom  breaks  until  very  much 
worn,  but  it  does  not  possess  the  hardness  and  durability  found 
in  the  Serantoti  iron,  when  the  latter  has  strength  to  re-ist 
breaking  strains. 

With  the  ten  miles  of  track  laid  with  the  John  Brown  Besse- 
mer steel,   no   fault    need   be    found.      But    one    rail    lias    b 
during  the  winter,  anil  no  lamination,  and  very  little   wear  is 
perceptible.     Twenty  steel  rails  were  laid   in  Jersey   L  ity  yard 
last   March;  the  iron  rails  adjoining,  subjt  same  wear, 

have  been  renewed  lour  tune-  since  the  steel  wa-  put  down, 
and  I  have  ii"  doubt  the  steel  rails  will  outlast  three  times  as 
many  more  iron   rails. 

This  winter's  experience  has  satisfied  me  that  the  quality 
and  weight  of  the  iron  rails  in  use  cannot  be  depended  upon 
to  sustain  the  traffic  of  the  Erie  Railway.  Forty-two  ton  loco- 
motives, hauling  trains  of  fifty  and  sixty  loaded  cars,  and 
passenger  engines  weighing  thirty-seven  tons,  running 

of  thirty  to  forty  miles  per  hour,  literally  crush  and  grind 
out  the  iron  rails  beneath  them.  Instances  have  been  reported 
1   1  of  rails  removed  from  track  too  much  worn   for  safety, 

where  the  first  imperfection  was  visible  the  day  before. 

In  view-  of  tin-  state  of  things  what  is  the  remedy?  Mani- 
festly the  adoption  of  steel  rails  as  far  as  practicable,  and  iron 
rails  of  superior  quality  ami  heavier  section,  to  be  followed 
by  the  gradual  reduction  of  the  weight  of  engines  and  cars, 
as  new  equipment  becomes  necessary.  The  tendency  0 
years  has  been  to  larger  and  more  powerful  locomotives,  and 
r.  stronger  cars,  and  this  has  been  carried  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  render  them  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  strength 
and  durability  of  the  track.  Especially  lias  this  been  the  fact 
upon  the  Erie  Railway. 

The  condition  of  the  iron  at  the  present  date  is  such  as  to 
give  me  much  anxiety  and  apprehension  for  the  safety  of  trains. 
We  cannot  and  do  not  attempt  to  make  the  schedule  time  with 
our  trains:  nearly  all  lose  from  two  to  five  hours  in  passing 
Over  the  road,  and  it  ha-  been  only  by  the  exercise  of  extreme 
caution  we  have  been  able  thus  far  t  -erious  accident. 

A  mtv  large  quantity  of  rails  must  be  laid  as  soon  as  the 
weather  will   permit  and  they  can  be   furnished. 

In  conclusion.  I  de-ire  to  modify  my  estimate  of  tin-  quantity 
of  rails  required  for  the  current  year.  Alter  a  careful  ol' 
tion  of  the  whole  road,  assisted  by  information  obtained  from 
Division  Superintendent-  and  Track  Master.  I  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  twenty-five  thousand  tons  of  rails  will  be 
needed  to  keep  up  your  track  in  1868,  and  I  would  earnestly 
recommend  that  as  large  a  proportion  a-  possible  shall  be  of 
.steel. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient   servant, 

H.  Riddle,  General  Supt. 

Office  of  General  Superintend]  m 

New  York.  March  3.  1868. 

Hon.  John  S.  Eldridge,  /'resident  Erie  Railway : 

Sir: — A    careful    review    of    the    pi'    enl     condition    of    the 
Motive   Tower  of  the    Erie   Railway   Company   enables   me  to 
' '  ii"  ni    for  your  considt  I  'l"  in 

The  company   own   .?;i    1 motives     of  this   number   about 

thirty  are  condi  mncd  Ij   useless,  and  -..me  forty  more 

are  of  but  little  value,  owing  to  their  long  service  and   [ 
infirmity  being  considered  un-afi    to  carrj  >'\  en  moderate  steam 

pressure,  and  sure  to  break  down  if  run  long  distances,    Two 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


157 


hundred  and  twenty  engines  have  performed  over  ten  years' 
service,  and  143  of  that  number  over  fifteen  years'  service.  The 
master  mechanics  report  128  of  these  locomotives  as  requiring 
new  boilers,  and  recommend  the  complete  reconstrucl 
107  of  the  number,  whenever  the  boilers  shall  be  renewed,  or 
in  other  words,  instead  of  giving  the  old  engine  a  new  boiler, 
it  is  deemed  more  to  the  interest  of  the  company  to  construct 
a  complete  new  engine,  for  the  following  reasons:  M 
these  engines  are  of  the  kind  known  as  half  crank  engines, 
an  expensive  and  troublesome  class  to  keep  in  repair.  The 
engines  having  been  so  long  in  service,  no  dependence  can  be 
placed  upon  the  strength  and  durability  of  any  of  their  parts — 
they  are  of  a  great  variety  of  patterns,  and  make  it  necessary 
to  keep  a  very  large  stock  of  materials  on  hand  to  provide 
against  breakages,  there  being  something  Over  sixty  different 
kinds  of  engines  on  the  Erie  road.  It  will  be  seen  by  the 
foregoing  that  the  company  have  only  300  serviceable  en 
considerably  less  than  that  of  really  efficient  ones.  From  15 
to  25  per  cent,   are  in  shops  undergoing  rep  linarily, 

at  this  season  often  a  large  proportion.  Our  mechanics 
estimate  the  life  of  an  engine  at  fifteen  years.  Assuming  that 
to  be  true,  we  should  build  twenty  every  year  to  keep  our  300 
good,  to  say  nothing  of  the  seventy  now  idle  and  wen: 
but  as  we  have  added  by  purchase  and  construction  only  twelve 
new  engines  to  our  stock  during  the  last  two  years,  we  are  at 
the  present  moment  some  twenty-eight  engines  short  of  what 
we  should  have  to  make  good  the  depreciation.  In  view. 
therefore,  of  the  certain  increase  of  the  coal  tonnage,  and  prob- 
able increase  of  both  through  and  way  traffic,  I  feel  justified 
in  saying  that  there  should  be  fifty  new  locomotives  added  to 
the  equipment  of  the  road  during  the  next  twelve  months.  In 
the  company's  shops  at  Susquehanna  and  Dunkirk,  if  worked 
to  their  capacity,  with  slight  increase  of  machinery,  it 
mated  thirty  engines  per  annum  can  be  built^at  present  we 
are  working  only  force  sufficient  to  build  about  one-third  of 
that  number.  The  engines  built  in  the  company's  shops,  in 
point  of  strength,  durability,  and  perfection  of  workmanship 
far  excel  those  procured  from  locomotive  builders,  and 'while 
their  cost  may  fully  equal,  perhaps  exceed,  the  price  for  which 
similar  engines  may  be  contracted  for.  I  yet  deem  it  good 
policy  to  fully  employ  our  own  facilities  for  the  construction  of 
engines. 

To  fill  out  the  number  I  have  ventured  to  suggest  as  needed, 
twenty  will  be  required  outside  of  the  company's  ability  to 
construct.  These  I  would  contract  for  to  be  built  after 
fications  and  plans,  to  be  furnished  by  the  company's  officers 
and  under  the  inspection  of  a  good  mechanic  to  be  si 
and  paid  by  the  Railway  Company.  In  this  way  I  think  we 
could  obtain  satisfactory  machines. 

I  also  deem  it  necessary  to  recommend  an  increase  of  freight 
and  coal  cars.  Say  300  box  freight  cars  and  100  coal  cars  in 
addition  to  those  heretofore  ordered. 

The  coal  cars  are  sure  to  be  needed,  and  the  box  freight 
cars,  unless  the  freight  traffic  should  fall  off  contrary  to  all 
expectations. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

H.  Riddle.  General  Suft. 

P.  S.— Since  writing  the  foregoing  report.  I  have  learned 
from  General  Potter  that  he  is  desirous  of  establishing  stock 
yards  at  Urbana  and  Cincinnati,  on  the  line  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  Railway. and  taking  stock  for  the  New  York 
market,  that  has  hitherto  gone  via  Pittsburgh,  provided  the 
Erie  will  furnish  her  full  proportion  of  stock  cars.     This  we 


cannot  do  without  adding,  say,  200  stock  cars  to  our  present 
number,  and  to  meet  this  and  other  demands,  I  would  respect- 
fully submit  the  following  estimate  for  new  cars: 

300  box  cars,  at  $800 $240,000 

200  box  cattle  cars,  at  $900 180,000 

100  coal  dumps,  at  $625 62.500 


$482,500 


THE    WAIL   OF    DREW. 

(Report   of  the    Executive    Committee,  made    to   the   Board 
March  9,  1868.) 

The  Executive  Committee  beg  to  submit  to  the  Board  of 
Directors  a  separate  report  of  their  doings  under  the  powers 
conferred  upon  them  by  the  Board,  on  the  19th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary last,  by  the  following: 

It  being  necessary  for  the  finishing,  completing,  and  operat- 
ing the  road  of  the  company,  to  borrow  money — 

Resolved.  That  under  the  provisions  of  the  statute  author- 
izing the  loan  of  money  for  such  purposes,  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee be  authorized  to  borrow  such  sum  as  may  be  neci 
and  t.>  issue  therefor  such  security  as  is  provided  lor  in  such 
cases  by  the  laws  of  this  State,  and  that  the  President  and 
Secretary  be  authorized,  under  the  seal  of  the  company,  to 
execute  all  needful  and  proper  agreements  and  undertakings 
for  such  purposes. 

Early  in  the  winter  the  President  called  the  attention  of  the 
Committee  to  the  condition  of  the  road,  and  to  the  probable 
wants  of  the  company  during  the  coming  summer.  At  several 
sessions  of  the  Committee  the  subject  was  informally  consid- 
ered, .in.l  it  »;i<  discussed,  as  well  between  the  members  of  the 
Committee  as  with  Mr.  Riddle  and  the  Vice-President,  and  it 
was  substantially  agreed  to  by  all.  that  the  best  interest  of 
the  company  called  upon  us,  so  far  as  we  might  be  able  to  do 
so.  to  replace  iron  with  steel  rails  whenever  removals  were 
made,  and  to  double  track  the  Delaware  Division  also  with 
steel  rails.  It  was  also  supposed  that  the  new  storehouses 
now  being  constructed  for  the  Central  and  Hudson  River 
Railroad,  in  St.  John's  Park,  would  give  them  such  an  ad- 
vantage over  us  in  the  transportation  from  storehous< 
heavy  freight  destined  for  competing  points  in  the  West,  that 
we  should  be  forced  to  construct  equally  good  accommoda- 
tions at  Long  Dock.  Several  private  parties  were  in  negotia- 
tion with  us  for  the  privilege  of  erecting  such  storehouses,  as 
well  as  of  erecting  grain  storehouses  and  elevators,  but  we 
thought  it  the  best  policy  for  the  company  to  own  the  build- 
possible.  The  Superintendent  had  also  informed  us 
that  the  new  equipment  was  needed  for  increasing  business  of 
the  company,  and  we  had  informally  determined  that  when 
these  things  should  so  take  shape  that  we  could  make  a  definite 
report  thereon  to  the  Board,  we  would  advise  that  the  neces- 
sary capital  be  raised  by  the  sale  of  the  convertible  bonds  of 
the  company,  under  the  powers  conferred  upon  the  company 
by  the  General  Railroad  Law.  Of  the  power  to  issue  such 
bonds,  and  of  the  right  to  comply  with  the  terms  of  such  a 
contract  by  authorizing  the  conversion  of  such  a  bond  into 
stock,  we  did  not  entertain  a  doubt.  Our  predecessors  had 
claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  increasing  the  capital  stock 
of  the  company  by  conversion  of  bonds  as  early  as  iSVi?.  and 
had  reported  the  same  to  the  Legislature,  and  had  continued 
to  exercise  the  right  and  to  report  their  action  to  the  I 
lature  without  criticism.     The   Xew   York   Central   Company 


i;s 


BETWEEN    Till:    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


sed  the  same  right  also  to  the  amount   of   over 

oo.  and  had  from   I  rted  their  domes 

[h<mt  criticism,  and  the  holders  of  the 

■  us  in  each  company  had  exer- 

their  right  tockholders,  without  challenge. 

the  Hudson  River  Railroad  I 
and  of  most  of  the  railroad  companies  in  this  State. 
The  construction  of  the  law  was  universal   in   favor  of  the 
right  I  mvertible  bonds,  and  to  convert  those 

if  called  upon,  even  though  the  amount  of  capital 
1  be  increased  thereby  beyond  the  amount  named 
in  the  charter,  and  it  never  entered  into  our  heads  to  doubt  a 
right  so  universally  claimed  and  exercised. 

While  we  were  maturing  these  schemes  for  increasin 
efficiency  of  your  road  and  its  equipment,  we  were  also,  under 
the  authority  conferred  upon  ib  by  you,  negotiating  (or  the 
I  its  business  connections,  so  as  to  reap  the  full 
advantage  of  the  new  capital  to  put  in  the  property.  Wi 
traded  with  the  Michigan  Southern  and  Northern  Indiana 
Railroad  Company  to  have  them  put  a  third  rail  on  their  road 
so  soon  as  other  parties  should  take  the  broad  gar. 
Toledo.  It  is  needless  for  us  to  point  out  to  you  the  immense 
value  of  this  connection  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company.  We 
also  consented  to  the  deposit  of  the  bonds  of  the  Boston,  Hart- 
ford, and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  issued  under  the 
ment  between  that  company  and  this  company,  as  collateral 
with  several  parties  who  loaned  their  property  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  that  valuable  connection.  And  just  as  we  had 
so  far  completed  these  several  important  matters  as  to  be  ready 
to  report  them  to  you,  we  received  reliable  information  that  an 
attack  in  the  courts  was  immediately  to  be  made  upon  tin  Erie 
Railway  Company,  in  the  interests  of  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  Company,  to  restrain  us  from  extendin 
nections  and  to  localize  our  road — in  fact,  to  destroy  its  value 
as  a  competitor  with  that  powerful  company.  The  first  blow 
struck  was  a  suit  discrediting  this  company,  by  charging  a 
former  board  as  having  been  in  collusion  with  Mr.  Drew  in 
certain  alleged  frauds  in  his  contracts  with  the  company,  and 
the  present  board  as  guilty  in  permitting  the  conversion  of  the 
stock  of  the  Buffalo.  Bradford  and  Pittsburgh  Railroad  Com- 
pany. The  second  blow  followed  soon  after  in  the  summary 
al  of  Mr.  Drew  from  his  office  as  Director,  and  a  prayer 
for  his  removal  from  his  office  as  Treasurer.  One  of  these 
suits  was  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Frank  Work,  then  a  Director  in 
this  Board,  and  the  other  was  instigated  by  him,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  he  voted  to  make  Mr.  Drew  a  Director 
and  the  Treasurer  of  this  company,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  all 
the  facts  which  he  charges  to  be  fraudulent  and  the  further 
fact  that  hi  r  the  conversion  of  all   the   leases  of  the 

company,   including  the   Buffalo.    Bradford    and    Pittsburgh 

therwise  unaccountable  change 
of  front  on  Mr.  Work's  part  is  to  be  found  in  the  well-known 
fact  that  hi  loard   in   the   interest   of  the 

Hudson  R  ■  ntral  Railroad,  and  that  when  he  I  I 

of   Mr.   Yandcrbilt   ami  his 
igantic  monopoly   fi  nefil   of  the 

Central  line.  Mr.  Work's  inti  ised. 

It  was  under  I  ive  us  authority 

avertible  bonds  for  the  purpo 
pleting.  finishin  1:  and  although,  ow- 

'r.  Work,  we  could  not  discuss 
this  matter  ,,t  you  reposed 

a  gcn<  •  fidence  in  us,  and,  we  believe,  anticipated  in 

advance  what  0U1  !  be. 


There  was  but  one  course  open  to  us  as  prudent  men, 
charged  with  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company,  a-  distinguished  from  those  of  rival  lines, 
nam  re    it    was  too   late,  the   mean-    to    meet 

the  necessary  expenditures  we  have  alluded  to.  and.  after  full 
discussion  of  the  matter,  we  authorized  the  I  5SUC,  and 

sale  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  of  convertible  bonds,  the  entire 
proceeds  of  which  would  not  be  more  than  enough  for  the 
contemplated  improvements. 

Notwithstanding  the  unwarrantable  attacks  upon  us.  we  took 
ni.i  Steps  to  defend  ourselves.  We  continued  our  negotiations 
with  the  Xew  York  Central.  Hudson  River  and  Harlem  Com- 
panies for  the  consolidation  of  rates.  Some  of  us  were  slow  to 
believe  that  they  could  be  implicated  in  such  proceedings,  and 
all  of  us  thought  that  we  ought  to  continue  to  maintain 
amicable  relations  with  them  so  long  as  we  could  do  so  without 
<rifice  of  our  self-respect.  The  next  of  these  suits,  how- 
ever, made  it  our  imperative  duly  to  take  Steps  to  protect  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  for  we  were  enjoined — and  still 
at  the  suit  of  Mr.  Work— from  carrying  out  our  agreement 
to  convert  our  convertible  bond-  into  stock.  When  you  re- 
member that  independently  of  the  ten  millions  of  bonds  which 
we  authorized  as  above  to  be  issued  and  -old,  there  are.  not- 
withstanding, some  nine  millions  more  of  bonds  which  are 
convertible  into  the  common  stock  of  the  company,  you  will 
see  how  disastrous  it  may  be  to  our  credit  to  have  a  court  as- 
sume to  compel  us  repudiate  our  contracts.  We  were  further 
enjoined  from  making  certain  transfers  of  stock,  from  carry- 
ing out  our  contracts  with  the  Michigan  Southern  Company, 
and  with  the  Boston.  Hartford  and  Erie  Company,  and  the 
injunction  further  contained  the  usual  shots  against  Mr.  Drew. 
There  was  no  mistaking  the  purpose  of  this  suit.  It  meant 
destruction  to  the  credit  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  the 
localization  of  its  traffic,  the  severance  of  its  terminal  con- 
nections,  denial  of  the  mean-  necessary  to  give  it  a  proper, 
suit;  ife  equipment,  its  prostration  to  the  interests  of 

the  Xew  Vork  Central  Railroad  Company  and  its  final  ad- 
ministration in  their  interest,  and  all  this  was  done  at  the 
instigation  of  one  of  our  own  Directors.  We  accepted  the 
issue  and  authori  ei  encement  of  a  suit,  in  which 

Mr.  Work  is  enjoined  as  serving  as  a  Director  in  this  Board, 
and  from  proceeding  with  his  suits.  Copies  of  these  proceed- 
will  be  furnished  to  each  Director,  and  we  hop,  you  will 
carefully  read  them. 

The   S  taken  this  matter  up,  and  a  committee  has 

bei  n  appointed  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  company, 
and    into    the   char.  list    it    in   the   new-papers   and 

in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  hearing  is  to  commenci  on  the 
ioth  inst.  To  this  tribunal  we  confidently  appeal.  If  it  be  true 
that  in  converting  three  million-  of  dollar-  of  bonded  debt, 
ami  in  CO  to  convert  nine  million-  mon  i  tive 

of  our  lal  dings),  the   Erie   Railway  Company   has  ex- 

te  power-,  it  is  equally  true  that  the  New 

York   Central    Raill  '         ipany   has    ■  it-    powers   in 

converting  $,i. 200,000  of  it-  bonded  debt.  And  it  i-  in  the 
power  of  thi  Legi  stature  to  afford  both  companies,  by  ratifying 
acts,  the  fullest  protection.  And.  on  the  other  hand,  if  it  be 
we  believe  it  to  be.  that  the  Legislature  intended  to 
confer    upon    railroad    companies    the    wise.    just,    and    a 

Ower  of  shifting   its   debt   into  capital    stock   when 
it  can  be  clone,  and  if,  in  consequence  of  t:  e  of  that 

power,    ni    i I    faith    ami   the   best    interests   of   thi-   company, 

ulators  and   rival   lines   have  assailed   us  and   ea-t   a   cloud 
upon  our  issues  of  stock,  we  feel  ourselves  equally  justified  in 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


159 


asking  the  Legislature  to  remove  that  cloud,  and  the  summons 
to  go  to  Albany  has  only  anticipated  by  a  Few  days  our  re- 
quest for  a  hearing  and  for  a  remedy  to  allay  the  doubts  and 
disquietudes  of  those  who  hold  the  stock  of  this  1 

It  only  remains  to  state  the  wants  of  the  compan 
which  the  late  issue  of  bonds  was  made.     More  detailed  state- 
ments thereof  an    to  be   found  in  the  report  of  the   General 
Superintendent  herewith  submitted: 

STATEMENT. 

17,000  tons  of  new  iron,  at  $75 $1,275,000 

8,000  tons  of  steel  rails,  at  $145 1,160,000 

50  locomotives,  at  $15,000 750.000 

300  box  cars,  at  $800 .'.(o.uoo 

200  box  cattle  cars,  at  $900 180.000 

100  coal  dumps,  at  $025 62.500 

200  coal  dumps  for  bituminous  coal 125,000 

Double  track  on  Delaware  Division 2,700,000 

Passenger  stations  at   Long  Dock,   Buffalo, 

and  Rochester 400,000 

Storehouses    for    teas,    sugar,    grain,    cotton, 

etc.,  at  Long  Dock 1,000,000 

Elevator  at  Long  Dock 300,000 

Elevator  at    Buffalo 150,000 

New    depot   lands   and    river    front    at    New- 
burgh 225.000 

Ferry  slips  at  23d  Street 25.000 

New  ferryboat  for  23d  Street  service 75.000 


$8,757,500 
All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted, 

John  S.  Eldridge,  President. 
New  York,  March  9.  1868. 

OPENING   THE    WAY   FOR    DREW. 
{Resolutions  of  the  Board  at  the  Meeting  above  held.) 

Resolved.  That  the  Report  of  the  Executive  Committi 
read  be  approved,  and  their  acts  therein  vet  forth  be  confirmed. 
so  far  as  they  need  confirmation,  and  so  far  as  this  Board  may 
legally   and   lawfully   confirm   them. 

hied,  That  the  President  be  instructed  to  carry  out  on 
behalf  of  this  Board  the  policy  which  the  Executive  Committee 
have  inaugurated,  to  wit:  that  he  be  directed  to  purchase  17.- 
000  tons  of  iron  rails  (or  contract  for  re-rollii  of  the 

same),  and  8.000  tons  of  steel  rails;  that  he  be  directed  to  cause 
to  be  constructed  for  the  road  the  number  of  locomotives  and 
cars  recommended  by  the  General  Superintendent  and  the 
Committee;  that  he  be  directed  I.'   •  :   once  with  the 

double  tracking  of  the  Delaware  Division;  that  he  cause  plans 
made  and  submitted  to  this  Hoard  for  a  new  passenger 
station  and  for  storehouses  and  elevators  at  Jersey  City: 
also  plans  for  new  depots  at  Buffalo  and  Rochester;  that  he 
take  steps  for  the  construction  of  a  new  fen  vbo  il  and  for  slips 
at  the  foot  of  23d  Street,  and  foi  the  opening  of  the  23d  Street 
ferry  as  soon  as  the  river  is  free  from  ice.  and  that  lie  report 
to  this  Board  the  cost  of  the  proposed  new  accommodations 
at  New  burgh,  with  a  plan  of  the  same. 

Resolved.  That  it  is  and  always  has  been,  and  as  long  as  the 
present  administration  remains  in  power  it  will  continue  to  be. 
the  policy  of  the  Eric  Railway  Company  to  afford  to  the  public 
on  the  line  of  our  road  and  at  its  termini,  ample  accommo- 


dations for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  freight,  at  the 
lowest   rates   that  tent   with   the   return   of  a   pi 

remuneration   upon   the   capital    invested   in   the    line    Railway, 
its    branches    and    ferries,    and    that    we    a:,  I    tlJ    any 

monopoly;  that  it  is  the  true  interest  of  the  sterling  bond- 
holders, of  the  pi  mon 
stockholders,  to  join  iii  resisting  the  suits  referred  to  in  the 
Ort  of  the  Executive  Committee. 
Resolved,  That  the  President  be  fully  authorized  to  carry  out 
the  views  of  the  Board,  as  expressed  in  these  resolutioi 

THE   APPEASING   OF    VANDERBILT. 

{Abstract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Hoard  \  uly 

10,  1 868.) 

John  S.  Eldridi  the  following  n 

To  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company: 

«  In  the  thirteenth  day  of  June  last,  the  Executive  Committee 
passed  the  following  resolution: 

"  II  hereas.  there  are  now  pending  legal  proceedings  and  suits 
against  the  Erie  Railway  Company  and  various  1  ers. 

in   which    orders   have   been    made    restraining   tl  IS    of 

such  officers  and  company,  by  means  of  which  said  company 
has  suffered  great  loss  and  injury,  and  which  suits  and  pro- 
ceedings, and  the  ■  therein  involved,  now  threaten,  if 
not  compromised  and  discontinued,  to  be  the  cause  of  yet 
greater  loss  and  injury  to  said  company  and  its  shareholders; 
and  this  company  seem  us  of  securing  the  necessary 
exercise  of  its  authority  and  franchise,  and  of  preventing  pro- 
tracted and  ruinous  litigation,  but  through  some  arrange- 
ments to  be  promptly  made  by  which  all  said  suits  and  pro- 
ceedings may  be  discontinued,  and  the  subjects  of  controversy 
therein  may  be  adjusted  and  settled;  therefore. 

Resolved.  That  the  President  of  the  company  is  hereby 
autho)  I  1,,  negotiate,  conclude,  and  execute  all  such  ar- 
rangements, contracts,  and  compromises,  ami  such  acts  in  the 
name  and  behalf  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  as  in  his 
opinion   may   b  ind   proper,   to   secure   the   discon- 

tinuance of  all  said  suits  and  proi  promise  and 

adjust  all  matters  therein  involved,  or  referred  to.  including 
all  matters  and  questions  between  said  company  and  Daniel 
Drew,  and  to  fullj  prote<  I  this  company  from  further  litigation 
and  embarrassment  in  connection  with  any  of  the  bodies,  per- 
.  or  matters  in  said  suits  or  proceedings  named  or  referred 
to,  and  that  the  Secretary,  by  the  use  of  the  seal  of  the  company 
and  otherwise,  as  Iful   by  the  acts  nt. 

under  the  general  power,  join  in  the  execution  of  any  contract 
and  arrangement  that  may  lie  made  by  the  President  in  the 
name  or  behalf  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company." 

I  have  now  to  report  to  the  Board,  that  under  the  authority 
conferred  upon  me,  by  said  resolution,  I  have  done  as  follows: 

1st.   I  have  secured  a  settlement  and  withdrawal  of  all  suits, 
and  all   the   interlocutory   orders   therein,   including  the   decree 
for  the  Receiver  of  the  special  fund  by  the  payment,  under  01 
of  court,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  the  Re- 

C<  ivcr.and  four  hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand  two  hundred 
and  filly  dollars  to  sundry  other  parties,  the  vouchers  for  which 
are  on  file  in  the  Treasurer's  office. 

2d.  That  as  part  of  the  settlement,  it  has  been  arranged  to 
relieve  Cornelius  Yandcrbilt   and  other  partii  'Millions 

of  their  stock,  and  to  give  them  two  -  -.|;  also, 

that  the  Erie  Company  shall  purch  ton,  Hartford 

and   Erie  Company  five  millions  of  dollars  of  their  bonds,  the 


BE  fWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


intei  tected  by  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 

tract,  and  that  the  contesting  panic-  are  t<> 

iny,  in  the  settlement,  twelve  hundred 

such  I" .iul>.  at  the  price  paid  for 

them. 

the  settlement,  it  was  further  an 
that  Mr.  Drew  should  retire  from  the  Board  and  the  Treasurer- 
ship,  and  should  pay  the  company  for  a  discharge  and  release 
under  his  contract,  the  sum  of  live  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
rs,  with  interest  adjusted  to  date  of  settlement. 
4th.   That   in   order  to   raise   means   to   take   -lock   from    Mr. 
Vanderbilt  and  other  parties,  arrangements  have  been  made 
temporary  k,  with  the  usual   margin  of 

ten  per  cent. 

jth.   I  also  report  a  form  of  contract  agreed  upon  with  the 
Vici  '.   of  the  Boston.   Hartford  and   F.rie   Company. 

irry  out  tl  irrangement,  which  I  ask  authority  to 

have  executed  and  delivered  as  follows: 

Memorandum  of  an  agreement  made  the  ninth  day  of  July, 
A.D.,  1S6S,  by  and  between  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 
party  of  the  first  part,  and  the  Boston,  Hartford  6V"  Erie 
:',  party  of  the  second  part. 

Whereas,  in  and  by  an  agreement  between  the  parties  hereto, 
and  Dudley  S.  Gregory  and  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis.  Trustei 
dated  (Jet' 'her  8.  1S67.  it  was  agreed,  among  other  things,  by 
the  party  of  the  first  part  hereto,  that  the  interest  upon  said 
bonds  should  be  paid,  as  will  more  particularly  appear  by  refer- 
ence to  said  last  named  agreement.  And.  whereas,  afterward  a 
certain  other  agreement  supplementary  thereto  was  enured  into 
between  the  parties  hereto. dated  the  [8th  day  of  December  last, 
whereby,  among  other  things,  it  wa-  agreed  that  certain  of 
the  rtgage   bonds   should   be   deposited   with   certain 

parties  loaning  their  property  to  John  S.  Eldi    '       to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  the  road  of  the  party  o'  the  second  part,  as  col 
lateral  security  for  the  repayment  of  the  said  loans,  and   such 
bond-  have  been  di  as  collateral  to  the  amount  of  five 

hundred  and  thirty-seven  bonds,  each  for  the  amount  of  one 
thousand  dollars,  as  will  more  fully  appear  by  reference  to  the 
lemental  agreement,  and  the  several  agreements  wit'i 
the  parties  so  loaning  their  property.  And.  whereas,  the  said 
lents  having  been  made  the  subject  of  litigation, 
the  .rning  the  same  have  been  settled  and  adjusted 

upon  terms,  part  of  which  are  hereinafti  sed. 

it  is  agreed  between   the  parties  as   follow-: 

I  hat   the    ninth    clause    of   the    said    agreement,    dated 

Oct  and    hereby    is.    so    modified    and 

changed,  that  the  party  of  thi  agree  in 

mam  thereii    pre  ided,  w  ith  I 

nl   of  five  millions  of  dollar-,  in  lieu 
-  therein  t   the   interest  on   their 

id  rding  to  the  terms  of  the 

coupi 

-"'    1  arty  of  the   first  part  shall,  and  hereby   doth, 

pur^  irty  of  the  second  part,  who  doth  sell  thi 

sa»j'  irty  of  tin-  first  part,  the  entire  is^uc  of  the  said 

ind    dollars    each,    upon 
which  tli'  nl  with  thi  of  i-  indoi 

including  llateral,  and  dol 

•"  I  of  eight  hundred  do 

each   bond  of  >,,,„   0j 

dollar-  on  den  u  i  tin-  bakn.  hundred 

and  fifty  thousand  each  mom  icing  on 

the  fir-t  day  of  January   110.1,  and   continuing  until   the   full 


sum  of  five  million-  of  dollar-  1-  paid.     Coupon-  maturing  after 

the  time  of  each  payment,  belong  to  the  party  of  the  first  part. 

3d.    Except    as    herein    modified,    said    original    agreement-. 

and  said  agreements  supplementary  thereto,  shall  stand  in  full 

force. 


SADDLING    THE    B.,    H.    &    E.   BONDS   ON    ERIE. 

from  General  J  Wren's    Testimony   before  tin-  Hepburn    In- 
vestigating Committee,  1S79.) 

During  Mr.  Berdell's  admin:  the   Erie  was  always 

embarrassed  in  it-  New  England  trade  for  want  of  communi- 
cation.    They  had  only  a  water  communication,  while  the  New 

VTork   Central  had  a   1  ommunication.    The   Boston, 

Hartford   and    |->:e    Railroad    Company    contemplated   a   con- 
nect:' 'ii    1  id    with    ih.      I   rie    at     Xewburgh  —  with    the 
New  burgh    Branch.     A   good  deal   of  their   railroad   had   b 
constructed   bj    different   companies,      1'hc-c   companies   had 

been  consolidated,  and  they  had  a  completed  road  to  Willi- 
mantic,  but  lacked  a  link  from  there  to  Danbury.  upon  which  a 
good  deal  of  work  was  done,  ami  they  wanted  to  finish  it  from 
Danbury  to  Xewburgh.  They  presented  the  condition  of  their 
road  to  the  Erie  Director-,  and  ask-d  us  to  aid  them  to  com- 
plete  that    road.      Myself   and    Mr.    Gregory    were    appointed   a 

committee  to  ton  and  examine  the  lin 1  and 

ascertain  by  estimates  the  probable  cost   ol  completing  it  to 
Xewburgh.     We  satisfied  ourselves  of  the  value  of  the  line. 
They  had  a  great   deal   of  excellent   work — an   excellent   road, 
and    some    of   it    in    operation.     Our   estimate    of   the    amount 
necessary   to   complete   it    was   $4,000,000   of  the  bonds   of   the 
Boston.    Hartford  and   Erie  Company,  conditioned   that   the 
company  would  give  the   I  rie   Railway  Cpmpany  the  right  to 
fix  the  rates  upon   freight   going  from   the    Erie  to  their   1 
which  should   be  a  fund   going   int..  the  hand-  of  the  Trust 
t..   meet   the   interest  upon   those  bond-,      h    wa-   onl)    the   in- 
terest on  the  bonds  that  wa    to  b     guai  inteed      Hie  re| 
further  recommended  that  these  bonds  should  remain  in  tin 
hand-  of  the  Trustees,  Mr.  Bancroft  Davis  and  Mr.  Gregory, 
to  be  sold  by  them  not  below    par,  the  proceeds  <■•  1" 

by  them  and  annually  paid  out  upon  voucher-  for  work  done. 
That  was  the  character  of  the  report  made,  and  ■  V0t<  of  the 
Berdell  board  wa-  passed  approving  of  it.  and  directing  a 
ontl  u  1  i"  be  drawn  in  accordance  with  that  report.  This  was 
near  the  close  ol  Mr.  Berdell's  administration.     Soon  after  the 

that  administration   and   tin-   inauguration   of  the    Eld- 
ridge  administration,   1   was  told  by   Mr.    Fisk   to  look  out. 

Some  difficulty   had   arisen   between    Fisk  and   Gould   and    Fid 
ridge.      I   wa-  told   b)    Fisk  to  look  out   for   Fldridgc:   that   he 
was  going  to  get  all  of  those  bond-.      I  told  Fi-k  that  lie  could 

.  iuld   :i"t   let  him  ha\  e  them  :  thai   1 
could  not  let  him  have  them.      lie  said  I  was  mistaken.      What 

he  said  t"  me  led  me  t..  examim  the  contract,  winch  1  found 
1,,  bi    a  ..'nil  tcl  for  the  guarantei  millions  instead  1 <l 

four  million-,  and  for  the  deliver)  to  the  Boston,  Hartford  and 
■    of  the  whole  of  the  bond-  when  a   contract     hould  b( 
made  for  the  construction  of  the  road  that   was  satisfactory 
to  the  Trustees    different  entirely  fron   I  lal  agreement. 

I  in.  iit  it.  but  I  wa-  assured  that  the  bonds 

were   all    there   and    would    not    be    delivei  Cepl    for    work. 

The  next  [km  1  hem  wa    I     I  thi     had  all  been  bo 

by  the  Erie  Railwa     i  B     ton.  Hartford  and 

Railroad  Company,  and  ea-h   paid  for  them       That  is  the 
way  tin    I  in  have  those  bonds  as  their  own  property. 


'^^S 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JAY   GOULD— 1868   TO    1S72. 

I.  A  Battle  of  Giants:     Eldridge  Satisfied,  Retires  — Jay  Gould  Becomes  President  of  Erie  —  Frankly  Declaring  His  Policy  —  Daniel 
Drew  Consents  to  a  Combination  with  the  New   Erie    Managers  ami  Di  I         l  — A  Wild   Wall  Street  'lime,  and   Drew  Gets  on 

His  Knees  to  Gould  and  Fisk —  They  Spurn  Him  — TheStorj  ol  [" wo  Erie  Receiver--.  II.  GOULD  SUPREME:  His  (.re.it  Plans 
for  Erie  —  They  Amaze  the  .Managers  of  Rival  Railroads,  ami  Forci  Them  to  Action  —  The  Story  of  the  Famous  Classification  Act  — 
A    Rosy  Report  and   a    Rising  Cloud.      III.    BREAKE1  An    Inquiry   for   Dividends  —  The   Experience  of    Foreign 

holders  with  Gould  Methods  —  Gould's  Plan  to  Reform  Erie,  and  Why  it  Failed  —  The  Shadow  of  the  Fisk  Tragedy.  [V.  THE 
Ship  on  the  Rocks:  The  Influence  of  McHenry  —  He  Yearns  for  Gould's  Downfall,  and  Employs  (irn.  Daniel  E.  Sickles  to 
Bring  it  About  —  The   Incident  of  Lord  Gordon  Gordon — Betrayed  by  Ili~  Friends,  Jaj   G  V.  Tin    I 

minis  in  THE  Case:  Statement  of  P'rederick  A.  Lane  —  O'Doherty's  Cablegrams  —  Crouch's  Letters  —  The  Stories  of  Barlow, 
Gould,  and  the  Rest. 


I.       A    BATTLE    OF    GIANTS. 

It  was  plain,  even  to  those  uninitiated  in  the 
manners  and  methods  of  Wall  Street,  that  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Yanderbilt  opposition  to  the  legislation 
sought  by  the  Erie  management,  and  the  passage  of 
the  bill  legalizing  conditionally  the  over-issue  of  the 
stock  of  that  Company,  indicated  that  a  settlement 
or  compromise  of  some  kind  between  the  warring  fac- 
tions was  in  progress  of  negotiation,  if  its  details  had 
not  already  been  agreed  upon.  The  subsequent  pro- 
ceedings in  the  courts  were  so  palpably  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  cold  formality,  enlivened  although  they  were 
by  startling  verbal  encounters  between  counsel,  who 
gave  them  a  showing  of  sincerity  by  elaborate  argu- 
ments on  the  legal  and  moral  aspects  of  acts  that  had 
for  weeks  (as  the  public  innocently  believed)  aroused 
the  indignation  of  the  bar  and  outraged  the  dignity 
of  the  bench,  that  the  press  gave  only  dry  reports  "f 
them,  which  the  public  read  with  but  passing  inter- 
est. It  was  known  early  in  July,  1868,  that  the 
settlement  between  Drew  and  Vanderbilt  had  been 
made,  but  beyond  the  fact  that  Drew  had  retired 
from  the  Erie  management,  and  that  John  S.  Eldrii 
had  resigned  as  President  and  returned  to  Boston, 
his  place  being  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Jay 
Gould  as  President  pro  tem.,  which  incidents  were 
followed  by  various  rumors  as  to  the  terms  upon 
which  they  had  been  brought  about,  nothing  was 
known  to  those  outside  the  circles  immediately  in- 
11 


volved,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  public  would  ever 
have  been  put  into  full  knowledge  of  the  extent  of 
the  outrage  that  prostrate  Erie  was  forced  to  submit 
to  in  the  squaring  of  the  personal  differences  of  con- 
scienceless speculators,  if  one  of  them  had  not,  in  his 
retirement,  conspired  with  later  custodians  of  the 
Erie  treasury  to  once  more  manipulate  the  Com- 
pany's stock  in  such  a  way  that  he  and  they  might 
fatten  on  it  to  its  further  demoralization  and  the 
possible  ruin  of  the  many  investors  ignorant  of  the 
trap  thus  being  spread  for  them.  It  was  not  the 
conspiracy,  either,  that  brought  about  the  exposure. 
It  was  the  treachery  of  Daniel  Drew  to  his  co-con- 
spirators, by  which  he  sought  to  gain  still  greater 
profit  for  himself  at  their  great  loss  (as  he  believed), 
that  bared  to  the  public  the  transaction  by  which 
the  Erie  treasury  had  been  looted  to  purchase  his 
immunity  from  the  vengeance  of  Cornelius  Vander- 
bilt. But  in  this  new  operation  in  Erie  he  had 
reckoned  without  his  host.  Pitted  against  him 
now  were  men  schooled  in  his  own  methods.  They 
were  resourceful,  merciless,  and  bold  to  a  degree. 
The  wily  old  speculator  had  overreached  himself  at 
last. 

Soon  after  Drew  had  retired  from  the  Erie  man- 
agement, he  remarked,  in  his  quaint  way,  to  Com- 
modore Vanderbilt  one  day: 

"  There  ain't  nothin'  in  Ary  no  more,  C'neel." 
"  Don't  you  believe  it!  "   replied  the  long-headed 
New  York  Central  magnate. 


i6; 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


But    Daniel    Drew    was   correct — in    one   respect. 
There  was  nothing  more  in  Erie  for  him.     Nothing 
but  personal  humiliation,   broken   prestige,  financial 
ster. 

through  the  summer  of  [868  the  feeling  in 
financial  circles  in  regard  to  Erie  was  ominous.  Dis- 
quieting rumors  were  constantly  afloat.  The  Street 
ded  with  Erie  stock,  and  it  was  declared 
that  the  new  management  had  no  need  for  it,  as  they 
already  held  more  than  three-quarters  of  the  entire 
capital,  thus  insuring  their  control  of  the  Company 
at  the  annual  October  election.  The  closing  of  the 
transfer  books  of  the  Company  on  August  19th,  sixty 
days  before  the  election,  instead  of  on  September 
19th,  thirty  days  before,  as  the  by-laws  of  the  Com- 
pany had  always  prescribed,  and  the  continual  influx 
of  Erie  stock  on  the  market,  carried  much  alarm  to 
financial  circles,  and  Wall  Street  was  in  a  continuous 
fever  of  excitement.  The  election  was  held  October 
13,  1 868,  and  the  following  Board  of  Directors  was 
chosen  :  Jay  Gould,  Alexander  S.  Diven,  James  Fisk, 
Jr..  Frederick  A.  Lane,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  William 
M.  Tweed,  Peter  B.  Sweeny.  Daniel  S.  Miller,  Jr., 
Homer  Ramsdell,  John  Hilton,  George  M.  Graves, 
John  Ganson,  Charles  G.  Sisson,  O.  W.  Chapman, 
Henry  Thompson,  William  B.  Skidmore,  George  M. 
Diven.  This  Board  at  once  elected  Jay  Gould  Presi- 
dent. 

Looking  at  events  of  a  generation  ago,  as  they 
stand  revealed  in  the  light  of  the  present  day,  many 
may  wonder  at  the  temerity  of  any  influence  that 
could  call  into  the  Board  of  Directors  of  a  great 
railroad  company  William  M.  Tweed  and  Peter 
B.  Sweeny,  now  remembered  only  as  the  head  and 
front  of  the  notorious  Tammany  Ring.  But  in  1S68 
William  M.  Tweed  was  a  man  of  superior  conse- 
quence. He  and  his  confreres  not  only  held  abso- 
lute power  over  the  political  destinies  of  New  York 
City  and  New  York  State,  but  their  influence  was 
potent  in  national  affairs.  To  them  the  highest  and 
t  in  the  land  paid  homage.  Judges  were  made  at 
their  beck,  and  Governors  came  at  their  nod.  At  a 
word  from  William  M.  Tweed  the  National  Conven- 
tion of  a  great  political  party  had,  in  July,  1868, 
been  held  in   Tammany   Hall,   and   its  proceedings 


were  dictated  by  him  ami  his  associates  in  the  leader- 
ship of  that  Society-.  When  Tweed  and  Sweeny 
were  elected  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
they  were  as  uncrowned  kings.  That  it  was  in  the 
power  of  any  human  being  to  topple  them  from  their 
high  estate  and  reveal  to  the  world  the  almost  in- 
credible corruption  of  the  Ring  they  had  ruled,  no  one 
could  have  then  for  a  moment  even  dreamed.  The 
day  came  for  all  that,  though,  in  good  time;  but 
when  Tweed  ami  Sweeny  were  called  to  the  Erie 
Board  their  outward  fame  was  good,  anil  great  weight 
went  with  their  names.  There  were  some,  affecting 
wisdom,  who,  when  they  read  the  names  of  Tweed 
and  Sweeny  among  those  who  were  to  manage 
Erie's  affairs  the  coming  year,  were  moved  to  say : 

Ah!  it  would  seem  that  there  is  to  be  some- 
what of  politics,  and  perhaps  of  legislation,  in  the 
plans  of  the  new  management  of  Erie!  " 

Of  the  truth  or  falsity  of  which,  time  was  to  be  the 
witness. 

Less  than  a  week  after  the  Erie  election,  on  Octo- 
ber 21st,  the  first  disturbing  rumor  of  a  lock-up  of 
money  by  the  banks,  in  the  interest  of  a  speculative 
clique — of  which  the  Erie  managers  and  Daniel  Drew 
were  the  moving  spirits,  formed  for  a  bear  movement 
in  stocks,  and  especially  in  Erie — was  afloat  in  the 
Street.  This  rumor  would  not  down,  and  it  was 
declared  that  $10,000,000  had  already  been  taken 
out  of  the  Street  and  held  from  circulation  by  the 
banks  in  the  interests  of  this  clique.  Erie  stock 
continued  to  pour  upon  the  market,  and  rumors  of 
another  large  over-issue  of  that  stock  were  so  strong 
that  they  were  accepted  as  facts.  The  excitement 
on  the  Exchange  became  so  intense  day  by  day  that 
on  October  26th  a  committee  from  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange,  consisting  of  Christian  A.  Sloan, 
Augustus  C.  Brown,  and  J.  M.  Hartshorne.  was  ap- 
pointed and  instructed  to  wait  upon  Jay  Gould  and 
demand  that  he  should  officially  deny  or  admit  the 
over-issue,  and  give  other  information  concerning  the 
condition  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  doubt  upon 
which  was  working  such  disturbance  and  threatening 
such  disaster  in  financial  circles.  The  President  of 
Erie's  reply  to  the  committee  was  frank,  but  by  no- 
means  assuring. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


i63 


"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  with  the  greatest  calmness, 
"  since  the  settlement  of  the  Vanderbilt  litigation 
in  July  last,  we  have  issued  $10,000,000  in  Erie 
convertible  bonds.  Of  these,  $5-000,000  have  been 
recently  converted  into  common  stock,  and  the  re- 
mainder is  likely  to  be  converted  at  any  time.  The 
amount  of  common  stock  of  this  Company  now  out- 
standing is  §59,500,000.  We  are  thinking  of  laying 
a  third  rail.  If  we  resolve  to  proceed  with  the  work 
we  shall  be  obliged  to  raise  §3,000,000  more  by  the 
conversion  of  more  bonds  into  stock." 

The  committee  made  its  report,  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  wildest  excitement  on  the  Exchange. 
So  much  real  alarm  had  seldom  been  witnessed  in 
that  great  financial  centre.  Stocks  were  tumbling,  in 
spite  of  the  most  desperate  efforts  of  the  bull  side  of 
tire  market,  and  Erie  was  leading  the  downfall. 

That  last  week  of  October,  1868,  was  the  most 
critical  time  in  Wall  Street  then  on  record.  The 
chief  cause  was  the  great  decline  in  Erie,  by  which 
scores  of  people  who  had  carried  the  stock  from  the 
time  it  was  70  were  ruined.  The  knowledge  that 
there  were  §40,000,000  of  the  common  stock  out- 
standing caused  banks  and  money  lenders  to  reject 
it  as  collateral.  The  reported  financial  condition 
of  the  Company  was  so  bad  that  its  acceptances  of 
$2, OOO, OOO,  due  January  I,  1869,  could  not  find  a 
market  in  the  Street,  the  apprehension  being  that 
they  would  come  to  default.  Operators  clamored 
for  an  order  from  the  Exchange  prohibiting  the 
delivery  of  Erie  stock,  and  to  remove  it  from  the 
list.  The  President  of  the  Exchange  was  inclined 
to  do  this,  but  the  Erie  holding  was  so  widespn 
that  he  dared  not  assume  the  responsibility.  In 
July  Erie  had  stood  strong  at  70,  in  spite  of  all  that 
had  conspired  to  discredit  it.  October  26th  it  was 
down  to  38^,  the  lowest  point  it  had  been  quoted 
at  for  years.  By  October  30th  it  had  been  forced 
down  to  35.  The  bear  clique  seemed  to  have  Erie 
at  their  mercy.  But  the  stock  did  not  go  any  lower. 
On  the  contrary,  it  stood  firm,  and  presently  began 
to  advance.  It  went  up  steadily,  until,  on  Novem- 
ber 14th,  it  sold  at  52 '  j,  and  speculators  were  crazed. 
There  were  evidently  master  hands  sustaining  the 
bull  movement. 

But  even  the  upward  tendency  of  Erie  did  not  re- 


store confidence.  Some  mysterious  motive,  it  was 
felt,  was  prompting  the  movements  of  the  bull 
leaders.  On  Monday,  November  [6th,  Erie  opened 
at  53.  and  amid  one  of  the  wildest  scenes  ever  wit- 
I  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  was  run  up  to  61  in 
half  an  hour.  After  an  all  day's  struggle,  the  bear 
side  <>f  the  market  was  forced  to  succumb,  and  Erie 
closed  at  61. 

That  important  events  were  bound  to  follow  from 
this  desperate  battle  seemed  inevitable.  They  began 
on  Tuesday,  November  17th,  when  the  courts  were 
appealed  to  on  behalf  of  the  interests  (at  least  osten- 
sibly) of  the  Erie  stockholders.  The  standing  of 
the  parties  who  thus  began  a  new  Erie  War  lent  no 
little  strength  to  the  belief  that  the  action  was  what 
it  professed  to  be.  Suit  was  brought  on  that  day 
before  Judge  Josiah  S.  Sutherland,  of  the  New  York 
Supreme  Court,  by  August  Belmont  and  Erastus  B. 
Lucke,  as  bona  fide  holders  of  Erie  stock,  through 
Rapallo  &  Spencer,  their  attorneys,  against  the  Erie 
Railway  Company,  Jay  Gould,  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  and 
the  entire  Board  of  Directors,  recounting  all  the 
charges  that  had  been  brought  against  Daniel  Drew 
and  his  associates  in  the  Vanderbilt  litigation,  and 
making  the  new  charge  that  the  defendants  had  made 
a  further  illegal  issue  of  stock  to  the  amount  of  many 
millions  of  dollars,  and  that  they  had  appropriated 
without  legal  right  $7,000,000  belonging  to  the  Erie- 
Railway  Company  in  settling  the  Vanderbilt-Drew 
litigation.  The  petitioners  asked  for  an  injunction 
restraining  the  defendants  from  performing  any  fur- 
ther acts  in  their  capacity  as  Directors  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company,  and  for  the  appointment  of  a 
Receiver  for  the  Company. 

The  Belmont  petition  was  accompanied  by  an 
affidavit  made  by  Daniel  Drew,  in  which  he  swore 
that  he  was  guilty  of  the  acts  which  had  been 
charged  against  him  in  the  Vanderbilt  suits,  and 
which  he  had  then  either  denied  or  claimed  had  been 
performed  under  authority  of  law.  He  admitted 
the  taking  of  28,000  shares  of  stock  in  May. 
the  issuing  of  $5,000,000  convertible  bonds  on  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1868,  and  an  equal  amount  on  March  3d 
following,  in  which  he  affirmed  he  was  aided  and 
abetted  by  Jay  Gould  and  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  with 
whom  he  had  signed  an  agreement  to  pay  to  them 


io4 


BETWEEN  nil'.  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


■half   of  the   profits   that   might   result   from   any 

:    72    cents   on    the   dollar   for   which    the 

bonds    were    sold.      The   bonds   were   disposed   of 

through  the  houses  of  Fisk  &    Belden,  ami  Smith, 

Martin   &   Co.,   ,  .1   So.      Drew  swore 

further  in   his  affidavit   that   the  defendants,  Gould, 

.,  anil  Lane,  had  compromised  the  claim  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  had  against  him  for  the  2S.000 
shares  of  stock  by  the  payment  by  him  of  $1,000,000 
and  the  further  consideration  of  his  resigning  from 
the  management.  He  charged  them  with  having 
bought  the  resignation  of  President  Eldridge  in  favor 
of  Gould  by  taking  from  him  $3,000,000  of  Hoston, 
Har.tford  and  Erie  bonds  at  80;  that  Gould  was 
Treasurer  as  well  as  President  of  the  Company;  that 
they  had  abolished  the  Hoard  of  Audit  and  placed 
Fisk  in  entire  charge  of  that  Department  as  Con- 
troller of  Accounts;  that  they  had  received  $40,000,- 

000  by    over-issue    of    stock;    that    they    had    paid 

1  \000  for  the  Grand  Opera  House;  $1,500,000 
for  nine  houses  adjoining  it  in  Twenty-third  Street; 
$300,000  for  Lake  Erie  steamboats;  $300,000  for 
Buffalo  real  estate,  which  was  mostly  in  the  names 
of  Directors;  and  that  Gould,  Fisk,  and  Lane  had 
received  bonuses  on  these  purchases  amounting  to 
$1,500,000.  Drew  also  affirmed  that  he  had  con- 
spired with  Gould,  Fisk,  Lane,  and  others  of  the 
Erie  Board  to  lock  up  money  to  make  it  scarce  on 
the  Street,  so  that  they  might  reap  a  great  profit 
from  speculation  in  Erie,  and  that  he  had  put 
$1,000,000  in  the  pool,  which  he  subsequently  drew 
out,  and  then  severed  his  connection  with  the  clique. 

These  developments  intensified  the  panicky  con- 
dition of  Wall  Street.  The  lock-up  of  money  had 
been  the  one  great  disturbing  and  threatening  ele- 
ment since  the  unsettled  state  of  affairs  began  months 
before.  With  an  easy  money  market  the  dangers  of 
the    formid;  laught   on    values  and   contracts 

could  have   been   gu  ainst  to  a  great  extent, 

anil  Id  not  have  stood  for  months  as  if 

in  momentary  expectation  of  a  financial  earthquake; 
so,  for  I)  Drew  to  deliberately  and  shamefully 

declare,  undi  1  oath,  that  he  had  been  a  willing  party 
to  a  conspiracy  which  had  for  its  ends  the  damming 
of  the  natural  monetary  current  of  Wall  Street — a 


proceeding  which,  if  carried  to  its  projected  length, 
would  have  scattered  widespread  ruin  and  disaster 

anion-  hundreds — was  sufficient  to  bring  down  upon 
his  head  an  avalanche  of  indignation  which  would 
have  driven  a  more  sensitive  man  into  hiding.  His 
confession  of  past  misdeeds  that  he  might  drag  his 
former  Erie  co-workers  into  the  mire  also  reacted 
against  him,  although  he  had  told  nothing  which 
common  rumor  had  not  long  before  settled  upon  as 
the  probable  truth  of  the  Yanderbilt-Drew  contest 
and  its  settlement.  Every  one  knew  that  these  things 
had  not  thus  been  put  in  the  form  of  sworn  testi- 
mony by  Drew  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  his  con- 
science or  to  disinterestedly  aid  the  ends  of  justice. 
This  tardy  coming  forward  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to 
the  end  that  suffering  Erie  might  be  rescued  from 
her  alleged  despoilers,  now  that  he  was  no  longer 
one  of  them,  was  proof  positive  that  something  had 
gone  wrong  in  Daniel  Drew's  speculative  calcula- 
tions, and  that  he  was  playing  a  bold  and  desperate 
game  to  extricate  himself  from  a  precarious  situation. 
There  were  rumors  a-many  as  to  what  his  situation 
was,  and  when  the  facts  came  out  later,  the  rumors 
were  found  to  have  been  not  far  from  the  truth. 

Judge  Sutherland,  on  the  strength  of  the  strong 
petition  of  Belmont  and  Lucke,  and  the  affidavit  of 
Daniel  Drew,  issued  an  injunction  against  Jay  Gould 
as  President,  and  all  of  his  associates  in  the  Erie 
management,  restraining  them  from  exercising  any 
authority  in  the'  management  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  until  further  order  of  the  court,  and 
directed  them  to  appear  before  him  on  November 
20th,  to  show  cause  why  a  Receiver  should  not 
be  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company. 

Now  it  was  that  not  only  Wall  Street  but  the 
world  at  large  began  to  recognize  the  amazing  genius 
of  Jay  Gould.  He  had  embarked  in  an  undertaking 
of  the  greatest  magnitude.  At  the  start  he  had 
adopted  heroic  measures.  lie  had  at  one  stroke 
added  millions  to  the  capital  stock  of  the  Erie  Kail- 
way  Company  beyond  the  amount  fixed  by  law.  He 
had  converted  bonds  into  stock  through  the  firm  of 
brokers  of  which  he  was  the  head,  and  as  President 
and  Treasurer  of  the  Company,  and  Chairman  of  its 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


i6= 


Executive  Committee,  held  the  proceeds  of  these 
bonds  at  his  own  pleasure.  He  had  started  out  to 
do  certain  things  with  the  Erie  Railway,  and  he  was 
not  to  be  balked  by  such  a  simple  thing  as  an  order 
of  court.  In  fact,  he  had  anticipated  such  an  order 
and  had  provided  against  it. 

On  Sunday,  November  15,  1868,  Daniel  Drew 
called  on  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  at  his  office  in  the  Grand 
Opera  House.  "  He  said,"  so  Fisk's  statement 
went,  "  that  he  had  come  to  make  a  clean  breast  of 
it,  and  to  throw  himself  upon  our  mercy.  He  was 
short  of  Erie  stock  30,000  shares,  he  said.  I  told 
him  I  knew  that,  and  that  that  was  not  half  of  it, 
for  he  was  short  in  addition  40,000  calls.  He  com- 
plained bitterly  of  his  position.  He  then  entered 
into  an  explanation  as  to  certain  proceedings  that 
he  said  were  being  got  up  by  parties  who  were  to 
attack  us  in  the  courts.  He  said  he  had  been  in  the 
enemy's  camp,  and  that  all  he  cared  about  was  to 
look  out  for  number  one.  If  we  were  willing  to  help 
him  he  said  he  would  make  a  clean  breast  of  it.  I 
told  him  that  his  disposition  and  his  nature  were  so 
vacillating  that  I  should  not  trust  him  unless  he 
made  a  clean  breast  to  begin  with.  He  finally,  after 
much  hesitation,  said  he  would  tell  me.  He  said 
that  Work,  Schell,  Lane,  and  Thompson  were  em- 
barked in  a  scheme  with  him.  He  refused  to  tell 
me  in  whose  name  the  proceedings  were  to  be  insti- 
tuted. Upon  inquiring  closely  of  him  whether  the 
case  was  taken  up  on  its  merits  or  as  a  mere  stock 
operation,  he  admitted  to  me  that  it  was  to  relieve 
those  who  were  short  of  this  stock.  I  presented  the 
idea  to  him  as  to  what  the  others  would  do,  and  he 
said  he  could  take  the  ringleaders  with  him  if  they 
were  also  provided  for,  and  he  would  break  up  the 
whole  scheme. 

"  He  begged  and  entreated  that  I  should  go  and 
bring  Mr.  Gould,  saying  that  he  knew  if  he  could  see 
Mr.  Gould  he  could  benefit  his  position,  and  would 
tell  us  who  were  to  be  the  plaintiffs  in  the  suit.  I 
tried  to  convince  him  that  it  was  one  of  his  old  tricks, 
and  that  he  was  the  last  man  who  should  whine  at 
any  position  he  had  put  himself  in  with  regard  to 
Erie.  Finally  I  consented  to  go  and  get  Mr.  Gould, 
and  did  so.  I  was  not  present  at  the  entire  inter- 
view between  Mr.  Gould  and  Mr.  Drew,  but  portions 


of  the  conversation  that  I  heard  were  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  one-  that  Mr.  Drew  had  held  with  me. 
He  also  urged  many  arguments  upon  Mr.  Gould  and 
myself  to  induce  us  to  help  him  with  regard  to  the 
stock.  I  le  stated  to  us  that  it  was  within  our  power 
to  protect  ourselves,  but  urged  us  to  issue  more  con- 
vertible bonds,  saying  no  one  would  know  anything 
about  it. 

"At  this  time  he  told  us  that  a  suit  was  to  be 
brought  in  the  name  of  August  Belmont;  that  he 
was  present  at  a  meeting  they  had  held  the  night 
previous,  and  heard  the  paper  read.  We  told  him 
over  and  over  again  that  we  could  not  help  him. 
He  would  not  leave  us,  but  insisted  on  remaining. 
Mr.  Gould  and  myself,  unable  to  get  rid  of  him  in 
any  other  way,  told  him  that  we  would  meet 
him  again  at  10  o'clock  that  evening.  We  then 
parted. 

"Consequently,  about  ii  o'clock,  I  found  Mr. 
Drew  waiting  for  us.  At  that  time  Mr.  Gould  was 
not  present.  I  again  told  Mr.  Drew  that  nothing 
could  be  done  for  him.      lie  said: 

Then,  if  you   put   up  this  stock,  I  am  a  ruined 
man  ! ' 

He  harped  upon  the  fact  that  he  was  willing  to 
pay  a  large  amount  of  money  for  the  use  of  30,000 
or  40,000  shares  of  stock  for  fifteen  days,  and  offered 
me  as  high  as  3  per  cent.,  which  would  amount  to 
nearly  $100,000,  for  the  use  of  it  for  fifteen  days. 
Finding  he  could  not  induce  us  to  accede  to  his 
wishes,  he  tried  another  tack,  saying  there  was  a 
conspiracy  against  us;  that  they  would  ruin  us  if 
they  could  ;  that  the}'  would  put  the  stock  down  at 
all  hazards,  and  that  if  I  would  not  agree  to  any- 
thing with  him  he  would  give  his  affidavit  to  the 
other  side,  having  before  this  said  he  would  not  give 
his  affidavit  if  I  came  to  his  rescue.      1  le  said  : 

"  '  You  know  during  the  whole  of  our  fight  I  ob- 
jected to  ever  giving  my  affidavit,  but  I  swear  I  will 
do  you  all  the  harm  I  can  do  if  you  do  not  help  me 
in  this  time  of  my  great  need !  ' 

"He  also  said  : 

"  '  You  can  loan  me  the  stock.  I  will  give  you 
3  per  cent,  for  it.  You  have  the  power  to  issue 
more  convertible  bonds.  I  will  buy  the  bonds  from 
you    if  you   are  caught,  or  I   will  buy  the  bonds  of 


1 66 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


.  with  the  understanding  that   I  shall  not  pay  for 
them  unless  you  are  caught.' 
"  1  p  isitively  and  unequivocally  declined  his  prop- 
i  had  on  each  occasion.     After  talking  in 
this  strain  for  more  than  an  hour,  I  adhering  to  my 
decision  that  nothing  could  be  done,   he,   at  about 
I  o'clock  Monday  morning,  said: 
"  '  I  will  bid  you  good-night!' 
"  Then  he  went  away." 

Whether  or  not  it  was  through  this  pitiful  self- 
humiliation  of  Daniel  Drew  that  Jay  Gould  obtained 
the  information  about  the  coming  Belmont  suit,  lie- 
certainly  was  forewarned  of  it,  for  when  the  order  of 
Judge  Sutherland  to  show  cause  why  a  Receiver 
should  not  be  appointed  for  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany was  issued,  Tuesday,  November  i ;.  (868,  a 
Receiver  had  already  been  appointed!  Monday, 
November  i6th,  hours  before  the  Belmont  proceed- 
ings had  come  up  before  Judge  Sutherland,  Charles 
Mcintosh  i  who  was  Superintendent  of  the  Erie 
Ferry  between  New  York  and  Jersey  City)  brought 
suit  through  Brown,  Hall  &  Vanderpocl,  his  attor- 
neys, against  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  Jay  Gould, 
and  all  his  associates  in  the  Erie  Directory,  and 
against  August  Belmont,  Richaid  Schell,  and  others, 
"  to  have  the  law  defined  in  reference  to  the  legal 
powers  of  the  Eric  Railway  Company  in  reference  to 
the  issuing  of  stock;  to  restrain  the  commencement 
of  actions  against  the  Company  founded  upon  the 
issuing  of  stock;  and  for  the  appointment  of  a 
eiver  of  the  Company's  property,"  the  plaintiff 
having  been  informed,  so  his  complaint  averred,  that 
various  persons  had  threatened  to  commence  suits 
against  the  Company,  under  color  of  calling  in  ques- 
tion the  right  or  power  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany to  create  and  issue  the  stock  as  had  been  done, 
but  in  reality  to  destroy  the  value  of  Erie  securities 
for  stock-jobbing  purposes.  The  plaintiff  declared 
that  he  brought  the  action  on  behalf  of  himself  and 
all  other  stockholders  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
who  might  join   in   the  action.     Th  ations  of 

Mcintosh  were  supported  by  an  affidavit  of  James 
Fisk,  Jr.,  who  swore  that  he  was  conversant  with 
the  business  and  affairs  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany, and  had  no  doubt  of  the  legal  authority  of  the 


Company  to  issue  all  the  shares  of  capital  stock  now 
tstanding.  He  charged  that  speculators  in  Wall 
Street  had  been  for  days  active  in  efforts  to  depress 
the  stock  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  a->  a 
means  to  aid  them  had  threatened  to  institute  legal 
proceedings  calling  in  question  the  acts  of  the  officers 
of  the  Company  in  issuing  shares  of  stock,  which 
suits  would  greatly  hinder  the  officers  in  the  due  and 
proper  discharge  of  their  duties. 

These  proceedings  were  brought  before  Judge 
George  G.  Barnard — the  same  Judge  Barnard  who 
had  indignantly  fixed  Jay  Gould's  bail  at  $500,000 
in  the  Eric  War  of  then  recent  date,  and  who  had 
declared  that  if  Gould  were  brought  before  him  he 
would  not  only  impose  condign  punishment  upon 
him,  but  would  compel  him  to  refund  the  entire 
$10,000,000  alleged  over-issue  of  stock,  so  horrified 
was  he  at  the  enormity  of  that  offence!  And  Judge 
Barnard,  the  affidavits  of  Charles  Mcintosh  and 
James  Eisk,  Jr.,  appearing  satisfactory  to  him,  issued 
an  order  directing  all  the  parties  who  were  alleged 
to  be  on  the  point  of  bringing  suit  against  the  Erie 
managers  to  refrain  from  such  action,  and  to  refrain 
from  obtaining  orders  from  any  court,  judge,  or  jus- 
tice that  would  hinder,  embarrass,  or  delay  the 
officers  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  in  the  man- 
agement of  its  affairs,  and  from  applying  for  the 
appointment  of  a  Receiver  for  the  Erie  Railway 
Company.  After  which  deliverance,  Judge  Barnard 
ordered  that  Jay  Gould  be  appointed  Receiver  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  with  full  charge  and 
custody  of  all  its  moneys,  upon  his  giving  bonds  in 
$2,000,000  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
his  trust. 

This  surprise  for  the  anti-Gould  faction  was  quickly 
followed  by  another,  the  result  of  which  was  the 
utter  and  disastrous  rout  of  the  hard-fighting  clique 
that  hail  struggled  for  a  week  to  force  Erie  stock 
back  to  its  October  quotation,  in  order  that  they 
might  escape  without  loss  from  the  predicament  they 
h  ul  brought  themselves  face  to  face  with  by  offend 
ing  their  late  Erie  coadjutors.  November  iSth, 
another  petition  of  Jay  Gould  came  before  Judge 
Barnard.  It  referred  to  the  charge  made  in  the  Bel- 
mont suit  that  200,000  shares  of  Erie  stock  had  been 
issued  in   excess  of  the  amount  authorized   by  law, 


THE    STORY    OF   ERIE 


167 


and  to  the  fact  that  the  stock  of  the  Company  was 
then  selling  at  about  $54  per  share ;  that  there  were 
only  200,000  shares  in  the  New  York  market,  the 
balance  being  in  Europe,  so  that  if  it  should  be 
decided  judicially  that  this  stock  was  illegally  issued 
and  must  be  withdrawn  from  the  market,  such  with- 
drawal would  in  all  probability  carry  the  remaining 
shares  to  par  and  above.  In  view  of  such  an  event, 
Gould  in  his  petition  declared  that  the  interests  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company  would  be  promoted  by 
the  purchase  and  withdrawal  of  such  200,000  shares, 
if  they  could  be  purchased  at  reasonable  prices  below 
par.  lie  asked,  therefore,  that  the  order  appointing 
him  Receiver  be  so  extended  as  to  authorize  him 
to  apply  so  much  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company's 
money  as  might  be  necessary  for  him  to  use  in  with- 
drawing for  the  benefit  of  the  Company  200,000 
shares  of  the  stock  at  prices  not  above  par.  This 
extension  of  the  order  was  at  once  granted  by  Judge 
Barnard,  and  Jay  Gould  had  the  authority  of  the 
Supreme  Court  to  use  $20,000,000  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company's  money,  if  necessary,  to  repurchase 
the  Company's  own  stock  at  par  which  had  been 
issued  and  sold  at  about  40!  This  at  once  insured 
the  bull  side  of  Erie.  Yet  the  bears  fought  with  the 
fierceness  of  gladiators  to  prevent  the  catastrophe. 
All  in  vain.  November  24th  the  end  came.  Daniel 
Drew  was  forced  to  settle  his  contracts  in  Erie  at  $~, 
at  a  direct  financial  loss  of  $1,500,000,  and  an  irrepar- 
able loss  of  prestige.  The  conflict  cost  the  Erie 
clique  a  much  greater  sum  than  that,  but  the}-  had 
won  the  battle  and  avenged  themselves  on  Daniel 
Drew,  in  spite  of  his  abasing,  humiliating,  pathetic 
appeal  to  them  on  that  fatal  Sunday  to  pity  and  save 
him. 

November  24th  proceedings  came  before  Judge 
Sutherland,  upon  motion  on  behalf  of  August  Bel- 
mont, for  an  order  to  vacate  all  the  Barnard  injunc- 
tions, and  the  orders  of  the  same  judge  appointing 
Jay  Gould  Receiver  and  authorizing  him  to  purchase 
the  200,000  shares  of  Erie  stock.  Charles  A.  Rapallo, 
Dorman  B.  Eaton  (late  prominent  among  the  Erie 
counsel),  and  ex-Judge  Pierrepont  appeared  for  the 
motions,  and  A.  J.  Vanderpoel,  John  E.  Burrill, 
Clarence  A.  Seward,  ex-Judge  John   K.  Porter,  and 


ex-Judge  William  Fullerton  appeared  in  opposition. 
Jay  Gould's  affidavit,  denying  all  the  charges  made 
in  the  Belmont  affidavit  of  November  16th,  was  read. 
The  argument  continued  all  day  and  far  into  the 
night.  It  was  plain  that  Judge  Sutherland  regarded 
the  Barnard  proceedings  and  the  authority  the)-  im- 
posed on  Jay  Gould  as  anything  but  commendable. 
He  granted  the  motion  to  vacate  the  Barnard  injunc- 
tion and  the  order  appointing  Gould  Receiver,  and 
appointed  Hon.  Henry  E.  Davies,  ex-Chief  Justice 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  New  York,  Receiver  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company. 

When  the  news  of  the  vacation  of  the  Barnard 
orders  by  Judge  Sutherland  was  carried  to  the  Erie 
officers  their  discomfiture  was  unmistakable,  but 
they  immediately  prepared  to  bring  into  use  other 
weapons  they  had  at  hand.  Judge  Barnard  was  first 
appealed  to.  The  ink  was  not  dry  on  Judge  Suther- 
land's preliminary  order  in  the  Receivership  matter 
when  Barnard,  ex-parte  and  out  of  Court,  issued  an 
order  staying  all  proceedings  under  Judge  Suther- 
land's order  pending  an  appeal,  this  stay  not  to 
exceed  twenty  days.  Before  midnight  of  that  day, 
at  a  suit  brought  against  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
by  Henry  B.  Whelplcy,  who,  in  his  bill,  described 
himself  as  a  stockholder  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany, Judge  Samuel  Blatchford,  sitting  in  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York,  had  appointed  Jay  Gould  Receiver  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company.  Under  this  appointment 
Gould  was  to  give  bonds  in  Si, 000,000,  and  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  was  ordered  to  transfer  to  him 
and  place  in  his  name  $S, 000, 000  with  which  to  pro- 
tect the  rights  of  the  plaintiff  Whclpley  and  other 
stockholders.  Gould's  securities  were  Henry  N. 
Smith,  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  William  M.  Tweed,  and 
Hugh  Smith.  The  plaintiff's  attorney  in  the  suit 
was  Clarence  A.  Seward. 

November  24th  Field  &  Shearman,  in  the  name  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  entered  one  suit  against 
August  Belmont,  Ernest  B.  Eucke,  Richard  Schell, 
Daniel  Drew,  and  Frank  Work,  and  one  against 
Daniel  Drew,  Richard  Schell,  and  Frank  Work. 
The  first  was  on  the  affidavit  of  Jay  Gould  that  the 
suit  brought  by  Belmont  and  Lucke,  ostensibly  in 
the  interest  of  Erie  stockholders,  was  really  to  force 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


the  Erie  Railway  Company  to  pay  them  a  large  sum 

of  money  to  ma  i   their  losses  in  a  stock-job- 

ation in   Erie  in  October  and  November, 

In  this  suit  the  Erie  Railway  Company  de- 
manded §1, 000,000  damages.  The  second  suit  was 
brought  with  the  avowed  intention  of  compelling 
the  defendants  to  repay  to  the  Erie  Railway  Corn- 
pan  {  .-'io,  which,  it  was  alleged,  had  been  ex- 
acted from  the  Company  in  the  settlement  of  the 
Drew-Yanderbilt  suits,  to  make  good  their  losses  in 
the  speculation  that  led  to  the  first  Erie  War. 

•.his  same  day,  on  application  of  Clarence  A. 
ard,  Judge  Barnard,  in  the  suit  of  Belmont  and 
others  vs.  The  Erie  Railway  Company,  in  which 
Judge  Sutherland  had  appointed  ex-Judge  Davies 
Receiver,  granted  an  order  removing  the  cause,  so 
far  as  it  affected  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  from  the  State 
courts  to  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  and  stay- 
ing all  proceedings  in  the  action  in  the  State  courts 
against  Fisk.  The  effect  of  this  was  to  leave  Fisk 
in  possession  of  the  railroad  as  a  Director,  free  from 
the  control  of  Receiver  Davies,  provided  that  Re- 
ceiver Davies  should  ever  get  an  opportunity  for 
exercising  any  control  by  virtue  of  his  appointment. 
This  new  move  on  the  part  of  the  Erie  party  was 
promptly  met  by  their  opponents.  Judge  Suther- 
land, on  application  of  Charles  A.  Rapallo,  granted 
an  order  on  the  defendants  to  show  cause,  Novem- 
ber 25th,  why  Judge  Barnard's  order  should  not  be 
vacated. 

November  25th  Judge  Sutherland,  ignoring  the 
stay  which  Judge  Barnard  had  granted  in  the  case, 
settled  the  order  of  his  appointment  of  Judge  Davies 
as  Receiver,  making  it  absolute.  This  disposed  of, 
Judge  Sutherland  vacated  Judge  Barnard's  order 
granting  the  stay. 

Soon  after  these  proceedings  were  settled,  or,  as 
it  was  charged,  before  they  were  entirely  a  complete 
part  of  the  court  records,  a  further  stay  was  obtained 
by  counsel  on  behalf  of  tin-  Erie  party,  this  time 
from  Judge  Cardozo,  who  made  his  order  returnable 
November  30th.  Not  to  lose  any  time,  Receiver 
I1  ivies,  accompanied  by  his  counsel,  ex-Judge  Noah 
Davis  and  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  went  at  once,  after 
the  settlement  of  Judge  Sutherland's  order,  to  the 
Grand    Opera    House    at    Twenty-third    Street    and 


;hth  Avenue,  where  the  offices  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  had  been  established  in  resplendent 
quarters.  If  the  Receiver  had  had  visions  ol  inarch- 
ing triumphantly  through  the  portals  of  the  Opera 
House,  serving  his  papers  on  a  defeated  and  humili- 
ated President  of  the  Company,  and  a  despondent 
and  unresisting  staff  of  aids,  and  receiving  from  them 
the  keys  and  combinations  of  the  strong  boxes,  with 
every  token  of  submission  to  his  authority,  thi 
visions  must  have  vanished  quickly  when  he  arrived 
at  the  outer  gate,  for  the  gates  were  not  only  locked, 
but  there  was  a  body  of  men  outside  to  guard  them, 
and  the  countenances  of  those  men  were  not  gentle. 
In  fact,  they  were  of  the  class  known  in  the  parlance 
of  the  sporting  gentry  as  "toughs."  They  were 
commanded  by  one  "Tommy"  Lynch,  who  knew 
a  thing  or  two.  When  entrance  was  demanded  by 
Receiver  Davies,  he  was  ordered  to  take  himself 
off,  and  if  an  Eric  Railway  employee,  who  had  known 
Dorman  B.  Eaton  when  he  was  one  of  the  Erie 
counsel,  and  who  had  not  heard  that  Mr.  Eaton  was 
now  particularly  under  the  ban  of  his  recent  em- 
ployers, had  not  from  that  recognition  supposed  the 
delegation  was  all  right  and  proper,  it  is  not  at  all 
likely  that  Receiver  Davies  would  ever  have  had 
even  a  brief  sight  of  the  interior  of  the  offices  where 
he  supposed  he  was  soon  to  be  himself  enthroned. 
The  employee  passed  the  word  to  the  guard,  and  the 
iron  gate  was  opened.  It  was  then  an  easy  matter 
to  get  to  the  apartments  of  Gould  and  Fisk,  who 
were  in  council  with  their  advisers.  The  presence 
of  Judge  Sutherland's  Receiver  and  his  counsel  in 
the  office  of  Judge  Barnard's  and  Judge  Blatchford's 
Receiver  was  not  at  all  expected  by  the  latter  or  his 
friends,  and  it  was  followed  by  momentary  suspense 
and  embarrassment.  This  over,  the  visitors  were 
received  with  some  show  of  politeness,  especially  by 
Comptroller  Fisk,  who  soon  withdrew.  The  matters 
moving  the  visitors  had  not  yet  been  more  than 
referred  to,  when  Erie's  Comptroller  returned. 
lie  at  once  ordered  the  visitors  to  leave  the  build- 
ing. The}-  refused.  He  summoned  a  number  of 
"  Tommy  "  Lynch's  guard,  and  gave  orders  to  them 
to  forcibly  eject  the  strangers  from  the  place.  The 
consummation  of  this  act  of  violence  was  prevented 
by  the  prompt   interference  of  ex-Judge  Fullerton, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


169 


Thomas  G.  Shearman,  and  others  of  the  counsel. 
Quiet  having  been  restored.  Receiver  Davies  served 
his  papers  on  Receiver  Gould  and  the  others,  and 
gave  notice  that  he  had  taken  possession  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company's  property.  Receiver  Davies  was 
then  served  with  Judge  Cardozo's  order  staying  the 
proceedings  pending  a  hearing  on  November  30th. 
This  order  Judge  Davies  disregarded,  and,  satisfied 
with  having  taken  legal  possession,  he  retired  with 
his  counsel,  prepared  to  return  on  Friday  and  assume 
charge  of  affairs.  Judge  Davies  must  either  have 
been  of  child-like  simplicity  or  had  learned  nothing 
by  experience  with  the  managers  of  Erie;  otherwise, 
he  would  have  remained  in  possession  while  he 
had  it.  When  he  returned  on  Friday  he  could  not 
regain  it.  The  guards  knew  not  his  authority,  and 
he  never  saw,  in  an  official  capacity,  the  inside  of 
Erie's  splendid  halls  again. 

The  news  of  the  action  of  Judge  Blatchford  in 
appointing  Jay  Gould  Receiver  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  had  fallen  like  a  bombshell  in  the  camp  of 
the  Belmont  party.  Judge  Blatchford's  character 
and  ability  were  of  such  a  high  order  that  his  de- 
cision and  prompt  movement  in  the  Whelpley  case — 
Whelpley  being  an  employee  of  the  house  of  Smith, 
Gould  &  Martin — came  with  stunning  force  to  those 
who  had  started  in  on  their  campaign  against  the 
new  Erie  managers  with  the  apparent  idea  that  the 
law  would  quickly  and  easily  overthrow  them,  and 
rescue  Erie  from  the  alleged  disaster  toward  which 
they  were  wildly  rushing  her.  This  sagacious  move 
of  Gould  in  taking  the  contest  into  the  United  States 
Court,  and  the  gaining  of  the  instant  indorsement  of 
his  cause  in  that  court  through  the  medium  of  one 
of  its  most  discreet  and  impartial  justices,  opened 
the  eyes  of  his  assailants  to  the  fact  that  they  had 
thrown  down  the  gauntlet  to  one  who  had  new  and 
original  ideas  about  such  warfare,  and  who  had  no 
use  for  old  weapons  that  had  proved  valueless,  but 
forged  new  ones  as  he  fought,  and  used  them  in  un- 
expected and  unprecedented  ways.  The  advantage 
gained  by  Gould  in  Judge  Blatchford's  court  being 
followed  so  quickly  by  his  virtual  turning  out  of 
doors  of  Judge  Sutherland's  Receiver,  in  defiance  of 
all  the  writs  and  orders  with  which  he  was  fortified, 


forced  the  further  discovery  upon  the  champions  of 
the  anti-Gould  party  that  the  genius  of  Gould  held 
itself  as  something  above  even  the  law  and  its 
machinery,  and  that  unless  they  quickly  showed  him 
how  fatal  his  error  was  in  this  respect,  he  might  so 
change  the  aspect  of  the  contest  that  they  them- 
selves would  appear  to  the  public  as  the  real  male- 
factors in  the  case,  against  whom  and  their  wicked 
designs  Gould  was  defending  the  rights,  franchises, 
and  treasury-of  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 

As  soon  as  they  could  collect  themselves,  after  the 
Blatchford  proceedings  and  the  cool  ignoring  and 
repudiation  of  ex-Judge  Davies's  claims  as  Receiver, 
Belmont's  counsel  made  a  countermove,  November 
28th,  before  Judge  Nelson,  in  the  United  States 
Court.  Two  petitions  were  presented  to  him,  one 
from  August  Belmont,  citing  the  various  alleged 
acts  of  Jay  Gould  against  the  true  interests  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  and  asking  for  the  vacation 
of  Judge  Blatchford's  order  appointing  him  Receiver, 
and  for  his  removal  as  such.  The  other  petition 
was  from  ex-Judge  Henry  E.  Davies,  who  related 
in  detail  his  appointment  as  Receiver  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company,  his  vain  efforts  to  obtain  pos- 
session of  the  property,  and  his  prevention  by  force 
from  the  performance  of  his  duties  as  Receiver,  and 
prayed  that  he  might  be  put  in  possession  of  the 
property  by  the  action  of  the  United  States  Court. 
Judge  Nelson  issued  an  order  on  all  parties  inter- 
ested to  show  cause  on  Monday,  November  30th, 
1868,  why  these  petitions  should  not  be  granted. 

There  had  been  great  commotion  in  and  about 
the  Erie  quarters  at  the  Grand  Opera  House  ever 
since  the  new  war  began,  but  on  Saturday,  Novem- 
ber 28th,  the  excitement,  although  under  a  state  of 
repression,  seemed  to  be  more  intense  than  ever. 
Jay  Gould,  his  lieutenants,  and  the  great  army  of 
eminent  counsel  had  been  in  almost  constant  con- 
sultation for  twenty-four  hours.  That  some  impor- 
tant, or  at  least  sensational,  move  was  being  planned 
was  evident.  The  guards  at  the  iron  gates  were 
especially  vigilant.  A  strong  force  of  the  city  police 
was  also  on  duty,  as  if  it  might  be  that  some  breach 
of  the  peace  was  not  improbable.  Process-servers 
were  hanging  about,  watchful,  and  ready  to  thrust 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


their  papers  upon  the  persons  named  in  them  at  the 
first  opportunity.     Reporters  by  the  score  were  busy 

at  the  no-easy  task  of  learning  something  of  what 
ng  on  within  the  mysterious  portals,  and  fill- 
their  note-books  with  guesses.  Politicians  of 
note,  and  some  of  notoriety,  flocked  around  the 
building,  am!  seemed  to  be  the  only  ones  whose 
cards  could  cause  the  iron  gates  to  open. 

At  midnight  on  the  28th  the  Erie  magnates  were 
busy  within  the  locked  and  guarded  privacy  of  the 
President's  room,  but  soon  afterward  James  Fisk, 
Jr.,  carrying  a  satchel,  and  accompanied  by  two  of 
the  Erie  counsel,  left  the  building,  entered  a  car- 
:,  and  drove  to  the  Twenty-third  Street  Ferry. 
The  carriage  was  followed  by  a  patient  process- 
server,  who  had  for  hours  longed  for  such  an  appear- 
ance. He  succeeded  at  the  ferry  in  serving  Fisk 
with  the  papers  in  the  proceedings  of  that  day  before 
Judge  Nelson.  Fisk  and  his  party  crossed  the  ferry. 
In  the  Erie  yards  at  Jersey  City  a  locomotive  and  a 
special  car,  plainly  on  previous  order,  were  awaiting 
the  party.  Fisk  and  his  companions  entered  the  car. 
and  were  instantly  whirled  westward  over  the  Erie. 
On  Monday  morning  the  New  York  newspapers  and 
the  press  throughout  the  land  startled  the  world  with 
the  announcement  that  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  Comptroller 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  had  fled  to  Canada, 
bearing  with  him  the  funds  and  books  of  the  Com'- 
pany,  to  escape  the  inevitable  punishment  that  was 
awaiting  him  and  his  associates  in  the  Erie  manage- 
ment. Fisk  got  no  nearer  Canada  than  Binghamton, 
Broome  County,  X.  A'.  He  telegraphed  from  there 
nial  of  his  reported  (light,  and  explained  his  hur- 
ried trip  from  New  York  by  the  statement  that  he 
-  on  business  connected  with  a  rolling  mill  which 
making  rails  for  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 
He  was  so  much  outraged  by  the  published  reports 
that  he  ordered  the  bringing  of  libel  suits  against 
-papers,  claiming  damages  far  up  in  the 
hundreds  of  thou  of  dollars.     So  far  as  the  rec- 

ord none  of  these  newspapers  was  ever  called 

upon  to  1  .if  the  damages  claimed. 

Whatever  business  Fisk  might  have  had  with  the 
rolling  mill,  it  was  not  that  business  entirely  that 
called  him  to  Binghamton.  Judge  Ransom  Balcom, 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  lived   there,  and   on  Novem- 


ber 30th,  in  proceedings  brought  in  the  name  of 
the  Eric  Railway  Company  against  its  officers  and 
Directors  and  the  plaintiffs  in  the  Belmont  suits,  he 
issued  an  order  appointing  Giles  \Y  Hotchkiss  Ref- 
eree to  examine  into  all  the  proceedings  already  in- 
stituted in  the  Erie  litigation,  and  make  report. 

The  hearing  under  the  order  of  Judge  Nelson,  of 
the  United  States  Court,  came  up  before  him  Mon- 
day, November  30th.  Voluminous  affidavits,  offered 
by  all  the  parties  concerned,  were  read,  among  them 
a  long  one  by  Jay  Gould,  in  which  he  denied  all  the 
allegations  made  by  the  plaintiffs;  declared  that  the 
settlement  in  the  Drew-Yanderbilt  litigation  had 
been  against  his  protest  and  in  spite  of  his  opposi- 
tion ;  that  the  treasury  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany had  been  left  practically  empty,  and  was  in 
that  condition  when  he  and  his  associates  came  into 
control  of  the  Company;  that  no  new  Erie  stock 
had  been  issued  by  him  or  the  management  since 
the  annual  election,  October  13th,  and  that  the 
alleged  over-issue  had  been  necessary  to  meet  per- 
emptory obligations  of  the  Company,  among  them 
the  acceptances  for  §3,500,000  given  in  payment  of 
the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  bonds,  by  the  terms 
of  the  Drew  settlement  with  Vanderbilt.  The  argu- 
ment in  the  hearing  was  adjourned  from  day  to  daw 

While  counsel  were  arguing  the  merits  of  the  com- 
plicated issues  of  the  new  Erie  War  before  Judge 
Nelson  on  November  30th,  counsel  for  Gould  and 
his  associates  applied  to  Judge  Cardozo,  a  judge 
coordinate  with  Judges  Sutherland  and  Barnard  in 
the  Supreme  Court,  for  an  order  granting  a  stay  in 
the  matter  of  the  Receivership  of  Judge  Davies,  and 
he  issued  a  writ  staying  all  proceedings  thus  far  had 
before  Judge  Sutherland,  and  ordering  the  parties 
interested  to  show  cause  on  Monday.  December 7th, 
why  they  should  not  be  vacated.  Judge  Sutherland 
promptly  granted  an  order,  in  counter-proceedin 
for  cause  to  be  shown  on  Wednesday,  December  2d. 
at  11  A.M.,  why  Judge  Cardozo's  order  should  not 
be  vacated.  Judge  Cardozo  issued  an  order  early 
Wednesday  morning  changing  the  hour  to  10  a.m. 
This  led  to  such  complications  that  Judge  Suther- 
land, disgusted  with  the  entire  proceedings,  refused 
to    have    anything    further    to    do    with    them,    and 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


171 


handed  the  case  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Judge 
Cardozo. 

Pending  the  weary  dragging  along  of  the  argu- 
ments before  Judge  Nelson  to  settle  the  case  of  Erie, 
James  Fisk,  Jr.,  by  way  of  giving  variety  to  the  war, 
and  to  show  that  the  Erie  management  was  deter- 
mined to  exact  justice  though  the  heavens  fall,  began 
proceedings,  December  10,  1868,  against  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt  to  compel  him  to  take  back  the  50,000 
shares  of  Erie  he  had  surrendered  in  the  Drew  set- 
tlement, to  repay  the  $3,500,000  paid  him  by  the 
Company  for  the  stock,  and  to  refund  the  $1, 000,- 
000  he  received  on  the  same  compromise,  all  of 
which,  the  complainant  alleged,  Vanderbilt  had 
wrongfully  received  from  the  Erie  treasury  at  the 
hands  of  the  men  who  had  settled  their  individual 
embarrassments  at  the  expense  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  in  July,  1868. 

Previous  to  commencing  this  suit,"  said  James 
Fisk,  Jr.,  in  explaining  matters  to  the  court  in  one 
of  the  many  hearings  it  had,  "  I  made  a  tender  of 
50,000  shares  of  Erie  stock  to  Vanderbilt.  I  went 
up  to  his  house,  in  company  with  Thomas  G.  Shear- 
man. I  received  the  certificates  of  shares  from 
Gould,  and  put  them  in  a  black  satchel.  It  was  a 
bad,  stormy  day,  so  we  got  into  a  carriage,  and  I 
held  the  satchel  tight  between  my  legs,  knowing 
it  was  valuable.  I  told  Shearman  not  much  reli- 
ance could  be  placed  on  him  in  case  we  were  attacked, 
he  was  such  a  little  fellow.  We  concurred  in  the 
opinion  that  it  was  dangerous  property  to  travel 
with;  it  might  blow  up.  We  rang  the  bell  and  went 
in.     The  gentleman  came  down,  and  I  said: 

"  '  Good  morning,  Commodore.  I  have  come  to 
tender  you  50,000  shares  of  Erie  stock,  and  demand 
back  the  securities  and  money.' 

"  He  said  he  had  had  no  transactions  with  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  and  would  have  to  consult 
his  counsel.  I  told  him  I  also  demanded  $1,000,000 
paid  him  for  losses  he  purported  to  have  sustained. 
He  said  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  I  bade 
him  good  morning." 

December  15th  Judge  Nelson  made  his  decision 
in   the   Gould    Receivership   case.      He   vacated   the 


order  of  Judge  Blatchford  appointing  Gould  as  Re- 
ceiver, set  the  Gould  Receivership  aside,  and  sent 
the  whole  case  back  to  the  State  courts  for  adjudi- 
cation. While  this  decision  was  a  defeat  for  Gould 
in  one  aspect  of  the  case,  it  was,  in  fact,  a  victory. 
He  had  demonstrated  from  the  start  and  all  through 
the  proceedings  such  a  capacity  for  meeting  emer- 
gencies and  turning  them  to  his  account  when  they 
seemed  most  harassing  to  him,  that  he  had  strength- 
ened his  footing  at  every  step. 

The  handing  over  of  the  Erie  case  to  the  State 
courts  necessarily  placed  it  before  Judge  Cardozo, 
whose  injunction  in  the  Sutherland  proceedings,  by 
the  way,  had  been  dissolved  by  Judge  Boardman  of 
Chemung  County  on  December  8th.  Judge  Cardozo 
immediately  issued  an  order  staying  all  other  pro- 
ceedings in  the  case,  and  held  it  for  reargument 
before  him.  This  practically  brought  this  Erie  War 
to  an  end.  Jay  Gould  and  his  party  were  more 
firmly  established  in  their  control  of  Erie  than  ever. 
There  were  now  no  injunctions  to  give  them  trouble, 
and  they  had  put  all  their  assailants  virtually  on  the 
defensive.  The  Belmont-Gould  litigation  passed 
entirely  from  the  public  mind.  Although  he  had 
been  appointed  Receiver  by  two  different  judges, 
and  the  decision  as  to  whether  he  was  Receiver  or 
not  was  still  pending;  and  although  ex-Judge  Davies 
had  also  been  appointed  Receiver  of  Erie,  and  was 
also  waiting  to  know  whether  he  was  Receiver  or 
not,  Jay  Gould  had  transacted  the  business  of  the 
Company  right  along  as  President  and  Treasurer. 
Then,  on  February  10,  1869,  Judge  Cardozo  made 
deliverance  of  the  result  of  his  long  pondering  over 
the  points  of  the  Belmont  case,  which  had  been 
handed  over  to  him  in  bulk  first  by  Judge  Suther- 
land and  later  by  Judge  Nelson.  His  opinion  was 
as  long,  almost,  as  the  arguments  had  been,  but 
resolved  itself  into  the  simple  fact  that  there  had 
been  no  ground  for  the  appointing  of  a  Receiver  by 
any  one,  and  that  railroad  directors  had  a  right  to 
issue  convertible  bonds  and  turn  them  into  stock 
whenever  they  were  so  inclined.  This  was  the  last 
the  public  ever  heard  of  the  litigation. 

The  public  had  also  forgotten  that  there  were 
pending  somewhere  in  the  courts  the  suit  of  the  Erie 
Railway  against    Cornelius    Vanderbilt,    which    had 


172 


BETWKKN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


been  begun  in  December,  1868.  Suddenly,  Novem- 
ber '  was  called  before  Judge  Barnard. 
in  the  Supreme  Court.  The  great  defendant  was 
on  the  witness  stand.  Although  he  had  a  few- 
months  before  denied  publicly  over  his  own  signa- 
ture that  he  hail  ever  received  any  money  from  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  or  had  anything  to  do  with 
it  in  the  settlement  of  1868,  he  admitted,  on  his 
examination  in  this  Erie  case,  November  20,  1869, 
that  he  had  received  from  Jay  Gould,  as  Treasurer  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  in  July,  1S6S,  a  check 
OO.OOO,   and   the   bonds,   for  carrying  out   a 

tract  he  had  made  a  few  days  before  with  Daniel 
I  >iew  to  sell  Drew  50,000  shares  of  Erie  stock  at  80, 
to  be  paid  for  in  cash,  $4,000,000.     He  accepted  625 

-thousand-dollar  bonds  of  the  Boston,  Hartford 
Erie    Railroad,   however,   in   payment  for  5,000 

res  of  the  stock,  leaving  only  §3,500,000  to  be 
paid  in  cash.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  denied  that  it  was 
part  of  the  agreement  in  the  settlement  that  he  was 
to  give  the  Erie  Railway  Company  the  privilege  of 
buying  50,000  more  shares  of  him,  but  David  Dudley 
Field,  of  the  Erie  counsel,  produced  the  agreement, 
duly  signed  by  Vanderbilt.  It  turned  out  also,  that 
he  had  not  received  a  check  for  $1, 000, 000  from  Jay 
Gould,  but  two  checks  the  sums  of  which  made  that 
amount.  The  defendant  denied,  in  all  the  trans- 
action, that  it  was  anything  to  do  with  the  Erie 
Railway  Company.  It  was  a  personal  deal  between 
Daniel  Drew  and  himself.  This  Daniel  Drew  swore 
was  the  case  as  he  understood  it.  He  said  he  had 
bought  50,000  shares  of  Erie  from  Vanderbilt  and 
paid  him  $4,000,000.  He  had  agreed  to  hold  his 
stock,  and  Vanderbilt  had  agreed  to  hold  50,000 
shares  of  Erie,  neither  one  to  sell  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  other. 

I  had  an  idee,"  said   Drew,  "  that   I  might  want 

.it  control  of  Ary  ag'in,  and  if  I  had  50,000  shares 
o'  stock,  Vanderbilt's  50,000  might  come  in  handy." 
The    suit    was    becoming    interesting,    when    Mr. 
Field  asked  for  an   adjournment  on  the  ground  that 
the  suit  of   Ran  inst   the   Erie   Railway  Corn- 

pan}-  had  been  called  at  Rochester,  and  his  presence 
was  imperative  there.  This  suit  was  one  of  the 
manifold  actions  and  cross-actions  that  had  grown 
out    of  an   attempt   of   the   management  of   the  Erie 


Railway  Company  to  obtain  possession  of  the  Albany 
and  Susquehanna  Railroad.  The  adjournment  of 
the  suit  in  the  midst  of  its  hearing  was  vigorously 
opposed  by  Vanderbilt's  counsel,  but  Judge  Barnard 
was  on  the  bench.  He  adjourned  the  case  until  the 
first  Monday  in  January,  1870.  At  that  hearing  he 
decided  that  he  could  entertain  the  action  only  so 
far  as  it  sought  to  recover  the  $1,000,000.  The  case 
was  again  adjourned.  The  telling  of  its  progress 
and  termination  belongs  to  later  chapters  in  this 
History  of  Erie. 

II.    GOULD    SUPREME. 

In  the  midst  of  the  whirl  and  excitement  of  the 
desperate  struggle  in  Wall  Street  that  had  shaken 
the  financial  foundation  of  the  country  as  with  omi- 
nous preliminary  rumblings  of  a  mighty  earthquake, 
and  from  which  trouble  he  had  not  come  himself 
unscathed,  and  in  spite  of  the  savage  and  persistent 
assaults  of  powerful  rivals  who  attacked  him  on 
even-  side  to  encompass  his  downfall,  Jay  Gould 
found  time  to  formulate  plans  not  only  for  the  mak- 
ing of  himself  more  secure  in  his  position,  but  for 
the  extending  of  his  influence  and  power  from  the 
vantage  ground  of  his  control  of  Erie,  and  to  find 
the  means  to  keep  in  motion  the  machinery  neces- 
sary to  the  pushing  forward  of  such  plans  to  the 
desired  issue.  The  friends  of  the  new  control  of 
Erie  by  courtesy  called  it  the  "  Erie  Management  "  ; 
but,  although  personally  he  was  least  in  public  evi- 
dence of  any  of  his  associates,  Jay  Gould's  genius 
dominated  the  rule  of  Erie  as  indisputably  as  if  Jay 
Gould  alone  had  the  right  to  plan  and  act.  Fisk, 
Lane,  Thompson,  Davis,  Tweed,  Sweeny,  and 
others  in  the  Hoard  were  automatons,  moving  only 
at  the  will  of  Gould,  so  closely  had  he  allied  their 
interests  with  his  and  such  was  the  fascination  of 
his  audacity,  his  daring,  his  originality,  and  his  fine 
contempt  for  harassing  conventionalities — although 
he  never  acted  without  the  advice  of  the  best  coun- 
iliat  money  could  procure,  advice  that  perhaps 
not  infrequently  came  as  the  wish  that  was  father 
to  the  thought. 

The  men  who  had  entered  the  lists  against  Jay 
Gould  with  the  determination  to  end  his  career  at  its 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


173 


very  outset,  soon  discovered  that  they  had  much  mis- 
taken the  quality  of  the  man.  They  knew  him  only 
as  a  Wall  Street  broker  and  speculator,  presumably 
learned  only  in  the  ways  and  means  of  the  Street, 
although  perhaps  past  master  in  their  mysteries. 
That  he  had  any  thought  or  idea  in  connection  with 
the  Erie  Railway  that  did  not  centre  in  the  most 
profitable  use  he  could  make  of  its  property,  as  a 
tender  to  his  Wall  Street  schemes,  never  occurred  to 
them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  although  his  practical 
experience  in  railroad  management  had  been  slight, 
and  such  as  to  attract  no  attention  outside  of  the 
local  circle  directly  interested  in  the  outcome  of  his 
management,  the  problems  of  transportation,  the 
great  possibilities  of  railroads  in  the  future  develop- 
ment of  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  the  dom- 
inating influence  and  power  they  were  destined  to 
bring  to  men  who  could  grasp  such  control  of  them, 
as  well  as  concentrate  certain  existing  lines  and  pro- 
jected lines  into  a  uniform  system  under  one  mana- 
gerial head,  had  long  been  a  subject  of  profound 
study  and  thought  with  him.  Whether  or  not  the 
promptings  of  ambition  led  him,  through  Daniel 
Drew,  into  the  Erie  Directory  in  1867,  and  to  the 
manipulation  by  which  he  obtained  subsequent  con- 
trol of  the  Erie  and  the  power  to  raise  millions  on 
its  credit  at  will,  it  is  certain  that  no  sooner  was  he 
in  sure  control  of  the  Company  than  he  made  it 
apparent  that  possession  of  Erie  was  not  the  sole 
end  he  was  battling  for,  but  only  the  means  to  a 
greater  end. 

In  1868  the  Erie  Railway  was  still  practically  only 
a  local  line.  It  had  a  terminus  at  Buffalo  and  one 
at  Dunkirk.  Its  cars  could  run  no  farther.  They 
were  of  the  six-foot  gauge.  The  connecting  lines 
were  of  the  standard  gauge.  At  Salamanca  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad,  the  broad- 
gauge  line  that  was  to  have  revolutionized  the 
through  transportation  business  of  the  country,  but 
which  had  as  yet  failed  in  its  purpose  to  such  a 
gree  that  it  was  having  a  desperate  struggle  to  keep 
its  own  wheels  revolving,  made  connection  with  the 
Erie,  but  not  a  satisfactory  one.  This  road  ex- 
tended to  Dayton,  O.,  by  its  own  line,  and  had 
entry  to  Cincinnati  over  the  tracks  of  the  Cincinnati, 


Hamilton  and  Dayton  Railroad.  The  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Railroad  gave  it  a  further  convenient 
route  to  St.  Louis.  At  Dunkirk  and  Buffalo,  pas- 
sengers and  freight  over  the  Erie  between  New 
York  and  Chicago  were  transferred  to  or  from  the 
Lake  Shore  Railroad  or  Lake  Erie  steamboats. 
Consequently,  tin-  Erie  Railway  was  at  the  mercy 
of  its  Western  connections.  True,  neither  the  New 
York  Central  nor  the  Pennsylvania  Central  had  its 
own  through  Western  connection  as  yet,  but  each 
had  an  advantage  over  the  Erie  in  its  arrangements 
for  Western  traffic. 

Jay  Gould  soon  formed  plans  to  get  control  of  cer- 
tain railroad  lines  the  possession,  of  which  would 
make  him  master  of  the  interstate  transportation 
situation.  His  first  move  was  to  effect  a  lease  of 
tin  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company, 
which  was  practically  owned  by  James  McHenry,  of 
London.  This  gave  the  Erie  an  unbroken  route 
between  New  York  and  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis. 
It  was  also  the  beginning  of  the  entanglement  of  the 
McHenry  interests  with  those  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company,  the  complications  growing  out  of  which 
assailed  the  peace  and  drained  the  treasury  of  the 
Company  for  many  years,  forced  the  Company  into 
a  Receiver's  hands,  and  entailed  upon  it  a  heritage 
of  lasting  misfortune. 

This  acquisition  opened  the  eyes  of  the  other  great 
railroad  managers  of  the  Fast,  and  especially  those 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Central  magnates.  The  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  Railroad  had  a  branch  into  the 
Pennsylvania  oil  regions,  and  one  to  Cleveland,  where 
there  were  large  oil  refineries.  The  petroleum  field 
was  still  confined  to  the  Oil  Creek  and  Alleghany 
valleys  in  Pennsylvania.  Owing  to  its  location,  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  commanded  a 
share  of  the  oil  traffic,  this  being  long  before 
the  system  of  pipe-line  transportation  to  the 
board  was  introduced.  The  Pennsylvania  Central 
Railroad  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  the  oil  transporta- 
tion from  Pittsburg,  and  the  managers  of  that  com- 
pany had  resolved  to  get  control  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western,  change  it  to  the  standard  gauge,  and 
make  it  a  feeder  of  the  Pennsylvania  line.  The  I 
ing  of  the  property,  therefore,  by  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  not  only  surprised  but  alarmed  the  Penn- 


174 


BETWEEN    THE   OCEAN    AND    nil.    LAKES 


.  Railroad  manage  i  5.      B<  lore  they  had  recov- 
ered   from    their   surprise,    in    January,    1869,   they 

rned  that  Jay  Gould  had  made  an  agreement  with 
the  Columbus,  Chicago  and  Indiana  Central  Railroad 
Company  for  a  lease  of  its  railroad  to  the  Erie  and 
the  putting  down  of  a  third  rail  on  the  road  to  meet 
the  Erie  broad  gauge,  and  that  he  was  further  nego- 
tiating with  the  Chicago  ami  Rock  Island  Railroad 
Company  for  a  lease  of  its  railroad.  The  railroad 
magnates  of  the  country  suddenly  awoke  to  the  fact 
that  a  giant  had  come  among  them.  Such  aggres- 
sive audacity  was  something  hitherto  unheard  of  in 
railroad  management.  If  the  lease  of  the  Columbus, 
Chicago  and  Indiana  Central  Railroad  to  the  Erie 
were  consummated,  it  would  not  only  give  that  road 
a  through  Chicago  connection,  but  would  rob  the 
Pennsylvania  Central  of  one  of  its  most  important 
and  necessary  Western  connections;  and  if  Jay 
Gould  succeeded  in  his  stupendous  scheme  of  add- 
ing the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad  to  the 
Erie  system,  he  would  be  practically  master  of  the 
transcontinental  trade,  for  the  Rock  Island  route 
would  be  the  eastern  extension  from  Omaha  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  then  approaching  com- 
pletion. This  was  a  generation  ago.  The  great 
Xew  York  Central  king  had  not  yet  obtained  his 
own  line  to  Chicago,  but  was  quietly  awaiting  his 
chance.  The  Pennsylvania  Central  managers  were 
as  yet  only  turning  over  in  their  minds  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  system  which  they  now  control.  Vet  J  ax- 
Gould,  only  a  few  months  Hedged  into  a  railroad 
manager,  and  manager  of  only  a  ridiculed  and  dis- 
credited railroad  at  that,  had  lain  his  plans  to  make 
that  railroad  the  centre  of  a  system  that  would 
virtually  extend  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific. 

The  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad  Company  met 
Gould's  negotiation  for  the  Columbus,  Chicago  and 
Iiuliana  Central  Railroad  by  arguments  with  that 
Company  so  well  backed  bythe  Pennsylvania's  treas- 
ury that  it  broke  its  agreement  with  Gould  and 
signed  a  ninety-nine-year  lease  in  favor  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania corporation.  Put  Jay  Gould  was  not  yet 
driven  from  the  field.  He  purchased  a  majority  of 
the  stock  of  the  Pittsbui  .  Fori  Wayne  and  Chic 
Railroad  Company,  and   at   the   next  election  would 


have  gained  control  of  that  important  line,  and  had 
.1  still  more  favorable  Chicago  connection  than  by 
the  Columbus  route.  If  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
had  not  been  potent  in  the  Legislature  of  that  State, 
Gould  would  have  gained  his  end.  The  famous 
sification  Act,  passed  at  Albany  in  April.  1S69, 
and  which  prevented  the  election  of  a  Hoard  of  Erie 
Directors  antagonistic  to  Gould,  is  popularly  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  shrewd  and  smooth  bit  of  work 
originating  with  Jay  Gould  to  sustain  him  in  his 
manipulation  of  the  Erie  management  to  his  own 
ends.  This  is  not  true.  Jay  Gould  did  not  origi- 
nate that  effective  method  of  defying  the  opposition 
of  rival  interests,  although  such  rival  interest  might 
hold  a  majority  of  stock.  He  came  in  contact  with 
it  himself,  and  to  his  discomfiture,  in  his  efforts  to 
secure  control  of  the  Fort  Wayne  route.  He  held  a 
majority  of  the  stock  in  that  company.  An  election 
for  directors  was  to  be  held  in  March,  1S69.  The 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  seeing  another 
railroad  that  was  necessary  to  its  peace,  comfort,  and 
profit  likely  to  pass  into  the  hand  of  this  new  and 
energetic  rival,  notified  its  legislative  agent  at  Ilar- 
risburg  that  the  danger  must  be  prevented.  In  just 
thirty-four  minutes,  on  February  3,  1869,  a  bill  was 
passed  by  both  houses  and  signed  by  the  Governor, 
providing  that  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Pitts- 
burg, Fort  Wayne,  and  Chicago  Railroad  Company 
should  be  classified  in  five  classes,  so  that  only  those 
in  one  class  or  group  should  be  elected  at  the  next 
election,  another  at  the  next  annual  election  after 
that,  and  so  on  for  three  years,  thus  preventing  a 
majority  of  stock  from  obtaining  a  majority  of  the 
Directors  in  less  than  that  time.  Jay  Gould  was 
beaten.  The  Board  of  Directors  then  in  office  was 
not  in  favor  of  the  Gould  possession,  and  he  could 
only  hope  to  elect  three  new  members  in  his  inter- 
est. To  wait  three  years  to  accomplish  his  purpose 
was  out  of  the  question.  He  sold  his  Fort  Wayne 
stock  to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  and 
retired  from  the  field.  It  is  an  interesting  incident 
in  Erie  history,  therefore,  that  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company  was  forced  into  the  securing  of 
its  present  great  system  out  of  its  own  State  to  save 
it  from  becoming  a  part  of  the  Erie  system  that  Jay 
Gould  had  so  boldly  planned  to  establish. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


i/5 


With  these  efforts  Jay  Gould  had  for  the  time  to 
rest  content  in  the  matter  of  a  Chicago  line. 


According  to  his  report  for  the  year  ending  Sep- 
tember 30.  1869,  Jay  Gould  had  not  been  idle  or 
negligent  in  looking  after  the  local  interests  of  the 
Erie.  He  had  purchased  for  the  Company  a  half 
interest  in  Abram  S.  Hewitt's  Trenton  Rolling  Mills, 
where  steel-capped  rails  were  being  rolled  by  the 
thousands  of  tons,  and  which  were  to  be  put  down 
on  the  road  in  place  of  the  rotten  iron  rails.  He 
had  begun  to  do  away  with  the  old  bridges  along 
the  line,  all  of  which  were  of  wood,  and  replace  them 
with  iron  bridges.  The  worthless  old  locomotives 
of  the  Company  were  being  consigned  to  the  scrap 
pile,  and  new  ones  of  improved  make  provided.  Pal- 
ace or  drawing-room  coaches  were  being  added  to 
the  day  trains.  A  perpetual  lease  was  made  of  the 
Jefferson  Railroad,  between  Hawley  and  Hone^dale, 
Pa.,  which  brought  the  Erie  system  into  direct  con- 
nection with  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Com- 
pany's coal  road,  insuring  to  the  Erie  a  new  coal 
traffic  of  about  2,000,000  tons  a  year.  The  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  Company 
having  defaulted  in  an  agreement  by  which  the  Erie 
was  to  transport  from  Great  Bend,  Pa.,  to  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  large  quantities  of  coal  from  the  mines  of  that 
company,  Gould  had  entered  into  an  agreement  with 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  by  which 
the  Erie  was  to  construct  a  railroad  from  Carbondale 
to  Susquehanna,  over  which  and  thence  over  the 
Erie  main  line  to  Buffalo  the  Canal  Company  was  to 
ship  a  large  amount  of  coal  at  profitable  rates  to  the 
Erie.  Another  coal  connection  had  been  made  at 
Waverly  with  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  Company, 
by  which  seventy-five  cars  of  coal  were  being  shipped 
over  the  Erie  daily  to  Buffalo.  The  Pavonia  Ferry 
had  been  doubled  in  capacity  by  the  opening  of  its 
route  between  Twenty-third  Street,  New  York,  and 
the  Jersey  City  terminus.  River  frontage  of  2,000 
feet  and  an  area  of  60  acres  had  been  purchased  at 
Weehawken,  at  a  cost  of  Si, 600,000,  for  convenience 
in  handling  and  storing  coal  and  petroleum,  and  for 
elevator  purposes.  In  the  same  vicinity  So  acres  had 
been  purchased,  and  a  live-stock  depot  reestablished. 
Extensive    machine    shops   were   building   at    Jersey 


City,  and  large  tracts  of  real  estate  had  been  pur- 
chased west  of  the  Bergen  tunnel,  for  the  handling 
of  crude  oil  in  bulk.  The  Paterson  and  Newark- 
Railroad,  which  was  begun  in  the  interest  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad,  had  been  secured  to  the  Erie, 
and  it  was  to  be  extended  from  Newark  to  the  main 
line  of  the  Erie  at  the  tunnel.  The  New  burgh  and 
New  York  Railroad,  from  near  Turner's  to  Vail's 
Gate,  where  it  joined  the  Newburgh  Branch,  was 
completed,  giving  the  Erie  direct  and  short  connec- 
tion between  New  York  and  Newburgh.  Thirty 
miles  of  new  double  track  were  completed  and 
opened.  Large  car  shops  were  erected  at  Buffalo. 
Wood  had  been  discarded  for  coal  as  fuel,  and  the 
Company  had  an  arrangement  by  which  its  coal  was 
delivered  at  Waverly  at  cost.  '  The  dilapidated, 
unwholesome,  insufficient  quarters  of  the  Company 
in  the  Erie  building  in  West  Street  had  been  for- 
saken for  the  commodious  and  magnificent  offices 
fitted  up  in  the  Company's  Grand  Opera  House  at 
Twenty-third  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue."  The 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  had  been 
leased,  and  profitable  traffic  arrangements  made  with 
the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  and  Dayton  and  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Railroads,  which  gave  the  Eric  direct 
and  unbroken  connection  between  New  York  and 
Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  and  St.  Louis.  All  the  east- 
bound  business  of  the  Union  Steamboat  Company's 
fleet  of  twenty-two  steamboats  had  been  secured  by 
connection  at  Buffalo. 

"  Prior  to  my  becoming  executive  officer,"  said 
President  Gould  in  his  report,  "  the  Board  voted  to 
give  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany substantial  aid  in  the  shape  of  a  purchase  of 
$5, 000, 000  of  their  first  mortgage  bonds.  Since  I 
became  President  we  have  paid  for  and  taken  up  the 
bonds.  This  road  is  a  very  important  connection, 
as  it  will  open  to  us  the  heart  of  the  manufacturing 
district  of  New  England." 

(Hut  now.  after  a  generation  of  patient  waiting, 
the  jilted  Erie  has  yet  to  receive  even  one  respon- 
sive throb  from  that  $5, 000,000  heart.— A utlior.) 

"  In  the  interests  of  the  cotton  traffic  of  the  lower 
Mississippi,"  the  report  declared,  "  the  Erie  has 
made  a  close  alliance  with  the  Narragansett  Steam- 
ship Company,   whose  fine  steamships  connect   the 


l76 


BETW  T.I.N     I' HE    OCEAN    AND    THE    EAK1  S 


Eric  with  Fall  River,  the  city  of  spindles,  enabling 
the  cotton  from  the  South  to  be  taken  direct  to 
the  mills,  an  arrangement  by  which  the  Erie's  cot- 
ton business  is  being  largely  and  rapidly  increased." 
It  was  also  incidentally  and  calmly  stated  in  this 
curing  report  that  the  outstanding  stock  of  the 
Company  was  $78,536,910,  being  an  increase  since 
September  30,  1867  (one  year),  of  nearly  $53,- 
500,000! 

But  in  spite  of  the  rosy  reports  the  Erie  manage- 
ment made  of  its  doings,  of  the  increase  in  the  Erie's 
business,  of  the  surplus  of  receipts  over  expenses, 
and  of  the  constant  extending  of  the  Company's 
field  of  operations,  its  stock  was  ridiculously  low  in 
the  market,  and  its  bonds  of  but  little  value.  Stock- 
holders wanted  to  know  why  some  of  the  surplus 
earnings  were  not  turned  into  dividends.  Between 
$50,000,000  and  $60,000,000  had  been  added  to  the 
capital  stock  in  less  than  two  years.  It  was  itemized 
in  the  Company's  reports  as  "  paid  up."  Where 
was  the  money  that  had  been  paid  for  it  ?  It  had 
been  used  in  betterments  of  Company's  property, 
leasing  new  railroads,  buying  coal  mines,  rolling 
mills,  etc.,  was  the  reply  of  the  management,  and 
the  earnings  of  the  Company  were  also  invested  in 
that  way.  This  naturally  set  the  dissatisfied  to  in- 
quiring and  investigating,  and  brought  forward  the 
English  stockholders  with  disturbing  questions. 

Early  in  the  Gould  control,  millions  of  the  over- 
issued stock  were  purchased  by  English  investors, 
the  low  price  tempting  them.  But  the  price  not 
only  remained  low,  but  became  still  lower,  and  the 
great  foreign  holdings  that  the  management  had  wel- 
comed now  returned  to  plague  the  Eric  management. 
Foreseeing  the  possibilities  of  danger  that  lurked  in 
a  combination  of  the  English  stockholders  and  the 
dissatisfied  ones  at  home,  Jay  Gould  took  advantage 
of  the  lesson  he  had  been  taught  by  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  Company  in  the  Fort  Wayne  trans- 
action, and,  Vanderbilt  agreeing,  secured  the  passage 
by  the  Legislature,  at  the  session  of  1869,  of  the 
memorable  Classification  Act.  This  act  authorized 
t'ne  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  (and  of 
the  Vanderbilt  companies)  to  so  classify  themselves 


that  one-fifth  of  their  number  should  go  out  of  office 
in  each  year.  The  Erie  Railway  Company  had  sev- 
enteen Directors,  and  they  were  classified  under  this 
law  into  five  divisions,  in  groups  of  three  or  four 
directors  each.  These  divisions  were  to  go  out  of 
office  at  the  end  of  one,  two,  three,  four,  and  five 
years,  successors  to  the  retiring  three  or  four  mem- 
bers being  elected  immediately,  instead  of  the  entire 
Board  going  out  of  office  at  once  and  an  entire  new 
one  being  elected.  The  object  of  this  plan  was  to 
prevent  the  possible  election  of  a  hostile  majority  to 
the  existing  management,  something  that  could  not 
well  be  done  by  the  election  of  only  three  or  four 
successors  to  a  retiring  group.  It  had  the  desired 
result,  but  aroused  a  feeling  in  the  Gould  opposition 
that  started  the  bitter  two  years'  fight,  in  the  Courts 
and  the  Legislatures,  which  was  still  of  doubtful 
issue  in  1872,  when  treachery  in  the  house  of  his 
friends  accomplished  in  an  hour  what  his  enemies 
had  striven  for  years  to  secure  by  open  warfare — 
the  downfall  of  Jay  Gould  as  the  Dictator  of 
Erie. 

The  first  Board  of  Directors  under  the  Classifica- 
tion Act  was  elected  in  October,  1869,  as  follows: 

Term  to  expire  in  October,  1870:  Homer  Ramsdell,  Charles 
G.  Sisson,  Justin  D.  White. 

Term  to  expire  in  October,  1871:  John  Hilton,  M,  R. 
Simons,  George  C.  Hall. 

Term  to  expire  in  October,  1872:  John  Ganson,  O.  \V. 
Chapman,  Henry  Thompson. 

Term  to  expire  in  October,  1873:  Alexander  S.  Diven, 
Henry  N.  Smith,  Abram  Gould,  Horatio  N.  Otis. 

Term  to  expire  in  October,  1S74:  Jay  Gould,  James  Fisk, 
Jr.,  William  M.  Tweed,  Frederick  A.  Lane. 

The  officers  elected  and  appointed  were  Jay 
Gould,  President  and  Treasurer;  James  Fisk,  Jr., 
Vice-President  and  Comptroller;  Horatio  N.  Otis, 
Secretary;  Mortimer  Smith,  Assistant  Secretary; 
Justin  1).  White,  Acting  Assistant  Treasurer;  Fred- 
crick  A.  Lane,  Counsellor;  Thomas  G.  Shearman, 
Associate  Counsel ;  L.  D.  Rucker,  General  Super- 
intendent; J.  W.  Guppy,  Assistant  General  Super- 
intendent; B.  W.  Blanchard,  General  Freight  .Agent; 
W.  R.  Barr,  General  Passenger  Agent;  J.  N. 
Abbott,  Assistant  General  Passenger  .Agent;  J.  C. 
Calhoun,  Auditor;  G.  Morosini,  C.  W.  Winslow, 
Assistant  Auditors. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


i77 


III.    BREAKERS    AHEAD. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  these  events  were 
occurring  at  a  time  when  the  condition  of  the  coun- 
try was  still  to  a  great  extent  subject  to  the  effects 
of  many  of  those  extraordinary  measures  which  the 
Civil  War  had  made  necessary.  The  war  had  ended 
but  four  years  before.  Specie  payments  had  not 
been  resumed.  Gold  was  still  a  speculative  com- 
modity in  the  exchanges  of  the  land,  and  was  sub- 
ject to  such  fluctuations  in  premium  as  suited  the 
manipulations  of  Wall  Street.  A  certain  moral  lax- 
it}-  in  the  conduct  of  business  affairs,  which  the  in- 
fluence of  the  war  seemed  to  have  induced,  still 
balefully  pervaded  commercial  and  financial  trans- 
actions. The  moral  wholesomeness  of  those  walks 
in  life  is  not  to-day  beyond  suspicion,  but  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  in  these  times  quick  destruction  would 
follow  any  combination  that  sought  to  secure  pos- 
session and  control  of  a  railroad  or  any  other  prop- 
erty by  the  methods  that  threw  the  Erie  Railway 
into  the  hands  of  its  new  management  in  186S. 

It  was  a  matter  of  much  wonder  at  the  time,  and 
it  is  no  nearer  an  explanation  to-day,  why  a  man 
so  reserved,  and  one  whose  private  life  was  blame- 
less, should  have  remained  passive  in  the  matter  of 
the  grotesque,  scandalous,  mountebank-like  doings 
of  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  which  kept  the  name  of  Erie 
unduly  and  in  a  questionable  light  before  the  pub- 
lic. The  methods  that  had  been  thought  necessary 
to  gain  control  of  the  Erie  were  notorious  enough, 
but  they  were  of  a  matter  which  only  enemies  of  the 
management  had  sought  to  keep  in  the  public  eye 
(and  they  were  tiring  of  the  task);  but  Fisk's  theatric 
antics,  his  ridiculous  masquerading,  his  pompous 
assumption  of  the  title  of  Admiral,  because  of  his 
connection  with  the  Xarragansett  Steamboat  Line, 
his  naming  of  himself  the  Prince  of  Erie,  his  dis- 
graceful orgies  under  the  very  roof  of  the  Company's 
office  building,  his  wild  extravagancies,  by  all  of 
which  the  name  of  Erie  was  dragged  in  the  mire — 
these  were  inexcusable  flauntings  in  the  face  of  pub- 
lic decency  and  opinion  of  the  power  and  license  that 
control  of  Erie  and  its  treasury  had  conferred.  Un- 
doubtedly it  would  have  been  well  for  Jay  Gould  if 
he  had   stopped  all  this.     It  would   not  have  pre- 


vented the  ultimate  wresting  of  Erie  from  his  posses- 
sion, but  it  might  have  prolonged  his  tenure. 

Jay  Gould's  arrangements  for  connections  that 
would  lift  the  Erie  from  the  position  of  a  railroad 
that  was  practically  merely  local  in  influence  to  one 
commanding  a  place  of  general  importance  were  so 
perfected  by  April,  1869,  that  the  following  official 
announcement,  in  bold  display  lines,  appeared  in 
the  newspapers  of  the  East  and  West: 

"  Erie  Railway — One  Thousand,  Four  Hundred 
Miles  Under  One  Management  Eight  Hundred  and 
Sixty  Miles  without  Change  of  Cars.  The  Broad- 
Gauge,  Double-Track  Route  Between  New  York,  Bos- 
ton, and  New  England  Cities  and  the  11',  st.  ' 

This  meant  that  the  Erie  Railway  Company  con- 
trolled its  own  line  between  New  York  and  Cincin- 
nati, via  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  and  the 
Cincinnati,  Hamilton  and  Dayton  Railroads.  It  was 
a  big  step  forward  in  railroad  management,  for,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  New  York  Central  was  not  yet  in 
control  of  the  system  that  gave  it  absolutely  its  own 
connection  with  Chicago,  ami  the  Pennsylvania  Cen- 
tral had  been  forced  into  acquisition  of  its  Western 
lines  by  Jay  Gould  himself.  This  virtual  extension 
of  the  Erie  Railway  had  great  effect  on  the  travel- 
ling public.  The  people  along  the  line  of  the  rail- 
road felt  that  their  deliverers  had  come.  Put  Erie 
stock  did  not  show  any  inclination  to  rise.  People 
who  travelled  over  the  Erie,  and  people  who  dwelt 
within  its  province,  were  loud  in  their  praise  of 
Gould  and  Fisk,  but  there  were  stockholders  who 
were  disagreeable  in  their  persistence  in  wanting  to 
know  why  there  were  no  dividends.  As  the  man- 
agement of  Erie  had  expected,  foreign  stockholders 
combined  with  dissatisfied  American  stockholders 
and  sent  formidable  agents  to  this  country  to  force 
the  control  of  Erie  out  of  the  hands  of  Jay  Gould. 
The  first  Step  they  made  looking  to  that  end  was  the 
attacking  of  the  Classification  Act.  and  demanding 
its  repeal  by  the  New  York  Legislature,  at  the 
sion  of  1870.  A  great  deal  of  the  time  of  the  Legis- 
lature was  occupied,  during  that  session,  listening  to 
the  reasons  of  one  party  why  the  salvation  of  Erie 


BETWEEN     THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


l  the  repeal  of  the  act,  and  to  the  reasons 
the  other  party  why  absolute   ruin  awaited    Erie 
if  the    act   was  repealed.     There  had  been  politics, 
indeed,  in   the  election   of  the  fall  of  1869.     There 
were  some  able  political  managers  in  the  Directory 
of  Erie.      It  became  evident  that  the  interests  of  the 
Erie  management  had  suffered  nothing  in  that  elec- 
tion.     At  any  rate,  after  long  and   patient  consider- 
1  of  the  merits  of  the  question  of  repealing  the 
Classification   Act.    the   law-makers   decided    that    it 
.Id  not  be  well  to  repeal  that  act,  and  it  remained 
on  the  statute  books. 

The  defeat  of  the  opposition  to  Gould  in  their 
attempt  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  Classification  Act 
did  not  discourage  them.  The  Englishmen  had 
organized  as  the  Erie  Stockholders'  Protective  Asso- 
ciation, and  were  well  reinforced  by  their  American 
coadjutors.  The  combination  was  by  no  means  a 
popular  one  here,  as  there  was  a  strong  feeling,  even 
among  people  who  did  not  approve  of  the  Gould 
treatment  of  Eric,  against  the  Company  and  its  prop- 
erty passing  into  the  hands  of  foreign  owners. 

Soon  after  the  immense  holding  of  the  stock  was 
purchased  in  England,  the  new  owners  discovered 
that  it  was  registered  on  the  books  of  the  Company 
in  the  names  of  the  original  holders,  who,  under  the 
law,  had  the  right  to  vote  it  until  it  might  be  trans- 
ferred on  the  books  to  some  other  name.  The  Eng- 
lish stockholders  thereupon  chose  Robert  A.  Heath 
and  Henry  A.  Raphael,  two  London  bankers,  a  com- 
mittee to  represent  them,  and  gave  them  power  of 
attorney  to  have  stock  transferred  on  the  Company's 
books  in  New  York  in  their  names,  the  committee 
then  to  take  out  new  certificates  and  send  them  back- 
to  England.  In  the  spring  of  1870  the  New  York 
nts  of  the  London  Committee  took  16,000  shares 
of  this  stock  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company's  office  in 
the  former  city,  and  left  it  there  for  transfer.  Lati  r, 
60,000  shares  were  left.  Before  it  was  transferred, 
J^lin  Nyce,  a  rural  lawyer,  living  at  Milford,  Pike 
County,  Pa.,  100  miles  from  New  York  and  eight 
mil'  the  Erie  Railway,  achieved  a  sudden  but 

tran    ;    nt    fame   by  appearing  as  a   complainant    in   a 
suit  fa  ni      I'isk,  Jr.,  Comptroller,  and  Justin 

D.  White,  Treasurer,  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 


llr  had  by  some  occult   means  discovered  that  tl: 
trusted  custodians  of   Erie's  finances  had  conspired 

to  transfer  the  60,000  shares  of  stock  according  to 
the  request  of  the  parties  presenting  it,  against  the 

true  interests  of  the  Company!  This  suit  was 
brought  by  Mr.  Nyce  to  prevent  such  a  heinous 
breach  of  trust.  With  strange  coincidence,  the  suit 
was  brought  before  Judge  Barnard,  who  issued  an 
order  directing  the  60,000  shares  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  one  James  11.  Coleman,  as  Receiver,  and 
enjoined  the  committee  of  English  shareholders  from 
undertaking  to  get  the  stock  transferred.  The  Re- 
ceiver was  authorized  to  employ  counsel  anil  pay 
him  for  his  services  out  of  the  stock,  which  was 
ordered  transferred  in  the  name  of  the  Receiver. 
The  stock  was  worth  $6,000,000  at  par.  The  Re- 
ceiver's bonds  for  the  safe  custody  of  it  were  fixed 
at  §100,000.  This  stock  was  voted  on  at  the  next 
election,  but  not  against  the  Gould  regime.  The 
strange  part  of  this  suit,  to  the  innocent  and  unin- 
itiated, was  that  Eisk  and  White,  the  alleged  con- 
spirators against  the  well-being  of  Erie,  remained  as 
ever  in  the  close  counsels  of  the  Erie  management. 

This  case,  in  the  course  of  time,  got  into  the 
United  States  Court,  and  March  11,  1871,  a  year 
after  it  was  begun,  Judge  Blatchford  ordered  that 
the  stock  be  restored  to  its  owners.  Before  this 
was  done  Judge  Barnard  was  called  into  action 
again.  Judge  Barnard  was  always  loaded  with  in- 
junctions or  orders,  and  he  was  ready  for  this  emer- 
gency. He  ordered  that  the  stock  should  be  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  new  Receiver,  Charles  Robinson 
by  name,  who  was  authorized  to  take  in  possession 
all  other  stocks  that  might  come  forward  for  transfer 
in  the  name  of  Heath  and  Raphael.  Judge  Barnard 
overestimated  even  his  power  in  this  case,  and  found 
that  he  could  not,  legally,  appoint  a  Receiver  for 
property  that  was  in  the  custody  of  another  court. 
Consequently,  the  stock  was  restored  to  the  agent 
of  the  London  Committee,  and,  under  absolute  order 
of  the  United  States  Court,  was  transferred  on  the 
Company's  books,  ,1  year  and  a  half  after  it  had  been 
presented,  and  at  a  cost  of  $25,000  to  its  owners. 
This  contact  with  the  Erie  management  in  that  line 
of  procedure  satisfied  tin  English  committee  that  it 
was  perhaps  a  trifle  presumptuous  for  them  to  have 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


179 


thought  to  smash  down  at  one  assault  the  ramparts 
against  which  a  Vanderbilt  and  a  Belmont  had  battered 
and  battered  in  vain,  and  they  took  their  stock  and 
went  back  home,  where  they  sat  down  and  pondered. 

The  results  of  these  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
Gould  opposition  was  to  strengthen  for  a  time  the 
management  and  increase  its  prestige.  The  Legis- 
lature of  1871  was  kind  and  complacent.  The  Erie 
management  passed  through  not  only  unscathed,  but 
with  a  clean  bill  of  health.  But  influences  unseen 
and  unknown  were  even  then  at  work  that  boded  it 
no  good.  First  came  the  shock  of  the  Tweed  Ring 
exposures  like  a  thunderbolt  from  a  clear  sky. 
Tweed  and  Sweeny  were  leading  and  influential 
Directors  in  the  Erie  Board.  Tweed  was  one  of  the 
trusted  majority  of  the  Gould  Executive  Committee. 
Even  the  name  of  Erie  could  not  help  but  be  be- 
smirched by  having  such  advisers  in  her  councils. 

The  annual  election  of  1871  resulted  in  the  choice 
of  a  Board  of  Erie  Directors  substantially  the  same 
in  their  relations  to  Jay  Gould  as  the  previous 
Boards  had  been,  with  the  exception,  of  course,  of 
William  M.  Tweed  and  Peter  B.  Sweeny,  who  were 
then  fallen  and  broken  idols.  To  all  outward  ap- 
pearances, the  year  1872  opened  auspiciously  for  the 
management.  It  was  well  known  that  a  new  and 
stronger  effort  was  to  be  made  to  secure  the  repeal 
of  the  Classification  Act,  but  there  was  no  reason 
to  fear  that  the  Legislature  would  so  far  forget  it- 
self as  to  repeal  it.  But  there  were  shadows  falling. 
There  had  been  much  of  comedy  in  the  Erie  drama. 
Now  the  brutal  form  of  tragedy  appeared.  Fisk  was 
assassinated.  The  "  Prince  of  Erie  " — the  gay,  deb- 
onair, grotesque,  unscrupulous  first-lieutenant  of  the 
Gould  command — was  dead  at  the  hand  of  an  as- 
sassin, victim  of  a  wanton's  smiles  and  treachery. 
After  all  else,  now  murder  must  come  to  further 
befoul  the  name  of  Erie. 

There  arc  those  living  who  are  strong  in  the  belief 
that  but  for  Fisk's  untimely  taking  off  the  events  of 
the  next  three  months  would  have  been  entirely  dif- 
ferent, and  that  Jay  Gould  would  have  laughed  at 
the  conspiracy  that  sought  his  downfall.  But  that 
is  folly.  Even  if  Jay  Gould  had  been  ignorant, 
almost  up  to  the  very   moment  that  they  struck,  of 


the  treachery  of  those  who  had  been  his  staunchest 
friends,  certainly  James  Fisk  would  not  have  been 
astute  enough  to  discover  it;  and,  when  it  was  dis- 
covered, there  was  not  time  for  even  Fisk  to  have 
carried  out  any  plan  of  his  chief  that  might  have 
prevented  the  result.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Jay 
Gould  was  not  ignorant  of  the  conspiracy.  He  sim- 
ply misjudged  it. 

The  credit  for  the  overthrow  of  Jay  Gould  as 
President  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  the 
consequent  radical  revolution  in  the  management  of 
the  Company  and  change  in  its  policy  (certainly  not 
to  its  betterment),  is  popularly  believed  to  belong 
to  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles.  That  he  figured  more 
prominently  than  any  other  one  person  in  the  public 
eye  during  the  exciting  proceedings  that  precipitated 
the  result,  and  that  he  was  the  recognized  and  ac- 
credited leader  employed  by  the  parties  most  in- 
terested in  bringing  the  affair  to  successful  issue,  is  a 
fact  beyond  dispute.  But  he  had  nothing  to  do  with 
originating  the  plan  of  the  campaign  that  overthrew 
the  Gould  management.  If  the  methods  he  had  set 
out  to  employ  in  ousting  Gould  had  been  alone  re- 
lied upon  by  him  to  accomplish  the  purpose,  the 
overthrow  would  have  occurred,  and  a  new  manage- 
ment been  installed,  before  his  scheme  had  got  fairly 
under  way.  Jay  Gould  himself  became  concerned 
in  a  movement  to  entirely  change  the  personnel  and 
character  of  the  Erie  management  weeks  before  Gen- 
eral Sickles  took  his  first  regular  step  toward  carry- 
ing out  the  programme  he  had  decided  upon.  While 
Sickles's  proceedings  were  yet  without  positive 
coherence,  other  forces  were  at  work  undermining 
the  Gould  stronghold,  and  were  well  on  toward  suc- 
cess. It  was  these  forces  that  General  Sickles  was 
enabled  to  avail  himself  of  and  carry  forward  to  cul- 
mination the  plans  that  gained  for  him  the  credit 
that  attached  to  the  "  Sickles  Coup." 

In  1S71  William  Butler  Duncan,  of  the  house  of 
Duncan.  Sherman  &  Co.,  was  actively  identified  with 
the  affairs  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Kail- 
road  Company,  and  striving  to  effect  some  arrange- 
ment by  which  it  could  be  relieved  of  its  unfortunate 
complications    and    embarrassments.     This  brought 


. 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


him  moi  -  into  communication  with  the  man- 

the  Eric  Railway  Company.  While  in  con- 
sultation with  Jay  Gould,  one  day  in  the  latter  part 
of  November.  1S71,  Erie's  by  no  means  promising 
situation  came  up  as  a  subject  of  conversation,  dur- 
ing which  Mr.  Duncan  remarked,  with  much  posi- 
tives 

"  Gould,  there  is  but  one  thine;  that  can  help  Erie 
out  of  its  troubles,  give  it  credit,  and  enable  you  to 
sell  your  bonds  abroad,  and  get  money.'' 

There  had  been  an  issue  of  $30,000,000  consoli- 
dated Erie  bonds  by  the  Company  some  months 
before,  but,  with  the  exception  of  $3,000,000  pur- 
chased by  Jay  Gould  and  others,  at  60,  no  market 
had  been  found  for  them,  as  investors  would  not 
touch  Erie  securities  while  the  Company's  affairs 
were  in  the  condition  that  public  rumor  insisted  they 
were  in.  Gould  was  extremely  anxious  to  have  this 
loan  placed.  Therefore,  William  Butler  Duncan's 
remark  as  to  the  only  way  it  might  be  done  instantly 
interested  him. 

'What    is   it   that   can    be   done?"    was  Gould's 
eager  response  to  the  remark. 

"  Change  the  Board  of  Directors,  and  put  in  some 
strong  names  that  people  have  confidence  in!"  re- 
plied Duncan. 

Gould  agreed  with  Duncan  that  such  a  proceeding 
might  have  the  desired  effect.  He  thought  so  well 
of  it,  in  fact,  that  he  at  once  wrote  to  J.  S.  Morgan 
&  Co.,  of  Eondon,  commending  the  suggestion. 
J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co.  were  the  financial  agents  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  in  London,  and  greatly  inter- 
ested in  its  welfare.  Gould  also  called  at  the  office 
of  Levi  1'.  Morton  in  Broad  Street  to  consult  with 
him  about  the  Duncan  idea.  Mr.  Morton  was  promi- 
nent as  a  financier,  but  had  not  entered  upon  the 
successful  political  career  that  subsequently  won  him 
high  and  honorable  place  and  distinction.  The  sug- 
1011  i>f  William  Butler  Duncan  met  with  his  ap- 
proval, and  he  mentioned  the  nanus  of  different  men 
as  desirable  ones  in  any  new  Board  of  Directors. 

Soon  afterward  Gould  mel  I  luni  an  at  the  latter's 
house,  by  appointment,  to  further  discuss  the  sub- 
ject, and  they  outlined  a  programme  for  a  reorgani- 
zation of  the  Company,  and  decided  to  submit  it  to 
the   consideration   of    Levi    1'.  Morton   and  S.  L.  M. 


Barlow.  In  this  programme  Gould  insisted  that  in 
forming  a  new  Board  all  th  railway  inter 

which  fed  the  Erie  Railway  should  be  represented, 
and  that  especially  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan 
Southern,  the  Lehigh  Valley,  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal  Company,  the  Pennsylvania  Coal 
Company,  and  all  the  large  coal  interests,  should 
have  equal  representation  with  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Railroad  Company.  This  suggestion 
was  agreed  to  at  the  subsequent  meeting  of  Gould 
and  Duncan,  with  others.  No  written  agreement 
was  made,  but  it  resulted  in  the  following  communi- 
cation : 

Messrs.  L.  P.  Morton  and  //'.  Bntlcr  Duncan. 

Gentlemen: — Acquiescing  in  the  importance  of  a  reorgan- 
ization of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  by  asso- 
ciating the  best  railway  and  financial  talent  in  the  country  in 
its  management,  I  propose  as  follows: 

First. — To  procure  the  resignation  of  the  present  Board,  and 
substitute  tin  Following  named  gentlemen:  Jay  Gould,  August 
Belmont,  J.  S.  Morgan,  Erastus  Corning,  representing  the  New 
York  Central;  James  F.  Joy, representing  the  Michigan  Central 
Railroad;  Horace  F.  Clark,  representing  the  Lake  Shore  Rail- 
road; William  Butler  Duncan,  representing  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Railroad;  Levi  P.  Morton,  Moses  Taylor, 
Edwin  Eldridge,  John  A.  Stewart,  Thomas  A.  Scott,  John 
Jacob  Astor,  L.  M.  Yon  Hoffman,  E.  D.  Morgan;  George 
Talbott  Olyphant,  representing  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Company;  John  Ewen,  representing  the  Pennsylvania 
Coal  Company;  Asa  Packer,  representing  the  Lehigh  Valley 
Railroad  Company. 

In  order  to  secure  permanency  to  this  Board,  and  to  avoid 
merely  speculative  control,  I  would  further  propose  that 
Messrs.  Bischoffscheim,  J,  S.  Morgan,  and  Sir  John  Rose  bo 
a  committee  to  procure  irrevocable  proxies  from  the  owners 
of  a  majority  of  stock;  or,  if  deemed  advisable,  said  committee 
to  receive  deposit  of  the  stock  and  issue  receipt-,  \,,  be  bought 
and  sold  in  the  market  instead  of  the  stock,  said  Trustees 
agreeing  to  vote  at  each  election  for  such  new  Board,  and  any 
vacancies  in  the  Board  t,,  be  filled  by  the  Board.  The  per- 
manent organization  of  the  company  to  be  selected  by  Messrs. 
William   Butler  Duncan,  Levi  P.  Morton,  and  myself. 

Yours  respectfully, 

New  York,  Dec.  n.  [871.  Jay  Gould. 

The  idea  of  reorganization  embodied  in  this  Gould 
letter  met  with  the  approval  of  all  concerned.  It 
was  agreed  that  Duncan  should  go  to  Europe  to  ui 
the  plan  to  the  representatives  of  the  English  stock- 
holders, who  were  Heath  and  Raphael,  and  Bischoff- 
scheim &  Goldschmidt,  the  latter  being  in  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Great  Western  interest  also.  Gould  hail  in 
his  name  and  controlled  stock  to  the  amount  of 
$24,000,000,  all  of  which   he  gave  Duncan  irrevoca- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


181 


ble  power  to  act  upon  to  consummate  the  agree- 
ment. He  assumed  that  the  existing  Board  would 
not  offer  any  objection  to  resigning  in  the  interest  of 
this  plan  to  help  the  Company  out  of  its  difficulties. 
If  there  should  be  any  trouble  of  that  kind,  how- 
ever," said  Mr.  Gould,  significantly,  "  I  will  facili- 
tate an  act  of  the  Legislature  repealing  the  Classifi- 
cation Act,  and  order  an  immediate  election." 

Of  none  of  these  transactions  James  Fisk,  Jr., 
Vice-President  of  Erie,  was  cognizant,  and  it  was 
not  until  Duncan  sailed  for  Europe  on  his  mission  to 
obtain  the  approval  of  the  reorganization  scheme 
that  Gould  informed  Fisk  of  what  was  going  on. 
Gould  always  declared  that  Fisk  approved  of  the 
plan  and  promised  to  aid  in  carrying  it  out.  Friends 
of  Fisk  were  equally  as  positive  that  he  never  knew 
of  the  agreement  for  reorganization,  or,  that  if  he 
did  know  it,  his  death  alone  prevented  him  from 
taking  action  that  would  have  shown  how  little  he 
approved  of  it.  If  his  friends  were  right,  they  might 
have  reflected  more  credit  on  the  memory  of  the 
unfortunate  Fisk  by  remaining  silent,  and  assuming 
that  he  had  knowledge  of  the  entirely  creditable  and 
honorable  transaction,  and  heartily  approved  of  it. 

IV.     THE    SHIP    OX    THE    ROCKS. 

Gould  and  James  McHenry,  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Railroad  Company,  had  quarrelled  in 
1871,  and  McHenry  joined  his  forces  in  London  with 
the  organized  English  stockholders,  who  were  biding 
their  time  to  "  pounce  upon  Gould  and  to  throw  him 
out  of  Erie."  McHenry  was  not  entirely  disinter- 
ested in  his  desire.  He  had  certain  plans  for  com- 
bining the  interests  of  the  Erie  with  those  of  his 
bankrupt  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  which  were 
not  satisfactory  to  Gould,  and  McHenry  longed  to 
have  a  management  in  Erie  that  might  see  things 
as  he  saw  them. 

The  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  had  been  built  by 
McHenry,  who  received  all  its  stocks  and  bonds 
in  payment  for  the  work.  The  proceeds  of  the 
bonds  were  not  sufficient  to  complete  the  road,  and 
McHenry  hypothecated  stock  to  a  large  amount, 
borrowing  from  individuals  as  well  as  from  com- 
panies whenever  he  could.     The  stock  of  the  com- 


pany was  taken  largely  by  small  foreign  investors, 
who  believed  it  would  give  most  profitable  return. 
When  the  railroad  was  completed  McHenry  was 
practically  its  owner,  but  it  was  subject  to  the  bond 
and  stock  debts  of  the  company.  His  expectations 
were  not  realized,  and  in  1866  he  could  no  longer 
sustain  the  burden  he  had  taken.  He  defaulted  on 
the  interest  due  on  the  company's  obligations,  and 
on  April  1,  1867,  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railroad  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  Receiver.  To 
add  to  McHenry's  embarrassment,  the  Board  of 
Directors  he  had  created  betrayed  him  and  took  from 
him  all  control  over  his  own  property.  He  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  regaining  partial  control  in  Jan- 
uary, 1868.  W.  Archdall  O'Doherty  having  been 
of  great  assistance  in  bringing  about  this  result,  he 
was  made  Secretary  of  the  company,  and  subse- 
quently Vice-President. 

The  Receiver  still  had  possession,  and  McHenry 
was  anxious  to  overthrow  him.  To  do  this,  it  was 
necessary  to  provide  funds  to  the  amount  of  $1,200,- 
000  to  pay  debts  the  Receiver  had  incurred.  In 
December,  1868,  McHenry  succeeded  in  making  an 
arrangement  with  Jay  Gould,  by  which  the  latter 
agreed  to  advance  $1,500,000  to  McHenry,  or  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company,  and 
take  a  lease  and  mortgage  on  the  railroad  of  that 
company  to  secure  the  amount.  The  Receiver  was 
discharged,  and  the  road  passed  again  into  the  con- 
trol of  McHenry. 

Jay  Gould,  becoming  satisfied  that  he  had  made 
a  bad  bargain  in  his  arrangement  with  McHenry, 
threw  up  the  agreement.  Litigation  followed,  but 
it  was  finally  compromised  by  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Railroad  being  placed  in  charge  of  a 
joint  Receivership,  the  Receiver  being  Jay  Gould  in 
the  interest  of  the  Erie,  and  W.  Archdall  O'Doherty 
representing  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  inter- 
ests. Subsequently  S.  L.  M.  Barlow  was  employed 
as  counsel  by  McHenry,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
putting  in  shape  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railroad  Company's  affairs  according  to  the  ideas  of 
Barlow,  both  Gould  and  O'Doherty  were  ousted 
from  the  Receivership,  and  the  road  was  leased  to 
the  Eric  in  December,  1869.  Jay  Gould  subse- 
quently discontinued   this  lease,  and  cut  loose  from 


BETWEEN    THE   OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


McHenry.  This  caused  a  relationship  so  strained 
between  the  two  that  McHenry  joined  eagerly  and 
earnestly  in  the  warfare  against  the  Gould  manage- 
ment of  Erie. 

In  the  fall  of  1871  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  who 
was  then  United  States  Minister  to  Spain,  was  in 
London,  and  met  at  a  public  dinner  one  day  James 
McHenry  and  a  number  of  distinguished  foreign 
General  Sickles  was  no  stranger  to  McHenry.  Some 
rs  before  he  had  been  associated  with  McHenry 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railroad  Company,  and  in  1869  was  McHenry' s 
choice  for  President  of  that  company.  This  was 
opposed  so  strongly  by  W.  Archdall  O'Doherty, 
who  then  had  much  influence  in  the  management, 
that  McHenry  withdrew  Sickles's  name.  At  the 
dinner  referred  to  above,  McHenry  and  others,  smart- 
ing under  defeats  in  the  courts  of  this  country,  were 
led  to  give  utterance  to  their  opinions. 

General  Sickles  found  these  gentlemen  so  offen- 
sive by  reason  of  their  abuse  of  the  judicial  system 
and  code  of  procedure  in  the  United  States,  having 
for  their  text  certain  Erie  Railway  litigation,  that  he 
remonstrated  with  them,  and  told  them  flatly  that 
any  man  who  went  to  work  with  honesty  and  vigor 
could  be  sure  of  having  every  wrong  righted  in  the 
United  States.  Impressed  with  this  declaration, 
McHenry  assured  General  Sickles  that  if  he  could  in 
that  way  secure  the  ousting  of  Jay  Gould  from  the 
Erie  management,  the  interests  desirous  of  such  a 
consummation  would  pay  him  $100,000.  General 
Sickles  thought  so  well  of  this  that  he  applied  to  his 
Government  for  release  from  his  post  of  duty  for 
three  months,  which  request  being  granted,  he  made 
an  engagement  with  McHenry  and  his  associates  to 
go  about  the  task  that  had  been  suggested.  General 
Sickles  arrived  in  this  country  about  the  time  that 
Jay  1  iould  and  William  Butler  Duncan  were  busy  at 
their  plan    for  a  reoi  1    Erie,  with   full  author- 

ity from    Henri   L.    B  cheim   to  act.      General 

Sickles  beg  in  hi  campaign  by  recourse  to  the  legal 
procedure  which  he  had  so  warmly  defended  against 
its  critics  in  London.  That  he  did  not  have  the 
opportunity  to  endeavor  to  make  good  his  indignant 
declaration  to  McHenry  that  "  any  man   who  went 


to  work  with  honest}-  and  vigor  could  be  sure  of  hav- 
ing every  wrong  righted  in  the  United  States  "  was 
the  fault  of  others,  not  his.  He  began  with  the  law. 
The  Heath  and  Raphael  party  had  already  in  con- 
templation proceedings  against  Gould  and  others, 
with  the  same  purpose  in  view.  This  suit  was  in 
charge  of  the  Attorney-General  of  New  York,  as 
was  necessary  under  the  act  of  1S70  governing  such 
cases.  The  object  of  this  suit  was  to  remove  the 
officers  of  the  Company  then  in  power,  and  to  call 
them  to  account  for  alleged  misuse  and  application 
of  the  property  of  the  corporation.  General  Sickles 
wrote  to  Attorney-General  Barlow  December  30, 
[871,  that  he  was  authorized  to  proceed  with  similar 
legal  measures,  and  at  his  request  that  the  Attor- 
ney-General should  name  associate  counsel  to  con- 
duct such  proceedings,  the  Attorney-General  named 
Messrs.  Lyman  T remain,  Matthew  Hale,  and  Henry 
Smith,  of  Albany,  and  William  Wallace  MacFar- 
land,  and  James  C.  Carter,  of  New  York,  as  such 
associates.  These  legal  gentlemen  were  paid  retain- 
ing fees  out  of  a  fund  of  $12,000  placed  in  the 
Attorney-General's  hands  by  General  Sickles  for 
that  purpose,  to  which  fund  was  subsequently  added 
$1,500,  contributed  by  the  Heath  and  Raphael 
party,  who  had  joined  the  Sickles  movement. 

It  being  deemed  advisable  to  obtain  an  act  of  the 
Legislature  authorizing  the  suspension  from  office 
of  the  officers  of  the  Company  while  the  suit  was  in 
progress,  the  proceedings  were  delayed,  pending  such 
hoped-for  legislation.  A  bill  to  repeal  that  long- 
standing obstruction  to  the  plans  of  the  anti-Gould 
element  in  Erie,  the  Classification  -Act,  was  also 
introduced  as  an  important  aid  in  the  campaign 
against  the  Gould  regime.  Matters  were  in  such 
situation  when,  toward  the  middle  of  February, 
1S72,  General  Sickles  became  interested  to  such  an 
extent  in  affairs  about  the  Erie  Railway  Company's 
offices  in  New  York,  that  on  February  27th  or  28th 
Homer  Ramsdell  of  Newburgh,  an  ex-President  of 
Erie,  and  at  that  time  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Board,  received  a  telegram  from  George  Crouch, 
requesting  his  presence  in  New  York  on  very  im- 
int  business. 

George  Crouch,  in    1 869,  was  a  journalist  in  New 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


183 


York  City,  and  through  his  duties  in  Wall  Street 
work  he  became  interested  in  the  Erie  problem,  and 
resolved  to  make  its  solution  a  study.  To  have 
more  time  and  better  opportunity  to  do  this  he 
abandoned  journalism.  By  close  observation,  and 
being  a  shrewd  and  talented  observer,  he  in  a  few 
months  mastered  the  Erie  situation.  He  made  him- 
self not  only  familiar  with  its  financial  condition  and 
the  methods  of  its  managers,  but  obtained  accurate 
knowledge  of  its  operative  departments,  its  railroad, 
and  the  condition  it  was  in,  its  rolling  stock,  shops, 
machinery,  and  every  detail  of  its  practical  opera- 
tion, everywhere  along  the  line.  He  also  made  him- 
self master  of  the  affairs  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railroad  in  the  same  way. 

Acting  upon  the  information  he  obtained,  he  made 
a  report  on  the  condition  of  the  Erie,  its  prospects 
and  its  management,  and  the  report  was  a  showing 
so  favorable  to  the  popularly-discredited  Gould  and 
Fisk  control,  and  presented  those  individuals  and 
their  methods  in  a  light  so  new  and  different  from 
the  accepted  one  in  which  they  had  been  revealed  to 
the  public  gaze,  that  people  wondered  how  they  had 
been  led  into  the  holding  of  such  erroneous  beliefs 
regarding  the  Erie  rulers  and  their  railroad.  The 
result  of  this  work  was  the  calling  of  Crouch  by 
Gould  into  the  service  of  the  Company;  or,  rather, 
to  a  highly  confidential  place  in  the  personal  service 
of  Gould  and  Fisk. 

The  ambition  of  Crouch  seems  to  have  been  the 
settlement  of  the  long-standing  difficulty  between 
the  English  stockholders  and  the  Company.  A  plan 
with  the  accomplishment  of  that  end  in  view  was 
formed  early  in  1870,  and  Crouch  was  on  the  point 
of  sailing  for  England  to  endeavor  to  carry  it  out, 
when  the  war  against  the  Gould  management  was 
begun  by  the  English  stockholders,  under  the  lead 
of  James  Burt,  of  London.  Crouch  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  defeating  that  effort,  but  subsequently 
turned  against  Gould  and  Fisk.  He  resigned  from 
their  service,  and  went  to  England  to  help  the  for- 
eign shareholders  formulate  a  plan  to  oust  the  Gould 
management.  He  returned  to  this  country  early  in 
1S72,  and,  as  General  Sickles  subsequently  gave  it 
out,  was  here  to  act  as  a  "  go-between  "  for  Sickles 
in  his  campaign  against  the  Erie  management.     That 


Crouch  claimed,  with  apparent  good  cause,  to  be 
something  more  than  a  subordinate  in  the  fight  will 
appear  in  its  proper  place  in  this  narrative. 

In  response  to  the  Crouch  telegram.  Director 
Ramsdell  went  to  New  York  on  March  1,  1872. 
Crouch  informed  him  that  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  several  members  of  the  Board  had 
agreed  to  resign,  the  object  being  to  have  their  places 
filled  with  new  men,  antagonistic  to  Gould,  who  was 
then  to  be  deposed.  In  this  work  the  aid  of  Mr. 
Ramsdell  was  necessary,  Crouch  said,  and  he  placed 
Ramsdell  in  communication  with  General  Sickles. 

' '  The  general  idea  entertained  by  General  Sickles, 
said  Mr.  Ramsdell,  in  giving  his  account  of  the  in- 
terview, "  was  that  the  Erie  Railway  was  a  very 
corrupt  affair,  and  that  everybody  connected  with  it 
was  as  corrupt  as  the  institution.  But  he  was  very 
desirous  of  giving  absolution  to  even-body,  and  in- 
demnity as  well,  and  it  was  a  little  difficult  to  resist 
his  overtures.  I  told  him  that  I  neither  asked  abso- 
lution nor  indemnity,  and  so  far  as  compensation 
was  concerned,  I  calculated  to  have  my  full  satis- 
faction in  doing  my  duty.  It  was  hard  to  make 
him  believe  this,  but  he  acknowledged  my  position 
finally." 

The  result  of  the  interview  between  Director 
Ramsdell  and  General  Sickles  was  that  the  latter 
consented  to  undertake  to  further  the  change  in  Erie 
management.  Gould's  long-time  and  trusted  friends 
and  supporters  in  the  Board  were  Frederick  A.  Lane, 
Henry  Thompson,  John  Hilton,  M.  R.  Simons, 
Justin  D.  White,  and  Horatio  N.  Otis.  White  was 
Treasurer  of  the  Company,  having  succeeded  Gould 
himself.  Otis  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Company. 
The  Vice-President  was  Oliver  II.  Perry  Archer,  who 
had  long  held  a  profitable  contract  with  the  Com- 
pany for  transferring  and  delivering  its  freight  from 
Jersey  City  to  New  York,  and  vice  versa.  He  had 
succeeded  Fisk  in  the  office  of  Vice-President. 

Late  in  February.  1S7J,  Jay  Gould  had  occasion 
to  meet  by  appointment  Col.  Thomas  A.  Scott, 
Vice-President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Com- 
pany, at  the  Brevoort  House,  New  York  City.  This 
interview  was  on  the  subject  of  the  importance  of  a 
meeting  between  Gould  and  a  person  who  repre- 
sented himself  to  be  Lord  Gordon,   Earl  of  Aber- 


1 84 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


n.  and  who,  as  the  reputed  owner  and  controller 
of  S6o.OOO,000  in  Erie  stock,  was  a  man  of  impor- 
tance to  Gould  just  then. 

The  story  of  Lord  Gordon  Gordon,  bearing  as  it 
•does  directly  on  affairs  pertaining  to  the  Erie  Rail- 
wax-  at  that  time,  may  well  be  told  here,  although 
the  relation  requires  a  divergence  for  a  time  from 
the  regular  thread  of  the  Erie  narrative. 

In  the  fall  of  1871  Mrs.  Belden,  of  New  York, 
being  on  a  pleasure  trip,  spent  some  time  at  Minne- 
apolis, Minn.  Mrs.  Belden  was  the  wife  of  William 
Belden.  then  of  the  Wall  Street  house  of  Fisk,  Bel- 
den &  Co.,  the  senior  partner  of  which  was  James 
Fisk,  Jr.,  then  Vice-President  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company.  About  that  time  social  and  business  cir- 
cles of  Minneapolis  were  somewhat  moved  over  hav- 
ing made  the  discovery  that  they  had  among  them  a 
member  of  the  British  aristocracy  in  no  less  a  person 
than  Lord  Gordon  Gordon,  of  the  almost  royal  blood 
of  the  Gordons  of  Scotland,  if  he  were  not,  indeed, 
the  Earl  of  Aberdeen  himself,  of  that  ancient  line- 
age. Gordon  Gordon  had  not  made  personal  procla- 
mation of  his  nobility.  He  had  come  quietly  to 
Minneapolis  and  registered  at  the  hotel  simply  as 
G.  Gordon.  His  manner  was  unostentatious,  but 
his  distinguished  bearing  and  evident  superior  birth 
and  breeding  soon  drew  attention  to  him  as  some 
one  not  of  the  ordinary.  In  his  quiet  way  he,  after 
a  time,  talked  of  his  purpose  of  purchasing  50,000 
acres  or  so  of  land  in  Minnesota,  or  along  the  North- 
ern Pacific  Railroad,  for  the  colonizing  of  English 
and  Scottish  tenants  of  his.  Then  a  letter  with  a 
coronet  on  the  envelope,  and  addressed,  "  Lord 
•Gordon  Gordon,"  came  with  his  other  mail  one  day. 
After  that  he  was  no  longer  incognito.  lie  was 
charged  with  his  nobility.  He  did  not  deny  that  he 
was  a  person  of  title,  neither  did  he  admit  it.  The 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  took  charge  of 
him.  and  sent  him  in  grand  style  all  along  its  line 
and  its  proposed  line,  that  he  might  see  the  land  the 
com], any  possessed,  from  which  to  select  the  terri- 
lor  his  colony.  The  exclusion  occupied  two 
months,    and    cost    the    railroad    company   si  5.000. 

Lon     I  on  selected    his  land,   hut,   for  reasons  that 

will  appear,  he  never  perfected  title  to  it. 


Mis.  Belden  met  Lord  Gordon  in  a  social  way,  and 
he  showed  her  many  courtesies.  He  was  pleased  to 
learn  that  she  was  the  wife  of  a  gentleman  so  closely 
allied  with  a  high  officer  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany, he  said,  as  he  himself  was  a  large  stockholder  in 
that  Company,  and  part  of  his  business  in  the  United 
States  was  in  connection  with  Erie  affairs.  Whether 
he  had  before  that  thought  of  the  scheme  which  he 
subsequently  engaged  in,  or  whether  his  meeting 
with  Mrs.  Belden  and  incidentally  learning  the  rela- 
tion her  husband  bore  to  the  Erie  through  Fisk, 
suggested  it  to  him,  is  not  known;  but  in  January, 
1872,  he  left  Minneapolis  and  went  to  New  York. 
There  he  engaged  fine  apartments  at  the  Westmin- 
ster Hotel,  at  Sixteenth  Street  and  Irving  Place,  but 
subsequently  removed  to  the  Metropolitan  Hotel, 
on  Broadway,  the  proprietor  of  which  at  that  time 
was  William  M.  Tweed's  son  Richard.  In  the  mean- 
time Mrs.  Belden  had  returned  home,  and  informed 
her  husband,  as  a  pleasant  incident  of  her  trip,  of 
her  meeting  with  Lord  Gordon,  and  incidentally 
spoke  of  his  large  holding  of  Erie  shares.  Belden 
called  on  Gordon  at  his  hotel,  introduced  himself, 
and  the  two  became  well  acquainted.  This  was  at 
the  critical  time  of  the  existence  of  the  Gould  con- 
trol of  Erie.  Gordon  told  Belden  that  he  owned 
and  controlled  60,000  shares  of  the  Erie  stock  held 
in  England.  Gordon  had  also  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Col.  Thomas  A.  Scott,  Vice-President  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company;  Horace  Greeley, 
Horace  F.  Clark,'  financier,  anil  son-in-law  of  Com- 
modore Vanderbilt,  and  other  prominent  men,  all  of 
whom  became  on  terms  of  close  intimacy  with  him. 
Belden,  seeing  the  importance  of  having  in  the  Gould 
interest  the  holder  of  so  much  Erie  stock,  reported 
to  Jay  Gould  the  presence  of  Lord  Gordon  in  New 
York,  and  was  anxious  to  bring  the  two  men  to- 
gether. Gordon  haughtily  declared  that  he  did  not 
care  to  meet  Mr.  Gould;  but  on  March  8,  1S7J,  Col. 
Scott,  not  long  after  his  Brevoort  House  interview 
with  him  on  the  subject,  telegraphed  Gould  that  he 
thought  it  would  lie  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  his 
interests  to  call  on  Gordon.  With  that  telegram  as 
his  introduction,  Gould  went  to  the  Metropolitan 
Hotel  next  day  and  met  Gordon.  According  to  the 
tory  of  the   latter,    he  told   Gould   plainly  that   he 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


185 


controlled  60,000  shares  of  Erie,  which  were  not  on 
the  books  in  his  name,  and  that  he  had  made  a  com- 
bination with  other  stockholders  by  which  the  man- 
agement of  Erie  must  be  changed.  He  had  no 
objection  to  retaining  Gould  in  the  management,  but 
only  on  condition  that  all  opposition  to  the  repeal  of 
the  Erie  Classification  Bill  by  the  Legislature  should 
cease;  all  the  entangling  Erie  litigation  be  brought 
to  settlement  and  discontinued;  and  that  Gould 
should  renounce  his  Wall  Street  connections  and 
operations.  Gould  agreed  to  all  these  conditions, 
and,  as  an  evidence  of  his  good  faith,  wrote  and  gave 
Gordon  the  following: 

I  hereby  resign  my  position  as  President  and  Director  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  to  take  effect  on  the  appointment 
of  my  successor.  Yours,  etc., 

New  York.  March  9,  1872.  Jay  Gould. 

Horace  Greeley  was  present  during  the  interview, 
and,  in  a  subsequent  affidavit,  corroborated  Gordon's 
statement.  Jay  Gould's  account  of  the  interview 
was  that  he  had  been  told  in  February  by  William 
Belden  that  Lord  Gordon,  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  was  in 
New  York,  claiming  to  be  in  this  country  in  the 
interest  of  the  English  stockholders  of  Erie.  He 
subsequently  met  Gordon  at  the  Metropolitan  Hotel, 
Horace  Greeley  being  present.  Gordon  assured  him 
that  he  owned  $30,000,000  of  Erie  stock,  and  con- 
trolled $20,000,000  more.  He  had  been  investigat- 
ing the  condition  of  the  Company  and  its  property, 
and  had  originated  the  legislation  then  pending  in 
the  New  York  Legislature  (for  the  repeal  of  the 
Classification  Act),  and  of  the  Heath  and  Raphael 
litigation,  in  the  interest  of  the  English  stockholders. 
He  was  satisfied  that  Gould's  management  was  all 
right,  but  the  existing  Board  of  Directors  must  go. 
Gordon  said  he  had  already  arranged  with  the  Direct- 
ors that  they  should  resign.  He  and  his  friends 
controlled  a  majority  of  the  stock,  and  they  would 
elect  a  new  Board  made  up  of  men  approved  of  by 
himself,  Horace  Greeley,  and  Gould.  He  said 
$30,000,000  in  certificates  were  then  on  their  way 
from  London  which  he  had  the  power  of  attorney  to 
transfer.  His  investigations,  he  said,  had  cost  him 
$1,000,000,  and  he  thought  the  Company  should 
reimburse  him  to  the  amount  of  at  least  half  that 
sum. 


Gould,  taking  all  the  circumstances  together,  with 
Gordon's  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Erie  situation, 
and  having  no  doubt  that  he  was  in  reality  Lord 
Gordon  Gordon,  agreed  to  the  plans  he  proposed, 
and  deposited  with  him  $500,000  in  money  and  secu- 
rities as  an  evidence  of  good  faith.  Three  days  later 
the  "  Sickles  Coup  "  revolutionized  Erie  affairs  as  in 
a  trice,  and  the  Gordon  plan  of  procedure  came  to 
nothing — as  it  would  have  done  in  any  event. 

From  March  9th  until  March  23d  Gordon  had  in 
his  possession  the  $500,000  Gould  had  delivered  to 
him,  nearly  $200,000  of  which  was  in  greenbacks. 
During  that  time,  had  he  so  chosen,  he  could  have 
taken  himself  off  to  the  other  side  of  the  world  with 
the  wealth  thus  almost  thrust  into  his  hands,  and 
that  he  did  not  do  so  was  then,  and  will  be  as  long 
as  any  of  them  may  live,  a  wonder  of  wonders  to  all 
who  were  conversant  with  the  Gordon-Gould  affair. 
But  he  made  no  move  to  abscond.  He  did  not  even 
remove  the  money  or  securities  from  his  apartments 
at  the  hotel,  with  the  exception  of  some  shares  of 
stock  in  the  Alleghany  and  Oil  Creek  Railroad  Com- 
pany, which  he  sent  to  his  broker  in  Philadelphia. 

In  the  forenoon  o"f  March  23d,  Jay  Gould  stepped 
into  the  office  of  William  M.  Tweed,  at  85  Duane 
Street. 

Tweed,"  said  he,  "  I've  made  up  my  mind  that 
Gordon  is  a  scoundrel,  and  I  think  I'll  make  him 
give  back  the  money  and  securities  I  gave  him,  or 
have  him  arrested." 

"  You  had  better  see  Judge  Shandley  about  it," 
replied  Tweed..    "  He's  in  the  next  room." 

The  result  of  the  conference  with  Judge  Shandley 
was  that  about  half-past  one  in  the  afternoon  Gould, 
Judge  Shandley,  William  Belden,  and  John  J.  Kel- 
soe,  Superintendent  of  Police,  were  in  parlor  112  al 
the  Metropolitan  Hotel.  A  few  minutes  later  Belden 
sent  his  card  in  to  "  Lord  "  Gordon,  and  was 
mitted.  Gordon's  subsequent  story  was  that  Belden 
said  to  him: 

"  Jay  Gould,  with  Judge  Shandley  and  Chief  of 
Police  Kelsoe,  are  in  Tweed's  room.  Unless  you 
return  at  once  the  money  ami  the  securities  that 
Gould  left  with  you,  they  will  railroad  you  to  prison 
before  any  one  knows  where  you  are!  " 

Fearful  of  what  might  happen  to  him,  Gordon  gave 


i  So 


BETWEEN    THE   OCEAN    AND    ["HE    LAKES 


den  the  $200,000  in  cash,  200  shares  of  National 

ck  Y.ird  stock,  I0O  shares  of  Brooks  Locomotive 
Works    stock,    and    20    Northern    Railroad   of   New 
bonds.     Belden   took  it  all  and  went  away. 
Presently  he  returned  and  said  Jay  Gould  demanded 
the  iny  and  (Ml  Creek  shares.     Gordon  wrote 

an  order  on  his  brokers  for  the  shares  and  delivered 
it  to  Belden.  An  hour  later  Belden  called  on  Gor- 
don again  and  said  that  Gould  was  surprised  that 
"  he  had  given  up  so  easily." 

"  lie  didn't  expect  to  get  more  than  $100, ooo," 
said  Belden,  "  and  would  have  been  glad  to  settle 
for  that!" 

'  Then  I  sent  a  messenger  to  Philadelphia  and 
notified  my  brokers,"  so  Gordon's  story  ran,  "  not 
to  honor  the  order  I  had  given  for  the  Alleghany 
and  Oil  Creek  stock." 

April  9.  1872,  Gordon  was  arrested  on  complaint 
of  Jay  Gould,  charged  with  misappropriating  securi- 
ties in  his  possession.  A.  F.  Roberts  and  Horace  F. 
Clark  became  bondsmen  for  Gordon,  Clark  getting 
out  of  bed  at  midnight  to  qualify,  so  great  was  his 
confidence  in  "  Lord  "  Gordon.  Following  this  pro- 
ceeding, Gordon  brought  suit  against  Gould  to  re- 
cover the  money  and  securities  he  had  got  back  from 
him.  Such  lawyers  as  ex-Judge  James  K.  Porter, 
John  Graham,  and  James  H.  Strahan  had  confidence 
enough  in  Gordon  to  defend  him  in  the  criminal  suit, 
and  to  conduct  his  case  against  Gould.  After  vari- 
ous adjournments,  the  case  of  Gould  vs.  Gordon  was 
set  by  Judge  Joseph  F.  Brady  for  final  hearing  on 
September  20,  1872.  A  day  or  so  before  the  trial 
came  on  "  Lord  "  Gordon  Gordon  disappeared, 
leaving  his  bondsmen  in  the  lurch  to  the  amount  of 

.OOO,  and  his  lawyers  humiliated  and  discomfited. 
No  trace  of  Gordon  was  discovered  until  early  in  the 
summer  of  1873,  when  word  was  received  in  New 
York  that  he  was  in  Manitoba.  Two  Minneapolis 
detectives  were  employed  by  his  New  York  bonds- 
men to  capture  him.  Armed  with  papers  supposed 
to  be  sufficient,  they  went  to  Manitoba  and  attempted 
to  fetch  Gordon  back  to  the  States.  They  were 
themselvi  ted  on  a  charge  of  kidnapping,  and 

were  thrown  into  jail  without  bail,  to  await  trial. 
Governor  Ramsey,  of  Minnesota,  endeavored  to 
make  an  international  affair  of  it,  and  requested  the 


United  States  Government  to  interfere,  but  without 
success.  The  detectives  lay  in  jail  three  or  four 
months,  when  they  were  tried,  found  guilty,  and 
sentenced  to  twenty-four  hours'  imprisonment. 

After  this  episode  Gordon  retired  to  Headingly, 
an  isolated  place  in  Manitoba,  where,  on  the  evening 
of  August  1,  1874,  two  officers  arrested  him  on  war- 
rants purporting  to  be  issued  at  Toronto,  charging 
him  with  larceny  and  forgery  committed  in  England 
and  Scotland. 

You    won't    take    me    through    the    States,    will 
you  ?"   Gordon  asked  the  officer. 

They  assured  him  that  they  would  not. 

"  Then  I '  11  go,"  said  he. 

Gordon  stepped  over  the  threshold  of  a  door  lead- 
ing to  another  room,  and  drawing  a  revolver,  blew 
his  brains  out  before  an  officer  could  reach  him. 

After  his  death  it  was  learned  that  the  warrants 
on  which  he  was  arrested  were  bogus.  They  were 
part  of  a  scheme  of  his  bondsmen  in  New  York  to 
get  him  back  to  that  city.  He  had  swindled  con- 
fiding Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  out  of  $50,000 
before  coming  to  this  country,  and  he  evidently 
believed  they  had  sent  for  him  at  last.  In  Great 
Britain  he  had  passed  as  Lord  Glencairn.  He  was 
actually  the  son  of  poor  Scotch  people,  although  in 
one  of  his  affidavits  in  the  Gould  suit  he  declared  he 
was  "  the  son  of  his  mother  and  a  Scotch  Duke." 
Whatever  and  whoever  he  was,  he  had  genius  enough 
to  deceive  the  shrewdest  financiers,  the  greatest 
editor,  and  the  most  brilliant  lawyers  of  this  coun- 
try, and  must,  forsooth,  drag  poor  Erie  into  contact 
with  his  rascality.  Gould  recovered  the  value  of  the 
Alleghany  and  Oil  Creek  Railroad  bonds,  they  hav- 
ing been  placed  in  the  custody  of  the  Court  pending 
the  litigation  against  the  fraudulent  Lord  Gordon. 

Before  Jay  Gould  had  left  the  Brevoort  House 
from  his  interview  with  Colonel  Scott  that  evening 
in  February,  1872,  Erie  Director  Frederick  A.  Lane 
called  on  him. 

"  There  is  a  great  conspiracy  against  you,"  said 
Lane  to  Gould,  "  and  you  arc  being  sold  out  of  the 
Erie  management." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?"  asked  Gould. 

"  General   Sickles  has  been    ordered    home    from 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


187 


Europe,"  replied  Lane,  "  and  is  in  New  York  amply 
supplied  with  money  and  official  backing,  including 
a  force  of  United  States  Marshals,  to  unseat  you. 
A  majority  of  your  Directors  has  been  purchased." 

Then,  in  response  to  questions  from  Gould,  accord- 
ing to  the  subsequent  story  from  the  latter's  own 
lips,  Lane  exposed  the  whole  plan  of  the  conspiracy. 

"  The  road  is  to  be  handed  over  to  the  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western,"  said  he.  "A  meeting  of  the 
Erie  Board  is  to  be  called  ostensibly  to  fix  up  some 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  matters.  Everything  is 
to  be  kept  secret  until  the  meeting.  Then  a  motion 
is  to  be  made  to  fill  the  two  vacancies  in  the  Board, 
and  the  men  selected  will  be  representatives  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  interests.  That  will 
give  a  working  majority  in  the  Board  in  the  interest 
of  the  new  part}-.  Then  the  retiring  Directors  will 
resign  one  by  one,  and  their  places  be  filled  by  names 
designated  by  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western. 
Simons,  Hall,  White,  Hilton,  Thompson,  Otis,  and 
Ramsdell  are  to  receive  a  price  for  resigning." 

"Ramsdell!"  exclaimed  Gould.  "I  don't  be- 
lieve Ramsdell  will  take  money!  " 

"  He  is  the  very  hardest  one  they  have  had  to 
bargain  with,"  replied  Lane,  which  surprised  Gould 
exceedingly.  '  The  money  is  to  be  paid  by  Bischoff- 
scheim  and  McHenry,  in  the  interest  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western.  They  are  counting  on  me,  but 
I  shall  remain  true  to  you,  and  they  have  not  money 
enough  to  change  me." 

"All  of  which,"  remarked  Mr.  Gould  dryly,  in 
giving  this  narrative,  "  I  took  with  a  slight  discount, 
knowing  Lane  very  well." 

The  pretext  for  calling  the  meeting,  Lane  said, 
was  to  be  an  alleged  necessity  of  the  acquiescence 
of  the  Erie  Board  in  the  consummation  of  a  general 
settlement  that  had  been  agreed  upon  between  the 
Erie  and  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western.  The 
"  conspirators  "  were  to  claim  that  the  Ohio  courts 
required  the  seal  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  upon 
one  of  the  articles  of  this  agreement,  to  be  placed 
there  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 

"  And,"  said  Gould,  "  they  were  going  to  make- 
that  the  pretext  for  my  calling  the  meeting  and  step- 
ping into  the  little  trap." 

Some  time  after  this  information  was  given  Gould 


by  Lane,  the  former  was  visited  by  E.  K.  YVillard, 
a  broker,  who  said  he  had  authority  to  say  that  if 
Gould  would  pass  the  control  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  over  to  the  parties  YVillard  represented, 
a  credit  for  $500,000  would  be  placed  to  his  name  in 
any  bank  or  trust  company  he  might  designate. 

"  I  don't  care  to  sell  out,"  said  Gould,  and  he 
declined  the  offer. 

True  to  the  declaration  of  Lane,  a  request  was 
made  for  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  to 
dispose  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  matter. 
Gould  called  the  meeting  early  in  March.  Rams- 
dell, Lane,  Archer,  and  Gould  were  the  Executive 
Committee. 

"  The  programme  was,"  said  Gould,  "  as  soon  as 
this  meeting  was  called  to  order,  at  which  I  would 
preside,  to  bring  up  a  resolution  calling  a  meeting  of 
the  Board.  I  had  the  resolution  confirming  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  settlement  ready,  called 
the  meeting  to  order,  put  the  resolution,  passed  it, 
and  adjourned  the  meeting  so  quickly  that  before 
they  could  get  their  resolution  ready  the  meeting 
was  over  and  I  was  off;  so  the  effort  failed.  I  don't 
know  who  made  the  motion  to  adjourn.  I  thought 
I  heard  it.  Then  I  thought  I  heard  a  good  many 
'  ayes,'  and  declared  it  carried." 

Gould  always  insisted  that  he  was  not  requested 
to  call  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  question,  although 
it  is  in  evidence  that  a  letter,  signed  by  nine  of  the 
Directors,  was  sent  to  him  for  that  purpose,  March 
8,  1S72.  If  he  did  receive  the  letter  its  contents 
could  not  have  been — as  all  published  'accounts  of 
the  Erie  revolution  record  that  it  was — in  any  way  a 
surprise  to  him,  for  he  was  in  daily  expectation  of 
it.  The  probable  truth  is  that  the  letter  was  placed 
upon  his  desk,  but,  divining  what  it  was,  he  did  not 
open  it.  But  whether  he  received  it  or  not,  there 
was  no  response  to  or  recognition  of  it.  Then  the 
signers  of  the  letter  communicated  formally  with 
Vice-President  Archer  on  March  9th,  requesting  him 
to  call  a  meeting  of  the  Board  for  Monday.  March 
11,  1872,  and  he  instructed  Secretary  Otis  to  make 
such  a  call,  which  was  done. 

That  President  Gould  was  not  taken  by  surprise 
by  all  this  is  plainly  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  had 
already  at  hand  his  former  reliable  and  willing  old 


1 88 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


friend,  an  injunction.  This  had  been  obtained  by  his 
attorneys.  Field  &  Shearman,  from  Judge  Ingraham 
of  the  New  York  Supreme  Court,  on  the  complaint 
of  Jay  Gould  that  the  move  on  the  part  of  Vice- 
President  Archer  and  the  others  was  in  pursuance  of 
a  conspiracy  with  agents  of  the  English  stockholders 
to  get  i  ■■!  of  the  Erie  property  through  brib- 

ery, and  that  White.  Simons,  Otis,  Hilton,  and 
Thompson  had  been,  or  were  to  be,  paid  a  large  sum 
of  money  to  resign  one  by  one  from  the  Board,  so 
that  their  places  might  be  filled  with  men  elected  by 
the  conspirators.  The  injunction  was  granted,  but 
the  Archer  meeting  was  held  in  spite  of  it.  Jay 
Gould  was  not  in  his  place  in  the  President's  chair. 
Great  excitement  prevailed.  Superintendent  of  Po- 
lice Kelsoe,  who  was  friendly  to  Gould,  was  present 
with  a  large  force  of  police,  under  command  of  Cap- 
tain Petty.  There  was  also  present  a  posse  of  Erie 
Deputy  Sheriffs,  in  charge  of  the  redoubtable  Tommy 
Lynch.  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  of  Erie  counsel, 
made  excited  protests  against  the  legality  of  the 
meeting,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  it  would  ter- 
minate in  violence.  Through  the  efforts  of  General 
Sickles  and  others  the  police  were  induced  to  leave 
the  room,  and  the  business  of  the  meeting  proceeded. 
The  vacancy  in  the  Board  caused  by  the  death  of 
Fisk  had  not  been  filled.  On  motion  of  Director 
Lane,  seconded  by  Director  Ramsdell,  this  vacancy 
was  filled  by  the  election  of  Gen.  John  A.  Dix. 
Then  Director  Sisson  resigned.  Gen.  George  B. 
M  Clellan  was  chosen  in  his  place.  There  was  a 
long  existing  vacancy  in  the  Board,  which  was  filled 
by  the  election  of  William  Watts  Sherman,  of  the 
house  of  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.  Director  Hilton 
resigned,  and  S.  L.  M.  Barlow  was  elected  to  his 
place.  Thus,  at  the  same  time,  Directors  Simons, 
Otis,  Thompson,  White,  and  Lane  resigned.  Will- 
iam R.  Travers,  Col.  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  Charles 
Day,  Gen.  A.  S.  Diven,  and  Charles  Drake  suc- 
ceeded them.  The  new  Board  then  organized  by 
electing  General  Dix  President  in  place  of  Jay 
Gould,  and  William  Watts  Sherman,  Treasurer. 
The  rest  of  the  Board  remained  unchanged — Direc- 
tors Ramsdell,  Dr.  Edwin  S.  Eldridge  of  Elmira, 
John  Gansen  of  Buffalo,  Jay  Gould,  Henry  X. 
Smith,    Henry    Sherwood  of    Steuben    County,   and 


Charles   Drake.     Of  all  the  old  Directors  only  two, 
Eldridge  ami  Sherwood,  remained  true  to  Goidd. 

Jay  Gould  had  locked  and  entrenched  himself  in 
his  stronghold;  the  President's  room.  When  the 
new  Board  of  Directors  had  finished  its  business  and 
started  to  take  a  look  about  the  premises  they  had 
been  chosen  to  have  control  of,  they  found  that  they 
were  locked  in,  and  that  the  doors  were  guarded  by 
a  strong  force  of  Erie  Deputy  Sheriffs.  General 
Sickles — who  had  left  the  building  after  the  election 
— says  that  he  was  sent  for  in  this  emergency,  and 
that  he  went  back  and,  with  the  aid  of  United  States 
Marshal  Kennedy,  overawed  the  Erie  guard,  forced 
the  door  with  a  crow-bar,  and  freed  the  imprisoned 
Directors  and  officers.  Then  the  Marshal  took  the 
papers  notifying  Jay  Gould  of  his  removal  as  Presi- 
dent, and  the  election  of  General  Dix  as  his  succes- 
sor, and  demanding  surrender  of  the  building  and  all 
papers  and  documents,  and  started  to  serve  them. 
1  Ie  was  accompanied  by  General  Sickles  and  the  new 
Board  of  Directors.  The  door  of  the  President's 
room  being  locked  and  barricaded,  it  was  necessary 
to  force  it  down.  Gould  was  in  the  room,  but  by 
agile  leaping  over  chairs  and  tables  and  other  furni- 
ture, and  the  aid  of  his  bodyguard  of  Erie  police,  he 
avoided  the  service  of  the  papers,  and  escaped  to  the 
room  occupied  by  his  counsel,  Field  &  Shearman, 
his  bodyguard  following  him.  The  door  of  this  room 
was  locked  behind  him.  Then  the  Marshal's  mes- 
senger, a  boy  named  Thomas  Crowley,  was  hoisted 
over  the  transom  of  the  door  with  the  papers,  and 
Gould  accepted  their  service.  Field  &  Shearman 
excitedly  advised  the  forcible  ejection  of  the  new 
officers  and  Board  and  all  who  were  with  them. 
Gould,  who  seemed  to  be  the  only  calm  man  in  the 
group,  said:  ^ 

"  \'i>!  Nothing  of  the  sort!  This  must  be  done 
legally  or  not  at  all." 

Gould  had  caused  during  the  day  notices  to  be 
posted  about  the  building  declaring  that  he  still 
retained  his  place  as  head  of  the  Company,  and 
ordered  all  clerks  and  employees  to  receive  no  in- 
structions from  any  one  but  him  or  persons  holding 
his  written  authority,  and  forbade  them  to  interfere 
with  any  of  the  business  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany  except    under    his    authority    and    direction. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


189 


Vice-President  Archer  ordered  that  these  notices, 
and  all  others  similar  to  them  that  might  be  posted, 
be  torn  down,  and  the  nature  of  the  feeling  among 
the  employees  as  to  how  the  contest  would  end 
was  quickly  demonstrated  by  the  Vice-President's 
order  being  promptly  obeyed. 

The  excitement  among  the  numerous  employees 
of  various  departments  of  the  Company  was  intense. 
The  corridors  of  the  great  building  were  crowded 
with  policemen  and  Deputy  Sheriffs,  and  Twenty- 
third  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue  were  thronged  with 
excited  people,  awaiting  the  bloody  contest  they 
believed  was  preparing  within  those  marble  walls. 
The  police  force  and  its  officers  were  plainly  favor- 
able to  the  Gould  side  of  the  controversy,  and  at  a 
word  from  him  would  undoubtedly  have  cleared  the 
building  of  all  who  opposed  him. 

Gould  remained  entrenched  in  the  law  room  until 
the  morning  of  March  1 2th.  All  officials  of  the  Com- 
pany, with  the  exception  of  General  Superintendent 
Rucker,  had  transferred  their  allegiance  to  General 
Dix.  Superintendent  Rucker  soon  reconsidered  his 
action  and  went  over  to  the  enemy.  Diplomacy  was 
now  brought  to  the  settlement  of  the  difficulty,  and 
by  it  Gould  plucked  victory  from  the  very  jaws  of 
defeat.  The  Dix  party  could  not  claim  that  the  law 
was  with  them,  but  they  loudly  assured  the  public 
that  they  had  justice  on  their  side.  They  had  routed 
Gould,  horse,  foot,  and  dragoon.  He  had  positively 
no  foothold  in  the  Company,  except  that  he  was  still 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  If  the  charges 
these  men  had  so  freely  made  against  him  as  to  the 
way  he  had  dealt  with  and  used  the  property  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  were  true,  he  was  not  a  man 
to  be  among  honorable  trustees  of  a  great  corpo- 
ration. His  place  was  among  malefactors,  or  his 
accusers  were  false  accusers  and  slanderers.  This 
man  that  the  newspapers  and  rival  stock  speculators 
and  railroad  managers  had  so  long  hounded  as  a 
criminal  was  brought  to  bay  at  last.  Surely  his  pun- 
ishment would  be  the  severest  ever  known.  Just 
men  had  to  deal  with  him  now.  His  transgression 
had  come  to  plague  him.  Did  the  men  who  had  run 
him  down  hurl  him  out  of  all  connection  and  associ- 
ation with  the  corporation  he  was  charged  with  de- 
spoiling,  and  hold   him   to  answer  for  his  crimes  ? 


There  is  no  record  that  they  did  so.  With  all  the 
power  they  had  so  suddenly  acquired,  these  bold 
men  were  afraid  of  the  man  they  had  stripped  of  all 
his  consequence  in  the  Erie  Railway  Company — he, 
with  but  a  handful  of  friends  and  supporters  left, 
among  the  hosts  that  had  been  wont  to  do  him 
homage.  The}-  dared  not  remove  him  from  his 
place  as  Director,  for  they  feared  him  yet,  and  knew 
he  could  make  them  trouble.  General  Sickles  being 
a  diplomat,  he  was  deputized  to  confer  with  Mr. 
Gould  and  his  counsel,  Field  &  Shearman.  The 
result  of  this  conference  was  that  General  Sickles 
agreed  to  the  proposition  that  Jay  Gould  should 
hold  a  formal  meeting  with  the  Directors,  and  that  at 
this  meeting  the  new  Directors  should  be  reelected. 
Then  Gould  was  to  resign  as  President,  and  Qeneral 
Dix  was  to  be  elected  to  succeed  him.  This  childish 
and  farcical  proceeding  was  carried  out,  thus  destroy- 
ing the  moral  force  of  the  deposing  of  Gould,  and 
leaving  him,  in  reality,  victor  over  his  conquerors. 
He  remained  in  the  Board  with  as  much  voice  in  the 
management  of  Erie  affairs  as  any  other  member 
had.  His  counsel,  Field  &  Shearman,  were  retained 
as  counsel  by  the  new  Board  in  cases  then  on  hand 
— a  rich  legacy  from  this  Gould  whom  the  reformers 
had  set  out  to  punish  so  terribly. 

The  Legislature  was  heard  from  on  March  13th. 
The  Classification  Act  was  repealed  on  that  day  in 
the  Senate,  and  on  the  14th  in  the  Assembly;  but 
Jay  Gould  was  not  worrying  about  classification  acts 
an)-  more.  On  March  15,  1872,  he  resigned  from 
the  Erie  Directory  without  giving  any  explanation 
lor  his  act.  General  Sickles,  being  a  diplomatist, 
counselled  Gould  to  this  course. 

"  If  you  resign,"  the  General  suggested  to  Mr. 
Gould,  "  it  will  send  the  price  of  Erie  up  fifteen 
points.     You  can  make  a  million  dollars." 

Gould,  acting  on  this  counsel,  quickly  purchased 
all  the  Erie  stock  he  could  get  for  the  next  two  or 
three  days,  and  then  resigned.  The  stock  advanced 
twenty  points  instead  of  fifteen,  and  the  deposed 
Erie  magnate  presumably  made  more  than  the 
$1,000,000  that  General  Sickles  had  so  kindly  shown 
him  the  way  to  make. 

Such  was  the  beginning,  the  course,  and  the  end 


190 


rWEEN     rill".    OCEAN    AND    Fill-:    LAKES 


of  Erie's  career  under  the  management  of  Jay  Gould, 
jay  Gould,  even,  did  not  know  then  the  extent  of 
the  duplicity  and  treachery  of  those  he  had  trusted, 
and  how  deep-laid  the  plot  for  his  dethronement  was 
among  them,  in  complicity  with  his  enemies.  He 
perhaps  never  would  have  known  it  but  for  the 
exposures  made  long  afterward  by  persons  who  were 
still  smarting  from  pique  and  disappointment  over 
what  small  recompense  the  manipulation  of  the  cam- 
paign against  him  had  brought  them  from  men  who 
had  climbed  to  power  through  his  defeat.  And  her» 
is  the  almost  incredible  story  of  it  all: 


V.    THE    DOCUMENTS    IV    THE    CASK. 

Frederick  A.  Lane  was  in  London  in  September, 
While  there  (according  to  his  own  statement) 
he  found  that  a  large  number  of  claims  had  been 
presented  to  the  representatives  of  the  English  stock- 
holders for  services  rendered  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
Gould  management  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 
"  A  number  of  my  friends  in  London"  (these  are 
his  own  words),  "  aware  of  the  prominent  part  I  had 
played,  urged  me  to  make  a  statement  of  the  ser- 
vices I  rendered.  It  was  proposed  that  a  select  din- 
ner should  be  given,  to  which  I  would  be  invited, 
and  that  I  should  deliver  an  address  on  the  occasion. 
I  did  not  like  this  method  of  making  an  exposition, 
being  averse  to  after-dinner  speeches.  Desirous, 
however,  of  acquainting  those  who  were  the  most 
concerned  with  the  facts  of  the  transaction,  and  of 
defeating  the  bogus  claimants  in  their  unjust  de- 
mands, I  ventured  to  make  a  statement  that  would 
cover  the  ground  full}-." 

This  seemed  to  have  been  satisfactory  to  those 
concerned,  and  Mr.  Lane  wrote  his  narrative,  and  had 
it  printed  for  exclusively  small  circulation.  Only 
five  copies  were  given  out  in  London  of  the  edition 
of  fifty  printed.  All  except  three  of  the  remainder 
were  destroyed  by  Mr.  Lane  himself.  When  he 
returned  to  New  York  he  brought  these  three  with 
him,  and  confided  them  to  the  reading  of  close 
friends,  one  of  whom  was  W.  Archdall  O'Dohcrty. 
the  three  copies,  two  were  returned  to  Lane. 
The  third  and  last  copy  of  this  edition  de  luxe  of 
Erie  secrets  never  came  back  to  him.     This  one  was 


the    O'Doherty  copy,    and    this    is   it   verbatim,    as 
(  I'Doherty  furnished  it  for  publication  : 

Till!    STATEMENT. 

London,  Sept.  22,  1872. 

Gentlemen: — It  has  been  suggested  to  me  that  a  narration 
of  the  different  steps  which  brought  about  the  Erie  coup  d'ttat 
last  Spring  would  be  beneficial  to  the  interests  of  the  stock- 
hi  ilders,  and,  at  tin-  same  time,  v.  1  mid  place  mj  c<  mnection  with 
that  event  before  the  public  in  a  proper  light  As  yon  are 
aware,  various  persons  have  laid  claim  to  producing  the  result 
which  placed  Gen.  Dix  at  the  head  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany, and  large  -urns  of  money  have  been  paid  to  those  who 
were  not  in  the  smallest  degree  entitled  to  remuneration  for 
any  services  performed  in  this  matter.  Whatever  steps  may 
have  been  taken  by  them  in  the  way  of  procuring  legislative 
interference  or  action  by  the  courts,  these  had  resulted  prac- 
tically in  nothing,  until  I  myself  originated  and  carried  out  the 
plan  which  resulted  in  suc<  ess  I  should  not  at  this  late  hour 
put  my  name  to  paper  to  claim  this,  unless  I  had  found  certain 
parties  absolutely  ignoring  me  and  putting  themselves  forward 
as  the  originators,  promoters,  or  chief  generals  of  the  attack. 

I  had  for  a  long  time  contemplated  resigning  my  position  as 
a  Director  of  the  company,  believing  that  the  interests  of  the 
Stockholders  would  be  best  served  by  an  entire  change  in  the 
Board,  and  I  so  advised,  repeatedly,  the  late  President,  Mr. 
Gould.  The  idea  finally  struck  me  that  the  majority  of  the 
Board  might,  for  a  small  consideration,  be  induced  to  resign, 
and  with  this  view  I  casually  mentioned  the  matter  one  morn- 
ing to  a  member  ot  the  Board.  Henry  Thompson,  feeling  sure 
that  with  his  known  resolution  and  active  cooperation  I  should 
succeed.  The  amount  we  fixed  upon  was  $500,000,  and  imme- 
diately after  I  commenced  the  negotiation.  I  proposed  the 
plan  to  Mr.  Olyphant.  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company.  He  thought  that  he  could  arrange  it,  and  con- 
sulted with  some  members  of  his  Hoard  in  reference  to  it. 
However.  I  opened  my  plan  to  Mr.  \V.  A.  O'Doherty.  a  par- 
ticular friend  of  Mr.  James  McHenry,  and  after  a  brief  inter- 
view it  was  considered  that  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railway  parties  could  afford  to  pay  more  for  the  position  than 
any  one  else.  A  cablegram  was.  therefore,  forwarded  to  Mr. 
McHenry,  and  thus  the  negotiation  commenced.  Copies  of  all 
this  cable  correspondence  were  retained  by  Mr.  O'Doherty, 
and  can  be  furnished  by  him.  After  a  little  while  the  negotia- 
tion with  Mr.  McHenry  seemed  to  halt,  and  I  was  about  to 
carry  it  through  with  other  parties.  Hut  Mr.  O'Doherty  was 
so  anxious  that  Mr.  McHenry  should  not  let  slip  this  oppor- 
tunity of  controlling  the  road  that,  at  this  juncture,  he  urged 
me  to  see  Mr.  Barlow.  This  I  was  exceedingly  loth  to  do, 
as  I  felt  confident  that  Mr.  Barlow  would  wish  to  get  a  large 
fee  for  himself,  and  that   he  would   not    lit    me  have   the  credit 

of  tin    transaction,     Finally,  I  consented  to  see  Mr.   Barlow 

with  Mr  O'Doherty,  and  then  followed  several  cables  from 
Mr.  Barlow  to  Mr.  McHenry.  in  which  I  myself  inserted  the 
amount  to  be  paid.  In  my  preliminary  conversation  with  Mr. 
Barlow.  I  had  made  it  a  riw  qua  non  that  Mr.  O'Doherty  and 
Mr.  I".  Graham  Gardiner,  both  friends  ol  mine,  should  have 
in  the  new  Board,  which  was  agreed  to.     Let  me  say  here, 

how  how  perfectly  the  whole  thing  was  in  my  hands,  that 

when  it  «  quently  found  that  there  were  objections  to 

Itli  men     I    dictated  a  settlement   with   them   by   which 
each  of  them  received  $25,000  for  allowing  their  names  to  be 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


191 


taken  off  the  new  list;  so  much  for  my  power  in  that  respect. 
But  to  return  to  my  narrative. 

.Mr.  Barlow  urged  the  importance  of  a  communication  with 
Gen.  Sickles,  and  I  finally  assented  to  a  meeting  between  Mr. 
Henry  Thompson  (late  Erie  Director),  Gen.  Sickles.  Mr. 
Barlow,  and  myself,  at  Mr.  Barlow's  house.  Here  the  amounts 
to  be  paid  were  talked  over.  After  this  time  we  had  various 
interview;,  and  we  endeavored  to  have  a  meeting  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Erie  Company,  for  the  purpose  of 
calling  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board,  at  which  the  overturn 
was  to  take  place.  This  was  found  to  be  impracticable,  as  Mr. 
Gould  was  a  member  of  that  committee.  The  tirst  Utter  sent 
to  Mr.  Gould  was  on  the  Friday  before  the  meeting,  as 
follows: 

Erie  Railway  Company, 

Xew  York,  March  8,  a.d.  i8;j. 

Mr.   'Jay  Gould,  President  Erie  Railway  Company  ; 

Sir: — The  undersigned.  Directors  of  this  company,  having 
witnessed  with  deep  regret  the  growing  distrust  which  per- 
vades the  community  in  regard  to  its  management,  deem  it 
their  duty  to  request  you  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  Board,  with  a 
view  to  the  consideration  of  such  measures  and  to  the  trans- 
action of  such  business  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  I' 
nent  among  the  embarrassments  are  it-  finances  and  a  g< 
want  of  confidence  in  the  credit  of  the  company.  Impressed 
with  the  responsibility  which  rests  upon  us.  we  regard  this  call 
for  a  meeting  as  an  imperative  duty,  and  therefore  respectfully 
t  that,  in  compliance  with  our  by-laws,  you  com  cue  the 
Board  at  a  meeting  to  be  held  on  Monday,  the  nth  day  of 
March,  at  \2  o'clock. 

Respectfully  yours. 


Frederick  A.  Lane. 
O.  II.  P.  Archer. 
M.  R.  Simons. 
John  Hilton. 


Henry  Thomp 
H.  X.  Otis. 
George  C.  Hall. 
Homer  Ramsdell. 


Justin  D.  White. 


Finding  that  no  notice  was  taken  of  this  request,  on  Satur- 
day, the  9th  of  March.  I  proposed  to  throw  off  all  reserve,  and 
have  the  meeting  called  for  the  Monday  following,  at  all 
hazards.  I  therefore  drafted  this  letter,  to  which  the  assenting 
members  signed  their  names,  my  own  being  signed  first  on  the 
list,  as  on  the  other. 

Erie  Railway  Office. 

March  9.  187^. 
Mr.  0.  H.  P.  Archer,  Vice-President  Erie  Railway  Company  ; 

Dear   Sir:— The   President  of  this   company  having  been 
requested  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
company  at  an  early  day,  and  not  being  able  to  communicate 
witli  him— though  we  have  endeavored  to  do  so— we  hereby 
request  you  to  issue  a  call  for  a  meeting  01"  the  Directors  of  this 
company  for  Monday,  the  nth  day  of  March,  at  noon,  at  the 
office  of  the  company  in  Twenty-third  Street.  Xew  \  ork. 
Yours  respectfully. 
Frederick  A.  Lane.         Henry  Thomi 
O.  H.  P.  Archer.  H.  X.  Otis. 

M.  R.  Simons.  George  C.  Hall. 

John  Hilton.  Homer  Ramsdell. 

Justin  D.  White. 


Mr.  Vice-President  Archer  then  directed  the  Secretary  to 
issue  a  call  for  a  meeting,  which  was  accordingly  done  as 
follows: 


Office  Erie  Railway  Company. 

Xew  York,  March  9,  1872. 
//.  .Y.  Otis,  Esq.,  Secretary: 

Dear  Sir: — Having  been  requested  by  several  of  the  Direct- 
ors to  call  a  meeting  of  the  Board  in  the  absence  of  the  Pres- 
ident, it  becomes  my  duty  to  request  and  instruct  you  to  that 
effect.     You  will  e,  immediately  -.end  proper  notice  to 

tin-  several  Directors,  requesting  them  to  meeting  to 

be  held  on   Mondaj   next,  tin-  11th  inst,  at  12  o'clock,  at  the 
office  of  the  company.  Twenty-third  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue. 
Yours  respectfully, 

O.  II.  P.  Archer,  Vice-President. 


This,  of  course,  allowed  Mr.  Gould  in  a  measure  to  know 
our  plans,  and  I  immediately  took  myself  off  to  a  neighboring 
city,  lest  some  legal  papers  might  be  served  on  me,  and  re- 
turned to  town  early  on  Monday  morning.  I  then  went  to  Mr. 
Barlow's  house  to  meet  the  incoming  members  of  the  pro- 
posed new  Board,  and  remained  there  (with  the  exception  of 
a  short  walk  with  Mr.  O'Doherty)  until  a  few  moments  before 
the  time  fixed  for  the  meeting  of  the  Board,  when  we  all 
started  for  the  Eric  building.  I  arranged  that  I  should  keep 
a  little  ahead  of  the  new  members,  who  followed  in  a  body,  so 
as  to  be  ready  to  take  their  seat  ley  were  chosen. 

1  hi  arriving  at  the   I  .   Mr.  Thompson  met  me  and 

said  that  the  building  was  in  charge  of  the  police,  and  that 
orders  had  been  given  to  admit  no  one  except  the  members 
of  the  Board  and  officials.  I  saw  that  prompt  action  was 
necessary,  and  I  immediately  gave  orders  to  the  ushers  as 
follow^: 

"  Mr.  Hicks,  you  will  go  to  the  entrance  ami  ask  Gen.  Dix 
to  send  me  his  card." 

On  the  coming  up  of  his  card  I  said.  "  Say  to  Gen.  Dix  that 
the  counsellor  of  the  company  will  be  glad  to  see  him  in  the 
Directors'  room." 

I  knew  that  an  official  order  like  this  would  be  obeyed,  and 
so  it  was.  for  in  a  few  moments  Gen.  Dix  made  his  appearance. 
I  pursued  the  same  course  with  the  others,  one  after  another, 
until  all  had  been  admitted  except  Mr.  Chas.  Day  and  Mr. 
Henry  G.  Stebbins,  when  the  usher  returned  and  said  that  Mr. 
Rucker,  the  General  Superintendent,  had  given  orders  that  no 
more  should  be  admitted.  I  then  turned  to  another  usher  and 
told  him  to  obey  my  orders  at  all  hazards.  In  a  few  moments 
both  of  these  gentlemen  came  in,  and  I  felt  that  the  battle  was 
won.  Immediately  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  the 
Vice-President,  and  after  the  reading  of  the  minutes  of  tl 

ng  had  been  dispensed  with.  I  moved  a  resolution  that  all 
the  attorneys  and  counsel  of  the  company  should  he  dismissed, 
and  Messrs.  Barlow.  Larocque.  and  MacFarland  be  the  only 
authorized  counsel  to  appear  for  the  corporation.  I  did  this 
to  prevent  any  action  being  brought  by  Messrs  Field  iS;  Shear- 
man in  the  name  of  the  company,  by  direction  of  Mr.  Gould. 
I  then  moved  that  Gen.  Dix  should  he  elected  a  director  in 
place  of  the  deceased  Col.  Fisk.  which  was  carried  unani- 
mously. Then  Gen.  McClellan  was  elected  to  fill  another 
vacancy.  About  this  time  a  messenger  appeared  with  a  bundle 
of  papers,  and  was  directed  to  serve  one  of  them  on  me.  He 
handed  me  a  copy  of  an  injunction,  when  I  demanded  to  see 
the  original  signature  of  the  judge  who  had  issued  it.  other- 
wise it  would  not  be  a  legal  service.  The  instant  he  opened 
the  original  to  show  it  to  me  I  seized  that  with  most  of  the 
be  had  to  serve  on  the  other  members  and  put  them  in 
my  pocket.  In  the mtlie which  ensued,  the  original  injunction 
was  torn      After  I  had  put  the  papers  in  my  pocket,  we  went 


BETWEEN  l'HE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


on  with  the  election  of  the  new   members.     The  "  conspira- 

!  in  turn,  ami  the  new  members  were  chosen, 

after  another,  in  their  places.    "  Last,  though  not  least," 

the  author  of  this  tendered  his  resignation. 

Almi  :>  as  the  meeting  had  been  organized,  as  be- 

1.1  was  informed  by  Mr.  Barlow  that  Mr.  Gould  had 
n  orders  that  himself  and  his  friends  should  be  put  out 
of  the  building.     I  invited  them  all  into  the  Directors'  room  and 
In  a  moment  we  heard  the  advancing  steps 
of   a  captain,    with    about    live    hundred    of    the    worst 

specimens  of  New  York  rowdies  and  vagabonds  at  his  back. 
But  I  was  not  to  be  intimidated  even  by  these,  and  told  Captain 
Petty,  the  police  officer,  that  I  would  hold  him  strictly  ac- 
countable lor  any  harm  that  might  come,  and  before  he  could 
tell  who  bad  been  and  who  had  not  been  chosen  Directors,  we 
had  all  the  new  members  elected,  and  he  did  not  dare  to  lay 
hands  upon  them.  Many  of  those  rowdies  were  thoroughly 
armed,  and  if  there  had  been  any  melee,  1  should  have  been 
singled  out  as  being  evidently  the  leader  in  the  matter,  and  my 
life  would,  no  doubt,  been  endangered.  So  great  was  the 
feeling  against  me  that  night  that,  by  urgent  solicitation  of 
my  frien  Is.  I  kept  away,  and  put  myself  in  charge  of  a  marshal. 

After  1  had  tendered  my  resignation,  the  Board,  as  reor- 
ganized, proceeded  to  pass  a  resolution  removing  Mr.  Gould 
and  placing  Gen.  Dix  at  the  head  of  the  company  as  its  Presi- 
dent. I  leave  it  to  others  to  tell  what  took  place  afterward. 
J  assert  deliberately,  and  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that 
I  originated  the  plan  which  was  so  successfully  carried  out, 
and  that  without  my  assistance  it  would  not  have  been  car- 
ried out  at  all. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Frederick  A.  Lane, 
Late  Counsellor  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 


Mr.  O'Doherty  made  this  circular  public  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1873,  and  it  caused  such  excitement  not  only 
in  New  York  City  and  along  the  line  of  the  Erie, 
but  throughout  the  entire  country,  as  no  event  in  the 
history  of  the  railroad  or  Company  had  yet  created. 
Not  even  the  tumultuous  and  well-nigh  bloody  days 
of  the  Gould  revolution,  a  year  before,  had  been  so 
fraught  with  material  for  public  perusal  as  came  on 
the  heels  of  this  astounding  revelation.  That  money 
had  been  used  to  turn  Gould  out  of  the  Erie  man- 
agement had  always  been  believed,  especially  by 
men  in  the  circles  of  finance  everywhere,  but  up  to 
this  time  there  had  been  no  positive  evidence  that 
such  was  the  fact.  Many  found  it  almost  impos- 
sible to  believe  the  damaging  statements  made  in 
the  circular,  hut  they  were  true.  And  they  v 
the  means  of  bringing  from  their  long  hiding  place 
much  more  of  strange  conduct  on  the  part  of  custo- 
dians (,f  Eric,  past  and  pr<  uch  .1,  dwarfed 
ry  other  subject  then  uppermost  in  the  public 
mind  as  enthralling  topics  of  the   day.      Mr.    Lane 


professed  surprise  and  indignation  that  the  circular 
should  have  been  made  public,  and  charged  O'Do- 
herty with  a  breach  of  confidence  in  having  brought 
the  exposition  about.  O'Doherty,  on  the  contrary, 
declared  that  it  had  been  given  out  not  only  with 
the  full  knowledge  of  Lane,  but  at  his  persistent 
solicitation. 

O'Doherty  had  been  associated  with  Jay  Gould  as 
Receiver  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad 
Company,  and  had  been  removed  as  such,  with 
Gould,  through  the  instrumentality  of  S.  L.  M.  Bar- 
low. He  retained  no  warm  personal  feeling  for  Bar- 
low,  but  still  had  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  James 
McHenry.  To  substantiate  the  statements  made  in 
Lane's  circular  that  he  "  had  copies  of  all  the  cable 
correspondence  and  could  furnish  it,"  O'Doherty 
followed  the  making  public  of  the  circular,  and  added 
interest  and  importance  to  this  latest  sensational 
chapter  in  Erie,  by  furnishing  that  correspondence. 
He  and  Lane,  it  seems,  had  agreed  upon  their  pro- 
gramme February  10,  1872,  and  on  the  evening  of 
that  day  the  first  dispatch  was  cabled  to  London. 

THE  STORY  THE  CABLE  TOLD. 

New  York,  Saturday,  10//1  February,  1872, 
10  o'clock  p.m. 
fames  McHenry,  Oak  Lodge,  Kensington,  London  : 

Will  you  lodge  one  and  a  half  million  dollars  in  a  trust  com- 
pany here  or  in  Philadelphia,  payable  only  on  condition  that 
you  shall  nominate  a  majority  of  Eric  Board,  and  have  them 
elected  within  a  week  of  deposit?  I  guarantee  success,  and 
know  that  your  present  plans  will  fail.  Inform  no  one  but 
Bischoffscheim.  Answer  me  immediately  to  No.  77  Clinton 
Place  (Eighth  Street),  but  communicate  with  no  one  else  here. 
If  you  say  "  Yes,"  a  special  messenger  shall  have  lure  by 
steamer  on  Wednesday.  O'DOHERTY. 

General  Sickles  being  then  in  this  country,  eng: 
in  his  quiet  and  entirely  conventional  campaign  to 
accomplish  the  same  end,  as  the  duly  authorized 
agent  of  James  McHenry  and  Bischoffscheim  & 
Goldschmidt,  and  George  Crouch  having  but  re- 
cently landed  here  on  a  similar  errand,  O'Doherty's 
dispatch  was  not  only  a  surprise-  but  .1  mystery  to 
McHenry.  He  consulted  with  his  associates  in  the 
anti-Gould  movement,  and  it  was  decided  that  it 
would  be  well  to  learn  more  of  the  O'Doherty  plan. 
Early  on  Monday  morning,  February  12th,  this  dis- 
patch came  from  McHenry: 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


i93 


London.  Monday,  12th  February.  1872. 

W.  Archdall   O'Doherty,  77  Clinton   Place  (Eighth  Street], 
New  ]  ork  : 

Do  you  propose  Gould  and  friends  shall  remain  in  Board? 

Reply.        .  McHenry. 


The  meaning  of  this  was  plain.  Upon  a  satisfac- 
tory reply  to  it  depended  all  hope  of  future  nego- 
tiation. McHenry  was  answered  the  same  day  as 
follows : 

No  compromises  to  be  made  with  any  one.  With  majority 
of  Board  your  first  act  may  be  to  remove,  or  force,  resignations 
of  all  opponents.  You  will  find  four  millions  in  bunds,  etc., 
in  treasury,  and  stock  will  jump  up.  Your  final  decision  must 
be  made  at  once.  Information  to  any  one  here  will  ruin  all. 
Gould  and  friends  powerless.  If  action  is  immediate,  success 
is  certain.     Can  you  suggest  cipher?  O'Doherty. 

This  was  an  apparent  deliberate  throwing  out  of 
the  Erie  treasury  as  a  bait.  Fears  that  "  others" 
might  become  aware  of  the  scheme  and  thwart  it,  or 
come  in  for  a  division  of  the  prospective  spoils,  were 
plainly  agitating  the  schemers,  and  the  answer  to 
this  last  dispatch  was  by  no  means  reassuring.  It 
came  on  the  13th : 

We  require  to  know  purpose  of  deposit,  and  how  amount 
is  to  be  reimbursed.  Agent  should  come  here  with  serious 
plans,  and  able  to  give  explanations,  and  business  may  be  done. 

McHenry. 

This  was  alarming.  The  sending  of  an  agent 
abroad  meant  the  using  up  of  a  month  of  time  and 
the  absence  of  O'Doherty  from  the  scene  of  action, 
for  Lane  was  persona  non  grata  with  McHenry  and 
Bischoffscheim,  and  it  would  not  do  to  entrust  the 
delicate  mission  to  a  third  party.  Hence  O'Doherty 
became  positive  and  decisive  in  his  tone.  He  re- 
plied to  McHenry  as  follows,  on  even  date: 

You  mistake  plans  and  position  of  affairs.  The  $1,500,000 
bonus  to  be  paid  for  control,  and  can  only  be  got  back  by  profit 
on  stock.  No  explanations  of  mode  of  proceedings  shall  be 
asked,  or  will  be  given,  as  you  are  asked  to  pay  nothing  until 
you  get  what  you  want.  You  must  decide  at  once,  or  control 
will  pass  from  you  forever.  Others  would  grasp  eagerly  at 
your  chance.  Even  if  proceedings  at  Albany  succeed,  they 
might  serve  Heath  and  Raphael,  hut  will  ruin  you.  The 
deeper  you  and  Bischoffscheim  are  committed  in  Atlantic, 
and  the  blacker  things  look,  the  more  vital  to  you  is  the  con- 
trol of  Erie.  If  you  cannot  trust  my  judgment  and  sincerity 
you  had  better  give  up  negotiations.  You  owe  it  to  me  to 
be  frank.  Unless  you  answer  explicitly  and  immediately  I 
cannot  keep  offer  open.     I  have  seen  Crouch. 

O'Doherty. 


He  had  "seen  Crouch."  The  seeing  of  Crouch 
did  not  tend  toward  strengthening  the  hopes  of  the 
O'Doherty-Lane  combination.  Crouch  had  just 
arrived  in  New  York  from  London.  There  was  110 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  dickerers  for  the  sale  of 
Erie  that  he  was  in  New  York  either  charged  with 
a  mission  of  some  kind  by  the  English  stockholders 
or  with  a  scheme  of  his  own  for  changing  the  control 
of  Erie.  The  reply  sent  by  McHenry  to  O'Do- 
herty's  long  and  warning  dispatch  was  brief  and  bore 
no  burden  of  encouragement.  It  also  came  on  the 
13th,  and  read: 

Your  dispatch  under  consideration  for  definite  reply. 

McHenry. 

Three  days  passed  without  the  definite  reply  from 
McHenry,  and  the}-  were  days  of  painful  suspense  to 
Lane  and  O'Doherty,  and  at  last,  when  the  reply 
came,  on  the  evening  of  the  16th,  its  definiteness  was 
by  no  means  agreeable  to  them.  It  brought  one  of 
their  worst  fears  to  realization.  A  third  party  must 
be  taken  into  their  confidence,  and  that  third  party 
must  be  one  whom  they  least  desired  to  share  their 
secret — S.  L.  M.  Barlow.  This  was  the  reply  from 
McHenry: 

I  have  complete  confidence  in  your  loyalty  to  my  interests, 
but  my  friends  decline  association  with  Gould  on  any  terms. 
But  for  the  lease  of  the  railroad  ami  resignation  of  the  whole 
Board,  or  for  placing  property  in  the  hands  of  Receiver,  ar- 
ranged with  my  agents  in  New  York,  will  pay  amount  required. 

McHenry. 

The  "  lease  of  the  railroad  "  meant  the  securing 
and  insuring  the  lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railroad  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 
S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  counsel  of  the  latter  Company,  was 
the  only  agent  of  the  English  syndicate  with  whom 
Lane  and  O'Doherty  could  consult  in  this  mi 
and  they  sought  him  with  anything  but  sanguine 
expectations  for  the  future  of  their  negotiations  in 
regard  to  profit.  At  the  interview  with  Harlow  on 
the  17th,  before  exposing  their  plan  to  him,  O'Do- 
herty, according  to  his  own  subsequent  statement, 
but  Lane,  according  to  Barlow's  declaration,  said: 

"  I  shall  insist  on  three  preliminaries  from  you. 
First,  that  you  will  not  speak  of  the  matter  to  any- 
body; second,  that  you  will  not  ask  any  part  of  the 


13 


194 


BETWEEN    THE   OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


kv  to  be  made  out  of  it ;  and,  third,  that  you 
will  not  seek  to  reduce  the  amount  of  my  compensa- 
tion and  that  of  my  associate-." 

Barlow  demurred  to  the  second  preliminary,  "  jok- 
ingly," he  said  (which  was  not  the  opinion  of 
O'Doherty),  but  finally  agreed  to  all  three.  Then 
the  plan  they  had  formed  of  inducing  the  resignation 
of  certain  Director-,  .is  stated  in  Lane's  circular,  was 
revealed  to  Harlow.  lie  pondered  over  it  a  day  or 
and  on  the  19th  concluded  to  take  a  hand  in  the 
negi  -.      He    answered    McHenry's    last    dis- 

patch to  O'Doherty  as  follows: 

i  >'Doherty.     Receivership,  through  action  of  the 
■•!.  impolitic,  useless.     Lease  now  equally  so.     In  future 
this  may  be  arranged.     What   is   offered   is   ten   members 
the   present    Board   named    by   yon.     Immediate    withdrawal 
ower.      His     resignation  to    be    forced    afterward. 
Lam  tion  given.     Vastly  important  if  money  can  be 

raised.     No  payment  until  majority  oi  Board  elected  bj   you. 

Barlow. 

To  this  McHenry  responded  next  day,  the  20th: 

If   McClellan   is   made    President   we   may   arrange   it.     Im- 
•  le  to  negotiate,  leaving  Gould  in.  McHENRY. 

The  cable  was  kept  hot  all  the  rest  of  the  day  as 

follows  : 

Scheme  entirely  without  knowledge  of  Gould.  If  McClellan 
1-  put  in  his  place,  with  Treasurer  and  majority  of  Board,  can 
money  be  put  up  at  once,  subject  to  payment  when  accom- 
plish. Barlow. 


Addendum — Your  last  chance. 
To  this  the  response  came: 


O'Doherty. 


Translate  your  telegram  to  mean  Gould  resign  with  nine 
director-,  and  that  we  nominate  ten.  including  President.  On 
this  basis   we  arc  ready  to  act.  but   if  ma  tent   with 

your  negotiations,  would  like  to  have  Sickles's  opinion. 

Mi  Henry. 

The  above  message  was  addressed  to  Barlow,  but 
it  aroused  O'Doherty,  who  answered  it  thus: 

I  will  not  communicate,  or  allow  of  communication,  with 
Sickles.     Day  knows  all.  O'Doherty. 

Day,  who  "knew  all,"  was  Charles  Day,  who 
expected  to  be  in  the  new  Erie  Director)'.  This 
utterance  from  O'Doherty  called  for  conciliation  on 
the  part  of  McHenry,  and  he  hastened  to  cable  it  in 
these  agreeable  words: 


1  have  too  much  regard  for  you  to  communicate  directly,  or 

indirectly,  with  any  one  against  your  opinion.       M<  Henry. 

During  this  time,  and  up  to  the  22<\  of  February, 
Barlow  must  have  been  corresponding  with  London 
on  his  own  responsibility,  for  he  telegraphed  O'Do- 
herty from  Washington,  D.  C,  on  the  latter  day  as 
follows: 

London  entirely  confident  of  success.  I  am  perfectly  satis- 
fied we  can  arrange  to  your  satisfaction.  Will  be  home  to- 
morrow night.  Barlow. 

Then  O'Doherty  heard  no  more  from  London  for 
several  days.  He  discovered,  in  the  meantime,  that 
General  Sickles  had  transferred  his  attention  from 
Albany  to  New  York,  and  that  Crouch  was  sus- 
piciously active  in  Erie  affairs.  Both  were  evidently 
on  the  ground  by  authority,  and  on  March  3d, 
1  >'  1  toherty  cabled  these  ominous  words  to  McHenry: 

Beware  Present  plans  will  result  in  loss  of  money  and 
disgraceful  failure.      Save  yourself.  O'Doherty. 

It  did  not  seem  to  be  exactly  clear  to  the  London 
negotiator  as  to  what  O'Doherty  meant,  and  he 
cabled  on  the  4th  as  follows: 

Further  suggestions  will  be  gladly  received.        McHenry. 

In  his  response  to  this  O'Doherty  was  firm,  but 
cautious : 

Opinion  unchanged.  Choice  of  agent  and  present  pro- 
gramme ruinous.     Cannot  cable  particulars.       O'Doherty. 

McHenry  pondered  on  this  for  three  days,  and 
then  cabled  on  the  8th  : 

Your  advice  much  appreciated,  but  depend  on  you  aiding 
Sickles's  campaign,  for  whose  success  I  am  responsible.  I 
arranged  programme  after  serious  survey  of  the  whole  field, 
and  will  take  care  of  your  interests.  Mi  Henry. 

This  seemed  to  be  satisfactory  to  O'Doherty,  and 
the  events  of  the  approaching  crisis  and  its  brilliant 
climax  were  tersely  recorded  in  the  appended  cable 
bulletins  of  March  9th,  10th,  nth,  and  12th: 

Board  meeting  is  arranged  for  next  Monday.  By  1  o'clock 
011  that  day  you  shall  have  your  wish.  All  now  depends  on 
h0W   wisely   you   Use   your   victory.  O'DOHERTY. 

Thanks  for  your  dispatch.  You  may  depend  on  out  appre- 
ciation of  such  momentous  evi  Mi  Henry. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


195 


Complete  victory.  Nine  of  your  men  elected:  Dix,  Mc- 
Clellan,  Stebbins,  Barlow,  Diven,  Day,  Sherman,  Travers,  and 
another.  Gould  removed.  Dix,  President.  Sherman,  Treas- 
urer. Barlow.  Counsel.  Gould  shows  fight.  Office  full  of 
police,  but  Gould  utterly  routed.  Lane,  before  resigning,  be- 
haved splendidly.     I  congratulate  you.  O'Doherty. 


Thanks  for  brilliant  victory. 


McHenry. 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    THE    SPOILS. 

Yet  for  all  this"  brilliant  victory,"  thus  gracefully 
acknowledged  by  McHenry,  when  the  distribution 
of  the  reward  for  it  came  O'Doherty  found  that  the 
price  of  it  all  had  been  cut  down  to  §300,000  by 
Barlow,  and  that  he  himself  had  not  come  in  for  one 
penny  of  the  recompense.  According  to  a  state- 
ment of  Lane,  O'Doherty  would  not  have  received 
anything  at  all  but  for  his  (Lane's)  intervention  with 
Barlow,  who  consented  to  a  payment  of  §25,000  to 
him,  a  sum  no  more  than  Lane's  friend,  J.  Graham 
Gardiner,  who  had  not  appeared  anywhere  in  the 
proceedings,  received.  This  $50,000  was  paid  by 
McHenry  on  the  request  of  Barlow.  The  §300,000 
was  distributed  as  follows:  Frederick  A.  Lane  and 
Henry  Thompson,  §67,500  each;  M.  H.  Simons, 
$40,000;  O.  H.  P.  Archer,  Vice-President,  §40,000; 
H.  N.  Otis,  the  Secretary,  John  Hilton,  and  Treas- 
urer Justin  D.  White,  §25,000  each;  George  Crouch, 
§50,000.  General  Sickles  was  paid  his  price  out  of 
another  fund  furnished  by  the  Englishmen.  Be- 
sides that  payment,  General  Sickles  put  in  the  fol- 
lowing bill,  which  was  paid  from  the  Erie  Railway 
Company's  treasury: 

"The  Erie  Railway  Company, 

Dr.  to  Daniel  E.  Sickles. 

April,  1872.— For  disbursements  to  the  several  individuals 
named  below,  for  their  services  and  expenses 
in  the  contest  to  wrest  from  the  recent  man- 
agers the  control  in  the  interest  of  the  stock- 
holders of  the  road,  as  follows  (by  resolution 
of  the  Board) : 

No.     I.   Francis  Barlow.  Attorney-General.  scrviccs.$10.000  00 
No.     3.  Gen.   George   H.    Sharpe,   services   and  ex- 
penses   1.25000 

Xo.     4.  Silas  Seymour,  services  and  expenses 1. 000  00 

No.     5.  James  Thompson,  services  and  expenses...  5,000  00 

No.     7.  John  II.  Parker,  services  and  expenses 2,000  00 

No.     8.   T.  L.  Nichols  &  Seymour,  petitions 1,627  00 

No.    9.  Messrs.   Barlow,   MacFarland   &  Larocque, 

services 5'000  °° 


No.   10.  Simon  Stevens,  services $2,500  00 

No.  11.  Benjamin   Field,  services 1.00000 

No.  12.  C.  P.  Shaw,  services  and  expenses 1,250  00 

No.  13.  Thomas  E.  Stuart 500  00 

No.   14.  J.  II.  Ramsey,  for  sending  retainers 1.800  00 

No.  15.  George  Crouch,   services 1.29500 

No.  16.  Hale  &  Hand,  fees  and  disbursements 11.500  00 

No.   17.  P.  Willard  Bullard,  services 1.50000 

No.  18.  Wheeler   H.   Peckham 1,00000 

No.  20.  C.  Day.  cablegrams  and  expenses 1.215  27 

No.  21.  Western    Union    Telegraph    Co.    Acct.    and 

Sundries 28086 

No.  22.   United  States  Marshal's  services 35000 

No.  23.  Incidentals,  such  as  board  bills 3563  96 

No.  24.  W.    E.    Chandler 50000 

No.  25.  C.   Day.  services 5.000  00 

No.  26.  W.  H.  Morgan,  services 25000 

No.  28.  John  E.   Kennedy,  services 250  00 

Total $59632  19 


THE    DRAMATIC   STORY   OF   CROUCH'S    LETTERS. 

The  revelations  made  by  Lane  and  O'Doherty 
brought  out  another  claimant  for  the  "honor"  of 
having  originated  the  plan  of  campaign  that  resulted 
in  the  revolution  of  1872.  This  was  George  Crouch. 
The  following,  which  are  copies  of  letters  written 
and  cablegrams  sent  by  him  to  James  McHenry 
during  the  anti-Gould  campaign,  tell  his  significant 
story,  and  reveal,  more  than  any  other  record  of  the 
event,  the  true  inwardness  of  the  motives  actuating 
the  prime  movers  in  the  revolution.  These  docu- 
ments are  by  far  the  most  instructive  and  entertain- 
ing of  all  the  literature  of  that  stirring  epoch  in  the 
history  of  Erie. 

Hoffman-  House.  New  York,  February  20,  1872. 
James  McHenry,  Esq.,  Westminster  Chambers,  Victoria  St-- 
London  : 

Dear  Sir: — A  few  hours  after  landing.  Lane  was  at  me, 
offering  me  "any  terms"  if  I  would  work  with  him.  He 
"  pumped  '*  me  desperately  but  I  tired  him  out.  Before  apply- 
ing to  you  for  $1,500,000,  he  sounded  some  of  my  men  in  the 
Directory,  but  they  knew  he  is  not  to  be  trusted.  He  finally 
declared  himself  altogether  hostile  to  Gould,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  that  he  is  willing  to  turn  against  him  11'  satisfied 
that  there  is  a  good  prospect  of  success.  I  hear  that  Gould  is 
very  anxious  to  see  me.  bnt  I  am  not  quite  ready  for  him. 
Gen.  Diven  is  now  out  of  the  Directory,  but  he  is  bitterly 
opposed  to  Gould.  Henry  Thompson  and  Hilton  can  he  de- 
pended upon.  Fisk's  friends.  Simons  and  Hall,  would  gladly 
see  Gould  overthrown.  Ramsdell  is  firm.  Si--'>:i  is  d 
ously  ill:  not  expected  to  recover.  White  will  obey  the 
"  powers  that  be."  The  new  men.  Drake  and  Sherwood,  are 
under  the  control  of  Eldridge.  of  Elmira. 

The  most  important  man  just  now  is  Otis,  the  Secretary. 


196 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


As  I  told  you,  his  record  is  clean.     He  has  protested  against 

GouK:  rities  long,  and  would  ha- 

but  his  position  i?  bread  and  butter  to  him,  and  he  has 

seeing  the  end  of  Gould's  management 

<    men  are  ripe  (or  revolt,  but  want  to  be  pretty  certain 
of  sin-  they  strike.     It's  no  use  letting   Harlow  and 

Sickle-  waste  money  on  the  law  and  the  Legislature. 

les  has  been  absent  since  my  return,  but  I  learn  that  he 
ne  nothing.     He  is  taking  a  holiday  at   Niagara  during 
the  recess  of  tin-  Legislature,  but  1  have  asked  Day  to  tel( 
him.  and  he  will  be  here  to-morrow. 
Truly  yours, 

George  Crouch. 


man  House.  New  York.  February  23,  1872. 
James  McHtnry,  Esq.: 

I>k\r  Sir: — I  told  you  when  I  was  in  London  that  Sickles 
many  respects,  an  unhappy  selection  as  leader  of  your 
lent  to  obtain  legislative  support  against  Gould.  Here, 
on  the  ground,  my  impressions  are  confirmed,  but  after  seeing 
the  General,  and  finding  that  no  one  was  more  aware  of  this 
than  himself,  and  that  consequently  he  has  been  politic  enough 
to  deny  being  in  any  way  concerned  in  Erie  matters,  and. 
further,  finding  that  he  acknowledged  that  he  can  do  little  or 
nothing  in  Albany.  I  decided  to  let  him  into  my  scheme.  At 
first  he  considered  the  thing  utterly  impossible,  but  when  I 
named  the  men  I  had  secured  he  was  astonished  and  delighted. 

The  Legislature  has  adjourned  until  the  26th.  The  fate  of 
the  classification  bill  will  be  decided  soon  after  they  reassemble. 
but  if  everything  works  well  I  think  Gould  will  be  abolished 
first. 

I  have  now  discovered  beyond  doubt  that  Lane  came  to  me 
in  Gould's  interest.  The  fact  is.  Lane  is  smart  enough  to  real- 
ize that  he  has  been  too  badly  tarred  by  contact  with  Gould 
to  expect  anything  from  a  new  management,  and  consequently 
he  is  now  making  a  desperate  attempt  to  get  something  out  of 
him  before  he  is  ousted.  Finding  Lane  could  not  get  into  my 
confidence.  Gould  set  other  agents  to  work.  Would  like 
me  at  his  house  in  the  evening.  I  refused  to  put  my  head  in 
his  no  er.      No   further  evidence   is  needed   to  show 

that  he  is  feeling  decidedly  uncomfortable.     The  handwriting 
is  on  the  wall. 

The  work  of  undermining  the  Erie  citadel  is  going  on 
rapidly,  and  I  am  confident  of  bringing  Gould  down  with  a 
crash  before  long.  Some  of  the  Directors  I  have  mentioned 
will  be  worth  retaining,  and  Gould  once  gone,  it  will  be  an 
atter  to  weed  the  others  out.  one  by  one.  At  present 
it  will  not  do  to  talk  of  making  a  "  clean  sweep,''  as  that  will 
free  some  to  stand  by  him. 

Hoffman  House,  New  York.  February  28,  1872. 
James  Mel fcury,  Esq.: 

Sir: — Since  writing  you  last,  much  has  been  accom- 
plished,  and  I  am  now  confident  of  success.  I  am  in  hopes 
that  1"  11  will  have  been  advised  by  cable  of 

Gould's  removal. 

tting  that  I  h  ■  give  you  details  of  oper- 

ations, I  hasten  to  ri  llts.     Notwithstanding  the  vigi- 

lance  of  the   detectives    Gould   has    put    on    my   track,    I    have 

Ltion  with  my  friend-  in 
the  Directory.  interview  with  Otis,  he  gave  me  the 

inclosed  statement  of  the  finances  of  the  company  and  you  may 


rely  on  its  accuracy.  All  information  obtained  which  might 
be  useful  to  you  I  have  immediately  communicated  to  Mr. 
Day.  in  order  that  he  might  cable  you  in  cipher.  Oti-  is  now 
in  constant  communication  with  me.  and  posts  me  a-  to  Gould's 
every  move.  Introduced  Thompson  to  Sickles  on  Monday  la-t. 
lie  111.111  -elected  to  lead  the  revolt  in  the  Hoard.  1  know 
Thompson  thoroughly.  His  record  in  Erie  is  clear,  and  all 
the  good  men  will  stand  by  him.  The  General  at  once  ap- 
proved of  the  selection,  and  a  satisfactory  arrangement  was 
made  as  to  funds.  Since  writing  last  I  have  had  an  interview 
with  Hilton.  A  thorough  understanding  resulted.  1  told  you 
I  could  answer  for  him.  He  gave  me  his  views  of  Gould 
twelve  month-  ago.  George  C.  Hall  was  the  next  to  sign 
articles,  and  we  now  count  on  Simons,  Ramsdell.  Sisson,  and 
White  besides,  making  eight  out  of  fourteen.  We  now  cal- 
culate on  electing  three  good  nun  to  till  existing  vacani 
thus  getting  eleven  out  of  seventeen.  The  re-t  will  be  easy. 
As  it  is,  Gould  dare  not  call  a  meeting.  He  "  smells  a  mil 
but  can't  ferret  it  out  yet.  As  to  Lane,  I  need  say  nothing. 
You  know  him  as  well  as  I  do.  He  is  of  no  further  use  to 
Gould,  and  we  can  use  him  if  necessary.  Consider  him 
muzzled. 

March  10th. 
James  McHciiry,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir: — Just  a  few  hurried  lines  on  the  eve  of  battle. 
Up  to  this  time  my  labors  have  been  entirely  successful,  and 
to-morrow  I  am  confident  we  shall  put  Gould's  forces  to  rout. 
We  have  moved  against  the  enemy  in  three  columns.  One, 
headed  by  Sickles,  has  been  diverting  him  in  the  I.,  gislature; 
another,  under  the  Attorney-General,  has  been  threatening  a 
think  movement  in  the  court-:  and  the  third,  under  yours  truly 
(composed  principally  of  sappers  and  miners'),  has  succeeded 
in  undermining  the  very  citadel  of  Erie.  In  order  to  cover 
my  mining  operations,  I  kept  up  an  incessant  bombardment 
through  the  pre--,  as  you  will  see  by  paper-  forwarded.  To- 
morrow the  mine  will  be  fired,  and  the  forlorn  hope  will 
it  the  bi  each. 

I  worked  night  and  day  until  I  had  secured  a  majority  Direc  - 
ory.  We  now  have  under  our  flag,  Hilton,  Simons,  Hall, 
Thompson,  Otis.  Archer.  Ramsdell,  Sisson.  White,  and  Lane, 
making  ten.  On  the  other  side  are  Gould,  Sherwood,  and 
Eldridge.     Lane  ha  ourse,  tried  to  be  tricky  again,  but 

Thompson  is  holding  him  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  and  he  can't 
wriggle  away. 

Yesterday  our  men  met.  headed  by  Ramsdell,  Thompson. 
and  Archer,  and  called  a  meeting  in  spite  of  Gould's  opposi- 
tion. To-morrow  the  first  thing  will  be  to  fill  the  existing 
vacancies.  That  done,  Hilton,  Simons,  Thompson,  Otis. 
Sisson.  White,  and  Lane  will  resign  in  turn  in  favor  of  the  new 
men,  and  the  first  act  of  the  new  Board  will  be  to  depose  Gould. 

\\  e  have  calculated  that  Gould  will  not  stick  at  anything 
to-morrow  when  he  finds  himself  doomed,  but  have  taken 
all  possible  precautions  against  any  mischief. 

Erik  BUILDING,  I'm  -mixi's  Offn  e, 

March  n,  1872 — u'j  r.w. 
James  McHenry,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir: — I  telegraphed  you  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  that 
success  was  certain.  To-night  I  sit  at  Gould's  desk,  and  have 
the  pleasure  of  penning  this  brief  di-patch  on  official  paper. 
I  am  too  tired  to  give  you  an  account  of  to  day's  lighting. 
You  will  see  it  in  the  papers.     Archer  and  myself  volunteered 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


197 


to  bivouac  on  the  field,  knowing  that  Gould  would  invent 
some  new  deviltry  as  soon  as  11  became  dark.  We  arc  hold- 
ing the  Eighth  Avenue  line  from  the  President's  office  to  the 
dining  room. 

The  enemy  holds  the  Twenty-third  Street  line.  We  also 
hold  the  safes  and  the  treasury  down  stairs.  Gould  has  his 
headquarters  in  the  counsellor's  room  with  Field.  Shearman. 
Tweed,  and  other  "glorious  remnants"  of  the  ring.  Ah. nit 
two  hundred  of  the  worst  desperadoes  in  New  York  are 
massed  against  the  doors  we  have  barricaded. 

Since  writing  the  above,  the  enemy  has  attempted  to  break 
into  the  safes.  By  making  a  bold  front  with  our  small  force 
we  drove  them  off.  Have  sent  for  Sickles  and  Barlow  for 
reinforcements,  but  two  hours  have  elapsed  since  the  mes- 
senger started,  and  we  have  now  abandoned  all  hopes  of  aid 
from  the  outside.  Gould's  fellows  hold  all  the  outside  doors, 
and  we  are  completely  isolated.  Unless  we  hold  out,  Gould 
will  sack  the  safes  and  the  treasury  and  clear  out  for  Jersey. 
Our  people  almost  deserve  to  lose  the  fruits  of  the  victory 
for  their  folly  in  not  helping  us  to  get  a  sufficient  force  to  keep 
the  field. 

The  new  policemen  have  been  won  over  by  Gould,  and  our 
position  is  extremely  unpleasant.  If  Gould  lets  his  gang  loose 
there  won't  be  much  left  of  us  in  the  morning. 

3  a.m. — The  enemy  have  just  crashed  through  Rucker's  door 
into  the  President's  room.  We  only  snapped  the  sliding  doors 
together  and  fastened  them  in  time  to  prevent  their  sweeping 
clean  through  on  us.  Situation  desperate,  but  at  critical  mo- 
ment managed  to  get  a  parley  with  Gould's  lawyer.  Shearman 
finally  convinced  that  game  was  up.  Hostilities  suspended. 
Shearman  goes  back,  and  Gould  breaks  at  last — is  completely 
unmanned,  breaks  into  tears,  and  sends  out  to  ask  terms  of 
surrender. 

Daybreak.— All  settled.     Off  to  bed.     "  Good  night." 


CROL'CH'S    CABLEGRAMS. 

Feb.  15.— Progressing  well.  Buy  all  you  want  and  hold 
confidently. 

Feb.  24. — Gould's  removal  inevitable. 

Feb.  27. — Majority  of  Erie  Directory  with  us.  Gould  power- 
less.    Have  loaded  up  in  this  market  at  thirty. 

Feb.  29. — Gould  completely  tied.  Keep  secret.  Every  pre- 
caution taken.  Failure  impossible.  Have  you  bought  all  you 
want? 

March  8. — We  are  ready  to  fire  the  mine.  Keep  cool  and 
confident. 

March  10. — All  satisfactorily  settled.  Shall  get  control  at 
meeting  to-morrow. 

March   10. — Eve  of  battle.     Victory  certain. 

March  11. — Complete  victory.  We  are  in  possession.  Hold 
for  further  rise 

March  18. — Situation  satisfactory.     Don't  sell  a  share. 

March  2.3. — Leaving  by  steamer  Italy,  to-day.  Hold  on  to 
Erie  on  your  side,  but  keep  fingers  on  trigger.  Have  left 
orders  to  sell  here  at  sixty.  Gould  trying  to  make  a  deal  with 
Barlow.     Barlow  will  bear  watching. 

Crouch  also  made  an  explanatory  statement  before 
the  Legislative  Investigating  Committee  of  1873, 
from  which  the  following  is  extracted  as  appropriate 
to  the  story  of  Gould's  overthrow: 


1   Wi  I   to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the  Gould  ring, 

and  thus  made  the  acquaintance  of  Fisk  and  Gould.  While 
thus  engaged,  1  was  asked  by  friends  in  England  to  report 
the  state  of  the  road,  and  went  over  both  the  Erie  and  Atlantic 

and  Great  Western  roads  to  make  an  examination.  I  drew  up 
a  report  and  sent  it  to  the  Stockholders  in  London,  showing 
that  the  Gould  management  had  greatly  improved  the  road. 
Gould  was  much   pleased   with   thi  ntly    I 

made  the  acquaintance  oi  other   Directors.    These   l> 
greatly  condemned  Gould,  but  felt  hound  to  remain  at  their 
hoping   one   day   for  a   change.     Fisk    found   out    that 
Gould  intended  to  get  rid  of  him  and  the  Din  0  were 

in  his  confidence,  and  he  was  il.-Mmih  of  coming  to  terms 
with  the  English  stockholders,  in  order  to  protect  himself. 
Fisk  told  me  that  if  I  could  come  back  from  England  with 
sufficient  English  proxies,  he  would  cut  loose  from  Gould. 
I  went  to  London  and.  while  there,  learned  of  Fisk's  death. 
The  majority  of  the  Erie  Board  were  favorable  to  Fisk  and 
against  Gould,  and  I.  therefore,  consulted  with  the  English 
stockholders  for  a  change  in  the  Directors.  While  I  was  so 
engaged,  a  modest  proposition  came  to  England  from  Lane 
and  O'Doherty.  the  proposition  being  that  $1,500,000  should 
be  placed  in  their  hands,  and  tin  I  nglish  stockholders  should 
shut  their  eyes  and  ask  no  questions.  The  proposition  was 
shown  to  me.  and  although  the  amount  was  absurd,  I  advised 
McIIenry  to  keep  l.ane  in  play,  or  he  certainly  would  turn 
over  to  Gould.  I  then  started  for  New  York.  Bischoffscheim 
had  engaged  General  Sickles,  who  said  that  as  Tammany  was 
overthrown,  he  could  accomplish  a  great  deal  in  Albany  by 
his  influence.  I  knew  nothing  of  Sickles,  and  did  not  at  first 
feel  inclined  to  open  my  plans  to  him.  When  I  arrived  in 
New  York.  General  Sickles  was  at  Niagara.  Some  of  the  old 
Directors,  who  opposed  Gould,  agreed  to  resign  without 
remuneration.  Others,  however,  wanted  recompense  for  the 
loss  of  contracts  and  positions,  among  whom  was  Simons,  the 
manager  of  the  Narragansett  Steamship  Company.  Having 
obtained  a  majority  of  the  Board  for  my  project,  I  telegraphed 
Sickles,  and  met  him  in  Mr.  Day's  office.  Sickles  said  he  had 
not  communicated  with  Kngland,  as  he  had  accomplished 
nothing,  but  he  had  been  to  Albany  and  laid  his  pipes.  After 
conversing  with  him,  I  thought  he  would  make  a  good  figure- 
head to  impress  the  doubtful  Directors,  and  I  told  him  that  I 
had  a  mine  that  would  upset  Gould's  citadel.  Sickles  tli 
the  plan  too  good  to  live.  Sickles  made  the  arran 
pay  the  retiring  Directors,  and  assisted  to  put  in  the  temporary 
Board  nominated  by  Bischoffscheim  &  Co.,  who  had  furnished 
the  money,  which  was  distributed  by  Sickles  and  S.  L.  M. 
Harlow.  The  JsO.ooo  paid  me  was  a  bonus  from  the  English 
stockholders  for  services  rendered. 

According  to  the  tale  which  Crouch's  bulletins  to 
McIIenry  so  graphically  and  dramatically  tell,  and 
to  his  statement  before  the  Investigating  Committee, 
Crouch  would  appear  to  be  really  the  one  who  was 
the  originator  of  the  movement  that  led  to  the  un- 
seating of  Gould  and  the  turning  over  of  the  Erie  to 
the  new  management,  and  that  all  others  were  sim- 
ply insignificant  accessories  before  and  after  the  fact. 
But  O'Dohcrty's  explanation  of  the  presence  of 
Crouch   would    seem    to   warrant   the   inference   that 


BE  fWEEN    i  in:   OCEAN    and    i  in;    l  AKES 


uch  was  only  in  the  affair  by  O'Doherty's  suffer- 
ance. O'Doherty's  statement,  also,  relegates  Gen- 
eral Sickles  and  S.  L.  M.  Barlow  to  a  position  of 
eleventh-hour  abettors,   jealous  of  the   prominence 

and  importance  of  O'Doherty  in  the  movement, 
thus : 

THK    NARRATIVE   OF   O'DOHERTY. 

t  to  the  L  tting  Committee  of '1873.) 

Mr.  McHenry  had  sent  out  a  man  of  the  name  of  Crouch, 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  me.  Crouch  was  placed  at  my 
disposal  for  any  operation  1  might  recommend  against  Gould. 
Not  thinking  that  this  man  was  ol  an)  use  to  me.  1  introduced 
him  to  Charles  Day  and  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  recommending  them 

ise  him  in  connection  with  General  Sickles  in  the  lobbyist 
operations  at  Albany,  which  were  at  that  time  being  carried  on. 
Crouch  was  so  employed,  but  having  been  at  one  time  in  the 
service  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  as  a  sort  of  newspaper 
clerk,  and  having  appeared  at  Albany  in  the  capacity  of  a  great 
.  nerican  stockholder,  supporting  Gould's  administra- 
tion, he  put  himself  in  communication  with  the  old  Directors, 
all  of  whom  he  knew,  and  through  the  blabbing  of  some  of 
these  Directors  he  discovered  Lane's  plans  and  heard  of  the 
intended  coup  d'etat.  He  communicated  this  information  to 
General  Sickles,  from  whose  knowledge  I  had  carefully  ex- 
cluded our  plans.  General  Sickles,  naturally  nettled  at  being 
kept  out  of  our  confidence,  set  Crouch  to  work  to  make  ar- 
rangements with  our  Directors  to  give  their  resignations  in 
consideration  of  sums  to  be  paid  by  him  instead  of  Lane. 
Sickles  proposed  the  same  arrangement  to  them  that  Lane 
had  originally  made.  Of  course  it  didn't  matter  to  the  Di- 
rectors from  whom  they  received  the  money. 

The  funds  were  in  the  hands  of  Bischoffscheim  &  Co.  of 
London.  We  only  had  the  promise  of  them.  Lane  was  carry- 
ing the  arrangement  on.  Sickles  was  carrying  on  the  same 
thing,  without  Lane's  knowledge  at  this  time,  although  Sickles 
knew  Lane's  plan.  On  his  own  account.  Sickles  set  the  same 
negotiation,  afloat  through  Crouch.  Sickles  then  communi- 
cated with  McHenry,  and  alter  figuring  up  how   little  he  could 

'  for.  offer  omplish  the  same  result  that  I  had  pro- 

1.  lor  $,?oo.ooo  instead  of  $1,500,000,  which  I  had  asked. 
McHenry  and  Bischoffscheim  failed  to  keep  their  agreement 
with  me.  Sickles  made  known  to  Lane  what  he  had  heard, 
and  told  him  that  unless  he  consented  to  accept  the  smaller 
amount,  his  services  would  be  entirely  dispensed  with,  and  the 
nations   would  be   obtained   without   his   intervention.      By 

other  representatioi  was  so  frightened  that 

he  .  1  the  $300,000,  and  himself  put  that  amount 

in  or.  ims. 

McHenry  and   B  heim  in  breaking  the 

agreement  made  with  us.  Everything  was  now  fixed  except 
the  1  Barlow  i>  legraphed  to  have  it  sent 

on     ■  .11  .  ni  losuri    "i  :,  credit  to  Barlow 

in  favor  of  Daniel  I-'..  Sickles.  This,  naturally,  exasperated 
Barlow  eery  much,  and  annoyed  me  s,,  greatly,  for  I  was  then 
on  fi  rms  with   Barlow,  thai  on   Sunday,   March  .1.1.   I 

telegraphed   McHenry:   "Beware!     Present   plans   will   n 
on  eful  failure!     Save  yourself!  " 

I  had  made  up  mj    mind  to  go  iould  and  disclose  the 

plot  to  him.     I  wa  nl  at  the  way  Bischoffscheim  had 

ted   Barlow.     McHenry  then  telegraphed  for  further  siig- 


..ns.  and  on  March  5th.  I  replied:  "Opinion  unchanged. 
Choice  of  agent  and  present  plan  ruinous.  Cannot  cable  par- 
ticulars." Barlow,  having  his  own  plans  [or  revenge,  took 
great  pains  to  soothe  my  irritability,  and  I  got  Lane  to  go  on 
with  the  plot. 

After  reading  O'Doherty's  own  narrative  of  the 
part  he  and  others  played  in  the  Erie  drama  of  the 
winter  of  1S72,  it  would  be  difficult  for  any  one  to 
draw  any  other  conclusion  than  that  to  O'Doherty 
belonged  all  the  credit  of  its  production.  Hut  Bar- 
low contributes  a  chapter  of  personal  reminiscence 
of  the  affair,  and  in  it  the  name  of  O'Doherty  does 
not  appear  at  all  as  having  been  in  any  way  con- 
cerned in  its  inception,  progress,  or  consummation. 

BARLOW'S  STORY. 
{Told  to  the  Legislative  Investigating  Committee  of  1873 

Some  time  in  February,  1872,  Mr.  Lane  came  to  me  and  said 
it  would  not  be  difficult  to  secure  the  resignation  of  a  majority 
of  the  Directors  of  the  Erie  road  and  the  election  of  proper 
men  in  their  places.  He  showed  me  a  series  of  cablegrams 
which  had  passed  between  himself  and  McHenry  on  that  sub- 
ject. Before  doing  SO  he  had  insisted  on  three  preliminaries 
— that  I  would  not  speak  of  the  matter  to  anybody;  that  1 
would  not  ask  any  part  of  the  money  for  myself:  and  that 
I  would  not  seek  to  reduce  the  amount  of  his  and  his  asso- 
ciates' coi  on.  1  assented  to  the  lirst  preliminary,  and 
the  second,  with  a  joke  that  1  thought  it  was  hardly  fair  I 
should  engage  in  a  thing  and  not  have  any  chance  to  make 
money.     But  to  the  third  1  said: 

"  I  cannot  assist  you  in  obtaining  a  particular  sum  of  money 
in  a  matter  of  which  I  know  nothing,  and  about  which  my 
opinion  or  judgment  may  be  asked  by  my  friends  on  the  other 
-nil.  I  will  not  go  out  of  my  way,  though,  unless  my  opinion 
is  asked,  to  cut  your  compensation  down." 

in  1 1  ] i  —  he  assented,. and  then  told  me  that  hi-  plan  proposed 
the  sum   of  $1,500,000. 

After  this  had  been  all  done,  and  the  Board  had  been  w 
upon,  and  all   the  preliminaries  to  the   proposed   changes   had 
been  assented  to.   I   told   Mr.   Lane  that  as  General   Sickles  was 
here   seeking   legislation   at    Albany    for  a   repeal   of   the   Class, 
tication  Act.  and  as  1  was  holding  relations  with  him  as  joint 
Counsel    lor   the    foreign    Stockholders,    I    must   be   permitted   to 
tell  him.      Lane  refused  to  assent   to  this.      Three  or  four  d 
afterward,    when    General    Sickles    came    I"    consult    with    me 
about   the  preliminary   litigation.    I    told    Mr.    Lane  again   that 
unless  he  gave  me  permission  to  explain  to  General  Sickles 
the  ii       i     o    'us  combination,  1  could  go  no    urther  in  it.     1 

nded   with   my  friends  on  the  other  side  and  obtained 
their  assent  to  the  proposed  bargain.      Even  the  large  amount 

demanded  by  Mr.   I. am-  was  not  special  the 

stoi  I  m  the  other  side,  provided  that  wi  i  tire 

the    result    sought.     Without    admitting  I  t    I 

could  pay  this  large  amount.  [  finally  prepared  a  statement 
to  be  sent  to  ill'  other  side,  naming  the  proposed  new  Board 
substantially,  and  leaving  the  amount  of  compensation  to  be 
put   in.   and   that   blank    Mr.    Lam    filled    up   himself  at  $300,000 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


199 


instead  of  his,  as  I  told  him  that  unless  lie  made  this  pro- 
posed change  I  would  refuse  to  have  anything  to  do  with  him, 
as  it  was  placing  me  in  a  false  position  with  my  a- 
counsel.  Then  he  authorized  a  statement  of  the  facts  to  be 
made  to  General  Sickles.  This  statement  1  made  to  General 
Sickles  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Day.  This  was  the  first  intima- 
tion the  General  had  of  it,  and  he  opposed  it  on  the  ground 
that  the  legislation  at  Albany  was  certain,  and  that  the  stock- 
holders would  have,  within  three  months,  an  opportunity  of 
voting,  and  he  preferred  that  means.  Upon  the  considi 
and  assumption,  however,  that  he  should  have  the  management 
of  the  movement  from  that  time  forward,  and  not  only  have  tin- 
charge  of  it,  but.  I  assumed,  the  credit  of  it.  he  consented  to 
forego  his  plan  in  favor  of  this  one.  From  that  time  Gem  ral 
Sickles  took  an  active  part,  in  conjunction  with  myself,  in 
consummating  the  plan.  When  the  $300,000  that  had  been 
agreed  to  be  paid  for  the  change  was  about  to  be  forwarded  in 
answer  to  my  cable.  General  Sickles,  as  1  have  been  informed, 
cabled  to  Mr.  McHenry  and  asked  that  the  money  should  be 
sent  to  him  and  not  to  me.  McHenry  cabled  me  to  know  if 
there  was  any  disagreement  between  me  anil  General  Sickles, 
and  I  replied  that  there  was  none.  Very  much  to  my  satis 
faction,  the  final  credit  came  to  General  Sickles  and  not  to 
myself.  It  was  claimed  by  Mr.  Lane  that  this  money  was  not 
a  payment  for  resigning  and  putting  others  in  their  places, 
but  that  they  having,  as  Directors,  incurred  personal  responsi- 
bilities by  becoming  sureties  on  bonds,  and  that  they  antici- 
pated serious  litigation  on  the  part  of  Gould,  they  looked  upon 
this  as  rather  an  indemnity  than  a  payment  for  resigning. 
Without  assenting  to  that,  and  discussing  it,  it  was  agreed  that 
the  total  sum  of  $300,000  should  be  paid  whenever  a  majority 
of  the  existing  Board  should  resign  and  the  nominees  named 
by  myself  should  be  legally  appointed. 

The  agreement  was  not  in  writing.  General  Sickles  told  me 
who  were  to  receive  the  money  and  the  amount  to  each.  I 
agreed  that  I  would  see  that  the  money  would  be  paid.  They 
preferred  this  rather  than  the  assurance  of  General  Sickles  on 
the  subject,  as  he  was  not  likely  to  remain  here  a  great  while, 
or  for  some  other  reason.  General  Sickles  transferred  the 
credit  at  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.'s  for  the  $300,000  from  his 
name  to  mine.  When  the  change  was  made  111  the  Board,  and 
Gould's  resignation  obtained.  I  disbursed  the  whole  amount, 
paying  $67,500  each  to  Lane  and  Thompson;  $50,000  to  Simons; 
$40,000  to  Archer,  and  $25,000  each  to  Otis.  White,  and  Hilton 

Just  before  this  consummation,  on  the  Saturday  before.  1 
think.  Lane  informed  me  that  the  agreed  sum  of  $300,000  was 
not  large  enough  to  divide  with  all  the  people  he  wished  to 
indemnify,  and  that  the  whole  plan  would  fail  miles,  I  paid 
O'Doherty  $50,000  and  another  $50,000  to  J.  Graham  Gardiner. 
I  objected,  but  finally,  to  save  the  plan,  agreed  to  see  that  these 
men  received  $25,000  each.  Gardiner  had  been  very  useful  as 
a  go-between  for  Lane,  myself,  anil  others.      These  sums  were 

subsequently  paid  by  Mr.  McHenry  on  draft  made  by  me  upon 
him.  making  the  total  cost  of  the  matter  $350,000— salvage,  in 
the  estimation  of  everybody  concerned,  paid  b>  the  owners  of 
the  property  to  secure  control  of  it  themselves,  and  a  much 
cheaper  way  than  litigation.  The  only  other  sum  I  ever  knew 
to  be  expended  by  the  stockholders  was  the  amount  disbursed 
by  General  Sickles,  or  paid  him  for  services  during  the  three 
or  four  months  previous  to  the  nth  of  March,  1S72,  and  $50,- 
000  to  George  Crouch. 

At  the  election  in  July.  1872,  it  was  represented  on  behalf  of 
the  London  stockholders  by  Mr.  McHenry.  who  was  here,  and 
by   Mr.    Homan,  a  large  stockholder  and   Director,  who  came 


from  London  to  attend  this  meeting,  that  the  total  expendi- 
tures incurred  by  the  stockholders  amounted  to  between  $700,- 
000  and  $800,000.  This  embraced  a  very  large  compen 
paid  to  General  Sickles,  $50,000  to  George  Crouch,  and.  of 
course,  this  $350,000.  The  aggregate  was  claimed  to  be  $750,- 
000,  or  thereabouts. 

It  was  due  to  these  exposures  that  it  is  possible  at 
this  late  day  to  narrate  the  inner  history  of  the 
"  rescuing  of  Erie.*'  But  for  them.  Jay  Gould 
would  never  have  told  of  the  part  that  was  really 
played  by  the  reform  management  with  him  in 
making  it  sure  that  their  loudly  proclaimed  victory 
would  not.  after  all,  end  in  defeat.  This  is  Jay 
Gould*s  story  of  the  events  succeeding  the  coup  of 
March  11,  1872,  and  from  it  a  person  might  not  nec- 
essarily need  to  strain  a  point  much  to  gather  that 
the  credit  of  unseating  Gould  belonged  really  to 
himself: 

JAY   GOULD'S   STORY   of    his    DETHRONEMENT. 
i  to  the  Legislative  Investigating  Committee  of  1S73.1 

I  called  a  meeting  0  B  lard  for  the  next  day.  Tuesday, 

March  12th.  inviting  the  members  who  were  then  legal  Di- 
3  of  the  company.  At  that  meeting  we  should  have  filled 
up  all  the  vacancies,  for  I  had  control  of  the  company  and  of 
the  Board  just  as  perfectly  as  I  ever  had.  as  they  conceded 
themselves.  After  I  had  made  this  call,  and  that  evening 
(nth),  while  the  whole  affairs  of  the  company  were  deranged 
and  demoralized,  and  when  we  held  one  side  of  the  building 
by  force,  and  they  the  other.  Dr.  Kldridge,  who  was  a  Director 
of  the  company,  and  a  large  stockholder,  came  to  me  and  urged 
a  settlement,  and  said,  I  think,  that  he  had  had  a  convcr 
with  Mr.  Barlow,  who  proposed  that  some  of  the  other  Di- 
rectors meet  with  Mr.  Barlow,  and  that  he  had  no  doubt  an 
arrangement  could  be  made  that  would  be  satisfactory  to  all 
Sides,  and  he  explained  to  me  the  terms,  and  I  acquiesced  in 
it  immediately.  He  went  back  to  Mr.  Barlow  with  power  from 
me  to  close  the  arrangement.  He  had  a  second  interview  with 
him.  and  then  returned  to  me  and  said  the  matter  was  1  I 

This  "  arrangement  "  made  with  Gould  to  effect 
his  surrender,  and  place  the  then  entirely  untenable 
footing  of  the  "  revolutionists  "  on  a  safe  ground,  is 
shown  by  the  following: 

New  York.  March  14.  1872. 
■ii/rf,  Esq. : 
Dear  Sir: — Referring  to  the  conversation  with  you  of  this 
date  in  relation  to  the  affairs  of  the   Erie  Company  and  your- 
self personally.  I  agree,  on  behalf  of  the  present  Board,  that  the 
ing    verbal   agreements    shall    lie   carried    out    as    soon   as 
they  can  be  done  with  discretion: 

The  proceedings  of  the  Board  and  stockholders,  and  the 
release  thereunder  to  yourself.   Fisk.  and   Lane,   shall  be  con- 


2      ' 


B]    fWEEN    THIC    OCEAN    AND    I  1 1 K    LAKES 


fin  quiesced  in  by  the  present  Board,  who  shall  give 

dditional  release  down  to  the  period  of  your  closing 
your  connection  with  the  company. 

The  advances  made  by  you,  the  »Ktails  of  which  wen-  shewn 
me  this  morning,  amounting  to  $<)j.ooo.  shall  be  paid  for.  The 
■l  the  Chemung  Railroad  to  the  Northern  Central 
road  Company,  January  i,  1872,  shall  he  carried  out  with 
the  understanding  that  if  the  Erie  Company  shall  elect  to  pay 
the  Chemung  Company  the  pro  rata  trackage  instead  of  the 
amount  of  Sro.coo.  fixed  in  the  lease  or  rent,  it  shall  have  the 
right  to  do  so. 

The  lease  and  agreements  with  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Company,  t:  in  Railroad  Company,  and  the  Erie 

ipany,  for  use  of  the  Jefferson   Railroad  Company,  etc..  to 
be  carried 

You  are  to  be  protected  in  all  bond-,  you  have  signed  on 
appeal  or  for  custom  purposes  for  the  company,  and  also  as 
indorser  for  the  company.  The  loans  you  are  carrying  for  the 
company  will.be  promptly  paid. 

Very  respectfully. 

D.   E.  Sickles. 

The  release  mentioned  in  the  above  is  as  follows : 

To  all  'whom  these  presents  shall  come  or  may  concern. 
Greeting  : 

Know  all  men  that  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  a  corpora- 
tion of  the  State  of  New  York,  for  and  in  consideration  of  the 
sum  of  one  dollar,  lawful  money  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  to  it  in  hand  paid  by  Jay  Gould.  James  Fisk.  Jr.,  and 
Frederick  A.  Lane,  hath  remised,  released,  and  forever  dis- 
charged, and  by  these  presents  doth,  for  itself,  its  successors 
and  assigns,  remise,  release,  and  forever  discharge  the  said 
Jay  Gould.  James  Fisk.  Jr.,  and  Frederick  A.  Lane,  and  each 
of  them,  their  and  each  of  their  heirs,  executors,  and  adminis- 
trators, of  and  from  all  manner  of  action  and  actions,  cause 
and  causes  of  action,  -nit^.  debts,  dues,  sums  of  money,  ac- 
counts,  reckonings,  bonds,   bills,   specialties,   covenants,   con- 


tracts,  controversu  ments,   promises,   varianc 

p.i-scs.  damages,  judgments,  extents,  executions,  claims  and 

demands   whatsoever,   in   law   or   in   equity,    which   against   the 
said  Jay  Gould,  James  Fisk,  Jr..  and  Frederick  A.  Lane,  or  any 
one  or  more  of  them,  it  ever  had.  now  has.  or  which  its  sui 
-ors  or  assigns  hereafter  can,  shall,  or  may  have.  for.  upon,  or 
by  n  any  matter,  cause  or  thing  whatsoever,  from  the 

beginning  of  the  world  to  the  thirty-first  daj  ol  October,  [871. 
In   witness   whereof,   the   said  company   hath   caused  these 

presents  to  be  -lulled  by  a  committee  appointed  by  the   Board 
of  Dircci  d  company,  and  by  the  authority  ami  order 

of  the    Directors   anil   stockholders   thereof,   and    its   corporate 
-eal  to  be  herewith  affixed,  this  thirtieth  day  of  December,  1871. 

The  Erie  Railway  Company, 

l'.\    b  iHN    1 1 1 1  |o\,  ) 

'  Henri    I    omi    in,  j  ^'"""""- 
Sealed  and  delivered  in  presence  of — 
Geo.  W.  Parcber, 
Mortimer  Smith,  Assistant  Secretary. 

[l.  s.] 

The  loans  Gould  claimed  to  be  due  him  from  the 
Erie  amounted  to  between  $1,500,000  and  $2,000,000. 
The  release  was  given,  as  above,  at  a  time  when 
Gould,  Fisk,  and  Lane  were  expecting  to  be  held 
responsible,  both  at  civil  and  criminal  action,  for 
acts  done  in  the  name  or  the  Company,  and  the  fact 
that  it  was  subsequently  of  no  legal  force  or  value 
did  not  speak  much  for  the  stamina  or  courage  of 
the  new  "  Reform  "  management  in  hastily  recog- 
nizing and  acknowledging  it  at  the  demand  of  the 
man  whom  they  had  gone  to  so  much  trouble  and 
expense  to  unhorse,  showing  that  he  had  virtually 
to  unhorse  himself,  after  all. 


GENERAL   JOHN    A.    DIX. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

ADMINISTRATION    OF   JOHN    A.    DIX— MARCH    TO    JULY,    1872. 

McHenry,  Barlow,  and  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  the  Tower  Behind  the  Throne  —  The  Erie's  Floating  Debt 
$5,000,000,  and  No  Money  in  the  Treasury  —  Barlow  Appeals  to  Bischoflscheim  for  Aid  and  Gets  It  — The  Extraordinary  Contract 
with  the  London  Bankers  to  Place  the  $30,000,000  Loan — Peter  II.  Watson,  ex-Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  Succeeds  General 
Dix. 

It  was  many  weeks  after  the  so-called  Sickles  coup  Railway  Company  for  the  prestige  of  his  name,  and 

had  brought  into  existence  the"  Reform"  manage-  as  an   earnest  of  the  lofty  intentions  that   were  to 

ment  of  Erie  that  Wall  Street  was  willing  to  accept  move  the  new  management  in  restoring  and  rehabili- 

it  as  anything  more  than   the  result  of  a  collusive  tating  Erie.     He  had   been  but  a  short  time  Presi- 

scheme  to  which  even  Jay  Gould  himself  was  a  party,  dent,    though,    when    he    manifested    a    disposition 

Time    and    circumstances    entirely    disproved    this  incompatible  with  that  of  a  figurehead,  and  insisted 

suspected   collusion    of    Gould  with   the   revolution,  that  he  had  some  ideas  of  his  own  as  to  the  future 

There  was  no  room  for  any  doubt,  however,  as  to  of  the  Company.     This  caused  friction  in  the  Board. 

the   tangible   presence   of    a    powerful   Atlantic   and  Earl}-  in  the  term  of  the  new  administration  rumor 

Great  Western  element  in  the  atmosphere  surround-  began   to   busy   itself   with    coming  changes   in   the 

ing  the  new  order  of  things  in  Erie.     The  controlling  management.     It  declared  that  General  Dix  was  to 

influence  of  the  management  was  James  McHenry,  in  be  removed  and  General  McCIellan   made  President 

connection  with  Bischoffscheim  &  Goldschmidt,  the  in    his    place.      At    all    events,    it    proclaimed    with 

London  bankers,  and  representatives  of  the  English  firmness,  "  Dix  must  go." 
Shareholders'    Association.       His    ambition    was    to 

effect   a   combination   of    the    interests   of    the    Erie  September    1,    1870,  the  Gould   management  had 

Railway  Company  with  those  of  the  Atlantic  and  authorized  an   issue  of  $30,000,0x20  in  consolidated 

Great  Western   Railroad   Company,  the  vicissitudes  bonds,   to  bear  interest   at  7  per  cent.,   payable  in 

of   which    latter  had   led  him    into   serious   financial  gold,-  and   to   mature   in   forty  years.     These   bonds 

entanglement.      By  such  a  combination  he  hoped  to  were   intended    for  the    conversion   and    extinguish- 

use  the  Erie  as  a  means  of  relieving  himself  of  his  ment  of  the  then  existing  mortgage  bonds  and  other 

burden  of  Atlantic  and  Great  Western   responsibili-  debts  of  the  Company.     Of   this   loan   §18,000,000 

ties,  by  passing  it  over  to  the  broader  shoulders  of  were  deposited  with   the   Farmers'  Loan   and  Trust 

the  Company  he  had  seized  from  Jay  Gould,  although  Company  to  take  up  the  outstanding  old  bonds,  and, 

those  shoulders  were  already  so  overladen  with  other  by  an   arrangement   with   J.    S.    Morgan   &  Co.,   of 

burdens  that  this  one  would  have  been  as  the  last  London,  $5,000,000  were  deposited   with  that  house 

straw   that   broke   the    patient   camel's   back.      The  to  take  up  the  old   English  or  sterling  loan.      None 

Atlantic  and  Great  Western   influence  had  a  power-  of  these  bonds   had   been   placed.     On  May  S,  1872, 

ful   representative  in   S.    L.    M.    Barlow,  of  the  new  two   months  after   the    Dix    management    came   in. 

Erie    Directory.      He    was   counsel   to    the  Atlantic  Bischoffscheim  &  Goldschmidt  were  appointed  sole 

and  Great  Western,  as  well  as  to  the  Erie.     General  financial   agents   of  the    Erie   Railway   Company   in 

McCIellan,    of  the    Directory,  was  President   of  the  Europe,  and  a  contract  was  made  with  them  by  the 

Atlantic    and    Great    Western    Railroad    Company.  Company  under  which  they  were  to  place  the  S30.- 

General  Dix  had  been  elected   President  of  the  Erie  000,000  loan.       By  the  terms  of    this    contract   the 


202 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Company  bound  itself  to  pay  these  bankers  a  commis- 
sion of  I  per  cent,  on  the  total  amount  of  the  semi- 
annual interest  upon  such  bonds  as  they  might 
countersign  and  issue;  a  commission  of  one-half  of 
I  percent,  on  the  principal  of  such  bonds;  a  com- 
mission of  2l/2  per  cent,  on  the  nominal  amount  of 
the  loan  to  the  full  extent  issued  to  the  public  and 
paid  for,  or  exchanged  for  bonds  of  previous  issue, 
and  a  further  commission  of  one-quarter  of  I  per 
cent.,  in  the  same  manner  and  times,  as  brokerage. 
The  agents  were  also  authorized  to  deduct  from  the 
money  they  might  receive  for  the  sale  of  bonds  the 
amount  that  might  be  due  them  from  the  Company, 
principal  and  interest,  for  advances  made  by  them. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  Company  agreed  to  pay  such 
of  the  liens  and  commissions  as  the  Farmers'  Loan 
and  Trust  Company  or  the  firm  of  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co. 
of  London  might  have  against  it,  the  former  com- 
pany having  $18,000,000  and  the  latter  $5,000,000 
of  the  bonds  in  custody.  This  was  the  issue  of 
bonds  of  which  Jay  Gould  had  purchased  $3,000,000 
at  60  while  he  was  President  of  the  Company.  After 
the  Dix  management  came  into  power,  S.  L.  M. 
Barlow  took  preliminary  measures  to  recover  these 
bonds  from  Gould  by  legal  proceedings,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  purchased  them,  owing  to  his 
official  connection  with  the  Company,  at  a  figure 
below  their  market  value.  Discovering,  on  investi- 
gating the  matter,  that  the  contention  would  not 
stand,  as  the  price  paid  for  the  bonds  by  Gould  was 
as  high  as  could  have  been  obtained  from  any  other 
purchaser  at  the  time,  and  that  his  being  President 
of  the  Company  was  no  bar  to  his  holding  securities 
of  the  Company  if  properly  obtained,  the  proceed- 
ings were  discontinued. 

The  day  the  Erie  was  turned  over  to  the  Dix 
management,  Justin  D.  White,  then  Treasurer  of 
the  Company,  reported  officially  to  the  Board  that 
the  Company  was,  in  round  numbers,  $5,000,000  in 
arrears,  with  no  money  in  the  treasury.  Of  this 
sum,  it  was  claimed,  over  $2,000,000  were  demand 
claims  held  by  friends  of  the  old  Board,  and  money 
to  pay  them  had  to  be  raised  forthwith  to  save  the 
Company  from  bankruptcy,  and  the  only  security 
available  was  $3,336,000  of  the  $30,000,000  consoli- 


dated bonds.     Following  is  the  official  showing  of 
the  Company's  condition: 

Floating   Debt  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,   March    11, 
1872,  as  reported  by  the  Treasurer,  yustin  D.   White  : 

Bills  payable,  maturing  at  an  average  of  over 

$700,000  per  month $1,846,000  00 

Loans,  viz.: 

Willard,  Martin  &  Co $619,674  56 

O.  H.  P.  Archer 50,000  00 

W.  J.   O'Beirne 300,00000 

W.  J.  O'Beirne 125,000  00 

Daniel  Drew 300,000  00 

Edwin  Eldridge 125,000  00 

Marine   Bank 70,00000 

Pennsylvania  Coal  Company 105,00000 

Tenth  National  Bank 100,000  00 

Union  Steamboat  Company 100,00000 

Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co 100,000  00 —  2,084,674  56 

$3,930,674  56 

Unpaid  Labor  for  January 80,000  00 

Unpaid  Labor  for  February 550,000  00 

Supplies    285.000  00 

Line  Vouchers 100,000  00 

Miscellaneous  Vouchers 30,000  00 

Total  $4,975,674  56 

Securities    of    the  Erie  Railway    Company 

Hypothecated. 

Jefferson  Railroad   Bonds $645,000  00 

National  Stock  Yard  Co.  Bonds 410,000  00 

Newburgh  and  New  York  Railroad  Co.  Bonds.  150,000  00 

Glenwood  Coal  Co.  Bonds 50,coo  00 

Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Bonds 678,000  00 

Consolidated  Mortgage  Bonds 3,336,00000 

Capital,  March,   1872. 

Stock  $78,000,000  00 

Preferred  Stock 8,536,910  00 

First  Mortgage  Bonds $3,000,000 

Second   Mortgage   Bonds 4,000,000 

Third  Mortgage  Bonds 6,000.000 

Fourth  Mortgage  Bonds 4,441.000 

Fifth  Mortgage  Bonds 926.500 

Buffalo  Branch  Bonds 186,400 

Sterling   Bonds 5.000,000 

Consolidated  Mortgage  Bonds 3,000,000 

Long  Dock  Bonds 3,000,000—29,553,900  00 

$116,290,810  00 

Leased  Roads,  Capitalized 17.000.000  00 

Floating  Debt 4.975.6/4  °° 

Total   $138,266,484  00 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


203 


Whether  or  not  the  list  of  personal  creditors  in 
this  statement  showed  that  they  were  "  friends  of  the 
old  Board  "  must  be  a  matter  of  opinion.  At  any  rate, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  they  wanted  their  money. 
The  value  of  the  consolidated  mortgage  bonds,  as  a 
means  of  meeting  these  claims,  was  attested  by  the 
fact  that  they  could  not  be  hypothecated  in  New 
York  for  more  than  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar.  Bar- 
low cabled  Bischoffscheim  a  statement  of  the  des- 
perate situation  the  Company  was  face  to  face  with, 
and  asked  for  a  credit  of  $2,000,000  on  the  security 
of  $3,500,000  of  the  consolidated  mortgage  bonds. 
Bischoffscheim  responded  by  cabling  the  desired 
credit,  and  the  difficulty  was  tided  over  for  a  short 
time.  Then  a  similar  crisis  confronted  the  Com- 
pany, and  Bischoffscheim  was  asked  for  another  loan 
of  §2,000,000,  which  he  cabled  to  the  rescue  of  the 
Company. 

It  was  for  this  service,  which  the  Erie  manage- 
ment (or  rather  Mr.  Barlow)  declared  that  no  other 
house  in  the  world  would  have  taken  the  risk  of 
doing,  that  the  contract  for  placing  the  consolidated 
bonds  was  made  with  Bischoffscheim  &  Goldschmidt 
on  such  extremely  liberal  terms.  The  correctness  of 
this  Barlow  opinion  was  called  into  serious  question 
by  others,  and  it  became  the  subject  of  unpleasant 
official  query  a  few  months  later. 

Under  the  act  of  the  New  York  Legislature  repeal- 
ing the  Classification  Act,  which  was  signed  by  Gov- 
ernor John  T.  Hoffman  April  20,  1872,  an  election 
for  a  new  Board  of  Erie  Directors  must  be  held  July 
10,  1872.  A  great  deal  depended  on  the  result  of 
that  election.  Heath  and  Raphael  and  the  Ameri- 
can Committee  of  Erie  stockholders  held  about  three- 
eighths  of  the  capital  stock,  and  Bischoffscheim  & 
Goldschmidt  controlled  another  three-eighths.  The 
remainder  was  held  in  Wall  Street.  A  fierce  strug- 
gle to  gain  possession  of  a  majority  of  the  outstand- 
ing two-eighths  of  the  stock,  to  insure  control  of  the 
coming  election,  began  between  the  rival  interests, 
and  Erie  once  more  became  the  all-exciting  feature 
of  the  Street.  This  met  with  the  pleasant  approval 
of  the  bull  element  in  Wall  Street,  for  the  scramble 
of  the  English  schemers  for  stock  had  the  effect  of 
putting  the  price  of  Erie  steadily  higher.     The  indi- 


vidual interests  and  future  prospects  of  neither  of 
the  rival  prime  movers  in  this  struggle  were  enhanced 
by  this  situation  in  Wall  Street  at  that  time,  and  the 
result  was  that  on  April  8th,  Heath  and  Raphael,  of 
the  London  Protective  Association,  drew  out  of  the 
fight  and  surrendered  their  holding  of  Erie  stock 
to  Bischoffscheim  &  Goldschmidt.  This  practically 
destroyed  all  hope  the  opponents  of  the  plan  of 
reorganization  and  future  management  of  the  Com- 
pany and  road  had  of  gaining  ascendency  in  the 
Company,  and  substituting  their  ideas  of  the  proper 
way  Erie  affairs  should  be  conducted.  It  also  re- 
sulted in  a  significant  victory  for  Jay  Gould. 

April  4,  1872,  John  Swan,  representing  the  Heath 
and  Raphael  interests,  had  instituted  proceedings, 
through  Attorney-General  Francis  C.  Barlow,  against 
Jay  Gould  and  Frederick  A.  Lane  to  recover  such 
sums  of  money  as  they  might  have  obtained  by 
alleged  irregular  methods  during  their  management 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company.  General  Dix,  as 
President  of  the  Company,  was  made  a  party  to  this 
litigation  as  a  matter  of  form.  May  13th  following, 
on  motion  of  John  Swan,  this  suit  was  discontinued 
by  the  Hon.  William  L.  Learned,  Judge  of  the  New 
York  Supreme  Court,  on  payment  to  such  defend- 
ants as  had  appeared  the  costs  and  disbursements 
in  the  proceedings.  Jay  Gould  had  appeared,  but 
Lane  had  not.  The  reason  assigned  by  Swan  to  the 
Attorney-General  for  discontinuing  the  proceeding 
was  that  his  clients  had  made  such  arrangements 
with  other  stockholders  as  to  insure  proper  protec- 
tion of  their  interests  in  Erie,  and  consequently  did 
not  desire  any  further  aid  of  the  people  of  the  State 
in  the  action. 

As  the  time  approached  for  the  election  it  became 
an  open  secret  that  the  Dix  management  was  not 
the  one  that  the  new  masters  of  Erie  desired,  and 
that  the  influences  at  work  were  not  to  the  liking  of 
General  Dix.  A  section  of  the  act  repealing  the 
Classification  Act  prohibited  any  officer  or  director 
of  any  other  railroad  company  from  holding  a  place 
in  the  Erie  Direction.  This  prohibition  stood  in  the 
way  of  a  purpose  the  English  controllers  of  the  situ- 
ation had  in  view,  which  was  the  placing  of  Cornelius 
Yanderbilt   at  the  head  of  the   Erie  Railway  Com- 


204 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


pany  as  the  successor  of  General  Dix.  They  made 
an  effort  to  have  the  objectionable  section  of  the  act 
repealed  almost  before  the  ink  with  which  Governor 
Hoffman  had  signed  the  bill  was  dry.  They  failed 
in  this,  and  sought  elsewhere  for  a  new  President  for 
Erie.  General  McClellan,  who,  being  President  of 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company, 
had  resigned  from  the  Erie  Board,  was  suggested, 
but  he  seemed  to  prefer  the  place  he  had.  The  then 
President  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad  Com- 
pany, T.  B.  Blackstone,  was  importuned  to  take  the 
place,  but  he  declined.  Then  the  perennial  Gen. 
A.  S.  Diven,  of  Elmira,  was  mentioned  prominently, 
but  no  agreement  could  be  reached  that  warranted 
his  call  to  the  place.  As  a  matter  to  be  of  pleasing 
recollection  to  General  Dix,  James  McHenry  and 
Gilson  Holman,  of  the  Bischoffscheim  &  Goldschmidt 
combination,  and  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  their  leading 
representative  in  the  Erie  Board,  requested  him,  by 
a  pressing  communication,  to  remain  at  the  head  of 
the  Company.  He  replied  to  them  that  his  private 
affairs  were  such  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him 
to  remain. 

No  one  seemed  to  care  to  be  President  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  at  that  time.  As  late  as  July  8th, 
two  days  before  the  date  fixed  for  the  election,  no 
future  President  was  yet  in  sight.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  leaders  in  Erie,  held  on  the  evening  of  that  day, 
the  name  of  Peter  H.  Watson  was  suggested.  The 
suggestion  came  from  Commodore  Vanderbilt.  Mr. 
Watson  had  been  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  under 
Secretary  Stanton  during  the  Civil  War,  and  since 
then  had  had  no  little  experience  in  the  affairs  of 
railroads.  It  was  agreed  that  he  would  make  a  sat- 
isfactory President  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 
He  was  communicated  with  on  the  subject,  and  con- 
sented to  take  the  place. 

One  of  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  Board  of 
Directors  July  8,  1S72,  the  last  meeting  of  the  Dix 
Board,  was  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  the  Treasurer  be  authorized  to  pay  $30,000  as 
this  company's  proportion  of  the  legal  expenses  of  the  New 
York  Central  Company  at  Albany,  last  winter,  to  prevent  legis- 
lation affecting  prejudicially  the  interests  of  this  company. 

The  resolution  was  adopted  unanimously,  and  was 
referred  to  the  Executive  Committee.     That  Com- 


mittee held  it  for  further  action,  and  it  subsequently 
came  forward  to  plague  the  Watson  administration, 
although  it  had  had  nothing  to  do  with  any  of  that 
administration's  affairs,  and,  in  fact,  belonged  to  the 
transactions  of  the  Gould  regime. 

The  10th  of  Jul)-.  1S72,  was  an  exciting  and  stirring 
day  at  and  about  Erie  headquarters  in  the  Grand 
Opera  House.  It  was  almost  a  counterpart  of  one  of 
the  characteristic  Gould  and  Fisk  days.  Detectives, 
policemen,  and  deputy  sheriffs  were  there  by  the 
dozen,  but  "Tommy"  Lynch  and  his  merry  men 
were  not  among  them.  The  rumor  had  gone  abroad 
that  the  opposition  to  the  new  order  of  things  in 
Erie  was  determined  to  make  trouble  of  some  kind 
at  the  election,  and  hundreds  of  people  with  recol- 
lections of  entertainment  they  had  been  provided 
with  on  previous  occasions  of  this  sort  at  the  corner 
of  Eighth  Avenue  and  Twenty-third  Street,  were 
there  in  force  on  that  hot  July  day,  to  enjoy  this 
expected  later  exhibition.  But  they  were  disap- 
pointed. The  proceedings  inside  the  Opera  House 
were  peaceful  and  smooth.  Not  one  opposing  voice 
was  raised  in  protest  against  them. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  held  previous  to 
the  election,  resolutions  of  thanks  to  General  Dix, 
General  Diven,  and  others  in  the  Board;  to  James 
McHenry  for  the  part  he  took  in  overthrowing  Jay 
Gould  and  his  management;  to  Bischoffscheim  & 
Goldschmidt  for  coming  to  the  aid  of  the  new  man- 
agement, and  placing  much  needed  funds  at  its  dis- 
posal at  a  critical  time;  and  to  Edward  T.  Green, 
Gilson  Holman,  and  W.  Wetmore  Cryder,  Ameri- 
can representatives  of  Erie  in  Europe,  were  passed, 
but  none  to  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles  for  his  part  in 
the  anti-Gould  movement.  Henry  G.  Stebbins  re- 
signed from  the  Board.  At  the  ensuing  election 
the  following  Board  of  Directors  was  chosen :  Peter 
H.  Watson,  Gen.  A.  S.  Diven,  W.  R.  Travers,  Will- 
iam Butler  Duncan,  Charles  Day,  S.  L.  M.  Barlow, 
Gen.  John  A.  Dix,  J.  V.  L.  Pruyn,  Henry  L.  Lan- 
sing, Homer  Ramsdell,  William  W.  Shippen,  E.  D. 
Morgan,  Frederick  Schuchardt,  S.  D.  Babcock,  John 
J.  Cisco,  George  Talbott  Olyphant,  John  Taylor 
fohnston. 

The    new    Board    organized   by  electing    Peter   II. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


*°5 


Watson,  President;  Gen.  A.  S.  Diven,  Vice-Presi- 
dent; Horatio  N.  Otis,  Secretary,  and  William 
Watts  Sherman,  Treasurer. 

At  the  election,  James  McHenry  and  other  for- 
eign parties  representing  stock  of  the  Company  were 
present,  and  claimed  that  $750,000  in  all  had  been 
expended  in  the  ousting  of  Jay  Gould,  and  that  the 
entire  amount  ought  to  be  a  charge  upon  the  Com- 
pany. After  the  election,  at  a  stockholders'  meet- 
ing at  which  $50,000,000  of  stock  was  represented, 
four-fifths  of  it  English  holdings,  it  was  voted  unan- 
imously that  the  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  should  take  an  early  method  of  reimburs- 
ing all  the  actual  expenditures  incurred  by  the  few 
stockholders  who  had  brought  about  the  change.  A 
resolution  was  also  passed  instructing  the  Board  of 
Directors  to  audit  the  account  for  expenditures  and 
then  pay  it.  The  account  was  referred  to  the  Exec- 
utive Committee,  but  it  was  not  felt  by  that  Com- 
mittee that  it  would  be  well  just  then  to  act  upon 
it.  This  matter  was  also  made  subject  to  annoying 
search  for  more  light  upon  it  later  on. 

The  first  and  only  report  to  the  stockholders  made 
by  the  Dix  management  (July  1,  1872)  was  a  history 
of  but  seven  months  of  operation  (from  October  1st 
to  May  1st),  the  act  repealing  the  Classification  Act 
having  ordered  a  new  election  for  Directors  to  be 
held  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  July  instead  of  the 
second  Tuesday  of  October,  as  theretofore.  "  It 
maj-  be  proper  to  remark,"  said  the  report,  in  some 
preliminary  explanation,  "  that  whatever  credit  or 
discredit  may  appear  from  the  statements  must 
attach  not  to  the  present  managers,  but  to  their 
predecessors  in  office."  The  earnings  of  the  Com- 
pany for  the  nine  months,  the  return  for  June 
and  July  being  partially  estimated,  were  $10,374,- 
599.50,  including  $295,092.66  reported  earnings  of  the 
leased  lines.  The  expenses,  including  $316,530.57 
for  the  leased  lines,  were  $9,801,980.93,  leaving  a 
surplus  of  $572,618.57.  This  showed  an  increase 
in  earnings  over  the  corresponding  seven  months 
of  the  previous  fiscal  year  of  $i,335.'9">  alld  a  de" 
crease  in  expense  of  $160,593.35.  There  had  been 
expended  for  construction  $2,189,276.40.  The  dis- 
bursements for  interest,  construction,  etc.,  added  to 


the  operating  expenses,  brought  the  outlay  for  the 
seven  months  up  to  $1 1,991,257.35,  showing  a  deficit 
of  $1,616,657.83. 

"  The  Railroad  of  the  Barclay  Coal  Company,  with 
its  furniture  and  equipment,"  the  report  continued, 
"  is  leased  for  twenty  years  by  the  Towanda  Coal 
Company,  which  is  operated  by  the  Erie,  this  Com- 
pany [laying  for  the  same  an  annual  rental  of  $30,000, 
and  a  royalty  of  twenty-five  cents  per  ton  for  the 
coal.  This  arrangement  is  an  advantageous  one  for 
the  Company,  securing  as  it  does  a  supply  of  coal 
at  cheap  rates  for  the  use  of  the  locomotives.  The 
broad-gauge  track  of  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  and 
Dayton  Railroad  Company  was  leased  perpetually 
by  this  Company  at  a  yearly  rental  of  $180,000,  but 
this  arrangement,  like  many  others  of  a  similar  char- 
acter made  by  the  late  management,  entails  an  un- 
necessary and  improper  loss  to  this  Company,  and 
it  can  probably  be  terminated,  the  same  not  being 
valid  as  against  this  Company. 

"  The  contracts  between  this  Company  and  the 
Sleeping  Coach  Company  provides  that  the  latter 
shall  furnish  sleeping  and  drawing-room  coaches 
complete,  with  the  furniture  and  fixtures  properly 
adapted  to  their  use,  and  necessary  attendants,  and 
shall  receive  for  their  use  four  cents  for  each  mile 
run,  and  the  additional  amount  paid  by  passenger 
occupying  the  same,  over  and  above  the  rates  of  fare 
charged  on  the  regular  passenger  coaches  of  the  Rail- 
way Company.  The  Union  Car  Company  furnish 
500  box  freight  cars,  suitable  for  transportation  of 
grain  in  bulk,  at  one  cent  per  car  per  mile  run,  the 
Railway  Company  to  keep  the  same  in  repair  and 
guarantee  a  minimum  monthly  service  of  2,500  miles 
per  car.  The  Jefferson  Car  Company  furnish  the 
Railway  Company  with  1,500  four-wheeled  '  dump  ' 
or  coal  cars,  at  half  a  cent  a  car  per  mile  for  carrying 
coal,  the  Railway  Company  to  keep  the  same  in  re- 
pair and  guarantee  a  minimum  monthly  service  of 
1,400  miles  per  car. 

"  Although  something  has  been  done  in  the  way 
of  reform,  and  measures  are  in  progress  which,  if 
carried  out,  will  do  much  more  toward  placing  the 
affairs  of  the  Company  on  a  firmer  basis,  yet  the  ex- 
istence of  many  contracts  which  involve  loss  to  the 
Company  is  a  subject  of  regret ;  some  of  these  in  all 


2o6 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


probability  can  be  abrogated,  and  others  modified  so 
as  not  to  be  so  onerous  in  their  requirements.  But 
it  is  in  the  matter  of  additional  facilities  for  increas- 
ing business,  securing  remunerative  rates  and  eco- 
nomical operations,  that  the  Company  must  more 
particularly  look  to  secure  satisfactory  returns  on 
their  investment.  The  double  tracking  of  portions 
of  the  road,  the  introduction  of  the  third  rail  to 
secure  narrow-gauge  connections,  and  steel  rails  in 
place  of  iron  for  renewals,  stand  prominently  among 
the  needed  requirements." 

In  the  construction  account  of  this  report,  signed 
by  G.  P.  Morosini,  Auditor,  was  a  charge  of  $842,- 
7  $  J. 7-  for  "  legal  expenses,"  but  the  Auditor  added 
this  explanatory  but  significant  foot-note:  "The 
propriety  of  putting  this  item  in  the  construction  ac- 
count is  questionable,  but  it  was  so  arranged  by  the 
former  administration." 

The  question  of  completing  the  double  track  and 
of  adding  a  third  rail  to  the  broad-gauge  track  over 
the  entire  line,  which  was  first  advocated  by  Vice- 
President  Diven,  received  serious  attention  in  this 
report.  April  24,  1872,  the  Vice-President  had 
ordered,  by  direction  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
the  making  of  surveys  and  estimates  of  the  cost  of 
this  improvement,  the  necessity  of  which  the  unfor- 
tunate  original   adoption   of    the    broad   or   six-foot 

ige  was  then  making  most  apparent.  Vice-Presi- 
dent Diven's  plan  also  included  the  reduction  of  ex- 
cessive grades  where  practicable,  the  substitution  of 
iron  bridges  for  wood,  the  completion  of  the  neces- 
sary depots,  increased  machine  shops,  erection  of 
grain  elevators,  and  such  narrow-gauge  rolling  stock 
as  would  be  necessary  for  the  economical  transaction 
of  the  business  of  the  road.  He  submitted  the  fol- 
lowing as  the  result  of  the  surveys  and  estimates: 


The  cost  and  expense  of  laying  a  "  third  rail," 

on  double  track  and  sidings  between  Jersey 

City  and  Buffalo  will  be,  if  of  steel  rails $5,551,800  00 

Cost  nf  above,  if  of  iron  rails 4.890,150  00 

The  cost  and  expense  of  laying  "  third  rail,"  on 

double  ii.nl.  and  sidings  between  Hornells- 

\illi-  and  Salamanca  will  be,  if  of  steel  rails..  I,l6l,000  00 

Cost  of  above,  if  of  iron  rails 1,025,700  00 

Cost   and   1     1 of  laying   "third   rail,"   on 

single  track   and    siding   between    Salamanca 

and  Dunkirk  will  be,  if  of  steel  rails 33-. 150  00 

Cost  of  above,  if  of  iron  rails 294,200  00 


The  cost  of  completing  double  track  on  Dela- 
ware Division,  including  grading  and  ma- 
sonry, superstructure,  laying  and  ballasting, 
and  iron  bridges,  with  steel  rails,  will  be 

Cost  of  above,  if  of  iron  rails,  will  be 

The  cost  of  completing  double  track  on  Sus- 
quehanna Division,  as  above,  if  of  steel  rails. 

If  of  iron  rails 

The  cost  of  completing  double  track  on  West- 
ern Division,  Hornellsville  to  Salamanca, 
steel    rails 

Iron   rails 

The  cost  of  completing  double  track  on  Buf- 
falo Division,  Hornellsville  to  Buffalo,  if  of 
steel   rails 

Iron  rails 


}>2, 297,225  00 

2,201,015  °o 

654.025  00 

602.050  00 


1,837,914  00 
1,702,614  00 


1.998.540  00 
1 .824.300  00 


Steel    rails $13.8.12.65400 

Iron   rails 12,540.029  00 


Additional  buildings  required...  $1,149,00000 
Additional     equipment,     engines 

and  cars 5,700,000  00 —  $6,849,000  00 


Steel   rails $20,681.65400 

Iron   rails 19,389.02900 


In  recommending  these  improvements  General 
Diven  reported  as  follows,  which  is  important  now 
as  showing  the  system  under  which  the  railroad's 
operation  was  conducted  twenty-five  years  ago: 

"  It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  report  that 
to  complete  the  double  track  on  the  Delaware  Di- 
vision, without  the  third  rail,  will  cost,  if  of  steel, 
$2,297,225  ;  if  of  iron,  $2,201,015.  This  I  regard 
indispensable  to  any  increase  of  the  business  of  the 
road.  The  delays  incident  to  throwing  so  large  a 
business  upon  a  single  track  renders  anything  like 
regular  time  impossible.  The  freight  trains  are 
obliged  constantly  to  take  the  sidings  for  the  fast 
trains  to  make  their  time.  No  time  should  be  lost 
in  completing  the  double  track. 

"  To  complete  the  double  track  on  the  Susque- 
hanna Division,  without  third  rail,  will  cost,  if  of 
steel  rails,  $654,025  ;  if  of  iron  rails,  $602,050,  mak- 
ing the  cost  to  complete  the  double  track  from  New- 
York  to  Hornellsville,  if  of  steel  rails,  $2,951,250;  if 
of  iron,  $2,803,065.  As  the  cost  of  completing  this 
double  track  to  Hornellsville  is  so  small,  after  the 
completion  of  the  Delaware  Division,  I  recommend 
this  as  very  desirable.  This  done,  and  with  two 
routes  to  Buffalo  from  Corning,  and  with  the  Sala- 
manca and  Buffalo  business  divided  at  Hornellsville, 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


20; 


the  road  could  be  very  well  worked  without  double 
tracking  the  rest  of  the  road.  Though  I  regard  the 
double  tracking  from  Hornellsville  to  Buffalo  and 
from  Hornellsville  to  Salamanca  as  important,  I  do 
not  regard  it  as  indispensable. 

"  To  lay  third  rail  from  Jersey  City  to  Buffalo — on 
double  track  to  Hornellsville — and  track  as  now  laid 
from  Hornellsville,  including  completion  of  double 
track  on  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  Divisions,  will 
cost,  if  of  steel,  $7,965,865;  if  of  iron,  $",232,865. 
Add  to  this,  third  rail  on  track  as  now  from  Hornells- 
ville to  Salamanca  will   make,  if  of  steel,  $8,653,315; 


if  of  iron,  $7,852,665.  Unless  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  narrow  their  gauge,  the  third  rail  to 
Salamanca  is  not  recommended.  The  double  track 
to  Hornellsville,  and  the  third  rail  to  Buffalo,  as  soon 
as  practicable,  is  of  unquestionable  importance.  As 
it  will  take  about  one  year  to  do  this  work,  no  time 
should  be  lost  in  its  prosecution." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  great  change  in  the 
gauge  of  the  railroad,  a  change  that  was  not  finally 
accomplished  until  years  afterward.  The  survey  and 
estimates  for  these  proposed  improvements  were 
made  under  the  direction  of  R.  N.  Brown. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    PETER    H.    WATSON— 1872    TO    1874. 


I.  Dark  Clouds  with  Silver  Lining:  An  Eminently  Respectable  Board,  but  No  Money — The  New  Management's  Policy  one  of 
Dividends  —  A  Dividend  Declared,  which  Amazes  Some  People —  The  Gould  "  Restitution  " —  How  Gould  Brought  it  About  and 
Won  Another  Victory  from  Defeat  —  Details  of  the  "Restitution."  II.  The  Silver  Lining  Growing  Less:  Clamor  that 
Dividend  Payments  were  Fraudulent  —  Erie  in  the  Legislature  Again —  President  Watson  Declares  that  the  Only  Thing  to  be  1  lone 
to  Save  Erie  is  to  Spend  $40,000,000  in  Improvements — An  Issue  of  Consolidated  Bonds  in  that  Amount  Ordered — President 
Watson  Goes  Abroad  to  Borrow  Money  on  the  Bonds  —  Falling  on  Wretched  Times  in  London.  III.  The  Silver  LINING  DlS 
\rs  :  Watson  a  Supplicant  for  Aid  Abroad,  Barlow  a  Dictator  of  Erie  Affairs  at  Home —  Dunan,  the  Erie  Auditor,  Resigns, 
and  Declares  Publicly  that  the  Watson  Dividends  were  F'alse  —  Dunan  Denounced  by  the  Board  —  Report  of  President  Watson  — 
lie  Denies  the  Charge  —  McHenry  Secures  a  Lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  on  His  Own  Terms  —  Melancholy  Ending  of 
the  Watson  Administration. 


I.    DARK    CLOUDS    WITH    SILVER    LINING. 

THERE  had  never  been  a  more  eminently  respect- 
able and  reputable  Board  of  Directors  than  the  one 
that  started  in  to  pilot  the  battered  bark  of  Erie  out 
of  troubled  waters,  and  bring  it  safely  into  the  har- 
bor of  peace  and  prosperity.  Yet  there  was  no  indi- 
cation that  confidence  in  Erie  was  restored  by  this 
showing  of  great  names.  According  to  the  statement 
made  by  the  Directors  on  July  10,  1872,  the  earnings 
had  for  months  exceeded  the  expenses  more  than 
half  a  million  of  dollars,  but  the  disbursements  were 
more  than  a  million  and  a  half  in  excess  of  the  re- 
ceipts. The  inheritance  of  liabilities  from  the  pre- 
ceding management  was  a  funded  debt  of  more  than 
$30,000,000,  and  a  stock  debt  of  over  §86,000,000. 
It  was  well  known  that  the  treasury  was  empty. 
Something  besides  names  representing  all  that  was 
substantial  and  potent  in  the  financial  world  was 
necessary  to  improve  the  condition  and  repute  of 
Eric.  Wall  Street  had  ruled  the  Company  and  its 
affairs  long  and  disastrously.  Public  confidence- 
awaited  the  disclosure  of  what  the  policy  of  the 
Company  was  to  be  under  its  new  guidance.  The 
disclosure  came  in  good  time,  and  the  policy  was 
unpopular  from  the  start.  It  was  one  of  dividends 
— the  English  policy  of  dividing  among  the  stock- 
holders, annually  or  semi-annually,  the  net  earnings 
of  the  road,  and  the  pledge  that  whatever  amounts 
might   be   required    for   construction    or   equipment 


should  be  provided  by  the  stockholders.  A  few  of 
the  Directors  expressed  grave  doubts  as  to  the  wis- 
dom of  this  policy,  and  apprehension  that  the  result 
of  it  would  be  far  from  beneficial  to  the  future  of  the 
Company;  but  the  stockholders,  a  majority  of  whom 
were  foreign,  insisted  upon  it.  As  the  management 
was  duty-bound  to  coincide  with  the  wishes  of  the 
foreign  influence,  the  policy  was  adopted,  and,  as 
subsequent  developments  made  manifest,  the  neces- 
sary figuring  to  bring  to  bear  such  a  relation  of 
charges  to  earnings  as  would  leave  a  balance  to  be 
divided  among  the  stockholders  began. 

A  radical  change  in  the  administration  of  the  oper- 
ating departments  of  the  railroad  was  made  by 
President  Watson's  "General  Order,  Xo.  1,"  on 
September  18,  1872.  A  Department  of  Transporta- 
tion, a  Department  of  Road,  and  a  Department  of 
Rolling  Stock  were  created,  over  which  Vice-Presi- 
dent Diven  had  direct  authority,  with  power  to  ap- 
point superintendents  and  make  rules  and  regulations 
for  the  operation  and  maintenance  of  the  road,  sub- 
ject to  the  approval  of  the  President.  Harden  D.  Y. 
Pratt  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  Transporta- 
tion ;  Robert  M.  Brown  Superintendent  of  Road,  and 
Myron  T.  Brown  Superintendent  of  Rolling  Stock. 
Robert  Berdell  Cable  was  subsequently  appointed 
General  Superintendent  of  Transportation,  and  the 
Superintendents  of  Divisions  were  changed  as  to 
title,  and  became  Assistant  Superintendents  of 
Transportation. 


PETER    H.    WATSON. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


209 


The  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  influence  in  the 
new  Erie  management  was  not  calculated  to  inspire 
a  hopeful  feeling  for  the  future  of  Erie,  and  the 
knowledge  that  James  McHenry  was  a  much-list- 
ened-to  adviser  in  Erie  affairs  gave  much  strength  to 
the  belief  that  the  Erie  Railroad  Company  might 
eventually  become  the  burden-bearer  for  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  year  1872,  evidences  of  a  determina- 
tion of  that  influence  to  at  last  connect  the  Erie  and 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  by  closer  ties  were 
plain  to  all  observers  of  the  tend  of  Erie  affairs. 
Rumors  that  a  dividend  was  soon  to  be  declared  on 
Erie  preferred  stock  had  long  prevailed,  and  when 
one  was  actually  declared  and  paid,  3^  per  cent,  for 
the  six  months  ending  June  30th,  Erie  became  an 
object  of  renewed  public  interest.  Was  the  dividend 
earned  ?     That  was  the  question. 

The  year  1872  closed,  however,  with  a  transaction 
by  the  Watson  management  which  it  proclaimed  to 
be  a  demonstration  of  its  remarkable  shrewdness  and 
far-seeing  business  wisdom.  A  great  many  people 
regarded  the  transaction  in  the  same  light,  and  were 
loud  in  their  expressions  of  admiration  of  the  won- 
derful perspicuity  of  men  who  were  capable  of 
bringing  to  quick  and  successful  culmination  so 
momentous  an  issue.  There  were  those  who  recog- 
nized at  once  the  farcical  character  of  this  affair, 
although  it  is  but  fair  to  assume  that  President 
Watson  and  some  of  his  Directors  believed  in  the 
solemn  importance  of  it,  and  that  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  had  made  a  great  bargain.  In  fact,  dur- 
ing the  part  of  his  administration  following  it,  the 
"Gould  Reclamation"  was  ever  his  favorite  sub- 
ject of  reference,  as  it  was  that  of  his  advisers,  when- 
ever unpleasant  persons  wanted  to  know  what  the 
management  had  done  or  was  doing  for  Erie.  If 
ever  a  debt  was  paid  with  "  cats  and  dogs,"  the 
"  restitution"  by  Jay  Gould  was  an  instance  of  it. 

Jay  Gould's  victorious  downfall  from  the  dictator- 
ship of  Erie,  and  his  nonchalant  retirement  from  his 
seat  in  the  Directory,  were  to  be  followed  by  still 
greater  triumphs  of  his  peculiar  genius.  After  he 
had  ceased  to  be  the  dictator  of  Erie,  and  was  shorn 
of  the  great  prestige  he  enjoyed  and  the  wide  influ- 
14 


ence  he  wielded  as  such  dictator,  and  especially  as 
there  were  ominous  rumors  of  the  appalling  fate 
that  awaited  him  at  such  time  as  the  new  Erie  man- 
agers were  ready  to  call  him  to  account  for  his  short- 
comings, there  were  men  who  made  the  mistake  of 
judging  him  as  one  who  would  hesitate  to  call  atten- 
tion to  himself  by  resorting  to  any  bold  or  aggressive 
methods  in  any  operation  he  might  undertake  in 
Wall  Street,  and  that,  consequently,  he  would  be  a 
proper  target  for  shrewd  speculators  to  hurl  their 
shafts  at  and  relentlessly  impale.  Even  the  wily 
Daniel  Drew  had  not  learned  enough  from  his  past 
experience  with  Gould  to  know  better,  and  it  turned 
out  that  Henry  X.  Smith,  long  time  Gould's  partner 
in  the  firm  of  Smith,  Gould,  Martin  &  Co.,  was  led 
to  seek  profit  at  Gould's  expense  and  as  a  matter  of 
private  vengeance.  Smith  had  been  worsted  previ- 
ously in  a  speculative  bout  with  Daniel  Drew,  a  little 
operation  in  which  Gould  was  concerned  with  him. 
He  was  moved  to  blame  Gould  for  the  loss  he  sus- 
tained, and  demanded  that  Gould  should  make  it 
good.  This  was  not  according  to  the  rules  of 
Gould's  procedure,  and  he  refused  to  comply  with 
Smith's  demand. 

"  Then  I'll  get  good  and  even  with  you  before 
another  year!  "  exclaimed  the  angry  broker. 

Jay  Gould  smiled  and  went  his  way,  and  the  long 
and  close  friendship  that  had  existed  between  him 
and  Smith  was  broken  there  and  then.  Gould  had 
then  recently  formed  an  alliance  with  his  former  foes, 
Augustus  Schell  and  Horace  F.  Clark  and  others,  in 
a  bull  movement  in  Chicago  and  Northwestern,  al- 
though he  was  not  at  first  known  to  be  interested. 
Smith  learned  that  Gould  was  in  the  movement,  and 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  operating  heavily  on  the 
short  side  of  the  same  stock,  believing  that  he  could 
catch  Gould  unaware,  get  him  in  a  tight  place,  and 
make  a  million  or  so  out  of  him.  Smith  had  plenty 
of  money  and  credit,  and  had  always  been  a  remark- 
ably successful  manipulator  of  the  stock  market. 
Rut  he  had  reckoned  without  his  host  this  time. 
When  he  thought  the  time  had  come  to  drive  Gould 
into  the  hole  he  supposed  had  been  dug  for  him,  he 
found  that  all  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  stock 
in  the  Street  had  been  bought  up  by  the  Gould 
party,  and   that  they  had  a  tight  and   impregnable 


210 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


comer  on  it.  Smith  was  short  40,000  shares,  and 
Daniel  Drew  and  William  R.  Travers  (an  Erie  Di- 
rector of  the  new  school),  who  had  also  taken  that 
side  of  the  market,  with  Gould  in  their  eyes  as  their 
victim,  each  found  himself  short  10,000  shares. 
Smith,  as  well  as  Drew  and  Travers,  stood  to  make 
their  contracts  good  at  75,  and  when  they  sought  to 
make  the  turn,  on  the  afternoon  of  November  20th, 
the  stock  had  advanced  to  100,  and  not  a  share  was 
to  be  had  anywhere.  Even  at  that  price,  a  loss  of 
$700,000  stared  Smith  in  the  face;  but  Northwest- 
ern was  still  booming  upward. 

According  to  all  the  protestations  of  the  new  Erie 
management  since  it  came  into  power,  it  had  been 
leaving  no  stone  unturned  that  it  could  find  to  turn 
which  would  expose  to  it  evidence  upon  which  it 
could  bring  Jay  Gould  to  justice  for  the  wrong-doing 
he  was  charged  with  being  guilty  of  while  he  was  in 
control  of  the  Company.  A  suit  to  recover  from 
him  $10,000,000  had  been  entered  against  him,  but 
it  was  discontinued  for  lack  of  evidence  to  sustain 
it.  This  evidence,  it  was  believed,  was  contained 
in  the  books  of  the  firm  of  Smith,  Gould,  Martin  & 
Co.,  but  these  the  Erie  management  had  no  power 
to  examine.  Well  pleased  and  greatly  exultant 
were  the  Erie  people,  then,  as  they  declared,  when 
Henry  N.  Smith  called  on  President  Watson  and 
Counsel  Barlow,  December  21,  1872,  and  informed 
them  that  he  would  open  to  them  the  books  of 
Smith,  Gould,  Martin  &  Co.  containing  true  ac- 
counts of  Jay  Gould's  Erie  transactions,  which  would 
supply  the  missing  evidence  necessary  to  convict 
him  of  the  long-pending  charges.  This  delivery  of 
Smith  to  the  Erie  management  followed  closely  on 
an  interview  he  had  had  with  Gould.  When  he 
found  that  instead  of  having  forced  his  former  part- 
ner into  a  corner,  the  latter  had  outwitted  him  and 
held  him  at  his  mercy,  Smith  lost  no  time  in  seeking 
Gould,  believing  that  he  possessed  the  weapons  by 
which  he  could  compel  Gould  to  release  him  from 
his  desperate  dilemma. 

You  must  let  me  have  Northwestern,"  he  said 
to  Gould,  "  and  let  me  have  it  so  I  can  get  out  of 
this  fix  whole." 

Gould  declined  to  make  any  such  arrangement, 
and  at  last  Smith  brought  his  weapons  into  use. 


If  you  don't  help  me  out  of  this,"  said  he,  "  I 
will  turn  over  the  Smith,  Gould  &  Martin  books  to 
Barlow — and  you  know  what  that  means!  " 

In  his  cool,  imperturbable  manner  Gould  replied: 
Very  well.     Turn  them   over.      I  have  no  objec- 
tion." 

Then  it  was,  foiled,  on  the  brink  of  financial  dis- 
aster, and  hot  with  rage,  that  Smith  became  the  ally 
of  the  Erie  management  in  its  warfare  against  Gould. 
The  management  was  quick  to  move  on  the  infor- 
mation thus  obtained. 

On  Friday,  November  22d,  the  counsel  for  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  Messrs.  Barlow,  Larocque  & 
MacFarland,  obtained  from  Judge  Fancher  of  the 
Supreme  Court  an  order  of  arrest  for  Jay  Gould, 
alleging  a  claim  against  him  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  of  $9,726,541.26,  "  for  moneys  fraudu- 
lently appropriated  by  him,  belonging  to  the  Com- 
pany, while  acting  in  the  joint  capacity  of  its  Presi- 
dent and  Treasurer."  The  complaint  was  sworn  to 
by  President  Watson.  It  alleged  that  while  acting 
as  President  of  the  Company  Gould  formed  a  copart- 
nership with  Henry  N.  Smith,  Henry  H.  Martin, 
and  James  B.  Bache,  under  the  firm  name  of  Smith, 
Gould,  Martin  &  Co.,  and  that  through  the  agency 
of  the  firm  he  embezzled  and  misapplied  moneys  of 
the  Company  to  the  gross  amount  of  $9,726,541.26, 
made  up  as  follows:  "  He  caused  to  be  issued  and 
put  upon  the  market  407,347  shares  of  the  capital 
stock  of  the  Company  at  the  par  value  of  $40,7  54,700. 
In  the  issue  of  this  stock  Gould  acted  as  Director. 
It  was  issued  to  him  directly,  and  he  converted  it 
into  cash,  amounting  to  $12,803,590.23,  of  which 
he  received  personally  $4,499, 132.23.  Subsequently 
his  firm  sold  other  Erie  stock,  netting  the  sum  of 
$3,061,700.15,  which  sum  was  paid  to  Gould,  but 
never  accounted  for  by  him  to  the  Company,  he 
claiming  that  the  Company  was  indebted  to  him, 
while  the  contrary  was  the  fact,  and  that  the  money 
was  applied  by  him  to  cover  his  losses  in  specula- 
tion. In  November,  1868,  he  operated  in  shares  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  through  his  firm,  ami 
incurred  a  loss  by  decrease  in  market  value  of  the 
shares,  to  relieve  himself  from  which  and  put  it  upon 
the  Company.  He,  in  July,  1869,  by  fraud  prac- 
tised on  the  court,  procured  an  order  allowing  the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


21  I 


Company  to  repurchase  shares  of  the  Company 
which  were  of  doubtful  validity.  Under  this  order 
he  purchased  121,400  shares  at  the  average  rate  of 
61.47  Per  share,  amounting  in  all  to  $7,462,458, 
such  assumed  cost  being  charged  to  the  Company, 
and  paid  for  out  of  moneys  of  the  Company  in  the 
hands  of  Smith,  Gould,  Martin  &  Co.,  while  at  the 
time  the  market  value  of  the  stock  was  only  about 
$29  per  share,  thus  causing  a  loss  to  the  company  of 
§3,941,858.  In  1869  he  speculated  in  Reading  stock 
to  the  extent  of  $359,312,  and  lost  $168,803.69, 
which  he  fraudulently  charged  against  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company.  In  January,  1869,  he  speculated  in 
New  York  Central  stock  and  lost  $13,580.51,  which 
he  fraudulently  charged  to  the  Company.  In  Au- 
gust, 1869,  he  drew  out  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany's funds  $60,000,  which  he  paid  over  to  James 
Fisk,  Jr.,  well  knowing  Fisk  had  no  right  to  receive 
it.  In  October,  1868,  he  paid  $23,554.75  to  secure 
his  election  as  President,  which  sum  he  charged  to 
the  account  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company.  In 
December,  1870,  he  had  fraudulently  increased  the 
capital  stock  of  the  Company  to  the  extent  of 
$20,000,000.  On  January  13,  1871,  a  further  in- 
crease of  the  capital  stock  of  $1,000,000  was  made 
in  like  manner,  and  the  stock,  when  issued,  was  taken 
by  Jay  Gould  to  be  sold  by  him  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  Company.  The  market  value  of  the 
stock  was  at  that  time  at  the  rate  of  $22,  or  there- 
about, per  share,  and  was  sold  by  Gould  for  $660,000, 
which  he  embezzled,  or  misapplied,  and  did  not 
account  for." 

This  complaint,  and  the  affidavit  accompanying  it, 
made  by  Henry  N.  Smith,  that  the  accounts  from 
the  Smith,  Gould  &  Martin  books  were  correct,  were 
sworn  to  before  William  A.  Dunphy,  Notary  Public, 
November  22,   1872. 

On  these  papers  Judge  Fancher  issued  the  order 
of  arrest,  and  Deputy  Sheriff  John  McLaughlin, 
between  3  and  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Friday, 
November  22d,  traced  Gould  to  the  office  of  Osborne 
&  Chapin,  at  34  Broad  Street.  It  was  denied  there 
that  Gould  was  in  the  office.  The  officer  tried  the 
door  to  the  inner  office  and  found  it  locked.  Ad- 
mission was  refused  him,  and  he  was  about  to  break 
down   the  door,    when   it   was   unlocked   and   Gould 


came  out  of  the  room  and  surrendered  himself.  1  [e 
was  taken  to  the  Sheriff's  office,  where  Augustus 
Schell  and  Horace  F.  Clark  qualified  as  his  bonds- 
men in  the  amount  of  $1,000,000  bail  demanded  by 
Judge  Fancher,  and  he  was  immediately  released. 

In  the  meantime,  Gould  and  his  associates  had 
maintained  the  1  orner  in  Northwestern.  On  Decem- 
ber 21st  the  stock  jumped  by  rapid  stages  to  200. 
Gould's  arrest  greatly  excited  the  Street  and  public. 
Smith  declared  that  he  would  never  settle  his  con- 
tracts, but  after  some  days  he  effected  a  compromise 
with  his  creditors  by  which  he  was  relieved  of  his 
squeeze  at  the  cost  of  about  $1,000,000.  Drew  paid 
$250,000  for  his  last  experience  in  trying  to  worst 
Jay  Gould.  Travers  got  out  with  a  loss  of  $300,000. 
Gould  and  his  friends  claimed  that  the  Erie  suit  and 
his  arrest  were  simply  to  affect  stocks  so  that  his 
antagonists  might  escape  from  the  losses  that  threat- 
ened them,  and  manifested  no  uneasiness  as  to  its 
outcome. 

Pending  further  proceedings  in  the  Erie  suit 
against  him,  Gould  brought  about  several  confer- 
ences between  himself  and  S.  L.  M.  Barlow  and 
President  Watson.  The  result  of  these  conferences 
was  that  he  succeeded  in  convincing  them  that  they 
might  do  a  great  deal  better  by  Erie  than  to  enter 
into  expensive  litigation  with  him,  "  of  the  ultimate 
result  of  which,"  he  said,  "  I  stand  in  no  fear."  He 
assured  them  that  he  and  his  friends  controlled  lines 
that,  brought  into  connection  with  the  Erie,  would 
form  a  grand  continuous  system  between  New  York 
and  San  Francisco,  and  raise  the  Erie  Railway  to 
the  position  of  being  without  a  rival  in  Western  and 
transcontinental  traffic.  The  combination,  he  said, 
consisted  of  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  South- 
ern, the  Chicago  and  Northwestern — the  gaining  of 
control  of  which  had  led  to  his  arrest — the  Hannibal 
and  St.  Joseph,  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  and 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroads.  The  only  link  n 
was  the  Erie  to  complete  the  grandest  scheme  in  the 
history  of  railroad  transportation.  To  consummate 
it,  and  dispose  of  and  settle  the  differences  between 
him  and  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  lie  said  he  was 
willing  to  turn  over  to  that  Company  certain  prop- 
erties in  his  possession,  the  further  condition  being 
that   he   should   be   permitted    to   purchase   200,000 


212 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


shares  of  the  Company's  common  stock  at  the  new 
market  quotation,  which  was  about  50.  These  con- 
ferences resulted  in  the  following  correspondence: 

New  York,  December  17,  1872. 

Dear  Sir: — Referring  to  my  recent  conversation  with  you 
on  the  subject  of  the  claims  of  the  Erie  Railway  upon  mc.  I 
assume  that  there  is  no  longer  any  sufficient  reason  why  an 
adjustment  of  all  open  questions,  satisfactory  and  honorable 
to  all  parties,  should  not  now  be  made.  I  have  at  all  times, 
since  my  resignation  as  President  of  the  Erie  Company,  been 
prepared  to  make  conveyances  to  it  of  properties  belonging 
to  the  company,  to  which  I  never  made  any  claim.  In  addition 
to  these  I  have  held  in  my  name  both  real  and  personal  proper- 
ties, which  I  intended  for  the  use  of  the  Erie  Company,  some 
ni  which  were  forced  upon  me  to  meet  real  exigencies  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Erie  Company  during  my  administration,  and 
others  of  which  I  purchased  rather  with  the  expectation  of 
benefiting  the  company  through  business  to  accrue  to  the 
road  than  from  any  other  motive.  Upon  your  construction 
of  my  accounts  with  the  company  I  am  charged  with  all  the 
moneys  there  expended,  and  the  properties  in  question  there- 
fore belong  to  me.  My  idea  is.  rather,  that  they  should  go 
to  the  company,  and  that  I  should  be  credited  with  their  value. 

Another  question,  of  even  more  importance,  grows  out  of 
the  state  in  which  I  am  compelled  to  leave  my  account  with 
the  company.  At  the  time  of  my  withdrawal  from  the  presi- 
dency I  could  then  have  explained  many  matters  which  now 
are  involved  in  doubt.  One  account  book,  belonging  to  the 
company,  has  been  mislaid  since  I  left  the  Presidency. 
Through  entries  in  it  I  could  readily  account  for  all  the  dis- 
crepancies which  you  have  pointed  out  to  me.  It  was  kept 
for  this  purpose,  and  its  loss  is  a  serious  embarrassment.  But 
I  am  willing  and  prefer  to  meet  you  in  a  spirit  that  shall  leave 
no  question  as  to  my  motives  and  intentions. 

Take  your  own  statement  and  you  claim  $9,086,000.  The 
various  pieces  of  real  estate  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Ohio,  and  the  stocks  and  bonds  which  I  men- 
tioned in  my  last  conversation  with  you,  I  believe  you  will 
consider  worth  more  to  the  Erie  Company  than  the  total  sum 
claimed.  Some  of  these  properties  were  purchased  with  my 
own  means,  and  the  company  has  no  claim  upon  them,  but 
they  are  necessary  for  its  use.  I  now  propose  to  convey  all 
these  properties  previously  mentioned,  and  will,  in  addition, 
convey  the  Grand  Opera  House  and  all  adjacent  properties, 
owned  by  Mr.  Fisk  and  myself,  the  same  to  be  freed  by  me 
from  all  mortgages,  to  you,  on  receiving  a  full  discharge  from 
the  company. 

I  do  lln^  for  the  sake  of  peace,  because  any  litigation  of  such 
questions  is  mini  annoying  to  me  than  the  loss  of  the  money 
involved,  and  because  I  am  sincerely  anxious  for  the  success 
of  the  Erie  Company,  in  which  I  have  a  large  pecuniary 
interest 

I'l.. 1  e  lei  me  know  as  speedily  as  possible  whether  this 
proposition  is  favorably  entertained  by  you. 

Yours  truly, 

Jay  Gould. 

To  Peter  II.  Watson,  Esq.,  President  Erie  Railway. 

President  Watson  named  a  special  committee  of 
the  Board,  consisting  of  himself,  ex-Governor  E.  D. 


Morgan,  William  Butler  Duncan,  William  R.  T  ravers, 
and  Samuel  D.  Babcock,  to  examine  the  various 
securities  and  properties  included  in  Gould's  offer, 
and  to  take  his  proposition  into  consideration. 
Pending  the  decision  of  this  committee,  he  sent  the 
following  reply  to  Jay  Gould's  letter: 

Office  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 

New  York,  December  17,  1872. 
Jay  Gould,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  your  favor  of  this  date,  the  substance 
of  which  I  will  at  once  submit  to  the  special  committee  of  our 
Board  having  the  claim  against  you  in  charge.    ■ 

I  cannot  say  what  their  action  will  be,  but  I  am  satisfied 
with  the  explanations  you  have  made,  and  will  cheerfully  rec- 
ommend a  settlement  on  the  general  terms  suggested  by  you, 
as  I  believe  the  best  interests  of  the  Erie  Company  will  be 
thereby  served,  and  that  the  properties  in  question  are  fully 
equivalent  in  value  to  the  Erie  Company  to  its  claim  against 
you  of  every  character. 

I  will  call  our  committee  together  to-morrow,  and  com- 
municate their  action  to  you,  not  doubting  that  they  will  con- 
sider your  offer,  as  I  do,  a  fair  one  under  the  circumstances, 
and  one  which,  from  a  business  point  of  view,  should  be  ac- 
cepted in  the  interests  of  the  stockholders  of  the  Erie  Company. 

Yours  respectfully, 

P.  H.  Watson.  President. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors 
held  at  10  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  December  19th, 
the  committee  reported  that  the  property  might  be 
accepted  by  the  Company  with  the  assurance  that  it 
was  worth  $9,000,000,  and  that  at  a  forced  sale  it 
would  command  $6,000,000.  The  report  was  ac- 
cepted by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Board,  and  the 
President  was  authorized  to  effect  a  settlement  with 
Gould  on  his  terms.  That  same  day,  and  on  the 
following  day,  at  the  office  of  Barlow,  Larocque  cK; 
MacFarland,  counsel  for  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 
Gould  transferred  to  the  Company  the  property 
referred  to  in  his  letter  to  President  Watson  of  the 
17th  of  December,  and  received  a  full  discharge  and 
release  from  any  claim  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
had  or  might  have  had  upon  him. 

The  news  of  this  event  took  Wall  Street  by  sur- 
prise. On  the  strength  of  it  Erie  stock  rose  from 
$2}i  to  57^  on  the  19th,  and  the  market  closed 
strong.  Wall  Street  had  its  own  private  opinion  as 
to  what  had  prompted  Gould  to  make"  restitution." 
the  term  by  which  the  Erie  management  dignified 
the  transaction.     On  the  score  of  credit  and  power 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


-r3 


as  a  great  stock  operator,  so  Wall  Street  argued, 
Gould  had  recently  made  close  alliance  with  such 
men  as  Horace  F.  Clark,  Augustus  Schell,  and 
others  who  were,  or  had  been,  closely  allied  with 
the  Vanderbilt  interests  (although  the  old  Commo- 
dore publicly  denied  that  he  had  any  interests  in 
Wall  Street),  and  had  made  a  great  deal  of  money 
in  a  short  time  out  of  this  alliance.  But  his  con- 
tinued standing  with  that  desirable  combination,  as 
well  as  with  the  Stock  Exchange,  depended  upon 
his  ability  to  satisfy  and  thereby  silence  the  pending 
and  threatened  legal  proceedings  against  him.  It 
was  not  a  pleasant  thing  to  contemplate  such  pro- 
ceedings, said  Wall  Street,  especially  to  one  who 
was  perhaps  at  that  time  more  ambitious  of  the 
prestige  of  success  in  the  Street  than  of  increasing 
his  personal  wealth. 

"  It  beats  all  I  ever  heerd  !  "  said  old  Daniel  Drew, 
in  the  vernacular  peculiar  to  him.  "  Jest  mind  what 
I  tell  ye.  He'll  make  up  the  best  part  o'  them  nine 
million  they  say  he's  turned  over  to  the  Ary  by 
bullin'  its  sheers!     But  nine  millions  ?     Pooh!" 

In  conversation,  after  settling  with  the  Erie,  Gould 
said:  "The  settlement  was  made  in  cash,  stocks, 
and  real  estate,  and  the  proceeds  will  go  far  toward 
putting  down  a  third  rail,  replenishing  the  rolling 
stock,  and  paying  dividends,  and  will  greatly  sustain 
the  credit  of  the  road.  The  200,000  shares  which  I 
purchased  as  the  condition  of  this  settlement  will  be 
of  great  value,  and  will  at  least  reimburse  me  for  the 
money  I  have  paid  to  the  Erie  corporation.  I  also 
stipulated  that  I  should  have  a  voice  in  matters  per- 
taining to  the  road  and  be  consulted  in  regard  to  its 
workings." 

This  was  made  publicly,  and,  so  far  as  there  is  any 
record,  was  never  denied.  As  to  reimbursing  him- 
self by  the  effect  the"  restitution  "  had  on  the  stock 
and  his  subsequent  operations,  even  if  the  settlement 
had  really  cost  him  $9,000,000,  which  it  had  not,  nor 
anything  like  it,  he  could  not  have  made  a  better 
investment. 

What  a  spectacle,  then,  was  that!  This  man, 
lately  reviled  by  his  successors  in  control  of  Eric, 
and  standing  charged  by  them,  under  oath  and  in 
sickening  detail,  before  a  solemn  court,  with  rob- 
bery, embezzlement,  and  gross  violation  of  a  sacred 


trust,  and  held  in  bonds  of  fabulous  amount  to 
answer  the  charges,  which,  if  proved,  would  place 
him  in  a  felon's  cell,  boldly  and  confidently  dictating 
terms  upon  which  he  would  release  them  from  the 
annoyance  of  litigation  !  Terms  that  included  vir- 
tually his  rehabilitation  in  the  good  graces  of  the 
Company  whose  treasury  he  was  charged  with  loot- 
ing, and  whose  name  and  fame  they  affirmed  he  had 
besmirched.  Was  ever  triumph  in  defeat  greater 
than  this  ? 

The  details  of  this  settlement  and  the  "  restitu- 
tion "  are  as  follows,  from  the  official  records: 

THE   AGREEMENT    WITH    JAY    GOULD. 

Agreement   made    this   eighteenth    day  of  December,  in  the 
■>■  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two,  be- 
tween the  Erie  Railway    Company,   party  of  the  first 
part,  and  Jay  Gould,  parly  of  the  second  part : 

Whereas,  The  said  company  has  large  claims  against  the 
said  Jay  Gould,  some  of  which  art-  now  in  suit,  and  >ome  o! 
which  have  been  presented  to  him,  hut  which  arc  not  in  suit. 
And, 

Whereas,  It  is  proposed  that  a  full  settlement  and  com- 
promise shall  be  made  of  said  claims. 

Now,   therefore,   it   has   been   and  is   hereby   mutually   covc- 
1  d.    by   and   between   the   said  parti, 
sideration  of  the  premises  and  the  sum  of  one  dollar  by  each 
of  said  partus  to  the  other  duly  paid,  as  follows: 

First. — The  complaint  in  the  main  suit  again-;  slid  Gould 
shall  be  amended  so  as  to  cover  all  the  various  items  of  claims 
of  every  nature  to  this  date,  alll  due  to  the  Erie  Com- 

pany from  said  Gould,  as  well  as  all  existing  claims  for 
erty  or  stocks,   and   for  all   items  appearing  to  be   due   to  the 
Erie  Company  by   said   Gould  or  his  co-partners   hereinafter 
mentioned.  Other  than  James  Fisk.  junior,  on  the  bo 
Erie  Company,  or  on  those  of  Smith,  Gould.  Martin  .S:  Com- 
pany, or  of  the  other  firms  in  which  said  Gould  was  or  is  a 
partner,  all  of  which  last-mentioned  books  are  now  freely  open 
to  the  examination  of  said  Company;  and  such  complaint  shall 
be  so  framed  as  to  embrace  all  other  accounts,  claims,  1 
of  action  and  demands  of  every  nature  against  said  Jay  1 
or  his  itners.  other  than  the  said  James  Fisk.  junior, 

whether  the  same  be  or  not  specifically  set  forth,  the  intention 
of  the  parties  being  to  compromise  everything  to  this  ,1  te; 
and  said  Gould,  in  making  this  pri  -  ment,  being  in- 

duced thereto  by  the  agreement  that  he  shall  be  released  from 
all  such  specific  claims,  many  of  which  !  . 
be  just:  and  that  he  shall  also  be  released  from  other 
claims,  which  the  said  Company  alleges  may  exist  and  may 
be  lawfully  due  by  him  to  said  Company,  and  are  not  known 
til  which  by  the  compromise  are  released  and  aban- 
doned by  said  Company. 

Second. — Now.  therefore,  the  said  Erie  Railway  Company  in 
execution  of  this  agreement  ami  for  the  consideration  herein- 
after mentioned  and  of  the  sum  of  one  dollar  to  it   in  hand 


214 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


paid  by  t  and  for  other  good  and  valuable  con- 

siderations, doth  hereby  release  and  forever  discharge  the  said 
Jay  i  iould  and  all  his  co-partners  in  the  various  firms  of  Smith, 
Gould.  Martin  &  Company,  and  Osborn  ec  Chapin,  Williard, 
Martin  &  Beach.  Joslyn,  Bach  &  Co.,  other  than  the  said 
James  Fisk.  junior,  from  all  accounts,  claim  of  action 

and  demands  of  every  nature  by  reason  of  any  matter,  cause 
or  thing  to  the  day  of  the  date  thereof,  excepting,  nevertheless, 
latum  of  1 1 1  i --  release  the  covenants  and  agree- 
ments on  the  part  of  said  <  lould  to  be  kept  and  performed  as 
the  same  is  hereinafter  set  forth. 

Third. — And  the  said  Gould,  in  consideration  as  aforesaid, 
covenants,  and  agrees  for  himself,  and  his  heirs,  executors  and 
administrators,  to  and  with  the  said  Erie  Railway  Company, 
that  lie  will  pay,  assign,  transfer  and  set  over  to  the  said  Com- 
pany to  be  held  by  it,  as  its  own  absolute  property,  on  the 
execution  hereof,  the  following  securities  and  property,  viz.: 

Shares  in  the  Brooks  Locomotive  Works,  of  the 

par  value  of $99,000  00 

Shares  of  the  National  Stock  Yard  Co.,  of  the  par 

value   of 186,000  00 

Shares  of  the  Erie  Emigrant  Company,  of  the  par 

value   of 65,000  00 

Shares  of  the  Jefferson  Railroad  Company,  of  the 

par  value  of 950,000  00 

Shares  of  the  Xew  York  and  Pennsylvania  Blue- 
stone  Co..  of  the  par  value  of 86,000  00 

Bluestonc  Company  Bonds 12,000  00 

Shares  Glenwood  Coal  Company,  of  the  par  value 

of    1,00000 

Glenwood  Coal  Co..  First  Mortgage  Bonds 124,000  00 

Glenwood  Coal  Co.,  Second  Mortgage  Bonds 500.000  00 

Shares   Suspension   Bridge   Company,   of  the   par 

value   of 80,000  00 

Shares   Lackawanna   &   Susquehanna   Co.,    of  the 

par  value   of   40,000  00 

Shares  Alleghany  Transportation   Co.,   of  the  par 

value   of 450.000  00 

Shares  New  York  &  Hackensack  R.  R.  Co.,  of  the 

par  value  of 179,000  00 

Hackensack   Extension   R.   R.   Co.,  of  the 

par  value  of 50,000  00 

Shares  Nyack  &  Northern  R.  R.   Co.,  of  the  par 

value    of 16,000  00 

Shares  Northern  R.  R.  Co..  of  the  par  value  of. . . .         900  00 

Shares  Erie  Railway  preferred  stock  scrip 34.000  00 

Shares  Jefferson  Car  Company 178,000  00 

Fourth — And  the  said  Jay  Gould,  in  like  manner,  covenants 
and  agrees  to  and  with  said  Company  that  he  will  convey  or 
cause  to  be  conveyed  to  said  Company,  simultaneously  with  the 
delivery  hereof  of  good  and  absolute  conveyances  in  fee  simple, 
or  by  assignment  of  leases  where  the  title  is  leasehold, 
with  proper  n  li  asi  ol  dower,  and  with  full  covenants  of  war- 
ranty against  all  heirs  and  incumbrani  1  1  cepl  as  below-,  the 
consideration  onveyances  to  be  the  sum  of  one  million 

live  hundred  thousand  dollars,  I"  1"'  credited  I'll  such  claims 
linst  said  Gould,  all  the  following  property  in  the  city  of 
New  Y'.rk,  viz.:  The  Opera  House  and  its  appurtenance-  at 
the  corner  of  Eighth  Vvenue  and  Twenty-third  Street  in  said 
1  ity,  and  all  the  house-  and  lots  on  Twenty-third  and  Twenty- 
fourth  Street-  adjoining  or  near  to  the  same,  being  all  the 
properties  and  real  tanding  in  the  name  of  said  Gould, 


or  of  said  Gould  and  James  Fisk,  junior,  at  the  time  of  his 
decease,  and  including  certain  lots  and  their  appurtenances 
near  to  the  Hudson  River  on  said  Twenty-third  Street,  and 
including  the  properties  in  which  said  Gould  has  any  right. 
title  or  interest  by  way  of  lease,  contract,  or  otherwise.  All 
of  said  estates  and  properties  which  were  purchased  from  one 

Pike,  are   to  be  conveyed   free  and  cleared   from 

mortgage,  liens  and  incumbrances.  Such  of  said  properties  as 
are  leasehold  to  be  transferred  free  from  all  claims  and  liens. 
including   morl  if  the  same  were   originally  purchased 

from  said Pike,  but  any  other  of  said  properties  to 

be  transferred,  or  the  contracts  therefor  to  be  assigned  and 
transferred  subject  to  the  mortgages  existing  thereon  at  the 
time  when  said  Gould  or  said  Gould  and  Fisk  acquired  title 
thereto,  or  to  such  portion  of  the  original  purchase  money 
as  has  not  been  paid,  but  to  no  other  liens,  charges  or 
incumbrances. 

Fifth. — And  the  said  Gould,  in  like  manner  for  himself,  his 
heirs,  executors,  and  administrators,  further  covenants  and 
agrees  with  the  said  the  Erie  Railway  Company  that  he  and 
they  will  also  forthwith  execute  and  deliver,  in  further  con- 
sideration of  said  release,  full  and  absolute  conveyances;  in 
which  conveyances  his  wife  will  join  releasing  her  dower,  if 
any.  to  the  said  Company  for  all  and  singular  his  right,  title 
and  interest  in  and  to  the  various  properties  for  which  a  suit 
is  now  pending  against  him,  in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  or  which  he  owns,  or  which  stands 
in  his  name  in  the  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio,  or  on  or  near  the  line  of  the  Erie  Railway  or  its  branches 
in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  all  such  properties,  rights  or  in- 
terests to  be  conveyed  or  transferred  from  time  to  time  on 
demand  on  the  presentation  of  proper  transfers  and  conveyance 
to  him  for  execution,  taxes  and  assessments  on  the  properties, 
not  in  the  city  of  New  York,  not  to  be  paid  by  the  said  Gould, 
except  on  the  Glenwood  properties  which  he  agrees  to  dis- 
charge; provided,  however,  that  this  covenant  to  convey  shall 
not  embrace  the  house  and  its  appurtenances  on  the  Fifth 
Avenue  now  occupied  by  said  Gould,  nor  the  stables  also 
occupied  by  him. 

Sixth. — The  interest  of  said  Gould  in  the  New  Lisbon  Coal 
Company  and  in  the  Ohio  Coal  and  Mining  Company,  if  the 
same  was  paid  for  out  of  the  moneys  of  the  Erie  Railway,  is 
hereby  transferred  to  it.  but  if  the  same  was  paid  out  of  said 
Gould's  individual  property,  then  the  same  shall  be  held  by 
Samuel  L.  M.  Barlow,  to  whom  the  same  was  transferred  con- 
ditionally, a  few  months  ago,  the  said  Gould  being  at  this  time 
unable  to  determine  whether  the  same  is  his  own  property  or 
is  held  by  him  in  trust  for  the  Erie  Company. 

Seventh. — And  the  said  Gould  in  like  manner  covenants  to 
and  with  the  Erie  Railway  Company  that  he  will,  as  soon  as 
practicable,  cause  or  procure  all  pending  suits  or  proceedings 
in  bankruptcy  against  the  Glenwood  Coal  Company  to  be  dis- 
continued, and  that  he  will  pay  and  cancel  all  the  existing 
floating  debts  of  the  said  Company,  or  will  otherwise  procure 
or  perfect  title  to  the  Erie  Railway  of  all  its  property  real  and 
personal,  free  from  all  liens  or  claims  other  than  those  of  said 
Eric  Railway  Company,  and  will  convey  and  transfer  to  said 
Glenwood  Coal  Company  all  the  real  estate,  personal  property 
and  leases  purchased  for.  belonging  to  or  connected  with  said 
Glenwood  Coal  Company,  free  from  all  liens  and  claims,  ex- 
cept  as  aforesaid.  And  the  said  Erie  Company  will  consent 
to   the   discontinuance   of  the   said   bankruptcy   proceedings. 

Eighth. — The  existing  lease  of  the  Opera  House  to  the  Erie 
Railway  the  said  Gould  agrees  to  cancel  and  procure  to  be  can- 


THE    STORY    OI-    ERIK 


215 


celled,  and  all  other  leases  of  the  New  York  property  herein 
mentioned  lie  likewise  agrees  to  transfer  and  to  procure  to  be 
transferred  as  of  this  date  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company. 

Ninth. — And  the  said  Gould  furth  ints  and  a 

in  consideration  as  aforesaid,  with  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
in  further  consideratioi  :  release,  that  he  will  deliver  and 

cause  to  be  transferred  to  the  said  Company  or  its  assigns,  one 
million  of  dollars  in  capital  stock  of  the  United  States  Express 
Company,  at  its  par  value,  and  this  transfer  and  delivery  of 
said    Stock    the    said    Gould  to   Complete   a-    speedily    as 

max    !n-  practicable,  and  in  any  case   within   six   months  from 
the  date  thereof.     And  said  Gould  having  made  a  contract  by 
which   said    Express   Company   agreed   to   deliver  to   hi 
equal  amount  of  said  stock,  the  said   Erie  Railway  Company 
agrees  to  render  any  proper  assistance  when  and  as  req 
intended  to  facilitate  the   said  Gould   in  obtaining  the 
and  hereafter  to  do  no  act  that  will  prevent  him  from  0 
ing  the  same,  and  also  agrees  that  the  said  Gould  may,  if  an 
action  for  the  same  becomes  necessary,  sue  the  said  Express 
Company  to  recover  the  said  stock  in  his  own  name  anil  at  his 
own  cost  and  charge,  or  may  use  the  name  of  the  Erie  Railway, 
also  at  his  own  cost,  for  that  purpose,  if  In-  he  so  advised. 

Tenth. — And  the  said  Gould  hereby,  in  like  manner,  sells, 
assigns  and  transfers  to  the  said  Erie  Railway  Company  all  of 
his  interest  in  the  United  States  Towboat  Company,  and  agrees 
forthwith  to  deliver  the  evidence  of  such  interest  t"  the  said 
Company. 

Eleventh. — The  said  Gould,  by  a  certain  contract  with  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  for  the  sale  to  it  of  three  million  dol- 
lars of  its  consolidated  bonds,  was  to  receive  a  credit  of  the 
actual  profit  realized  by  the  Erie  Railway  Company  on  the  re- 
sale of  the  said  bonds,  which  profit  now  amounts  to  the  sum 
of  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  or  thereabouts  Now, 
it  is  hereby  agreed  that  such  profits,  whatever  they  may  be. 
shall  be  retained  by  the  said  Erie  Railway  Company  as  its 
own.  and  without  accountability  therefor  to  said  Gould,  whose 
claims  thereto,  or  under  such  contract,  are  hereby  released. 

Twelfth. — And  the  said  Gould  hereby  releases  the  said  Erie 
Railway  Company  from  the  obligation  to  repay  certain  ex- 
penditures by  him  heretofore  made  for  account  of  said  ■ 
pany.  and  from  all  other  claims,  demands  and  causes  of  action 
against  the  said  Company  of  every  nature  to  this  date,  and 
hereby  absolves  and  releases  the  said  Company  from  all  obli- 
gations, if  any.  to  pay  any  other  or  further  sums  to  him. 

Thirteenth. — The  said   Gould  here!  to  pay.   on  the 

execution  hereof,  the  reasonable  cost  and  counsel  fees  of  the 
plaintiff's  attorneys.  Messrs.  Barlow,  Larocque  and  MacFar- 
land,  connected  with  this  settlement,  or  growing  out  of 
pending  suits. 

Fourteenth. — The  said  Gould  hereby  agrees  to  pay,  on  the 
execution  hereof,  the  claims  against  the  Narragansett  Steam 
Company,  now  in  suit,  hereby  compromised  at  the  sum  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars:  and  all  claims  by  either  of  said  companies 
against  the  other,  or  growing  out  of  the  occupation  of  a  pier 
by  the  Xarragansctt  Company,  or  otherwise,  arising  to  this 
date,  or  hereby  released. 

Fifteenth.— The  aforesaid  payments  by  said  Gould  of  the 
moneys  and  transfers  of  the  real  and  personal  property  above- 
oned  made,  and  to  be  made,  to  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany, in  accordance  with  the  covenants  and  agreements  herein 
set  forth,  and  in  consideration  of  which  the  Eru  Railway 
Company  executes  the  foregoing  release,  are  intended  to  be 
in  compromise  of  its  claims  against  said  Gould,  as  recited  m 
the   previous   portions  of  this   agreement:   but   in   thus  com- 


promising and   settling   with    said   Company   it    is   midl- 
and agreed  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  as 
an  admission  by  said  Gould  of  any  v.  .1  Company 

by  him   done  or  suffered;  but  on  the  contrary  he  claim 
he  has  always  been  prepared  and  willing  to  make  COnvi 
to  the  said  Company  of  the  principal  part  of  the  pro; 
herein    agreed    to    be    conveyed,    whenever   the    neci 
charges  to  him  were  properly  executed.     And  it  is  undi  - 
that  the  remainder  of  said  payments  he  now  makes  for  thi 

:!>1  to  terminate  annoying  litig  I   it  is  ad- 

mitted by  said  Company  that  the  said  Gould  has  offered  to 
make  conveyance  to  it  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  premises 
now  agreed  to  be  convej 

In  witness  whereof,  the  said  the  Erie  Railway  Company  has 
caused  its  corporate  seal  to  be  hereto  and  the  same  to 

be  attested  by  its  President,  by  order  of  its  Board  of  Directors, 
and  the  said  Jay  Gould  has  hereunto  set  his  hand  and  seal  the 
day  and  year  first  above  written. 


Seal  of 
Railway  Co. 


Attest :        Erie  Railway  Company, 
H.  X.  Otis,  By  P.  II.  Watson, 
Secretary.  President. 

Jay  Gout  d. 


An  analysis  of  the  details  of  this  contract  of  the 
Company  with  Jay  Gould  was  presented  before  the 
Investigating  Committee  of  the  New  York  Legisla- 
ture in  1 S79,  clause  by  clause,  as  follows: 

>T  (This  clause  was  intended  to  cover  the  transaction  in 
the    matter    of   the    Chemung    Railroad. — Author). — The    Che- 
mung  Railroad   extends   from   a  point   on  the    Erie    Railway, 
about  four  miles  west  of  Klmira.  to  Watkins,  17' 4  miles.     The 
Elmira  and   Canandaigua    Railroad   extends   from    Watkins   to 
Canandaigua  4(1'  1   miles — a  total  distance  of  64  miles.     Capit  1 
stock  Chemung  Railroad.  $380,000:  capital  stock   Elmira  and 
Canandaigua  Railroad.  $500.000 — a  total  of  $880,000.     The  Eri.- 
acquired  a  lease  of  both  roads,  under  date  of   January   I.    1N5 ■• 
at   a   rental   of  $30,000  per  year   for   the   Chemung    Railroad, 
and  $25,000  per  year   for  the    Elmira  and   Canandaigua   Road. 
and    it    was    stipulated    in    the    contract    for   each    road    that. 
in   case  of  failure  to  pay  the  rent   of  either,  as  provided,   then 
the  lease  of  both  should  be  forfeited,  tin-  object  being  to  enable 
both   of  the  small   roads   to   keep   together,   and    work 
through  line.      February  27,  1863,  the  Erie  Company  leased  the 
Buffalo.    Xew    York,   and    Erie    Railroad,   and   transferr 
interest  in  the  lease  to  the  Northern  Central  Railway  Company. 
April  15.  1863.     This  partnership  business  in  the  operat 
the  Buffalo.  Xew  York,  and   Erie   Railroad  not  working  to  the 
satisfaction  of  either,  it  was  dissolved  January 
the  Erie  assigned  the  lease  of  the   Elmira  and  Canand 
Road   to   the    Northern    Central    Railway,   and    contract 
allow  their  trains   to   run   oxer   the   Chemung    Railroad.     T 
contracts  and  leases  were  profitable  to  the  Erie  Railwaj 
pany.     In   1 87 1 .  Jay  Gould,   President  of  the   Erie,  purcl 

ntrol   of  the  capital   stork   of  the  Chemung  and  Canan- 
daigua companies,  and  put   in   his  own    Board   of   Din 

afterward  the  Erie  defaulted  in  the  rent  of  the  Chemung 
Railroad.     This,  of  coursi 

and   placed   the    Northern    Central    Railway   at   the   mer 
Gould  for  a  connection  as  an  outlet  for  their  western  bit- 


2l6 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Gould  then  sold  them  the  capital  stock  of  both  companies  for 
$3,000,000.  The  Erie  Company  lost  control  of  those  two  roads. 
lost  their  business,  and  suffered  large  pecuniary  loss,  while 
Gould  individually  made  more  than  $2,000,000  by  the  trans- 
action. 

Third. — As  regards  the  cost  and  value  of  the  securities 
transferred  by  Gould: 

Brooks  Locomotive  Works,  $99.000 — In  December,  1869. 
Horatio  G.  Brooks  leased  from  the  Erie  Company  the  repair 
ipS  at  Dunkirk,  and  purchased  all  the  tools  ami  machinery 
in  them,  the  tools  and  machinery  to  be  paid  for  by  credits 
on  bills  for  engines,  the  Erie  Company  agreeing  to  purchase 
from  him  twenty-five  new  locomotives  per  annum.  Brooks 
then  formed  a  joint  stock  company,  to  which  he  sold  and  trans- 
ferred his  contracts  and  leases  with  the  Erie,  and  received  pay 
in  the  capital  stock  of  his  company — the  Brooks  Locomotive 
Works.  Thus  hi-  company  was  floated  without  any  cash  basis, 
no  money  having  been  paid  in.  Brooks  divided  the  capital 
stock  around,  according  to  previous  understanding,  and  the 
$99,000  was  Gould's  portion. 

Erie  Emigrant  Company,  $65.000. — The  Erie  Land  and  Im- 
provement Company  was  a  joint  stock  company,  formed  to 
act  as  emigrant  agent  for  the  Erie  Railway  Company.  Its 
capital  stock  was  issued  in  payment  for  a  contract  between  the 
Eric  Company  and  a  third  party,  under  which  the  Erie  Com- 
pany paid  large  commissions  for  all  emigrant  passengers. 
This  $65,000  represented  Gould's  interest  in  the  division  of 
1        It  cost  nothing,  and  had  no  cash  basis. 

National  Stock  Yard  Company,  $186.000. — The  National  Stock 
Yard  Company  is  a  New  Jersey  corporation.  Gould  purchased 
the  land  for  the  stock  yard  at  Weehawken  (the  farm  formerly 
owned  by  Dudley  S.  Gregory)  and  paid  for  it  with  Erie  funds. 
The  Erie  Company  made  the  improvements  in  the  shape  of 
barns  and  pens,  and  then  the  whole  was  transferred  to  the 
Stock  Yard  Company  at  cost.  The  Erie  Company  was  repaid 
in  bonds  of  the  Stock  Yard  Company.  The  capital  stock  of 
$1,000,000,  on  which  no  payments  whatever  were  made,  was 
divided,  and  the  $186,000  was  Gould-  portion. 

Jefferson  Railroad  Company.  $1.950.000. — The  Jefferson  Rail- 
road Company,  a  Pennsylvania  corporation,  was  organized  in 
the  interest  of  the  Erie  road,  to  construct  a  branch  railroad 
from  Lanesboro  to  Carbondale.  Henry  A.  Fonda  &  Co.  con- 
tracted to  build  the  road  for  $2,000,000  mortgage  bonds,  and 
$2,000,000  capital  stock,  the  Erie  Company  guaranteeing  in- 
terest on  the  bonds.  During  the  progress  of  the  work  (when 
the  road  was  about  half  completed),  the  contractors  having 
some  difficulty  in  procuring  funds,  Gould,  acting  for  the  Erie 
Company,  proposed  to  take  from  the  contractors  the  remainder 
of  their  Jefferson  bonds  at  80  per  cent.,  and  the  contractors 
to  transfer  hack  the  capital  stock  (it  was  understood  from  the 
first  that  the  stock  had  no  real  value).  The  money  for  the 
contractors  was  procured  by  the  sale  of  Boston,  Hartford,  and 
Erie  bonds  to  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company. 
The  stock  was  transferred  to  Justin  D.  White,  and  by  him 
handed  over  to  Gould  and  Fisk.  The  road  was  constructed 
on  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  $2,000,000  bonds,  and  the 
contractors  got  rich  at  that.  No  money  was  ever  paid  on  the 
stock. 

Bluestone  Company:  Stock.  $86,000;  bonds,  $12,000. — The 
Bluestone  Company  was  organized  without  any  cash  capital. 
Its  stock  was  issued  in  payment  for  contract-  for  privileges  of 
quarrying  stone  in  Pike  County,  Pennsylvania.  Fifty  cents 
per  share  was  borrowed  From  the  stockholders  on  the  Com- 
pany's notes  for  money  to  tut  with,  ami  just  prior  to  maturity 
of  the  notes  the  bonds  were  issued  at  twelve  per  cent,  of  their 


par  value.  Gould  therefore  paid  but  $1,144  for  his  $08,000.  At 
the  time  of  this  transfer  the  Bluestone  Company  was  prac- 
tically insolvent,  if  not  already  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver. 
William  M.  Tweed  and  Hugh  Smith  were  each  given  $100,000 
of  the  capital  stock,  but  the  city  did  not  purchase  any  of  their 
stone.  The  Department  of  Public  Works  wanted  too  large  a 
slice  from  the  bills  of  purchase,  which  the  Bluestone  Com- 
pany would  not  agree  to,  considering  Tweed  and  Smith  would 
get  enough  in  dividends  on  their  stock. 


Following  is  the  story  of  the  Bluestone  Company. 
It  is  not  from  the  records  of  the  Investigating 
Committee,  but  from  authoritative  information  with 
which  the  author  was  furnished: 

Soon  after  the  Civil  War  John  F.  Kilgour,  a  blue- 
stone  quarryman  of  Ulster  County,  N.  V.,  in  com- 
pany with  George  \Y.  Waters,  another  operator  in 
Hudson  River  bluestone,  purchased  a  quarry  tract 
in  Sullivan  County,  near  Westbrookville,  in  the 
Neversink  Valley.  The  firm  of  Kilgour  &  Waters 
made  money  in  their  quarries,  but  in  1868  rumors 
that  a  great  bluestone  deposit  had  been  discovered 
on  the  line  of  the  Erie  Railway,  in  Pike  County,  Pa., 
reached  them,  and  Kilgour  made  a  prospecting  tour 
to  the  region,  and  finding  that  the  rumors  were  more 
than  true,  he  and  his  partner  sold  out  their  West- 
brookville property  to  W.  B.  Fitch,  of  Kingston, 
and  purchased  3,000  acres  of  land  in  Pike  County, 
paying  $8,000  for  the  tract. 

The  region  in  which  this  entirely  undeveloped 
quarry  property  was  situated  was  known  as  the  Pond 
Eddy  country.  It  was  wild  and  mountainous.  The 
Erie  Railway  rah  on  one  side  of  it  and  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  on  the  other,  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
distant.  The  rude  station  building  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way at  Pond  Eddy,  and  a  little  hamlet  in  Sullivan 
County,  across  the  river,  were  the  only  signs  of  civ- 
ilization for  miles  around.  It  needed  only  a  few- 
days'  work  to  demonstrate  the  fact  that  the  Pond 
Eddy  quarries  were  bound  to  be  a  success  beyond 
all  expectation,  and  in  the  following  June  Waters  & 
Kilgour  had  100  men  at  work.  That  summer  the 
Pennsylvania  Bluestone  Company  was  organized 
with  a  large  capital,  and  400  men  were  put  to  work 
in  the  Pond  Eddy  quarries.  Waters  subsequently 
sold  his  interest  in  the  tract  that  had  cost  $S,000  for 
$75,000.  The  new  company  and  the  large  business 
it   rapidly  built   up  soon  attracted  the  attention  of 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


217 


outside  persons,  among  them  James  Fisk,  Jr.  Early 
in  1S70  Fisk  sent  word  to  Kilgour  that  he  would  like 
to  see  him  at  the  Erie  offices  in  New  York.  Kil- 
gour called,  and  Fisk  went  straight  to  business. 

I  want  an  interest  in  those  bluestone  quarries," 
said  Fisk. 

Kilgour  told  Fisk  that  there  was  no  possible  way 
for  him  to  obtain  an  interest  in  the  business. 

"Then  we  must  freeze  somebody  out!"  said 
Fisk. 

Kilgour  replied  that  such  a  thing  was  out  of  the 
question. 

"  You  can't  get  in  the  business  any  way  that  I  can 
see,"  said  Kilgour. 

'  Then  you  can  have  no  further  switch  or  track 
privileges  on  the  Erie!"  exclaimed  Fisk.  "I'll 
tear  your  sidings  out  to-morrow!" 

Without  switching  privileges  at  Pond  Eddy  the 
bluestone  quarries  would  be  practically  worthless, 
but  Kilgour,  who  was  a  bluff  and  emphatic  individ- 
ual, put  on  his  hat,  and  shaking  his  fist  at  the  Prince 
of  Erie,  thundered: 

"  You  and  your  railroad  can  both  go  to  hell,  Mr. 
Fisk!     You  can't  get  your  finger  in  my  business!  " 

Kilgour  strode  out  of  Fisk's  office,  and  went 
straight  to  his  home  in  Passaic.  He  told  his  wife 
that  Fisk  had  ruined  him.  Kilgour's  manner  had 
pleased  Fisk.  He  sent  one  of  his  henchmen,  a  man 
named  George  E.  Rust,  to  follow  the  irate  quarry 
owner,  and  to  beg  of  him  to  return  and  have  further 
talk  with  Fisk.  The  bluestone  operator  refused  to 
listen  to  any  overtures,  until  his  wife  begged  him  to 
do  so,  and  not  be  ruined  without  a  struggle.  He 
went  to  Fisk's  office  again  next  day,  and  the  result 
of  the  interview  was  that  the  Pennsylvania  Blue- 
stone  Company  ceased  to  exist,  and  a  new  company 
under  the  name  of  the  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
Bluestone  Company  was  formed,  with  a  capital  of 
$1,000,000.  John  F.  Kilgour  was  made  President, 
and  miles  of  switches  were  built  along  the  railroad 
at  the  Erie  Company's  expense,  to  accommodate 
the  business  of  the  new  concern. 

Gould,  Fisk,  and  William  M.  Tweed,  with  Kilgour, 
were  the  principal  stockholders  in  the  company. 
Individual  operators  in  bluestone  had  gone  into  the 
business  by  the  score  along  the  Erie,  as  it  had  been 


discovered  that  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  for  miles  was  one  vast  bluestone  quarry.  These 
small  operators  were  "  frozen  out,"  for  no  railroad 
privileges  were  given  to  them.  The  big  company 
got  control  of  the  whole  region.  Soon  after  the 
new  company  began  operations,  contracts  of  the  kind 
so  plentiful  in  the  days  of  Tweed  were  made  with  the 
bluestone  company  by  Tweed,  in  his  official  capac- 
ity, for  supplying  New  York  City  with  stone  from 
the  Fisk-Twced-Kilgour  quarries. 

Before  the  schemes  of  the  combination  were  well 
afoot,  however,  the  downfall  of  the  Tweed  Ring 
came.  That  was  the  first  great  blow  to  the  Blue- 
stone  Company,  for  its  contracts  would  have  resulted 
in  the  payment  of  millions  to  it  by  the  city.  Quickly 
following  the  fall  of  Tweed  and  the  Ring,  came  the 
death  of  Fisk.  With  this  came  the  end  of  the  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  Bluestone  Company.  At 
the  time  of  the  Gould-Watson  agreement  the  Blue- 
stone  Company  was  practically  insolvent,  if  not 
already  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver,  which  could 
readily  have  been  ascertained  by  the  Committee  of 
Directors  making  inquiry  at  Port  Jervis,  X.  Y., 
on  the  line  of  the  railroad,  where  the  facts  were 
notorious. 

Glcnwood  Coal  Company:  Shares.  $1,000,000;  bonds,  $624,000. 
— Gould  bought  thi.-  coal  lands  with  Erie  funds,  then  organized 
the  company,  to  whom  he  transferred  the  lands,  receiving  in 
payment  the  capital  stock.  The  Erie  Treasury  was  reimbursed 
with  Glenwood  Coal  Company's  bonds,  so  that  no  money  was 
ever  paid  for  the  stock.  The  $624,000  in  bonds  which  Gould 
turned  over  at  this  time  were  bonds  which  Gould  had  in  his 
possession  as  an  officer  of  the  Coal  Company.  They  were  not 
in  his  individual  possession,  as  they  had  never  been  issued  by 
the  Coal  Company. 

Suspension  Bridge  Company:  Stock.  $80.000. — The  Suspension 
Bridge  and   Erie  Junction   Railroad  Companj  inized 

to  construct  a  road  between  the  points  indicated  by  its  title. 
Mortimer  Smith  contracted  to  build  the  road  for  $1,000,000  in 
bonds,  and  $500,000  in  stock.  Smith  was  merely  the  agent  of 
Erie  officials,  who  purchased  the  bonds  at  65  per  cent,  of  par 
value,  and  divided  the  stock  around  pro  rata.  The  road  was 
built  on  the  proceeds  of  the  bonds.  Gould  undoubted!; 
his  bonds,  which  were  guaranteed  by  the  Erie  Compan) 
large  advance. 

.lllegany  Transportation  Company:  Stock.  $450.000.— This  was 
a  pipe  line  company  in  the  Pennsylvania  01]  regions.  Henry 
Ilarley  first  sold  Gould  an  interest  in  his  pipe  line  in  1868  for 
$100,000.  On  the  purchase  -1  another  line.  Gould  paid  as  his 
share  $12,500.  and  then  he  afterward  purchased  the  inter 
Gen.  Robert  B.  Potter.  Receiver  of  the  Atlantic  and  I 
Western  Railroad,  in  the  same  lines  for  $40.000— total  payment 
by  Gould  $152,500.  On  the  formation  of  the  Allegany  Trans- 
portation Company,  which   was  the  corporate  life  of  Harley's 


218 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


pipe  lines,  on  a  capital  stock  of  $1,700,000.  Gould's  share  of 
stock  was  $150,000.  From  the  contracts  with  the  Atlantic  and 
Groat  Western  Railroad  Company  and  the  Erie  Company,  the 
Allegany  Transportation  Company  was  enabled  to  make  large 
and  frequent  dividends.  At  the  time  of  this  transfer  to  the 
Erie  Company,  the  stock  was  worth  absolutely  nothing. 

New  York  and  Hackensack  Railroad  Company:  Stock,  $179,400. 
I  bought  tin-  stock  through  Robert  Rannie,  of  Lodi, 
N.  J.  After  this  purchase  the  Erie  Company  purchased  all  the 
rolling  stock  and  tools  of  the  Hackensack  Company,  paying 
$93,000.  and  Gould's  dividends  from  it  paid  for  this  stock.  The 
Erie  then  leased  the  Hackensack  Road  and  furnished  the  roll- 
ing Stuck 

Hackensack  Extension  Railroad  Company:  Stock.  $50.000. — 
This  railroad  was  built  on  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  bonds  and 
then  leased  to  the  Erie  Company.  The  stock  was  issued  with- 
out any  cash  payments,  and  this  $50,000  was  given  to  Gould 
at  the  time  of  the  execution  of  the  lease. 

Nyack  and  Northern  Railroad:  Stock,  $16,000.— This  road  is 
an  extension  of  the  Northern  Railroad  of  New  Jersey  from 
Piermont  to  Nyack.  and  leased  to  the  Erie.  It  was  built  on 
proceeds  of  sale  of  bonds,  and  the  stock  was  a  gratuity,  and 
this  much  was  Gould's  share. 

Northern  Railroad  Ccmpany:  Stock,  $900.— The  Northern 
Railroad  Company  of  New  Jersey,  in  1868,  had  an  issue  of  capi- 
tal stock  of  $250,000  and  mortgage  bonds  of  $350,000.  At  this 
time  Gould  and  Fisk  purchased  a  one-fourth  interest  in  the 
road,  and  General  Diven  purchased  a  one-sixth  interest.  Up 
to  this  tune  the  road  had  never  paid  a  dividend.  The  author- 
ized issue  of  stock  was  $i,ooo.ooo,  and  the  mortgage  under 
which  the  bonds  were  issued  was  for  $500,000.  After  Gould, 
Fisk,  and  Diven  acquired  their  interest,  the  Erie  Company 
purchased  all  the  rolling  stock  and  machinery  and  tools  of 
every  kind  from  the  Northern  Railroad  Company,  and  paid 
something  like  $230,000  in  cash.  The  dividends  from  this 
paid  for  the  capital  stock  purchased  by  them.  They  then 
divided  the  $150,000  of  mortgage  bonds  and  $750,000  of  capi- 
tal stock,  and  made  a  contract  for  the  Erie  to  furnish  the 
rolling  stock  and  operate  the  road.  Under  this  contract  they 
were  able  to  pay  interest  on  the  whole  $500,000  of  bonds,  and 
a  dividend  of  from  3  to  5  per  cent,  on  the  whole  $1,000,000  of 
capital  stock.  This  paltry  $900  of  stock  turned  over  by  Gould 
must  have  been  intended  as  a  blind,  or  it  slipped  in  by  mistake. 

Erie  Railway  Preferred  Scrip,  $34.000.— This  scrip  was 
Gould's  proceeds  from  the  scrip  dividend  declared  in  the  winter 
of  1869-70. 

Jefferson  Car  Company:  Stock,  $178.000. — Alexander  C.  Rad- 
cliffe  contracted  with  the  Erie  Railway  Company  to  furnish 
or  the  transportation  of  coal  for  the  Delaware  and  Hud- 
son Canal  Company  from  Carbondale  to  Buffalo  and  Roches- 
ter. The  Jefferson  Car  Company  w^as  organized  with  a  capital 
of  one  million  dollars— $200,000  of  the  stock  to  he  issued  for 
cash,  and  $800,000  for  the  purchase  of  the  Radcliffe  contract. 
A  subscriber  to  the  rash  stock  was  to  receive  for  each  share 
a  -to,  k  paid  for  .it  par.  two  shares  of  the  contract  stock  addi- 
tional— SO  that  lie  paid  really  hut  33  per  cent,  for  his  stock. 
Thus  $600,000  was  disposed  of.  One  hundred  thousand  dollars 
of  the  contract  vvas  originally  given  to  Could.  He  afterward 
purchased  five  hundred  shares  ($50,000)  from  one  of  the  cash 
subscribers  at  tin  original  cost  of  $16,667,  and  subsequently 
they  gave  him  $28,000  more  stock  on  the  execution  of  another 
contract. 

Fourth. — The  Opera  House  and  adjoining  properties  were 
purchased  with  Erie  funds,  hut  not  from  these  funds  traced 
to  Gould  through  Smith.  Gould  &  Martin's  books. 


Fifth.— No  transfer  of  property  was  made  under  this  clause, 
except  such  property  as  the  Erie  Company  was  in  possession 
of.  The  deeds  were  taken  in  the  name  of  Jay  Gould,  but  he 
had  executed  trust  deeds  in  each  case,  which  has  been  deposited 
in  the  Erie  safe. 

Sixth. — There  is  no  doubt  this  interest  was  purchased  with 
Erie  moneys,  but  it  would  be  a  natural  inquiry  now  to  ascer- 
tain whether  the  Erie  Company  or  Barlow  has  it. 

Eighth. — Gould  was  willing  to  cancel  the  lease  of  the  Opera 
House  after  the  title  in  the  property  had  been  transferred  to 
the  Erie  Company,  but  he  did  not  refund  any  rents  which  the 
Erie  had  paid. 

Ninth. — This  one  million  dollars  of  United  States  Express 
stock  never  has  been  transferred  or  delivered  to  the  Erie 
Company. 

(Under  the  Presidency  of  H.  J.  Jewett,  in  1874, 
suit  was  brought  against  Gould  to  compel  a  settle- 
ment of  the  claim,  but  it  was  compromised  [the 
stock  of  the  Express  Company  having  declined  to 
45],  by  Gould  paying  the  Erie  the  equivalent  of 
10,000  shares  of  the  Express  Company's  stock  at 
that  price. — Author?) 

Tenth. — Gould  had  $7,500  of  the  stock  of  the  Towboat  Com- 
pany given  to  him  by  O.  H.  P.  Archer.  This  company  was 
for  the  purpose  of  towing  the  freight  barges  between  New 
York  and  Long  Dock. 

Eleventh. — Gould,  Tweed.  Palmer,  and  others  took  these 
$3,000,000  bonds  from  the  Erie  Company  at  60  per  cent.  On 
May  2,  1872.  Barlow  telegraphed  McHenry,  asking  if  he  should 
purchase  those  bonds  back  again  at  75,  so  as  to  have  them  in- 
cluded in  a  negotiation  for  the  sale  of  others  then  going  on  in 
London.  On  June  4.  he  wrote  to  I  Ionian,  Green,  and  Cryder 
that  they  had  bought  the  bonds.  Now,  why  should  they  re- 
purchase these  bonds  at  a  profit  to  Gould  of  15  per  cent,  and 
agree  to  do  all  the  work  and  take  all  the  risk  and  give  him 
all  the  profits  on  a  resale?  Investigation  will  undoubtedly 
show  there  was  no.  such  agreement,  but  that  the  bonds  were 
bought  outright  at  75.  and  the  clause  was  put  in  to  apparently 
swell  up  the  credits  of  Gould's  account.  It  cannot  be  shown 
that  he  divided  this  $650,000  with  Palmer.  Tweed,  or  other 
members  of  the  syndicate  who  held  the  bonds,  as  he  would 
have  done  had  there  been  any  such  agreement. 

Fourteenth. — The  Narragansett  Steamship  Company  owed 
the  Eric  Company  a  large  amount  of  money — at  this  time 
Gould  was  President  and  principal  owner  of  the  Narragansett 
Company.  He  agrees  to  pay  the  claim  which  is  compromised 
Of  course  the  amount  paid  is  credited  to  the  Narragansett 
Company  to  balance  the  account.  Now.  why  should  the  same 
amount  be  again  credited  to  Gould's  individual  account  exci  pi 
to  throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  stupid  Directors  and  make  the 
alleged  amount  recovered  from  Gould  appear  so  much  larger? 
The  whole  Narragansett  Steamship  stock  held  by  Gould  at 
that  time  in  law  and  equity  belonged  to  the  Erie  Company. 

Such  was  the  great  Gould  "  restitution,"  by  which 
Jay  Gould  once  more  manifested  his  superior  genius 
in  dealing  with  Erie  affairs! 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


219 


By  the  withdrawal  of  the  legal  proceedings  against 
Gould,  the  books  of  the  firm  of  Gould,  Smith,  Mar- 
tin &  Co.,  that  were  to  be  used  as  the  vital  evidence 
that  could  win  against  Gould,  of  course  were  of  no 
more  service,  and  Henry  X.  Smith's  vengeance  was 
not  accomplished.  The  books  were  returned  to  his 
custody.  The  cry  that  the  Erie  managers  had  com- 
pounded a  felony  in  settling  with  Gould  was  raised, 
and  alarming  talk  of  criminal  prosecution  and  legis- 
lative investigation  prevailed  after  the  nature  of 
the  "  restitution  "  had  been  publicly  discussed  and 
weighed,  and  the  importance  of  the  books  as  evi- 
dence was  declared.  The  books  would  also  be  of 
great  value  to  others  who  might  want  to  proceed 
against  Gould  for  alleged  irregular  transactions,  it  was 
said.  At  any  rate,  in  the  early  spring  of  1874,  when 
Erie  affairs  were  getting  seriously  entangled,  and 
certain  suits  against  Erie  and  Gould  were  threatened, 
a  number  of  mysterious  and  unknown  men  called  at 
Smith's  farm  in  New  Jersey,  when  no  one  but  a 
hired  man  was  at  the  place,  and  where  the  books 
had  been  stored,  and  forcibly  took  possession  of 
them  and  disappeared.  It  has  never  been  made 
public  in  whose  interest  the  raid  on  the  books  was 
made,  but  they  have  never  been  seen  or  heard  from 
since. 


II.     THE    SILVER     LINING    GROWING    LESS. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  on  the  14th 
of  January,  1873,  the  long-expected  and  rumored 
new  issue  of  convertible  bonds  was  ordered  unan- 
imously. The  issue  was  for  $10,000,000  7  per  cent, 
(gold)  bonds.  At  this  same  meeting  a  special  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  consider  the  question  of 
declaring  a  dividend  on  the  preferred  stock.  William 
Pitt  Shearman  was  appointed  Treasurer  of  the  Com- 
pany. A  contract  was  made  with  Bischoffscheim  & 
Goldschmidt  to  place  this  loan,  and  by  the  nth  of 
February,  $8, 000,000  of  it  was  sold  in  European 
markets.  On  the  same  day  a  half  yearly  dividend 
°f  lxA  Per  cent,  was  declared  on  the  preferred  stock 
of  the  Company  to  January  1,  1873,  and  a  dividend 
of  ij^  per  cent,  on  the  common  stock.  At  the 
meeting  which  declared  the  dividend,  four  of  the 
Directors — Messrs.  Olyphant,  Johnston,  Pruyn,  and 


Babcock — voted  against  it,  mainly  on  the  ground  tiiat 
the  act  was  inexpedient  while  the  Company  was  bor- 
rowing money  to  increase  its  facilities  and  to  pay 
interest  on  its  debt.  The  other  Directors;  thirteen 
in  all,  based  their  action  upon  the  statements  of 
President  Watson  and  Auditor  Dunan,  without  any 
personal  knowledge  of  their  own  in  relation  to  the 
profits  of  the  Company.  President  Watson  declared 
that  these  dividends  were  due  to  t  he  stockholders 
out  of  the  net  earnings  of  1872.  The  incredulity 
with  which  this  statement  was  received  in  financial 
circles,  and,  to  a  large  extent,  by  the  public,  was  by 
no  means  flattering  to  the  management.  The  posi- 
tive charge  was  made  that  the  profits  of  the  I 
pany  for  that  year  could  not  have  equalled  that  sum  ; 
that  the  dividends  were  paid  out  of  borrowed  money 
for  the  purpose  of  strengthening  the  credit  of  the 
Company  in  Europe,  to  aid  in  the  negotiation  of  its 
bonds,  and  in  the  interest  of  speculators  in  Erie 
stock,  as  well  as  to  satisfy  the  clamor  of  small 
holders  abroad,  who  had  been  promised  dividends 
upon  the  coming  into  power  of  the  new  manage- 
ment. 

The  opinion  that  the  dividends  had  been  fraudu- 
lently declared  and  paid  was  so  persistently  and 
aggressively  kept  before  the  public  that  an  investi- 
gation was  demanded  at  the  session  of  the  Xew 
York  Legislature  of  1873,  not  only  to  ascertain  the 
methods  by  which  the  new  management  had  manipu- 
lated the  Company's  transactions  to  warrant  the 
dividends,  but  to  obtain  information  as  to  whether  it 
was  true  that  large  and  improper  payments  of  money 
had  been  made  by  the  foreign  stockholders  and 
officers  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  in  effecting 
the  transfer  of  the  Gould  management  to  its  suc- 
cessor, the  leaders  in  the  making  of  such  transfer 
being  the  controlling  influence  in  the  Watson 
r/gime,  the  charge  being  that  such  payments  had 
been  made,  and  that  the  agents  of  the  foi 
stockholders  had.  through  a  corrupt  contract  for 
the  negotiation  of  its  bonds,  indirectly  reimbursed 
themselves  from  the  Company's  treasury  for  such 
expenditure.  On  March  11,  1873,  the  first  anni- 
versary of  Gould's  dethroning,  an  investigation 
was  ordered.  (Page  452,  "  Under  the  Legislative 
Probe.") 


2?0 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


The  Committee  made  its  report  on  May  16,  1873. 
It  declared  that  "  it  is  thought  but  just  to  state  that 
the  Committee  do  not  believe  that  the  present 
officers  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  have  know- 
falsified  statements  made  as  taken  from  the 
books  of  the  Company.  The  new  Auditor  claims  to 
have  found  the  books  in  a  disorderly  condition,  and 
to  have  introduced  a  new  system  of  accounts.  These 
causes  may  and  probably  have  led  to  the  confusion 
and  discrepancy  stated." 

The  Committee's  report  declared  further:  "  In 
order  to  fully  understand  the  nature  of  the  trans- 
action, which,  without  authority  of  law,  in  a  single 
day  revolutionized  the  management  of  one  of  the 
leading  railroad  lines  of  this  country,  running  the 
entire  length  of  the  State  of  New  York,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  analyze  briefly  the  motives  of  some  of 
the  actors.  McHenry,  and  Bischoffscheim  &  Co.  of 
London  appear  most  prominent  as  the  persons  claim- 
ing to  represent  the  great  body  of  English  stock- 
■rs.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  the 
latter  permanently  owned  or  controlled  any  consid- 
erable amount  of  stock  previous  to  the  election  in 
July.  It  is  in  evidence  that  McHenry,  who  ad- 
vanced more  than  one-half  the  sum  used  to  buy  out 
the  Directors  and  for  other  purposes,  was  not  a  per- 
manent holder  of  Erie  stock  and  had  no  direct  inter- 
est in  the  welfare  of  the  Erie  Road.  So  much 
disinterestedness  is  not  commonly  found  among 
managers  of  great  corporations,  and  the  secret 
springs  of  Mr.  McHenry's  actions  must  be  sought 
in  his  ownership  or  interest  in  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Road,  a  corporation  representing 
$109,000,000  of  stock  and  bonded  debt,  and  whose 
affairs  are  currently  believed  to  be  insolvent.  This 
lias  its  principal  connections  with  the  Erie  Rail- 
way, and  is  mainly  dependent  upon  it  for  the  through 
traffic  passing  over  its  track.  It  is  fair  to  conclude 
from  the  testimony  that  McHenry's  object  in  con- 
trolling the  Erie  Board  was  for  the  purpose  of  inti- 
mate relation  between  the  two  roads,  and  thus  to 
benefit  the  property  owned  by  him,  viz.,  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Great  Western.  The  present  Board  was 
approved  by  him,  McHenry  himself  being  present 
at  the  election.  The  counsellor  of  the  Erie  is  also 
counscllur  for  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western,  and 


has  been  for  a  number  of  years.  However  bold  and 
ingenious  the  plan,  or  however  well  skilled  and  tal- 
ented the  actors,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  but  for  the 
gold  of  the  English  stockholders  the  whole  scheme 
would  have  met  an  ignominious  failure,  proving 
again  the  efficiency  of  a  well-filled  camp-chest  in  a 
campaign  against  an  enemy  fertile  in  resources  and 
ever  on  the  alert.  Aside  from  the  motives  which 
inspired  the  policy  and  the  actions  which  resulted  in 
the  overthrow  of  the  Gould  direction,  the  manner 
and  the  means  cannot  but  be  regarded  with  the 
severest  disapprobation.  And  the  fact  that  the 
movement  was  inspired,  and  large  amounts  of  money 
were  advanced  by  foreigners  having  no  other  than 
a  selfish  interest,  and  in  contempt  of  the  laws  and 
tribunals  of  the  State,  renders  this  proceeding  pecu- 
liarly offensive. 

"  In  a  statement  of  account  from  Bischoffscheim  & 
Co.  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  made  in  January, 
1873.  was  an  item  of  ^80,000  for  expenses,  as  per 
McHenry's  instructions.  President  Watson  said 
that  payment  of  this  item  is  not  yet  acknowledged. 
The  balance  of  the  account,  however,  amounting  to 
^23, 168. 12,  was  drawn  for  by  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  and  no  protest  was  made 
against  the  charge  of  £80, 000.  No  demand  for  a 
statement  of  items  was  made  on  Bischoffscheim 
until  after  the  investigation  was  begun." 

The  Committee  did  not  think  the  rate  of  commis- 
sion allowed  by  the  Bischoffscheim  contract  (the  one 
made  under  the  Dix  administration  for  placing  the 
$30,000,000  loan)  was  "  too  large,  under  the  circum- 
stances, upon  the  amount  of  the  bonds  actually  nego- 
tiated, about  $7,000,000.  But  upon  the  $23,000,000 
which  were  to  be  exchanged  for  the  same  amount 
held  by  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company, 
and  by  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co.,  the  rate  seemed  to  be 
too  high,  and  may  have  been  influenced  by  past  ser- 
vices rendered  by  Bischoffscheim  &  Co.  in  effecting 
the  revolution.  The  advances  made  by  Bischoff- 
scheim &  Co.  of  $4,000,000,  upon  the  bonds  soon 
after  the  Dix  Directors  came  in,  no  doubt  relieved 
the  Company  from  embarrassment,  but  they  received 
the  usual  rates  of  interest  on  these  advances,  in 
addition  to  the  commission  upon  the  bonds  as  soon 
as  sold. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


221 


"  The  right  to  reimburse  the  extravagant  amounts 
corruptly  employed  in  overthrowing  the  Gould  direc- 
tion from  the  treasury  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
is  not,  in  the  minds  of  your  Committee,  in  any  way 
defensible  except  upon  the  principle  that  '  to  the 
victors  belong  the  spoils.'  The  interest  of  McHenry 
was  witli  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western.  Bischoff- 
scheim  &  Co.  were  large  dealers  in  railroad  securi- 
ties, particularly  in  Erie  stocks,  and  their  principal 
object  in  the  movement  was  to  speculate  upon  the 
rise  which  they  believed  would  ensue,  and  which  did 
ensue,  upon  the  change  in  management.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  latter,  at  least,  made  large  sums  in 
the  advance  which  followed  upon  the  stock  of  the 
Erie  Company  from  about  thirty  to  sixty-five 
cents  on  the  dollar.  These  parties  then  should 
have  looked  for  reimbursement  out  of  the  re- 
sults which  followed  and  which  were  anticipated 
by  them. 

"  But  by  the  change  of  administration,  together 
with  the  contract  with  Bischoffscheim  &  Co.,  and  the 
advances  made  by  them,  the  credit  of  the  Company 
was  greatly  improved,  and,  perhaps,  the  danger  of 
insolvency  averted.  Its  stock  was  doubled  in  value 
within  a  brief  period,  and  the  value  of  its  securities 
increased  and  made  available.  But  these  were  for- 
tunate incidents  following  the  overthrow,  produced, 
in  fact,  by  a  belief  in  the  integrity  of  the  '  reform  ' 
direction,  and  of  which  fortunate  results  Bischoff- 
scheim &  Co.  availed  themselves  to  a  large  extent 
by  previous  purchase  of  Erie  stock.  The  witness 
Horace  F.  Clark  and  others  gave  evidence  that  the 
expenses  had  of  late  largely  increased.  Auditor 
Dunan's  statement  showed  a  large  decrease  of  ex- 
penses, which  could  hardly  have  been  unless  an 
undue  amount  had  been  carried  to  constructive 
account,  and  too  little  allowed  for  depreciation  of 
track  and  equipment.  Your  Committee  here  take 
occasion  to  say  that  they  have  the  fullest  confidence 
in  the  ability  and  integrity  of  President  Watson, 
and  believe  that  he  is  earnestly  endeavoring  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  great  Company  of  which 
he  is  the  head,  and  that  the  affairs  of  that  road 
are  being  conducted  by  him  with  the  sole  purpose 
of  reestablishing  its  credit  and  of  economizing  its 
revenues." 


In  consequence  of  the  exposures  that  the  investi- 
gation brought  about  as  to  their  participation  in  what 
President  Watson  called  the  "  pecuniary  stimulus  "  of 
the  Gould  conspiracy,  Secretary  H.  N.  Otis,  Assist- 
ant Treasurer  Justin  D.  White,  and  Auditor  John 
Hilton  were  suspended  without  pay  from  the  service 
of  the  Company  March  17,  1873,  and  they  were  never 
reinstated.  Secretary  Otis  resigned  April  8th  fol- 
lowing, and  never  recovered  from  the  blow.  He  had 
been  many  years  a  Director  and  Secretary  of  the 
Company,  and  up  to  the  time  of  the  Gould  over- 
throw, his  record  was  above  reproach.  It  is  believed 
by  his  friends  to  this  day  that  he  was  deceived  as 
to  the  character  of  the  plans  of  those  who  were  en- 
gineering the  campaign  against  Gould,  and  as  to 
what  its  result  was  to  be,  and  was  an  inconsiderate 
victim  of  that  questionable  transaction,  rather  than 
a  willing  sharer  in  its  fruits. 

The  report  of  the  Committee,  while  regarded  by 
the  public  as  an  ambiguous  and  insufficient  deliver- 
ance, was  accepted  and  proclaimed  as  a  vindication 
by  the  Watson  management  as  to  the  matter  of  its 
honesty  and  fair-dealing  in  the  matter  of  the  divi- 
dend. The  unsavory  and  scandalous  revelations  of 
the  investigation,  the  management  congratulated 
itself,  were  none  of  its  affairs.  They  related  to  a 
previous  administration,  and  the  existing  manage- 
ment was  in  no  way  responsible  for  them.  The  fact 
remained,  however,  that  the  predominant  influences 
of  the  Watson  management  had  been  the  prime 
movers  in  the  affair,  the  methods  of  which  had 
received  the  most  positive  condemnation  of  the 
Committee.  This,  to  however  much  of  probity  and 
straightforwardness  the  same  influences  were  inclined 
in  directing  the  future  of  the  Company,  did  not  tend 
to  strengthen  confidence  in  the  new  management. 

Peter  H.  Watson,  undoubtedly,  had  burdened 
himself  with  the  responsibilities  of  the  Presidency 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  with  the  fond  hope 
that  he  might  succeed  in  rehabilitating  it  to  the  proud 
position  which  was  the  great  property's  right  due. 
In  the  spring  of  1873  he  said:  "  The  Erie  Railway 
is  a  partially  complete  machine.  It  will  require  over 
$40,000,000  to  make  it  complete,  or  $30,000,000  in 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


addition  to  the  $10,000,000  that  has  recently  been 
borrowed.  And  when  completed,  by  reason  of  its 
augmented  receipts,  it  will  be  able  to  earn  dividends 
on  the  entire  cost.  One  thing  required  is  a  double 
track.  Another  is  to  have  the  equipment  doubled. 
The  Company  has  10,000  available  cars,  less  than 
half  enough.  It  needs  1,200  locomotives,  and  has 
less  than  one-half  that  number.  We  want  ioo  more 
sidings.  There  is  a  deficiency  in  stations,  a  defi- 
ciency in  shops.  We  have  not  house-room  enough 
to  cover  more  than  one-quarter  of  the  locomotives. 
They  have  been  standing  out  all  winter,  with  watch- 
men employed,  at  large  expense,  to  keep  up  fires  in 
them  to  prevent  them  from  freezing." 

Marly  in  the  summer,  rumors  of  another  dividend 
n  to  circulate,  and  the  same  clamor  that  it  could 
not  be  honestly  declared  arose.  September  2,  1873, 
a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  was  held,  and 
the  creation  of  a  $40,000,000  second  consolidated 
mortgage,  and  the  negotiating  of  $10,000,000  of  the 
bonds  to  issue  under  that  mortgage,  were  agreed 
upon.  At  this  meeting  Lucius  Robinson,  subse- 
quently Governor  of  New  York  State,  was  elected 
Vice-President  to  succeed  Gen.  A.  S.  Diven,  who 
had  resigned  the  previous  March.  President  Wat- 
son was  granted  leave  of  absence  to  go  to  Europe 
on  official  business  of  the  Company,  which  was  to 
impress  the  stockholders  and  investors  there  with 
the  importance  of  his  views  on  the  necessity  of  large 
expenditure  in  bringing  the  railroad  to  a  proper  con- 
dition to  do  the  traffic  it  was  entitled  to  and  would 
obtain  with  sufficient  facilities,  and  to  negotiate  the 
loan  for  that  purpose. 

In  a  report  made  by  President  Watson  to  the 
Board  at  this  meeting  he  strongly  commended  the 
policy  which  had  been  adopted  with  a  view  rather  to 
future  than  to  present  dividends.  This  was  to  ex- 
pend upward  of  $40,000,000  of  additional  capital  in 
double-tracking  the  road  and  supplying  it  with  steel 
rails,  narrowing  its  gauge,  perfecting  its  road-bed, 
providing  it  with  sufficient  rolling  stock  and  motive 
power,  with  grain  elevators,  coal  chutes,  and  other 
depot  and  terminal  facilities,  and  extending  its 
branches  into  the  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal 
fields;  "purchasing  sufficient  coal  lands  to  prevent 


any  hostile  combination  from  diverting  the  coal  trade 
from  the  Erie;  establishing  its  connection  through 
the  New  York,  Boston  and  Montreal,  and  the  New 
York  and  New  England  railroads,  with  the  great 
manufacturing  districts  of  New  England  and  their 
chief  seaport,  Boston,  and  with  the  Eastern  railway 
lines  which  connect  with  those  of  the  Maritime 
British  Provinces  of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova 
Scotia,  which  terminate  eastward  of  Halifax,  the 
nearest  seaport  of  this  continent  to  Europe,  and  the 
point  at  which  multitudes  of  passengers  for  Europe, 
who  desire  to  make  their  ocean  voyage  the  shortest 
possible,  will,  at  no  distant  day,  embark  and  dis- 
embark. While  establishing  these  connections  cast- 
ward,  its  alliances  westward  would  be  perfected  so 
as  to  carry  it  practically  to  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  and 
Chicago,  the  three  great  gateways  and  depots  of  the 
Southwest,  the  West,  and  the  Northwest." 

The  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Railroad 
had  recently  been  leased  by  the  New  York  Central, 
thus  giving  one  of  the  theretofore  most  important 
and  valuable  Erie  connections  to  the  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  Erie's  great  and  progressive  rival.  This 
was  the  more  disappointing  to  President  Watson  as, 
in  association  with  his  proposed  narrow-gauging  of 
the  Erie,  he  had  fondly  hoped  to  secure  for  his  Com- 
pany the  same  control  of  the  Lake  Shore  that  the 
Central  obtained.  There  was  nothing  left,  there- 
fore, but  to  use  every  means  to  make  satisfactory 
and  mutually  profitable  arrangements  with  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  for  inter- 
change of  traffic,  and  securing  the  Cleveland,  Colum- 
bus, Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  Railroad  and  its 
branches  and  connecting  lines  as  part  of  the  Erie 
and  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  system.  How  this 
might  best  be  accomplished  President  Watson  left 
until  his  return  from  Europe  for  further  considera- 
tion. When  he  returned  from  Europe,  however,  he 
found  his  hands  and  head  full  of  other  things  affect- 
ing so  closely  his  immediate  management  of  Erie 
that  the  further  development  of  his  plans  of  exten- 
sion could  find  no  room  there,  and  found  room  there 
never  again. 

'  In  accordance  with  the  reports  of  the  General 
Auditor  herewith  submitted,"  said  Mr.  Watson  in 
his  report,  "  I  recommend  the  declaration  of  a  divi- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


223 


dend  of  3^  per  cent,  upon  the  par  value  of  the  pre- 
ferred stock,  and  1  per  cent,  upon  the  common  stock 
of  the  Company,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  net  earnings. 
The  amount  suggested  as  a  dividend  upon  the  com- 
mon stock  might  perhaps  be  a  little  increased,  but  I 
prefer  to  keep  clearly  within  the  limits  of  the  present 
actual  earnings,  trusting  soon  to  show  an  increase 
that  will  warrant  a  larger  distribution  among  the 
stockholders.  The  net  earnings  since  June  30,  1873, 
are  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  this  and  the  dividend 
of  3^  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock." 

President  Watson  sailed  for  Europe.  He  had 
scarcely  landed  in  London  before  the  news  of  the 
great  crisis  that  had  suddenly  confronted  the  finan- 
cial situation  in  the  United  States  reached  there. 
Banks,  trust  companies,  commercial  houses,  and 
brokers  were  failing  almost  hourly.  Business  in  the 
stock  exchanges  was  suspended.  General  financial 
and  business  paralysis  seemed  to  have  stricken  the 
country.  Erie  shares,  and  all  American  securities, 
declined  disastrously  in  the  London  market.  Presi- 
dent Watson  had  chosen  an  unfortunate  time  to 
place  an  American  security  among  English  investors, 
especially  an  obligation  of  Erie,  which  corporation 
time  and  circumstance  had  not  exalted  in  the  esti- 
mation of  capitalists  either  at  home  or  abroad.  The 
Erie  President  went  boldly  and  confidently  to  work, 
however,  biding  his  time  and  improving  his  oppor- 
tunity. The  end  of  the  year  came.  He  had  not  yet 
reestablished  London  confidence  in  the  prospects  of 
Erie. 


III. 


THE    SILVER    LINING    DISAPPEARS. 


The  year  1874  opened  with  no  very  encouraging 
outlook  for  the  Erie,  if  the  signs  of  the  time  could 
be  rightly  read,  and  before  many  weeks  passed  it 
was  plain  that  the  signs  had  not  failed.  President 
Watson  was  still  in  Europe  pleading  for  money. 
Although  the  second  dividend  had  been  declared  and 
paid,  and  the  report  of  the  Company's  condition  and 
prospects  at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  of  1873  was 
encouraging  in  the  extreme,  many  employees  of  the 
Company  at  the  end  of  March,  1874,  had  but  re- 
cently received  their  pay  for  January,  and  were  anx- 
iously awaiting  their  February  dues,  not  taking  into 


account  the  wages  for  March  already  earned;  and 
the  month  closed  with  a  strike  of  employees  that 
greatly  interfered  with  the  business  of  the  road  for  a 
fortnight  or  more,  and  at  last  had  to  be  suppressed 
by  the  aid  of  the  military.  The  belief  that  the  divi- 
dends had  not  been  earned  by  the  Company  gained 
strength  daily.  It  was  openly  declared  that  the 
money  President  Watson  had  gone  to  Europe  to 
borrow  was  necessary  to  keep  the  Company  out  of 
bankruptcy.  The  predominance  of  S.  L.  M.  Barlow 
in  the  direction  of  Erie  affairs  had  made  many  ene- 
mies. At  the  last  election  he  had  voted  on  $40,000,- 
OOO  worth  of  stock — 400,000  shares,  or  more  than 
half  of  the  common  capital  stock.  This  demon- 
strated that  he  was  entirely  in  the  confidence  of  the 
English  syndicate  or  combination,  and  enabled  him 
to  become  as  dictatorial  in  the  management  as  he 
might  please,  and  he  was  a  man  well  constructed  to 
enjoy  being  a  dictator. 

Unfortunately  for  the  future  of  the  Watson  man- 
agement, Director  Barlow — who  was  also  the  head 
of  the  Company's  legal  department — in  the  course 
of  the  enforcement  of  his  views  as  to  the  policy  of 
the  Company,  made  an  enemy  of  Col.  S.  H.  Dunan, 
the  General  Auditor.  Colonel  Dunan  had  come 
into  the  service  of  the  Erie  from  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  Company.  He  had  been  for  several 
years  the  head  of  the  accounting  department  of  that 
company,  and  was  acknowledged  to  be  foremost 
among  expert  and  conscientious  railway  accountants. 
He  was  permitted  to  leave  the  service  of  the  Balti- 
more company  by  President  Garrett  and  accept  the 
offer  made  him  by  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  at 
the  personal  request  and  urgent  appeal  of  President 
Watson  himself,  who  vouched  for  his  strictest  integ- 
rity and  unimpeachable  character.  Auditor  Dunan 
was  himself  a  stern  man,  stubborn  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty  as  he  saw  it,  and  impatient  of  dictation. 
Between  two  such  positive  characters  as  Barlow  and 
Dunan  friction  was  inevitable.  It  came  at  last,  and 
the  result  was  the  uncovering  of  still  another  un- 
pleasant chapter  in  the  secret  history  of  Erie,  from 
the  effects  of  which  the  Watson  management  never 
recovered.  This  uncovering  began  with  the  resig- 
nation, on  March  11,  1S74,  of  Auditor  Dunan  from 
the  service  of  the  Company.     This  was  followed  by 


224 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


his  publication  of  a  report  made  by  him  to  the  Board 
of  Directors,  which,  in  circumstantial  detail,  declared 
that  the  annual  report  of  the  Company  to  the  State 
Engineer  for  the  fiscal  year  of  1S73  was  a  false  state- 
ment, and  was  known  to  be  so  by  President  Watson 
when  it  was  made;  that  the  floating  debt,  instead  of 
being  less  than  $3,000,000,  as  according  to  the  sworn 
report,  was  really  $7,000,000;  that  the  accounts  had 
been  manipulated  to  make  the  necessary  showing 
that  the  dividends  had  been  paid  out  of  earnings, 
when  in  fact  they  had  been  borrowed  from  the  cap- 
ital ;  that  there  was  scarcely  a  dollar  in  the  treasury, 
and  that  the  Company  was  actually  bankrupt. 

That  the  Erie  dividends  had  not  been  earned  had 
long  been  general  belief,  but  such  confirmation  of  it 
as  this  positive  declaration,  made  by  one  than  whom 
no  man  living  should  know  more  of  the  financial 
condition  of  the  Company,  was  not  to  have  been 
expected. 

President  Watson  was  still  in  Europe,  and  had  not 
been  successful  yet  in  securing  the  money  he  had 
gone  thither  to  borrow.  Lucius  Robinson  was  act- 
ing President.  The  Erie  management  and  its  friends 
charged  that  Dunan  had  formed  a  coalition  with  Jay 
Gould  and  others  inimical  to  Erie  in  a  bear  raid  on 
the  stock,  and  had  resigned  his  office  and  made  the 
damaging  declaration  of  the  dishonesty  of  the  Erie 
annual  report  to  aid  in  carrying  the  stock-jobbing 
scheme  to  success.  Dunan's  statement  was  de- 
nounced as  false.  The  report  had  been  completed 
on  March  3d,  while  he  was  yet  Auditor,  and  was 
made,  he  said,  to  set  himself  right,  before  resigning, 
for  having  consented  to  the  signing  of  the  misleading 
report  that  had  gone  forth  as  the  Company's  official 
statement  the  previous  January. 

On  March  12th  the  Board  of  Erie  Directors  held 
a  meeting,  denounced  Dunan  by  official  resolution 
as  a  stock-jobber,  falsifier,  and  traitor;  declared  its 
entire  and  continued  confidence  in  President  Watson, 
and  appointed  a  Committee  consisting  of  John  Tay- 
lor Johnston,  Cortlandt  Parker,  Frederick  Schuch- 
ardt,  George  H.  Brown,  and  Herman  R.  Baltzer,  to 
examine  and  report  forthwith  the  floating  debt  of 
the  Company,  and  all  the  accounts  of  the  Company 
from  the  date  of  its  reorganization  under  General 
Dix.     The  Committee  made  its   report  March  20th. 


It  stated  that  the  floating  debt  on  March  13th,  for 
which  money  was  really  necessary  to  be  provided, 
was  $2,858,539.37,  although  there  were  items  that 
might  be  construed  as  obligations,  not  properly  so, 
which  would  increase  the  amount  to  $5,352,375.02, 
instead  of  $7,000,000;  and  said  it  had  found  the 
ex-Auditor's  statements  of  entries  to  be  correct, 
but  that  the  conclusions  drawn  from  them  were 
erroneous. 

In  replying  to  the  Committee,  Colonel  Dunan 
made  the  statement  that  they  "  had  only  included 
in  their  report  that  which  was  either  audited  or  in 
process  of  being  audited  and  passed  upon,  excluding 
all  the  numerous  claims  which  had  not  at  the  date 
been  presented  to  the  Company,  and  those  which 
were  presented,  and  upon  which  there  are  some  dis- 
puted points — nevertheless,  they  be  debts.  For 
instance,  the  accounts  of  the  Union  and  Jefferson 
Car  Companies,  and  the  balance  due  for  the  rental  of 
the  Erie  and  Suspension  Bridge  Railroad,  payment 
upon  which  has  been  deferred  for  a  year  and  a  half; 
the  balances  due  upon  the  purchase  of  coal  lands; 
the  amount  due  upon  the  guarantee  of  the  Boston, 
Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  bonds;  the  numerous 
cases  in  litigation  in  New  York  and  other  States, 
many  of  which  will  inevitably  be  decided  against  the 
Company;  the  unadjusted  claims  for  drawbacks  and 
overcharges  in  freight  and  passengers,  the  revenue 
on  which  has  been  earned  and  paid  in,  and  which  has 
for  some  months  amounted  to  an  average  of  $90,000 
per  month;  the  accrued  accounts  for  the  purchase  of 
supplies  and  for  labor  to  the  13th  inst.,  all  these  and 
many  not  enumerated,  amounting  to  as  they  do  sev- 
eral millions  of  dollars,  have  evidently  been  omitted 
from  the  Committee's  statement." 

As  the  Committee  had  reported  that  it  had  de- 
cided to  postpone  a  full  report  on  Dunan's  state- 
ments until  the  return  of  President  Watson,  no  reply 
was  made  to  his  comments  on  their  statements,  and 
it  is  well  to  say  that  no  reply  was  ever  made  by  the 
Committee. 

The  denunciation  of  and  charges  made  against 
ex-Auditor  Dunan  by  the  Erie  management  and  its 
friends,  no  matter  what  of  justice  or  truth  might 
have  attended  them,  simply  served  to  lead  the  way 
for  further  and  more  damaging  revelations  than  those 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


225 


made  in  Dunan's  official  report  of  March.  Under 
date  of  April  7,  1874,  in  an  open  letter  to  President 
Watson — who  was  then  on  his  way  home  from  Eng- 
land, he  having  at  last  succeeded  in  securing  a  loan 
— Colonel  Dunan  told  the  story  of  how  the  funds 
were  got  by  which  the  dividends  of  1873  were  paid. 
"  On  July  1,  1873,"  he  charged,  "  President  Watson 
knew  there  was  a  large  deficiency  in  the  earnings  of 
the  Company,  as  compared  with  the  expenses.  That 
fact  must  either  be  suppressed  or  the  President  must 
admit  his  management  to  be  a  disastrous  failure.  In 
no  way  could  the  knowledge  be  kept  secret  except 
by  a  falsification  of  the  accounts."  Auditor  Dunan 
was  willing  to  consent  to  "modifications"  being 
made  in  the  profit  and  loss  account  sufficient  to  give 
the  earnings  the  appearance  of  equalling  the  expen- 
ditures for  operations,  provided  that  no  dividend 
should  be  declared,  none  having  been  earned.  Presi- 
dent Watson  assured  him  that  no  dividend  would 
be  declared,  "  and  the  modifications  in  the  profit 
and  loss  account  were  made.  This  resulted  in  the 
showing  of  a  balance  to  credit  of  income  account  of 
$1,700,000,  leaving  the  Company  about  square  in 
its   operations   from    October    1,    1872,   to   June    30, 

1873-" 

"  You  will  remember  that  on  the  morning  of 
August  27th,  the  day  before  the  Board  meeting," 
Dunan  wrote  to  Watson,  "  I  met  you  with  Mr.  Bar- 
low, at  your  rooms  by  appointment.  Mr.  Barlow 
was  decided  in  his  opinion  of  the  policy  of  declaring 
a  dividend,  and  that  the  accounts  should  be  made  to 
show  that  one  had  been  declared.  You  will  do  me 
the  justice  to  say  how  strenuously  I  opposed  any 
further  tampering  with  the  accounts,  and  how  ear- 
nestly I  urged  that  if  a  dividend  must  be  made,  that 
it  be  made  out  of  the  surplus  which  remained  over 
in  the  previous  years.  The  question  of  extra  repa- 
ration which  had  been  advanced  as  a  plea  for  the 
extravagant  expenditures  in  working  the  road,  was 
taken  into  consideration.  I  suggested  that  if  there 
was  anything  in  it,  it  was  just  as  well  to  declare  the 
dividend  out  of  the  old  surplus  as  it  was  to  alter  the 
accounts,  and  that  I  had  no  accounts  to  show  for 
any  extra  reparation.  You  will  recall  what  followed. 
I  was  sent  from  your  room  to  await  a  conference 
between  yourself  and  Mr.  Barlow.  The  conference 
»5 


ended;  you  sent  for  Mr.  Clarke,  the  Third  Vice- 
President,  and  Mr.  Tyson,  the  Fourth  Vice-Presi- 
dent. I  left  for  my  office.  Their  visit  resulted  in 
the  production  of  the  letters  on  which  you  formed 
the  basis  of  the  entries  which  took  from  the  expenses 
$1,123,000.  This  gave  the  amount  desired  for  the 
dividend  of  $780,000  on  the  common  stock,  and 
$300,000  on  the  preferred.  You  approved  their 
reports,  and  I  was  directed  to  see  that  the  accounts 
were  made  to  conform.  This  act  was  committed  on 
the  28th  day  of  August,  1873,  and  its  consequences 
were  made  to  appear  in  the  accounts  for  June  30, 
1873,  long  after  the  accounts  for  that  period  were 
closed  and  balanced  off." 

In  his  further  reorganization  of  the  operating  de- 
partments of  the  railroad  service,  President  Watson 
had  created  early  in  1873  the  offices  of  Second, 
Third,  and  Fourth  Vice-Presidents.  James  C. 
Clarke,  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio,  the  Illinois  Central,  and  other  railroads, 
was  appointed  Third  Vice-President,  in  the  charge  of 
the  Departments  of  Road  and  Transportation,  on 
May  1,  1873.  Henry  Tyson  was  made  Fourth  Vice- 
President,  in  charge  of  the  Department  of  Motive 
Power  and  Machinery,  in  August.  The  reports  ex- 
Auditor  Dunan  referred  to  as  having  been  made  to 
President  Watson  were  in  the  form  of  letters  ad- 
dressed to  the  President  that,  as  to  Clarke's  Depart- 
ment, "  the  expenditure  for  repairs  and  renewals 
during  the  nine  months  ending  June  30,  1873,  was 
$719,600  more  than  would  have  been  needed  to  pre- 
vent deterioration,  if  the  property  had  been  fully 
maintained  during  former  years  "  ;  and  as  to  Tyson's 
Department,  that  "  the  expenditure  due  to  reinstat- 
ing motive  power  and  rolling  stock  for  the  same 
period  was  in  excess  of  the  amount  justly  chargeable 
to  repairs  and  renewals  for  maintenance,"  the  excess 
being  placed  at  $404,304.23.  These  reports  were  ap- 
proved by  President  Watson,  and  the  two  amounts, 
making  a  total  of  $1,123,904,  were  transferred  from 
the  expense  account  to  the  capital  account,  and 
became  the  fund  from  which  the  1873  dividends 
were  paid  on  the  common  and  preferred  stock. 

In  dealing  with  these  letters  Dunan,  writing  later, 
in  answer  to  President  Watson's  report  to  the 
Directors  in  reply  to  his  statements,  said : 


226 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


i  of  $1,000,000  was  transferred  from  the  cur- 
rent i  count  upon  no  better  authority  than  the  mere 
opinion:-  of  two  iio  were  not  in  a  position  which  en- 
abled them  to  form  any  intelligent  opinion  on  the  sul 
Mr.  Clarke  had  been  in  the  employment  of  the  company  but 
a  few  months,  and  had  never  gone  over  the  ore  the 
month  of  March.  1873,  while  Mr.  Tyson  did  not  enter  its  ser- 
vice until  after  the  period  referred  to  in  his  letter.  Neither  of 
them  called  upon  any  of  their  subordinates  or  associat 
inform. ai. >n  upon  the  subject  of  these  repairs,  nor  prepared,  nor 
urnished  with,  any  statement  showing  the  actual  amount 
of  work  done  in  detail,  so  that  neither  of  them,  when  he  made 
up  his  estimate,  knew,  or  had  means  of  knowing,  the  circum- 
stanci  to  the  alleged  increase  m  expenditure,  ii'  'r 
could  either  of  them  have  given  any  satisfactory  explanation, 
on  the  next  day  after  writing  these  two  letters,  of  the  reasons 
which  led  him  to  set  down  the  precise  figures  given  in  these 
letters.  Indeed,  their  original  letters  did  not  pretend  to  give 
the  figures  in  the  detail  presented  by  the  letters  as  given  to  the 
rke  wrote  that  he  estimated  the  proportion  of 
increased  expenditure,  which  should  not  be  charged  to  the 
current  expenses  of  the  year,  at  28  per  cent,  of  the  whole  ex- 
penditure, and  Mr.  Tyson  stated  that  he  estimated  the  like 
amount  in  his  department  at  26  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 

Neither  of  them  stated,  either  in  writing  or  verbally,  any 
ii  which  had  led  them  to  form  this  estimate  of  percentage: 
but  the  fact  was  that  they  were  informed  by  Mr.  Watson  that 
between  them  they  must  take  off  the  sum  of  $1,100,000  from  the 
expenses  of  their  departments,  and  provide  an  excuse  for 
charging  that  amount  to  capital,  this  being  the  amount  of  two 
dividends  which  it  was  desired  to  pay,  being  26  and  28  per  cent. 
of  the  whole  amount  of  expenditure  in  their  departments.  But 
the  letters  in  this  shape  were  not  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Watson, 
who,  in  his  own  handwriting,  altered  them  by  striking  out  the 
statement  of  a  percentage  and  putting  in  the  account  and  fig- 
ures which  he  desired  to  take  from  the  several  departments. 
The  letters  were  then  completed  on  this  basis,  and  the  estimate 
of  amounts  properly  chargeable  to  capital,  which  was  taken  by 
Messrs.  Clarke  and  Tyson,  who  knew  very  little  about  the 
affairs  of  their  departments  in  the  past,  to  which  they  referred, 
was  completed  by  Mr.  Watson,  who  knew  still  less  of  these 
details. 

Proceeding  with  his  open  letter  to  President  Wat- 
son, Dunan  wrote  as  follows  about  this  transaction  : 

What  followed  the  falsification  done  in  August  was  neces- 
sary to  be  consistent  with  that  act.  The  accounts  had  been 
made  to  show  a  surplus  of  earnings  over  expenses:  it  was 
requisite,  therefore,  that  in  all  future  statements  and  accounts 
which  were  made  up,  the  fact  should  nowhere  appear  that  we 
had  drawn  upon  our  capital  accounts  for  the  means  of  running 
;  verj  successive  statement  must  of  necessity  con- 
tain a  reiteration  of  the  lie.  Over  $3,300,000  were  used  of  the 
rtibli  bonds  to  pay  dividends  and  work  the 
road  in  our  year.  Hut  as  we  had  stated  that  these  amounts 
had  been  paid  fi  urplus  earnings,  a  falsehood  had  to 

1  hi  n  we  1  ame  to  make  up  the  statement  show- 

ing tin  i   this  fund.      You    (Watson)    had  been   at 

the  head  of  the  management  over  a  year,  and  had  been  but 
recently  elected.  Before  you  were  the  accounts  which  showed 
most  disasti  n        rid  d  results  in  the  operation  of  the 

road.  While  the  earnings  had  largely  increased,  the  working 
expenses  had  disproportionately  swollen  to  an  amount  unpre- 


cedented in  the  affairs  of  any  road.  Von  were  on  the  eve  of 
sailing  for  1  urope.  To  publish  to  the  world  the  result  before 
you  was  simply  to  abandon  the  contemplated  trip,  admit  the 
failure  ol  your  administration,  and  disappoint  the  hopeful  an- 
ticipations of  the  public  and  the  proprietors  of  the  railway. 
I  saw  that  you  hesitated  which  horn  to  accept.  There  were  the 
facts  and  the  figures  before  you.  and  there  seemed  no  way  out 
of  the  difficulty  but  a  frank  acknowledgment  that  it  was  a  bad 
job.  Behind  you.  as  it  were,  appeared  the  great  dictator  (Bar- 
low  1  in  attitudes  of  authority,  intimidation,  and  threat.  No 
failure  must  be  acknowledged.  Not  only  must  success  be  pub- 
lished to  the  world,  but  it  must  be  a  grand  success,  and  the 
accounts  must  be  made  to  show  it.  The  alternative  was.  "  No 
dividends — no  money."  Fulsome  dispatches  had  been  sent  to 
London  during  the  year  indicative  of  the  grandest  success  that 
had  ever  attended  the  labors  of  any  administration  of  any  cor- 
poration, and  the  stockholders  expected  a  dividend.  He  whom 
I  call  the  great  dictator  :  *  *  *  had  decided  that  a  divi- 
dend must  be  made  and  that  was  sufficient.  It  was  nothing  to 
him  that  in  order  to  do  so  the  accounts  must  be  tampered  with, 
so  long  as  some  one  else  did  it.  His  will  was  law.  Up  to  this 
hour  you  had  not  written  one  line  of  your  report.  The  con- 
sciousness that  in  that  report  you  must  commit  yourself  to 
an  erroneous  statement  of  facts  concerning  the  operation  of 
the  road  I  confidently  believe  was  the  most  distasteful  cup 
ever  presented  to  your  lips.  I  expected,  even  till  the  last 
moment,  to  see  you  reject  the  dose  and  decide  again  to  stand 
firmly  by  the  truth,  be  the  consequences  what  they  might, 
and  I  think,  left  to  yourself,  a  report  on  the  basis  of  the  altered 
accounts  never  would  have  been  written. 

I  have  shown  in  my  report  to  the  Board  of  March  3,  1874, 
that  there  was  a  deficiency  in  the  capital  account  for  the  fiscal 
year  1873  of  $3,677,911.16.  The  facts  and  figures  therein  given 
are  incontrovertible.  The  books  and  accounts  prove  them 
conclusively.  No  mere  assertion  can  alter  or  change  them. 
The  entries  which  have  been  made  to  change  the  true  accounts 
into  the  false  throw  the  books  out  of  balance,  and  stand  on 
their  pages  as  a  blot  upon  your  name  and  mine.  Erase  them, 
and  correct  the  gravest  error  of  your  administration. 


Mr.  Watson  returned  to  New  York  about  the 
middle  of  April,  1874.  Dunan's  scathing  open  letter 
to  him  was  still  a  thing  of  lively  public  interest.  No 
satisfactory  response  had  been  made  by  any  of  the 
officers  or  Directors  to  a  single  one  of  the  damaging 
allegations  Dunan  had  put  forth.  It  was  given  out 
from  time  to  time  that  President  Watson  would 
make  a  statement  immediately  after  his  return  which 
would  show  the  falsity  of  Dunan's  charges  and  de- 
molish them.  The  President  returned,  but  a  week 
or  more  passed  without  a  word  having  been  tittered 
by  him  in  refutation  of  Dunan's  damaging  allega- 
tions. April  20th  another  sensational  incident  in 
this  latest  Erie  imbroglio  occurred.  President  Wat- 
son, having  requested  J.  S.  llunichen,  General 
Accountant  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  to  fur- 
nish  him    with    abstracts   and   statements   from    the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


227 


Company's  books  "  as  they  exist,"  the  Accountant 
replied  by  a  note  in  which  he  declared  that  he  was 
convinced  of  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Dunan's  state- 
ment as  to  the  condition  of  the  accounts  of  the  Com- 
pany, and  that  in  fact  he  had  strenuously  opposed 
the  alterations  at  the  time  they  were  made,  and 
had  not  since  changed  his  opinion  regarding  them. 

Therefore,"  he  wrote,  "  as  I  do  not  care  to  act 
contrary  to  my  convictions,  I  respectfully  tender 
you  my  resignation  as  General  Accountant  of  the 
Company,  to  take  effect  at  your  earliest  conven- 
ience." The  resignation  was  accepted  at  once  by 
the  President. 

This  incident  led  a  leading  New  York  newspaper, 
which  had  been  a  strong  supporter  of  the  Watson 
administration,  to  comment  as  follows:  "  We  have 
refused  to  pass  any  judgment  on  Mr.  Dunan's  state- 
ments until  President  Watson  should  be  heard,  but 
we  assure  Mr.  Watson  that  he  is  wearing  out  the 
patience  not  merely  of  the  great  public,  but  even  of 
those  who  have  most  implicitly  believed  in  him.  If 
the  book-keeper  tells  the  truth,  Mr.  Dunan's  charges 
are  sustained.  If  he  does  not  tell  the  truth  he  ought 
to  be  in  State's  prison.  The  matter  cannot  be  ig- 
nored, and  if  Mr.  Watson  has  any  explanation  to 
make  he  should  not  lose  an  hour  in  making  it." 

But  Mr.  Watson  had  been  preparing  his  report, 
and  April  22d  he  submitted  it  to  the  Board  of  Direct- 
ors. He  denied  none  of  the  charges  made  by  Mr. 
Dunan,  and,  in  fact,  did  not  refer  to  the  most  seri- 
ous ones.  He  explained  and  justified  the  transfers 
made  from  the  expense  accounts  of  the  two  oper- 
ating departments  to  the  capital  stock,  defended  his 
policy,  and  concluded  with  the  declaration:  "Our 
business  continues  good,  our  road  is  in  better  condi- 
tion than  ever  before,  and  I  believe  that  when  the 
contemplated  report  shall  be  made  by  those  whose 
competency  for  the  task  and  complete  integrity  and 
impartiality  are  assured,  the  recent  attempt  to  injure 
the  credit  of  the  Company  will  result  only  in  placing 
the  great  property  before  the  public  in  a  better  posi- 
tion than  it  has  ever  before  occupied." 

The  statement  was  not  satisfactory  even  to  the 
friends  of  the  management,  as  the  succeeding  events 
painfully  made  apparent.  The  persons  to  whom 
President  Watson  referred  as  contemplating  an  ex- 


amination of  the  affairs  of  the  Company  were  expert 
accountants  selected  in  this  country  and  in  England. 
The  American  experts  were  Stephen  Little  and 
Theodore  Houston.  James  McHenry  selected  James 
Glegg,  partner  in  the  London  banking  house  of 
Quilter,  Ball  &  Co.,  and  Henry  Bishop  of  the  Lon- 
don firm  of  Turquand,  Youngs  &  Co.  As  repre- 
sentative of  another  party  of  English  shareholders, 
Capt.  II.  W.  Tyler  was  also  selected  to  make  a 
report,  differences  among  the  English  proprietors 
having  again  occurred.  The  English  accountants 
arrived  in  New  York  early  in  May,  1874.  Glegg 
and  Bishop  were  accompanied  by  James  McHenry, 
who  soon  afterward  returned  to  London,  having 
quarrelled  with  President  Watson  and  the  Erie  man- 
agement over  the  details  of  a  plan  for  leasing  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  to  the  Erie, 
which  plan  had  been  agreed  upon  by  the  Erie  Direct- 
ors, but  was  not  satisfactory  to  McHenry.  The 
lease  was  ratified  by  the  stockholders  of  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  June  25, 
1874.  It  was  for  a  term  of  ninety-nine  years.  Its 
terms  bound  the  Erie  Railway  Company  to  pay  the 
lessor  38  per  cent,  of  the  net  earnings  of  the  first 
year,  29  per  cent,  the  second  year,  and  30  per  cent, 
the  third  year.  If,  at  the  expiration  of  five  years  it 
was  found  that  the  proportion  had  exceeded  that 
figure,  the  Erie  was  to  divide  the  excess  with  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  equally.  The  aggre- 
gate stock  of  the  two  companies  amounted  to  $130,- 
000,000.  The  Erie  Directors  met  the  same  day  and 
accepted  the  lease.  At  this  meeting  Accountants 
Little  and  Houston  made  a  preliminary  report  of  the 
result  of  their  examination  of  the  books  as  they 
stood  at  the  time  of  the  retirement  of  Auditor 
Dunan.  They  announced  that  an  error  of  $3,000,000 
had  been  made  in  the  latter's  report  of  the  float ing 
debt  of  the  Company  on  Eebruary  28th,  and  that 
the  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Direct- 
ors had  overestimated  by  more  than  $500,000  the 
floating  debt  at  that  time. 

But  still  the  feeling  increased  that  the  Watson 
management  was  doomed.  The  English  stock- 
holders were  clamorous  again  for  a  change.  Erie 
stock  fell  to  26^,  lower  than  it  had  been  since  the 
dark  days  of  Gould's  control.      McHenry  had  formed 


22S 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


anew  Erie  Protective  Committee  in  London.  From 
its  quarters  he  issued  a  letter  June  30th,  which  was 
sent  to  the  London  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company,  and  to  the  foreign  exchanges,  declaring 
that  the  management  of  the  Company  had  adopted 
and  was  then  engaged  in  following  the  Gould  and 
Fisk  method  of  issuing  new  stock  which  was  to  be 
sent  to  Europe  for  sale.  This  caused  great  depres- 
sion in  Erie  stocks  abroad,  and  hastened  the  decline 
of  confidence  in  the  management..  To  overcome 
this  assault,  Frederick  William  Smith,  Secretary  of 
the  London  Directory,  acting  on  instructions,  caused 
the  arrest  of  one  Wortner,  an  associate  of  McHenry, 
on  July  17th,  and  began  proceedings  against  him 
before  the  Lord  Mayor  on  charge  of  libel  of  the  Com- 
pany. Wortner  said  he  was  prepared  to  prove  every 
charge  he  had  made.  Nothing  ever  came  of  the 
prosecution. 

The  lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Rail- 
road had  scarcely  been  signed  and  come  into  force, 
when  it  was  announced  that  that  company,  on  July 
1st,  had  defaulted  in  London  in  the  payment  of  the 
interest  on  its  first  consolidated  mortgage  bonds. 
Following  this  discouraging  news  the  situation  of 
Erie  was  further  disturbed  by  the  instituting  of  pro- 
ceedings against  the  Company,  before  Attorney-Gen- 
eral Pratt,  by  John  C.  Angell,  claiming  to  be  a  stock 
and  bondholder  of  the  Company,  praying  for  the 
intervention  of  the  State,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
stockholders  and  bona-fide  creditors,  in  procuring  a 
dissolution  of  the  Company,  and  the  organization  of 
a  new  corporation,  free  from  its  existing  embarrass- 
ments. 

At  the  hearing  at  Albany  July  7th,  Angell  was 
represented  by  John  M.  Hill  as  counsel.  Ex-Judge 
William  Fullerton  appeared  as  the  legal  represent- 
ative of  the  Erie  Protective  Committee  of  London, 
the  head  and  adviser  of  which  was  James  McHenry, 
The  Erie  Railway  Company's  counsel  were  Hon. 
William  M.  Evarts  and  ex-Judge  W.  D.  Shipman. 
The  proceedings  were  founded  on  the  affidavit  of 
ex-Auditor  Dunan,  wherein  the  charges  he  had  made 
in  his  exposures  of  March,  1874,  were  reiterated. 
Angell  declared  in  his  deposition,  besides  recounting 
the  story  of  the  alleged  false  dividends,  that  the 
floating    debt    of     the    Company    was    in    excess    of 


|  XJO.OOO,  and  that  the  salable  value  of  property 
that  could  be  made  available  to  pay  that  debt  was 
not  more  than  $3,000,000,  all  the  remainder  of  the 
Company's  property  having  been  mortgaged  to  its 
full  market  value;  that  the  promissory  notes  of  the 
Company  could  not  be  negotiated  for  less  than  a  dis- 
count of  from  30  to  40  per  cent,  per  annum  ;  that  the 
Company  had  created  a  new  mortgage  in  violation 
of  the  charter;  that  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railroad,  which  the  Directors  had  leased,  was  an  in- 
solvent concern,  not  producing  enough  net  earnings 
to  pay  the  amount  of  the  annual  interest  required  by 
the  existing  mortgages  upon  its  property,  and  the 
terms  of  the  lease  were  such  as  would  involve  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  in  further  financial  compli- 
cations, one  of  which  was  in  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western's  purchase  of  a  large  amount  of  stocks  and 
bonds  of  the  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Cincinnati  and 
Indianapolis  Railroad  Company,  in  the  raising  of  the 
money  for  which  purpose  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
had  endorsed  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Rail- 
road Company's  obligations. 

Dunan,  in  his  affidavit  in  support  of  the  charges, 
deposed  that  the  current  expenses  for  1872  should 
have  been  further  reduced  $400,000,  the  value  of 
equipment  destroyed  during  that  year,  no  portion  of 
which  was  ever  made  good  in  the  equipment  account ; 
that  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.  were  charged  with 
$750,000  in  notes  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
given  to  that  firm,  which  were  ultimately  paid  in 
cash,  and  the  charge  stood  unexplained  on  the  books 
of  the  Company  nearly  twelve  months,  when  Dunan 
was  instructed  to  credit  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co. 
against  said  charge  by  the  purchase  of  5,000  shares 
of  Buffalo,  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  stock,  at 
$150  per  share.  The  stock  of  this  Company  was 
selling  during  1873,  when  the  Erie  purchase  was 
made,  at  90,  and  Dunan  declared  that  the  shares 
were  purchased  by  the  Directors  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  for  $450,000,  or  $300,000  less  than  the 
amount  charged  the  Company,  which  "  was  divided 
between  some  persons  to  the  deponent  unknown  "; 
that  Mr.  Watson  bought  coal  lands  in  his  own  name 
and  sold  them  to  the  Pennsylvania  companies  leased 
by  the  Erie,  the  Company  having  no  legal  right  to 
make  such  purchases;  that  the  purchases  were  made 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


229 


in  1873  out  of  convertible  bonds,  and  the  purchase 
money,  amounting  to  $1,000,000,  was  charged  upon 
the  books  to  the  "  Purchase  of  Coal  Lands  "  account, 
and  that  he  refused  to  obey  President  Watson's 
order  to  transfer  the  account  to  the  President's  indi- 
vidual account. 

These  allegations  were  all  denied  by  affidavits  of 
President  Watson,  Director  Barlow,  and  others;  not 
specifically,  but  under  the  general  declaration  that 
they  were  malignant  falsehoods. 

The  Attorney-General  took  the  papers  and  re- 
served his  decision. 

It  had  long  ceased  to  be  a  mere  rumor  that  Mr. 
Watson  was  to  retire  from  the  management  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  in  July,  1874.  It  was  an 
assured  event.  The  names  of  men  from  whom  his 
successor  might  be  chosen  had  been  a  month  or  more 
on  the  public  tongue.  The  last  act  of  the  Board  of 
Directors,  at  its  last  meeting,  July  15,  1874,  was  to 
unanimously  adopt  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  the  Board  regrets  exceedingly  the  necessity 
of  parting  with  their  valuable  and  estimable  associate,  with 
whom  their  intercourse  had  always  been  so  agreeable,  and  for 
whom  they  have  learned  to  entertain  the  most  sincere  friend- 
ship and  respect. 

Resolved,  That  few  men  could  have  brought  to  the  position 
Mr.  Watson  leaves,  so  much  integrity,  resolution  to  contest 
wrong,  to  expose  and  guard  against  carelessness  in  duty, 
watchfulness  against  waste  and  extravagance  in  administration, 
or  capacity  to  wield  the  great  powers  of  the  presidency  as 
belong  to  and  have  been  shown  by  him:  and  that  our  regret 
in  parting  with  htm  is  increased  by  the  conviction  that  his 
impaired  health  is  the  undoubtable  result  of  a  faithfulness  to 
the  trust  confided  to  him,  which  had  led  him  to  forget  himself 
in  his  regard  for  duty  and  the  interests  of  others. 

Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  attacks  on  the  interests  of  the 
Erie  Company  and  the  integrity  of  its  management,  which 
malevolence,  selfishness,  and  ingratitude  have  lately  made,  we 
congratulate  our  President  that  investigation  only  brings  out 
more  clearly  the  correctness  and  fidelity  of  his  management, 
and  increases  and  extends  a  reputation  as  an  honest  man, 
which  belongs  to  his  country,  and  of  which  she  must  ever  be 
proud. 


Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  attested,  and 
delivered  to  Mr.  Watson. 


The  election  of  a  new  Board  by  the  stockholders 
followed  the  adjournment  of  the  old  Board,  and 
Peter  H.  Watson's  name  was  added  to  the  long  list 
of  those  of  his  predecessors  who  had  come  to  the 
head  of  Erie  affairs  with  their  own  ambitions,  and 
their  various  plans  for  the  management  of  the  great 
property,  so  few  of  which  had  tended  to  its  advance- 
ment or  its  welfare.  It  may  at  least  be  said  for 
President  Watson  that  he  stood  as  an  obstacle  to 
the  machinations  of  the  McHenry  influences  that 
sought  absolute  control  of  Erie,  by  no  means  insig- 
nificant among  his  services  in  that  respect  being  his 
refusal  to  approve  the  paying  from  the  Erie  treasury 
of  the  $750,000  alleged  to  have  been  used  by  McHenry 
and  others  in  bringing  about  the  overthrow  of  Jay 
Gould.  The  Watson  administration  was  brief,  but 
of  duration  sufficient  to  demonstrate  that  its  policy 
was  not  one  by  which  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
could  be  grounded  in  public  confidence  and  restored 
to  such  place  among  contemporary  corporations  as 
its  property  and  capabilities  entitled  it.  The  policy 
of  expansion  was  but  the  revival  of  Jay  Gould's  idea 
of  1868-69,  and  was  undoubtedly  correct  in  princi- 
ple. The  policy  of  dividend-declaring  was  simply 
one  of  robbing  Peter  to  pay  Paul,  and  could  not 
obtain  among  wise  business  men.  The  ending  of 
the  Watson  management  came  a  long  way  from  ful- 
filling its  promise,  and  President  Watson,  disap- 
pointed, chagrined,  broken  in  health,  handed  the 
Company,  with  all  its  inherited  and  acquired  en- 
tanglements and  misfortunes,  over  to  other  hands, 
which  for  the  next  ten  years  were  kept  in  constant 
and  active  use  in  efforts  to  straighten  out  the  com- 
plicated affairs  of  Erie.  How  well  or  how  ill  they 
succeeded  the  progress  of  this  narrative  will  reveal. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

ADMINISTRATION    OF    HUGH    J.    JEWETT— 1874    TO    1884. 

I.  An  I  N  rANGLED  INHERITANCE  :  Mr.  leu  el  t  Takes  Hold  to  Rescue  Krie  —  His  $40,000  Salary,  and  Why  the  Company  Agreed  to  Pay  It  — 
Troublesome  Sequences  of  the  Watson  ami  Previous  Managements  —  First  Pooling  Arrangement —  Dissatisfied  Foreign  Holders  of 
Erie  Securities — The  Unfortunate  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Entailment.  II.  TELLING  THE  Truth:  A  Rugged  Path,  with 
Obstacles  that  Will  Not  Down  —  President  Jewett  Uncovers  the  True  Situation  —  The  Company  Bankrupt  —  The  Management  Sai  1  . 
by  a  Lawsuit  that  was  Begun  to  Destroy  It  —  Jewett  Made  Receiver  of  the  Company.  III.  CAREER  OF  A  BANKRUPT  :  Conciliating 
the  English  Shareholders  —  The  Opposition  of  McHenry  —  The  Reorganization  Plan,  the  Foreclosure,  and  the  Decree  of  Sale  — 
ral  Sickles  Plans  Another  "  Raid  "  —  Harassing  Struggle  of  McHenry  in  the  Courts  to  Block  the  Reorganization  Plans — The 
Receiver  Successful  at  Last  —  The  Bankrupt  Erie  Railway  Company  Dies — Succeeded  by  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western 
Railroad  Company.  IV.  The  BURDEN  Too  Heavy:  President  Jewett  Again  Hopeful  —  A  Question  of  Dividends- — Disastrous 
Rate  Wars —  1  lisquieting  Rumor  as  to  the  Company's  Stability  —  Failure  of  the  Marine  Bank  and  of  Grant  S;  Ward  Embarrasses  the 
Frie  Management  —  Passing  of  the  June  Interest,  1SS4 — President  Jewett  Announces  that  He  is  Anxious  to  Retire — John  King 
Made  Assistant  President —  Mr.  Jewett  Retires,  and  King  is  Elected  President  —  A  Question  of  Service  and  of  Justice. 


I.    AX    ENTANGLED    INHERITANCE. 

I  have  accepted  the  Presidency  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany with  the  determination,  if  possible,  to  place  the  road  on 
such  a  basis  as  will  enable  it  to  compete  successfully  with  the 
other  great  trunk  lines.  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  great  difficul- 
ties that  I  shall  have  to  contend  with,  but  I  am  resolved  to  do 
my  best  to  overcome  them.  I  have  prepared  myself  for  the 
and  cling  to  the  hope  that,  by  energy  and  organization, 
the  fortunes  of  the  road  can  be  retrieved.  What  directions 
the  changes  and  reforms  I  contemplate  will  take  I  am  not 
That  a  reform,  a  very  thorough  reform,  is 
needed  cannot  be  denied.  I  have  not  taken  charge  of  the  road 
for  the  purpose  of  losing  my  reputation  as  a  railroad  man. 
The  first  thing  I  purpose  doing  is  to  examine  for  myself  into 
the  condition  of  the  road,  and  upon  the  result  of  that  will 
depend  my  future  course  and  conduct. — Hugh  J.  Jewett, 
July  15,  1874,  after  his  election  us  President. 

ides  the  more  remote  items  in  the  Erie  legacy 
which  the  coming  management  was  to  fall  heir  to 
from  its  predecessors,  not  a  few  of  which  were  des- 
tined to  be  a  plague  to  it,  there  were  others,  created 
at  the  very  close  of  the  Watson  management,  that 
promised  more  or  less  of  tribulation,  and  which  called 
l>r  decisive  action  on  the  part  of  the  retiring  man- 
agement to  make  its  uorriment  less  as  part  of  the 
inheritance  of  the  succeeding  rc'gimc.  These  were 
the  Angell  suits,  then  pending,  one  in  the  courts  and 
one  before  the  Attorney-General. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  held  previous  to 
the  July  election,  the  following  resolutions  were 
unanimously  adopted: 


Resolved,  That  the  stockholders  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany now  assembled,  representing  in  person  or  by  proxy  more 
than  one-half  of  the  total  stock  capital,  both  common  and 
preferred,  of  this  company,  do  hereby  express  their  grateful 
thanks  to  the  officers  and  directors  of  the  company  for  their 
careful  and  patient  labor  for  the  past  year,  and  for  the  fidelity 
with  which  they  have  administered  the  affairs  and  business  of 
the  company. 

Resolved.  That  the  action  of  the  Directors  of  this  company 
in  creating  the  so-called  second  consolidated  mortgage  to 
secure  the  amount  of  $40,000,000  of  bonds  ($10,000,000  being 
reserved  to  cover  the  existing  convertible  bonds)  and  in  issu- 
ing a  portion  of  said  bonds  for  the  general  uses  and  purposes 
of  this  company,  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  ratified,  approved, 
and  confirmed:  and  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  stockholders, 
the  said  issue  was  necessary  and  proper,  and  that  the  proceeds 
shall  be  used  and  disposed  of  in  paying  and  discharging  the 
indebtedness  and  liabilities  of  the  company,  and  for  such  other 
purposes  as  may,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Board,  be  considered 
necessary,  proper,  and  expedient. 

Resolved.  That  the  stockholders  do  fully  ratify,  approve,  and 
confirm  the  recent  lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railroad  by  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  on  the  terms  set  forth 
in  the  lease  dated  May  6,  1874.  a"d  in  the  contemporaneous 
agreements,  and  do  likewise  approve,  ratify,  and  confirm  the 
purchase  heretofore  made  of  the  stock  of  the  Buffalo,  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  in  the  purchase  of  interests  in 
coal  lands,  and  in  the  stocks  of  various  coal  companies  organ- 
ized under  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  such  purchases  being, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  stockholders,  wise  and  necessary  for  the 
requirements  of  the  company,  and  for  the  true  interests  of  the 
st<  ickholders. 

Resolved.  That  the  stockholders  of  this  company  have  as- 
sembled to  now  formally  accept,  adopt,  and  confirm  all  the 
arts,  arrangements,  purchases,  and  contracts  aforesaid,  the 
same,  in  the  judgment  of  this  meeting,  having  been  wisely 
made  and  entered  into  for  the  best  requirements  of  the  com- 
pany, and  fur  the  true  interests  of  the  stockholders  of  said 
company. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


211 


Resolved.  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  duly  certified 
to  the  Attorney-General  of  the  State  of  New  York. 


All  this  was  of  course  to  strengthen  the  position 
of  the  Company  in  its  defence  in  the  Angell  suits  if 
tluy  were  pressed  to  final  action,  and  to  bind  up 
such  loose  ends  of  management  as  might  have  re- 
sulted from  the  course  of  President  Watson  and  the 
Directors  in  bringing  to  bear  the  things  complained 
of  in  the  suits,  although  they  affected  to  believe  that 
the  suits  were  designed  as  stock-jobbing  or  black- 
mailing raids  by  their  authors. 

At  the  election  for  Directors  which  followed  the 
adoption  of  these  resolutions,  the  following  gentle- 
men were  chosen  as  the  Board  for  the  ensuing  year: 
Hugh  J.  Jewett,  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  John  A.  C.  Gray, 
W.  Butler  Duncan,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Frederick 
Schuchardt,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  John  Taylor  John- 
ston, Henry  G.  Stebbins,  Herman  R.  Baltzer,  Louis 
H.  Meyer,  New  York;  Cortlandt  Parker,  Newark; 
Lucius  Robinson,  Elmira;  Homer  Ramsdell,  New- 
burgh;  Thomas  A.  Scott,  Philadelphia. 

The  Board  organized  and  elected  Hugh  J.  Jewett, 
President;  William  P.  Shearman,  Treasurer;  and 
Augustus  R.  Macdonough,  Secretary. 

It  may  be  well  at  the  start  of  this  narrative  of  the 
events  that  marked  the  Jewett  administration  to  cor- 
rect an  impression  that  prevails  widely  in  railroad 
circles,  even  to  this  day,  that  the  amount  of  the  sal- 
ary which  it  was  soon  known  Mr.  Jewett  was  to 
receive  as  President  of  the  Company,  and  the  terms 
of  the  contract  which  secured  its  payment,  were  the 
result  of  undue  influences  brought  to  bear  by  him 
by  which  he  was  able  to  dictate  his  emolument.  Mr. 
Jewett  did  not  seek  the  Presidency.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  his  name  had  not  been  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  place  until  after  the  death  of  J.  Edgar 
Thompson,  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Central 
Railroad  Company,  in  May,  1874.  It  had  been  de- 
cided by  the  controlling  influences  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  that  Col.  Thomas  A.  Scott,  First 
Vice-President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Com- 
pany, should  succeed  Mr.  Watson,  and  he  had 
accepted  the  offer.  The  death  of  President  Thomp- 
son, however,  left  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Com- 


pany without  a  directing  head,  and  Colonel  Scott 
was  called  to  succeed  Thompson.  The  Erie  people 
were  then  all  at  sea  for  a  successor  to  President 
Watson,  and  applications  were  made  to  a  score  or 
more  of  prominent  railroad  managers  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  to  take  the  place  before  Mr. 
Jewett  was  approached  on  the  subject.  He  was 
then  a  Representative  in  Congress  from  Ohio,  prom- 
inent in  national  affairs,  and  with  a  fair  promise  of 
still  greater  distinction.  He  was  largely  interested 
in  the  control  of  railroad  properties  in  Ohio  and  else- 
where, the  remuneration  from  which  was  large  and 
of  prospective  increase.  His  success  in  past  rail- 
road management  had  gained  him  a  reputation  for 
much  sagacity  and  business  foresight.  Moreover,  it 
was  believed  by  the  controlling  influences  then  in 
Erie  that  his  ambition  and  personal  interests  would 
be  in  common  with  certain  views  which  that  control 
had  in  mind  as  to  the  future  policy  of  the  Company. 
Mr.  Jewett  was  offered  and  solicited  to  take  the 
place  to  be  vacated  by  Mr.  Watson.  He  was  not 
inclined  at  first  to  consider  the  offer,  to  the  sacrifice 
of  his  position  and  other  prospects,  but  at  last  con- 
sented, on  condition  that  he  should  be  paid  a  salary 
of  $40,000  a  year;  be  secured  in  the  place  and  salary 
for  ten  years,  and  receive  during  the  first  year  of  his 
incumbency  $150,000,  or  an  advance  of  $15,000  a 
year  for  the  ten  years,  $25,000,  the  difference  be- 
tween $1  5,000  and  $40,000,  to  be  paid  annually  there- 
after. Those  were  the  only  conditions  upon  which 
Mr.  Jewett  would  consent  to  abandon  his  existing 
engagements  and  take  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company.  It  rested  with  those  in 
power  to  say  whether  they  would  be  justified  in 
agreeing  to  the  conditions.  They  decided  that  they 
would  be,  and  they  agreed  to  Mr.  Jewett's  condi- 
tions. No  railroad  president  had  at  that  day  re- 
ceived as  large  a  salary  as  Jewett's.  Years  before, 
Charles  Moran  had  been  secured  by  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  as  President,  under  cir- 
cumstances somewhat  similar  to  Mr,  Jewett's,  at  a 
salary  of  $25,000.  President  Watson  had  received 
$20,000  a  year.  Mr.  Jewett  placed  the  value  of  his 
services  at  $40,000  a  year,  with  a  large  advance  as 
indemnity.  The  Company  decided  that  he  was 
worth    it,    and    employed     him    at    his    own    terms. 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAK    - 


ther  they  made  a  good  or  a  bad  bargain,  or 
whether  their  action  was  legal,  is  another  question, 
let  the  settlement  of  which  depend  on  the  showing 
of  the  story  of  the  Jewett  administration. 

President  Jewett  was  not  long  in  making  the  dis- 
covery, in  "  examining  for  himself,"  that  he  had 
come  into  possession  of  a  charge  the  condition  of 
which  revealed  to  him  that  when  he  uttered  the  con- 
viction, on  taking  office  at  the  head  of  Erie,  that 
"  he  had  prepared  himself  for  the  worst,"  the  worst 
had  not  stood  uncovered  before  him.  He  found  that 
on  the  $25,000,000  of  bonds  which  had  been  author- 
ized for  issue  at  different  times  during  the  Watson 
administration,  the  Company  had  realized  only  some- 
thing like  $14,000,000.  The  $15,000,000  of  second 
consolidated  bonds  that  President  Watson  had  gone 
to  London  to  negotiate,  and  which  he  had  hawked 
about  among  the  money-changers  of  Europe  for 
eight  months,  were  not  placed  as  a  loan  at  all,  but 
had  been  hypothecated  from  time  to  time,  through 
James  McHenry,  at  a  ruinous  discount.  Of  the 
$10,000,000  issue  of  convertible  bonds,  $8,000,000 
were  negotiated  through  Bischoffscheim  &  Gold- 
schmidt,    netting    -  77-58.       Of   this    amount 

only  $4,249,989  were  remitted  to  the  Company's 
treasury,  the  balance  of  $3,577,688  being  retained  in 
London,  and  used  in  interest  payments  on  other 
debts.  The  $2,000,000  balance  of  the  $10,000,000 
issued  had  been  intrusted  to  the  care  of  James 
McHenry,  and  the  Erie  treasury  was  still  yearning 
for  it  when  Jewett  assumed  control.  The  $4,249,989 
had  been  charged  to  the  construction  account  cover- 
ing the  period  between  January  1  and  September  30, 
1873.  What  it  was  actually  used  for  does  not  ap- 
pear. There  was  literally  nothing  in  the  Erie  treas- 
ury to  even  make  a  pretense  of  beginning  "  to  place 
the  road  on  such  a  basis  as  will  enable  it  to  compete 
successfully  with  the  other  great  trunk  lines."  In 
fact,  the  Erie  was  so  ill-provided  for  competing  with 
such  lines  that  one  •  >{  President  Jewett's  first  acts 
was  to  enter  into  a  non-competitive  or  pooling  com- 
pact with  the  Pennsylvania  Central  and  the  New 
York  Central  Railroad  1  ompanies,  which  was  the 
beginning  of  that  trouble  with  the  merchants  and 
commercial  corporations  of  New  York  that  resulted 


in  renewed  bitter  strife  in  the  Legislature  of  New 
York  and  other  States,  and  at  last  in  Congress, 
between  the  railroads  and  the  shipping  interests,  and 
culminated  in  much  restrictive  and  prohibitive  legis- 
lation in  the  conduct  of  railroad  management.  The 
far-reaching  effect  of  that  compact,  which  was  signed 
at  a  meeting  of  railroad  magnates  at  Saratoga  August 
5,  1874,  maj'  be  imagined  from  the  number  of  rail- 
roads that  became  party  to  it  with  the  three  great 
trunk  lines.  They  were  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  ;  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Cincinnati  and  In- 
dianapolis; Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern; 
Great  Western  of  Canada;  Michigan  Central;  De- 
troit and  Milwaukee;  Canada  Southern;  Toledo, 
Wabash  and  Western;  Indianapolis,  Bloomington, 
and  Western  Indianapolis  and  St.  Louis;  Terre 
Haute  and  Indianapolis;  Ohio  and  Mississippi; 
Illinois  Central;  Pennsylvania  Company:  Pittsburg, 
Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis;  Jeffersonville,  Medina  and 
Indianapolis:  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  and  Dayton; 
Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy ;  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  and  Pacific;  Chicago  and  Northwestern; 
Evansville  and  Crawfordsville;  Evansville  and  Terre 
Haute;  Indianapolis,  Peru  and  Chicago  Railway 
Companies,  and  others. 

The  compact  provided  for  the  formation  of  a 
Bureau  of  Commissioners,  and  whose  duties  included 
the  establishment  of  through  rates  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  passengers  and  freight  over  the  several  lines 
between  competitive  points  East  and  West,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Eastern  Bureau  of  Commissioners, 
who  represented  the  trunk  lines  of  the  country,  lying 
east  of  Buffalo,  Pittsburg,  and  Ohio  River.  To 
insure  the  united  support  of  the  Commissioners' 
actions,  the  companies  pledged  themselves  to  require 
and  exact  from  all  their  connecting  lines  the  rates 
established  from  time  to  time  by  the  Commissioners, 
and  in  no  event  to  accept  from  any  connecting  line, 
agency,  or  other  party,  any  lower  rates  than  mi^ht  be 
established  by  said  Commissioners,  and  upon  notice 
of  such  failures  from  the  Commissioners,  no  through 
tickets  or  bills  of  lading  would  be  received  or  deliv- 
ered to  any  line  so  failing  to  conform  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  compact. 

The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  and 
the    Grand    Trunk    Railway    Company    of    Canada 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


233 


refused  to  enter  into  the  pooling  agreement.  This 
excited  the  merchants  of  New  York,  who  declared 
that  the  compact  was  a  discriminative  one  against 
New  York  by  the  Erie  Railway  and  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad  Companies  in  favor  of  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore,  and  that  it  would  ruin  the  grain  trade 
of  New  York.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  held  a 
meeting  denouncing  the  Erie  and  Central  managers, 
and  appointed  committees  of  influential  citizens  to 
take  measures  to  break  the  railroad  combination  in 
the  interest  of  the  trade  of  New  York  City.  Their 
efforts,  and  the  result  of  them,  will  occupy  their 
proper  places  in  this  narrative. 

The  long-expected  report  of  the  London  account- 
ants of  their  investigation  into  the  Erie  Railway 
affairs  was  made  public  in  London,  October  9,  1874. 
In  substance  its  statements  were  as  follows:  In  the 
three  years  ending  September,  1S73,  the  profits  of 
the  road  were  Si.  108,775.  '"stead  of  $5,352,673  as 
stated  in  the  Company's  accounts.  This  amount 
was  subject  to  a  further  deduction  in  respect  to  the 
various  items  charged  to  capital,  and  not  then 
audited.  The  report  showed  a  loss  on  the  working 
of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  up  to 
September  30,  1871,  and  stated  that  $3,240,167  were 
paid  for  it  by  the  Erie  Railway  Company  in  1S71 .  [872, 
and  1S73.  The  accountants  considered  that,  under 
the  circumstances,  the  dividends  on  the  preferred 
stock  were  fairly  earned.  The  report  said  that  but 
for  the  deficit  of  $456,444.  shown  by  the  corrected 
profit  and  loss  account,  as  existing  September  30, 
1 87 1,  $270,000  would  have  been  available,  subject  to 
the  adjustment  of  outside  matters,  for  a  dividend  on 
the  common  stock  for  the  two  years  ending  June  30, 
[873.  The  accountants  anticipated  that  the  value 
of  the  recoveries  from  Jay  Gould  would  fall  very  far 
short  of  their  nominal  amount.  An  abstract  of  the 
statement  of  assets  and  liabilities  of  the  Company  up 
to  September  30,  1872,  showed  the  liabilities  to  be 
$1 15,449,21 1,  and  the  assets  $1 18.265,979.  "  An  au- 
thoritative examination  and  determination  of  many 
questions  of  law  and  fact,  affecting  the  nature  of 
multifarious  liabilities  and  assets,  must  be  accom- 
plished before  a  complete  elucidation  of  the  present 
financial  position  of  the  Company  could  be  arrived 


at."  The  profits  of  the  Company  for  the  three 
years  ending  September,  1873,  were  subjected  to 
the  deduction  of  the  Bischoffscheim  disputed  claim 
of  $400,000,  for  aid  given  in  the  expulsion  of  Jay 
Gould.  The  balance  sheet  to  September  30,  1873, 
showed  a  net  deficit  of  $2,331,392.  The  report  cov- 
ered the  period  from   September  30,  1S71,  to  March 

31,  1874, 

The  report  was  so  unassuring  and  showed,  although 
with  much  ambiguity,  how  the  confiding  English 
stock  and  bondholders  had  been  hoodwinked,  that  it 
was  followed  by  a  disastrous  reaction  in  the  value  of 
Erie  stock,  and  an  almost  entire  loss  of  confidence 
abroad  in  the  future  of  the  Company.  The  report 
was  far  from  responding  to  the  wishes  or  interests 
of  the  bona-fide  shareholders.  It  only  enlightened 
them  with  regard  to  the  disorder  and  mismanage- 
ment in  the  years  1872  and  1873,  much  of  which  was 
a  remnant  of  the  years  of  the  Gould  and  Fisk  de- 
moralization. Regarding  the  actual  financial  con- 
dition of  the  Company,  the  application  of  the  loans 
and  the  probable  effect  of  the  promised  or  suggested 
reforms  of  Mr.  Jewett  on  the  remunerative  working 
of  the  line,  it  left  them  entirely  in  the  dark.  A 
leading  London  newspaper,  commenting  on  the  re- 
port, was  moved  to  declare  that  on  reading  it 
"  every  Erie  shareholder's  first  impression  must  be 
to  sincerely  regret  the  day  when  the  so-called  '  Res- 
cue '  was  brought  about,  for  while  Jay  Gould  reigned 
supreme  no  Englishman  parted  with  a  dollar  to 
the  insatiable  Erie  Company.  We  will  not  speak 
of  the  little  bill  presented  by  Messrs.  Bischoffscheim 
&  (ioldschmidt  for  the  '  Rescue.'  That  claim  is  a 
mere  trifle,  compared  with  the  other  financial  results 
of  the  overthrow  of  Jay  Gould.  That  worthy's  exit 
was  followed  by  the  advent  of  Mr.  Watson,  heralded 
as  the  honest  Under-Secretary  of  War  during  the 
great  struggle  between  North  and  South,  and  as  a 
man  of  as  great  capacity  as  integrity.  Mr.  Watson 
lost  no  time  in  coming  to  London  to  carry  out  his 
great  policy,  which  was  to  bring  a  golden  harvest  to 
the  long-suffering  Erie  shareholders.  All  that  he 
wanted  was  money — money  for  improvements,  ex- 
tensions, and  payment  of  the  floating  debt — and 
money  was  furnished  by  the  English  public,  with  its 
usual  sanguine  liberality — a  total  of,  say, £4,  i5o,O0Oof 


234 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


hard  cash  extracted  by  Mr.  Watson  from  the  British 
public,  not  to  speak  of  the  large  amounts  which  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Company  managed  to 
by  the  cry  of  an  intimate  alliance  with  the  Erie. 
And  now  the  accountants  tell  us  that,  under  Mr. 
Watson,  not  only  was  there  no  more  a  dividend 
earned  than  under  Jay  Gould,  but  that  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  Company  will  be  able  to  pay  the  inter- 
est on  its  recent  issues  of  bonds.  The  report  refers 
to  a  period  anticipatory  to  that  at  which  the  whole 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  issues  of  convertible  and 
second  mortgage  bonds  reached  the  Company,  but 
it  does  not  require  much  reading  between  the  lines 
to  see  that  the  accountants  found  no  income  to  pay 
the  full  interest  on  the  entire  bonded  debt  to-day. 
Such  a  state  of  things  would  stamp  the  Watson  ad- 
ministration as  a  far  more  fatal  one  than  that  of  Fisk 
and  Gould.  Prospectuses  for  the  two  issues  of  bonds 
stated  that '  the  proceeds  will  be  devoted  to  doubling 
the  track,  narrowing  the  gauge,  or  placing  a  third 
rail  on  the  present  broad  gauge,  the  increase  of  roll- 
ing stock,  and  generally  to  the  improvement  of  the 
property,'  and  we  cannot  believe  that,  notwithstand- 
ing these  declarations,  the  money  has  been  simply 
squandered  and  not  left  a  mark.  If  that  money  has 
been  judiciously  laid  out,  the  least  that  it  must  pro- 
duce forthwith  is  its  own  interest.  If  after  a  few 
years  it  does  no  more  than  that,  the  shareholder  has 
not  been  benefited  in  any  manner,  but  only  exposed 
to  a  greater  danger  of  foreclosure.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  when  Captain  Tyler  made  his  inspection, 
all  the  improvements  were  not  completed;  that,  for 
instance,  the  new  rails  and  the  new  rolling  stock  had 
not  yet  arrived  on  the  ground,  and  on  this  account 
it  is  the  more  urgent  that  this  Board  should  give 
complete  details  as  to  the  disposal  of  the  vast 
amount  of  money.  Mr.  Watson  has  gone  and  Mr. 
Jewett  is  now  President.  He  bears  a  very  high 
reputation,  and  will  doubtless  be  anxious,  if  possi- 
ble, to  reassure  his  constituents.  While  the  anomaly 
must  exist  by  the  law  of  the  United  States  that  a 
railway  almost  entirely  owned  by  Englishmen  is 
managed  exclusively  by  a  Board  of  Americans,  the 
English  proprietors  must,  in  our  opinion,  insist  on  a 
machinery  which  will  afford  them  an  efficient  con- 
trol over  their  property. " 


October  27,  1874,  Captain  Tyler,  who  was  sent  to 
this  country  as  a  railway  expert  to  examine  and 
report  on  the  condition  ami  prospects  of  the  Erie 
Railway  property,  made  public  the  result  of  his 
observations.  The  road,  he  said,  undoubtedly  pos- 
sessed natural  advantages,  but  in  order  that  its 
resources  might  be  properly  developed,  he  specified 
several  objects  necessary  to  be  obtained  as  follows: 
Double  track,  with  steel  rails  and  durable  sleepers 
(ties)  on  the  whole  main  line  and  some  other  sec- 
tions; some  improvements  in  the  gradients  of  the 
road;  fresh  extensions  and  connections;  change  of 
gauge  indispensable;  improved  terminal  arrange- 
ments to  provide  sufficient  storage  for  increased 
traffic;  iron  bridges  to  be  substituted  for  wooden, 
when  the  latter  required  renewal;  speculation  in  coal 
fields  and  all  other  objects  to  be  avoided;  no  out- 
side rings  should  be  permitted  to  earn-  out  any  of 
the  improvements  mentioned;  liberal  expenditure, 
but  the  precise  amount  to  be  expended  from  time 
to  time  could  only  be  settled  after  most  careful 
deliberation. 

Captain  Tyler  said  there  was  probably  no  railway 
in  the  world  which  would  better  repay  such  large 
expenditure  than  the  Erie  Railway,  if  a  really  good 
management,  supported  by  a  stable  constituency  of 
proprietors,  could  be  permanently  secured.  He  rec- 
ommended the  organization  of  a  strong  committee 
in  England  to  control  arrangements  with  regard  to 
fresh  capital  and  expenditure  generally.  He  con- 
demned railway  competition  as  ruinous,  and  told 
investors  to  make  allowance  for  the  depressing  ef- 
fects of  the  panic  of  the  previous  autumn,  and  not 
consider  as  normal  the  current  year's  traffic.  Cap- 
tain Tyler  particularly  recommended  a  Canadian  con- 
nection by  way  of  the  International  Bridge.  He 
assured  the  shareholders  that  there  was  no  cause  for 
despair,  but  every  reason  to  hope  for  the  future  of 
Erie,  if  only  undue  competition  was  avoided  and 
good  management  secured.  He  estimated  the  cost 
of  a  change  of  gauge  at  $8,500,000;  improvement  of 
gradients,  $3,000,000;  iron  bridges,  Si, 500,000;  and 
new  depots,  $700,000.  He  thought  the  most  of  that 
total  might  be  expended  wisely  in  about  three  years, 
and  he  advised  the  laying  of  20,OOOtons  of  steel  rails 
within  the  same  period. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


235 


"  As  regards  freight,"  Captain  Tyler  said,  "  Erie 
is  exceptionally  well  situated  for  coal  traffic;  its 
traffic  in  milk,  butter,  eggs,  and  cheese  also  increases 
rapidly;  it  conveyed  in  1873  about  one-sixth  part  of 
the  through  grain  traffic  from  the  West,  and  with 
an  alteration  of  grade  the  traffic  could  be  largely 
increased.  The  line  is  in  some  parts  in  excellent 
running  order,  in  other  parts  in  fair  running  order, 
and  in  other  parts,  again,  including  some  of  its 
branches,  and  portions  not  fresh  jointed,  in  a  less 
efficient  condition.  Very  much  might  be  done  in 
economy  of  maintenance  by  the  employment  of  more 
durable  materials.  Of  505  engines  on  the  books,  33 
have  nothing  to  represent  them.  From  a  careful 
survey  which  has  been  made  of  the  whole  of  this 
stock,  it  would  appear  that  the  depreciation  of  it 
may  be  expressed  at  47  per  cent,  below  what  it 
would  be  if  the  engines  were  all  in  thorough  good 
working  order,  and  they  would  probably  compare 
not  unfavorably  with  the  engines  of  other  American 
lines.  Of  the  13,716  cars  owned  or  leased  by  the 
Company,  8,005  are  m  good  condition,  4,840  in  fair 
working  order,  and  871  require  to  be  repaired  or  re- 
built. The  relations  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railroad  with  the  United  States  Roll- 
ing Stock  Company  are  most  onerous,  and  means 
should  be  found  for  terminating  them.  Grain  ships 
should  be  loaded  by  an  elevator,  as  oil  is  at  Wee- 
hawken." 

This  report  was  received  with  more  expressions  of 
disappointment  and  discouragement  by  the  stock- 
holders than  the  report  of  the  accountants  had  been. 
The  showing  it  made  of  the  condition  of  the  prop- 
erty and  of  what  was  required  in  the  way  of  labor 
and  expenditure  to  place  it  in  shape  for  economical 
and  efficient  service,  after  all  the  money  that  had 
been  supplied  to  be  used  ostensibly  for  the  establish- 
ing of  the  property  on  such  a  basis,  was  not  in  the 
least  calculated  to  inspire  hope  for  return  in  divi- 
dends or  even  interest  on  bonds.  It  revealed,  also, 
if  the  report  might  be  accepted  as  trustworthy,  and 
of  its  trustworthiness  there  seemed  to  be  no  ques- 
tion, the  difficult  task  and  by  no  means  pleasant 
prospects  confronting  the  new  management.  On 
the  making  public  of  Captain  Tyler's  conclusions 
Erie  stock  declined  rapidly  from  36  to  27,  and   it 


was  many  a  day  before  the  unfortunate  stock  reached 
the  former  figure  again. 

The  disturbing  Angell  suits  were  persisted  in  by 
their  promoters.  The  author  of  these  suits  was  Jay 
Gould,  who,  knowing  the  by  no  means  stable  condi- 
tion of  the  Company  whose  affairs  he  had  once  him- 
self so  memorably  manipulated,  had  laid  plans  to 
get  control  of  them  again.  His  mediums  in  this  pro- 
cedure were  J.  C.  Angell,  H.  D.  V.  Pratt,  and 
Joseph  W.  Guppy,  the  latter  being  the  man  through 
whom  ex-Auditor  Dunan  was  induced  to  reiterate 
his  damaging  charges  against  Watson,  by  affidavits  in 
support  of  this  complaint.  Angell  was  an  obscure 
person  whom  no  one  knew.  Pratt  had  been  a  short 
time  Superintendent  of  Transportation  during  the 
Watson  administration.  Guppy  had  entered  the 
service  of  the  old  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany with  Charles  Minot,  one  of  whose  numerous 
protdgcs  he  was,  when  Minot  came  from  the  Boston 
and  Maine  Railroad  in  May,  1850,  to  become  Gen- 
eral Superintendent  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road. Guppy  had  been  telegraph  operator,  Chief 
Clerk,  Assistant  General  Superintendent,  and  a  valu- 
able adjunct  of  the  Operating  Departments  of  the 
Company  from  that  time  until  1872,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  lapse  of  a  few  years  when  he  was  Minot's 
assistant  as  Manager  of  the  Michigan  Southern  Rail- 
road. He  had  been  a  confidential  attache  of  both 
Gould  and  Fisk,  and  was  a  friend  of  Dunan.  In  the 
event  of  the  success  of  Gould's  new  attempt  against 
the  Erie,  it  was  understood  that  Pratt  and  Guppy 
were  to  be  the  Receivers  of  the  Company. 

Coupons  on  the  second  consolidated  bonds  being 
due  in  December,  1874,  Barrett,  Redfield  &  Hill, 
Angell's  counsel,  made  a  motion  before  Judge  T.  E. 
Westbrook,  of  the  New  York  Supreme  Court,  asking 
for  an  injunction  restraining  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany from  paying  the  interest  on  those  bonds,  and  for 
the  appointment  of  a  Receiver  for  the  bonds  and 
the  stock  of  the  coal  companies.  Judge  Westbrook 
issued  an  order  on  the  defendants  to  show  cause  on 
December  2,  1874,  why  these  motions  should  not 
be  granted,  enjoining  the  Company  meanwhile  from 
paying  the  coupons.  Upon  affidavit  made  by  Presi- 
dent Jewett  on  that  day,  Judge  Westbrook  modified 


236 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


order  as  to  the  payment  of  interest  and  other 
iniary  obligations  of  the  Company.  On  a  hear- 
ing to  continue  the  modified  injunction,  argued  on 
the  3d  by  William  Wallace  MacFarland  for  the  Com- 
pany, ex- Judge  William  Fullerton  for  the  London 
Protective  Committee,  and  W.  C.  Barrett  for  Angell, 
lohn  L.  Lawrence  was  appointed  Referee  to  hear 
the  testimony  on  which  the  continuance  of  the 
injunction  was  sought,  and  report  to  the  court.  A 
similar  injunction  was  issued  from  the  London  Chan- 
cery Court  on  December  2d,  on  the  complaint  of 
one  McKenna,  a  stockholder,  but  it  was  dissolved 
on  the  7th. 

The  months  of  October,  November,  and  Decem- 
ber, 1874,  were  very  trying  months  for  the  Company, 
on  account  of  the  low  rates  of  fare  and  dull  traffic 
generally,  but  especially  in  east-bound  business, 
which  was  very  irregular.  Mr.  Jewett,  however, 
■reported  that  the  earning  for  those  months  were 
equal  to  the  expenses,  and  on  December  10th,  in 
the  face  of  the  by  no  means  encouraging  situation, 
he  made  public  a  report  for  the  year  ending  Sep- 
tember 30th,  upon  which  he  felt  satisfied  to  venture 
some  very  sanguine  calculations.  He  showed  that 
while  the  Company  had  earned  $18,500,000  during 
the  year,  its  working  expenses  had  been  $13,500,000, 
leaving  $5,000,000  of  net  revenue.  Four  millions  of 
that  was  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  rentals, 
interest  on  mortgages,  taxes,  etc.,  leaving  about 
$\\ 000,000  surplus,  the  most  of  which  was  to  be  em- 
ployed toward  the  reduction  of  the  floating  debt. 
The  flexibility  and  possibilities  of  railroad  account- 
ing, and  the  mystery  of  that  science,  was  startlingly 
demonstrated  in  Mr.  Jewett's  statement  of  the 
amount  of  the  Erie  floating  debt  at  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember, 1S74,  which  was  reported  at  about  $1,500,- 
000.'  At  the  end  of  September,  1873,  according  to 
the  English  expert  accountants,  the  floating  debt  of 
the  Company  was  85.500,000.  Here  was  a  reduc- 
tion of  $4,000,000  during  the  year,  a  progress  of  the 
railroad  toward  prosperity  which  was  not  shown  by 
any  of  the  returns  in  Mr.  Jewett's  reports.  This 
wide  discrepancy  in  accounting  proved  again  what  it 
is  possible  for  diverging  theories  as  to  the  proper 
construction  of  liabilities  and  their  relation  to  assets 


to  accomplish  in  showing  the  condition  of  a  railroad 
company's  finances. 

One  of  Mr.  Jewett's  sanguine  expectations,  more 
than  a  score  of  years  ago,  was  that  the  time  would 
come  in  his  administration  when  the  Erie  would  be 
earning  $22,000,000  a  year,  and  its  net  revenue  over 
$8,000,000.  He  did  not  mention  that  there  was  any 
probability  of  a  dividend  in  the  very  near  future, 
but  even  with  the  road  earning  a  net  revenue  of 
$8,000,000  annually,  the  person  who  took  the  trouble- 
to  figure  a  little  found  that,  after  providing  for  the 
possible  floating  debt  and  the  interest  on  the  bonded 
indebtedness,  there  would  not  be  more  than  $2,500,- 
000  to  be  divided  among  the  holders  of  $86,000,000 
of  stock,  common  and  preferred. 

Director  John  A.  C.  Gray  was  sent  to  London  in 
the  fall  of  1875,  with  instructions  to  unravel  and 
adjust  the  complications  into  which  the  affairs  of  the 
Company  had  fallen  there,  to  recover  the  undis- 
posed-of  bonds,  take  the  Company's  interests  away 
from  the  hands  they  were  in,  and  extinguish  all  out- 
standing liabilities,  except  shareholders'  and  bond- 
holders' obligations.  Mr.  Gray  returned  in  Novem- 
ber and  made  his  report.  This  the  Company  declined 
to  give  to  the  public,  but  the  statement  was  made 
by  President  Jewett,  officially,  that  Mr.  Gray  had 
successfully  accomplished  his  mission,  and  the  stock- 
holders were  to  be  congratulated  upon  his  success. 
Subsequent  events,  including  years  of  expensive  and 
annoying  litigation  at  home  and  abroad,  proved  that 
some  one  had  been  in  error  as  to  the  result  of  the 
Gray  mission. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1875,  the  headquarters 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  were  removed  from 
their  elegant  housing  in  the  Grand  Opera  House  to 
the  original  Erie  building  at  West,  Duane,  and 
Reade  streets,  from  which  they  had  been  taken  to 
the  Opera  House  in  the  luxurious  days  of  Gould  and 
Fisk.  The  Opera  House  and  the  twenty-two  lots 
and  buildings  that  composed  the  Gould  purchase, 
and  which  were  part  of  his  "  restitution  "  to  the 
Watson  administration,  were  advertised  for  sale  by  the 
Company,  but  as  the  sale  was  conditional  on  the  prop- 
erty going  in  one  parcel,  no  transfer  was  consummated. 

Peter  II.  Watson  had  scarcely  taken  his  place  as 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE  237 

President  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  in  Jul}-,  aary  to  save  this  stock.  Through  S.  L.  M.  Barlow, 
1872,  when  James  McHenry,  on  the  12th  of  that  who  made  the  request  as  a  personal  one  to  Col. 
month,  placed  before  him  a  proposition  urging  the  H.  G.  Stebbins  of  the  Finance  Committee,  the  ad- 
lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  by  vance  was  made,  and  approved  by  President  Jewett. 
the  Erie.  President  Watson  said  he  was  in  favor  of  The  amount  necessary  was  $68 1,000,  making  nearly 
bringing  about  some  such  arrangement,  but  when  §800,000  the  Erie  had  paid,  through  Barlow,  to 
McHenry  fixed  the  rental  on  the  basis  of  a  guarantee  keep  McHenry's  stock.  McHenry,  who  then  owed 
of  the  interest  on  the  first  and  second  consolidated  the  Erie  at  least  §1,000,000  besides,  promised  Gray 
mortgage  bonds  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  he  would  settle  the  stock  advances  within  a  few 
Company,  which  would  have  called  for  a  payment  of  days,  but  he  never  settled;  and  thus  railroad  man- 
about  $2,000,000  a  year,  Watson  declined  to  enter-  agers,  who  were  not  altogether  certain  whether  they 
tain  the  proposition,  saying  that  the  sum  was  en-  would  be  able  to  meet  obligations  of  their  Company 
tirely  too  much  for  a  railroad  that  "  began  at  no  that  were  to  fall  due  within  a  few  weeks,  did  not 
place  and  ended  nowhere."  hesitate  to  take  the  chances  of  furnishing  from  its 
If  you  are  anxious  to  lease  your  road,  get  con-  treasury  almost  a  million  dollars  to  do  a  personal 
nections  that  will  make  it   valuable,"  said  President  favor  for  one  of  their  number. 

Watson.  The  lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Rail- 
Then  Watson  told  McHenry  that  the  Cleveland,  road  to  the  Erie,  to  which  the  Watson  administra- 
Columbus,  Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  Railroad  and  tion,  as  one  of  its  last  acts,  had  agreed,  was  based 
its  ramifying  lines  would  be  an  acquisition  to  the  on  the  terms  that  President  Watson  had  refused  in 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  that  would  1872,  but  was  predicated  on  the  clause  that  a  con- 
give  the  latter  great  importance  as  a  connecting  link  trolling  interest  in  the  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Cincin- 
in  an  Erie  through  system.  It  happened  that  Presi-  nati  and  Indianapolis  Railroad  should  be  purchased 
dent  Hurlburt  of  that  company,  and  the  Vanderbilt,  by  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Corn- 
Clarke,  and  Schell  interests  in  Lake  Shore  had  pany  and  delivered  to  the  Erie.  This  the  lessor 
clashed,  and  Watson  informed  McHenry  that  the  company  did  not  do.  President  Jewett  subsequently 
latter  might  get  control  of  the  stock  of  the  Cleve-  discovered,  further,  that  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 
land,  Columbus,  Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  Com-  as  lessee,  was  compelled  to  deposit  in  the  State 
pany  on  very  favorable  terms.  Watson  succeeded  in  of  Ohio  securities  to  such  amount  as  the  Directors 
negotiating  a  deal  of  the  kind  between  McHenry  and  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  might  require. 
Hurlburt.  McHenry  got  control  of  $7, 500,000  of  Consequently,  although  the  retiring  Board  of  Direct- 
the  stock.  This  was  carried  for  him  on  margin  by  ors  had  by  their  resolution  approved  and  ratified  the 
William  R.  Travers&Co.,  of  Wall  Street,  for  more  lease,  President  Jewett  wiselyr  refused  to  recognize 
than  two  years,  eighteen  months  of  which  time  the  it  as  binding,  and  this  complication  was  left  to  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  had  advanced  money  from  future  to  disentangle, 
time  to  time  to  keep  the  stock  from  being  sold,  the 
amount   thus  advanced,    through   S.    L.    M.  Barlow, 

s  II.     TELLING    THE    TRUTH. 

being  in  September,  1874,  $1 15,000.     The  control  of 

this  stock  was  the  only  thing  that  made  the  lease  of  Mr.  Jewett  had  not  long  been  at  the  head  of  Erie 

the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  to  the  Erie  affairs  before  it  became  manifest  that  the  Company 

of  any  value,  in  the  estimation  of  the  Erie  manage-  was  to  have  at  last  a  management  that  could  make  a 

ment.      In   September,  1874,  Travers  &  Co.  notified  show  of  business  methods.      He  went   at  once  thor- 

Mc Henry  that  the  stock  must  be  cared  for  or  they  oughly  into  details,  and  the  loose  and  draggling  ends 

would  sell  it   for  his  account.      Director  John  A.  C.  of  unfinished  or  neglected   operations  were  gathered 

Gray  was  in  London  then.      McHenry  induced  Gray  up  and  knitted  together.      When  he  had  time  to  look 

to  recommend  the  Erie  to  advance  the  money  neces-  about  him,  according  to  a  declaration  subsequently 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


made,  lie  found  the  Erie  rolling  stock  insufficient 
and  defective,  because  of  neglect  in  replacement  and 
repairs  by  former  managements;  a  railroad  almost 
entirely  made  of  iron  rails,  upon  a  roadway  largely  of 
single  track;  locomotives  and  cars  of  a  variegated 
sort  as  to  pattern,  size,  and  date  of  build,  there 
being  no  less  than  85  different  patterns  in  use; 
roundhouses  inadequate  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  locomotives;  pa'ssenger  and  freight  buildings 
insufficient  in  number,  convenience,  capacity,  and 
condition  ;  docks  and  other  terminal  facilities  entirely 
inadequate  for  the  traffic  of  the  road;  many  of  the 
bridges  of  antiquated  wooden  structure,  and  even 
the  culverts,  in  some  instances,  made  of  wood ;  the 
roadway  in  deplorable  condition,  out  of  repair  and 
deficient  in  ballasting,  and  cross-ties  decaying;  sid- 
ings and  yards  insufficient,  and  things  generally 
down  at  heel,  in  the  face  of  all  the  alleged  millions 
that  had  been  spent  on  the  "  betterment  "  of 
the    road. 

There  is  no  doubt,  either,  that  it  did  not  require 
more  than  the  first  six  months  of  his  administration, 
during  which  time  he  had  made  himself  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  financial  condition  and  necessities 
of  the  Company  and  the  urgent  requirements  of  its 
railroad,  to  convince  President  Jewett  that,  while  it 
was  well  to  hope  for  the  best  and  trust  to  the  favor 
of  events,  the  prospects  for  disentangling,  in  the 
regular  order  of  business  and  management,  the  com- 
plications that  confronted  him  were  by  no  means 
bright,  and  that  even  at  that  early  day  the  prob- 
ability of  having  to  resort  to  extraordinary  and  per- 
haps drastic  measures  found  place  in  his  mind.  His 
earlier  calculations  for  the  future,  however,  revealed 
nothing  of  this,  and  he  sustained  the  possibility  of 
affairs  righting  themselves,  or  tending  toward  such  a 
consummation,  by  the  ever-consoling  "  If."  "  If 
we  can  keep  the  expenses  down  to,"  etc.;  "  if  we 
can  maintain  our  operating  expenses  at  a  certain 
ntage  of  the  earnings;"  "if"  this,  that,  and 
ther  fortuitous  circumstance  might  prevail,  he 
"could  see  no  reason,"  etc.,  President  Jewett  was 
wont  to  tell  the  stockholders,  and  the  public,  why 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  within  a  reasonable  time, 
would  have  not  only  overcome  its  difficulties,  but 
would  be  earning  dividends.     There  can  be  no  doubt 


that  Mr.  Jewett's  wish  was  father  to  the  thought.  It 
is  of  no  small  belief,  to  this  day,  that  if  any  adept  in 
railroad  management  could  at  that  time  have  piloted 
the  Company  through  the  threatening  breakers  of 
bankruptcy  and  out  into  safe  waters  once  more,  Presi- 
dent Jewett  was  the  one.  But  no  man  living  could 
have  saved  it  from  foundering.  It  was  as  a  vessel 
captured,  ransacked,  and  scuttled  by  pirates.  Its 
doom  was  sealed. 

In  1S75  something  almost  unheard-of  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Erie  occurred.  The  truth  about  the 
affairs  of  the  Company  was  told  by  its  officers.  This 
unique  and  astounding  event  might  have  been  a 
startling  object-lesson  in  the  teaching  of  the  public 
the  difference  between  the  conditions  of  a  railroad 
company's  affairs  as  revealed  by  the  annual  official 
statements,  and  their  condition  when  shown  in  the 
light  of  facts,  if  the  public  had  not  long  ceased  to 
credit  the  yearly  reports  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany as  to  anything  they  might  contain.  It  was 
only  one  year  since  the  report  of  the  preceding  year's 
business  of  the  road  was  promulgated,  and  attested 
as  to  its  reliability  by  a  Directory  in  which  men  of 
the  highest  standing  held  seats,  to  the  effect  that 
the  earnings  were  so  much  in  excess  of  expenses 
that  dividends  both  of  the  common  and  preferred 
shares  were  warranted;  and  in  the  last  month  of  the 
year  1874  the  official  statement  was  made  public  that 
the  earnings  for  the  year  ending  September  30th  were 
$5,000,000  in  excess  of  the  expenditures;  and  in  the 
report  for  the  same  year,  made  to  the  State  Engi- 
neer, January  25,  1875,  the  funded  debt  of  the  Com- 
pany was  stated  to  be  less  than  $46,000,000,  and 
the  floating  debt  something  like  $2,500,000.  A  few 
weeks  later  the  startling  telling  of  the  truth  as  to 
Erie  affairs  came  about,  and  how  entirely  railroad 
accounting  seemed  to  be  but  a  mere  matter  of  form 
and  a  creature  of  circumstances,  was  shown  when 
placed  in  comparison  with  this  revelation. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  railroad  was  solemnly 
reported  to  have  earned  $5,000,000,  net,  at  the  end 
of  the  fiscal  year  of  1S74,  the  annual  rumor  was 
abroad  before  midwinter  that  the  Company  would 
not  have  money  enough  to  meet  the  interest  that 
would  become  due  on  its  bonds  in  June.  The  Sara- 
toga rate  compact  had  been  broken  before  the  end 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


239 


of  1874,  and  the  Pennsylvania  Central  had  joined 
with  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  in  a 
war  on  the  Erie  and  New  York  Central  companies 
by  a  heavy  cut  in  rates.  The  Grand  Trunk  Railroad 
Company,  which  had  a  New  York  connection  by  the 
Vermont  Central  Railroad  to  New  London,  Conn., 
thence  by  line  of  steamboats  on  Long  Island  Sound, 
also  reduced  both  freight  and  passenger  rates  be- 
tween New  York  and  Chicago.  Both  New  York 
trunk  lines  were  forced  to  meet  these  cuts,  and,  of 
course,  the  reduction  was  particularly  disastrous  to 
the  Erie.  This  war  was  at  its  height  in  March, 
1875,  when  the  great  ice  flood  in  the  Delaware 
River  carried  away  the  Erie's  iron  bridge  across  that 
stream,  four  miles  above  Port  Jervis,  and  traffic  on 
the  railroad  for  125  miles  west  of  Port  Jervis  was 
suspended  for  a  fortnight.  Besides  the  loss  this 
caused,  the  replacing  of  the  bridge  cost  the  Com- 
pany §75,000.  Yet  President  Jewett  returned  cheer- 
ful and  confident  words  to  anxious  inquirers  under 
all  these  and  many  other  discouraging  circumstances 
that  attended  the  affairs  of  the  Company,  until  at 
last  certain  stockholders  became  over-anxious  and 
annoyingly  persistent  in  their  seeking  after  light  on 
Erie's  prospects.  Then  President  Jewett  rose  and 
laid  bare  poor  Erie's  true  condition.  This  was  in 
May,  1 87 5 ,  and  the  tenor  of  his  revelations  was  sub- 
stantially this: 

The  funded  debt  outstanding  at  the  beginning  of 
May,  1875,  was  $54,394,100  (reported  at  $45,596,814 
in  January),  on  which  the  annual  interest  then  accru- 
ing was  $4,073,106.56.  There  were  still  $600,000  of 
the  $15,000,000  second  consolidated  mortgage  bonds 
in  the  possession  of  the  Company.  The  Company 
received  on  account  of  the  disposal  of  these  bonds 
by  the  London  Banking  Association,  previous  to  the 
coming  in  of  Mr.  Jewett,  on  July  14,  1874,  $2,106,- 
293.26.  Since  his  election  there  had  been  received 
$2,556,567.83,  which,  with  disbursements  of  pro- 
ceeds of  the  bonds  made  on  indebtedness  of  the 
Company  in  London,  and  amounting  to  $1,497,- 
283.91,  was  an  aggregate  amount  of  $6,160,145, 
leaving  $2,542,157.50  to  be  accounted  for,  to  which 
was  due  the  controversy  then  pending  between  the 
Company  and  McHcnry  and  the  London  Banking 
Association.     The  disposal  of  the  money  received  by 


the  Jewett  management  from  the  proceeds  of  the 
second  consolidated  bonds  ($2,556,567.83),  was  re- 
ported from  the  Treasurer's  office  as  follows: 


Disbursements  on  Account  of  Indebtedness  Incurred  Prior 
to  July  14,  1874. 

For  Construction $343,698  53 

Coal  Land  Mortgages 829.904  14 

Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad,  Account  of 

Rental   329,53'   =5 

Settlement  of  Buck  &  Fargo  and  Union  Car  Com- 
pany  Suits 202,375  44 

Injuries  to  Persons  (old  claims) 85,025  06 

Suspension   Bridge  and   Eric  Junction   Railroad 

Stock  23.700  00 

Buffalo  Real  Estate 24.958  30 

First  Mortgage  Bonds  paid  off 2,000  00 

$1,841,192  72 


Disbursements  on  Account  of  Indebtedness  Incurred  Sub- 
sequent to  July  14,   1874. 

Advances  on  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Cincinnati, 
and  Indianapolis  Stock  Account,  James  Mc- 
Hcnry       $681,095  77 

Steel   Rails 129.378  65 

General   Fund 46.810  04 

$857,284  46 

Aggregate   $2,698,477  18 

Deduct  Cash  in  Treasury,  July  14,  1874.  .  .  .       141,909  35 

$2,556,567  83 


The  coal  lands,  and  stocks  in  the  companies  own- 
ing them,  cost  the  Company  $2,594,191.65,  of  which 
amount  $1,931,810.08  was  applied  to  the  purchase 
of  the  stock,  and  $662,381.57  was  advanced  to 
meet  expenses  incurred  by  the  companies  in  the 
management  and  development  of  the  lands,  none 
of  which  had  as  yet  been  profitable  to  the  Com- 
pany. 

The  truth  about  the  mission  of  John  A.  C.  Gray 
to  London  to  bring  about  a  settlement  with  McHenry 
and  the  London  Banking  Association  was  that  he 
brought  back  2,766  shares  of  the  Cleveland,  Colum- 
bus, Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  Railroad  stock,  and 
$656,500  in  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  bonds, 
known  as  the  western  extension  bonds,  the  value  of 
which  was  not  known,  or  uncertain.     The  lease  of 


240 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  that  the 
Watson  management  had  made  and  ratified  con- 
tained no  clause  specifying  the  kind  of  security  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  should  deposit  to  insure  its 
agreement,  but  the  agreement  ratified  by  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  declared 
that  the  Erie  must  deposit  in  the  State  of  Ohio 
$1,000,000  in  its  second  consolidated  mortgage 
bonds.  The  lessee  company  was  also  to  purchase 
and  transfer  to  the  lessor  a  controlling  interest  of 
$7,500,000  in  the  stock  of  the  Cleveland,  Columbus, 
Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  Railroad  Company  by 
January  1,  1875.  This  was  the  stock  McHenry  held, 
and  he  insisted  that  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
must  take  it  and  pay  him  all  the  investment  had  cost 
him.  This  Mr.  Jewett  had  refused  to  sanction;  and 
holding  that  there  was  good  and  legal  reason  for  not 
regarding  the  lease  as  binding  on  his  Company,  he 
had  repudiated  it,  and  the  Atlantic  and  Great  West- 
ern Railroad  Company  was  meditating  legal  proceed- 


ings to  enforce  its  terms. 


The  earnings  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  were 
falling  short  of  its  requirements  for  interest  on  its 
bonds  and  floating  debt  and  its  leases  more  than 
$3,000,000.  This  had  been  going  on  for  several 
years,  and  the  bonded  debt  had  increased  $5,000,000 
a  year  for  four  years,  and  the  last  bonds  issued  by 
the  Company,  a  gold  7  per  cent,  bond,  had  been  dis- 
posed of  for  forty  cents  on  the  dollar. 

This  telling  of  the  truth  about  Erie  occurred  on 
.May  14th,  and  it  was  soon  known  that  the  Erie  was 
trying  to  borrow  $500,000  to  meet  its  June  interest 
by  mortgaging  its  coal  lands  in  Luzerne  County,  Pa., 
to  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad 
and  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  companies,  as 
security  for  the  loan,  and  it  was  rumored  that  the 
coal  companies  had  agreed  to  advance  the  money. 
The  street  was  intensely  excited  over  this  evident 
new  crisis  in  Erie.  On  May  23d  a  meeting  of  stock- 
holders, the  call  for  which  had  greatly  excited  Wall 
Street  and  caused  the  liveliest  dealing  in  Erie  shares 
that  the  Street  had  known  for  many  a  da}-,  was  held 
at  Delmonico's,  in  Beaver  Street.  L.  Bronell  pre- 
sided, and  resolutions  were  adopted  deprecating  the 
purpose  of  the  Company  to  mortgage  its  coal  lands 


to  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  and  the  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  companies 
to  obtain  money  to  pay  its  June  interest,  or  on 
terms  that  must  eventually  result  in  their  loss  to  the 
Company,  as  being  a  continuation  of  the  wretched 
financial  policy  of  borrowing  money  to  pa}-  interest 
which  had  brought  the  Company  to  the  verge  of 
bankruptcy.  The  resolutions  recommended  an  as- 
sessment on  the  stock,  to  raise  the  needed  money, 
and  called  on  the  Board  of  Directors  to  open  books 
and  invite  stockholders  to  contribute  toward  this 
end  and  prevent  the  Company  from  going  to  pro- 
test. The  Directors  did  not  heed  the  call,  nor  is  it 
likely  the  stockholders  would  have  paid  any  great 
heed  themselves  to  an  invitation  to  step  forward  and 
send  more  good  money  rattling  after  bad. 

In  March,  1875,  President  Jewett,  by  direction  of 
the  Board,  had  sent  Hon.  Hugh  McCulloch  to  Lon- 
don as  the  attorney  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 
to  endeavor  to  effect  an  amicable  settlement  of  the 
dispute  between  the  Company  and  James  McHenry 
and  the  London  Banking  Association.  After  more 
than  a  month  spent  in  fruitless  negotiations  to  that 
end,  Mr.  McCulloch  informed  President  Jewett  that 
such  a  settlement  was  impossible.  He  was  then 
instructed  to  resort  to  legal  proceedings  in  the  mat- 
ter. Then  followed  President  Jewett's  showing  of 
the  account  between  the  Erie  Railway  Company  and 
the  London  financiers,  the  correctness  of  which  the 
latter  speedily  denied  to  Mr.  McCulloch,  and  the 
famous  Erie-McHenry  litigation  was  begun. 

But  the  entire  truth  had  not  been  told  about  Erie 
yet.  On  May  25th  President  Sloan  and  President 
Dickson,  of  the  two  coal  companies  mentioned,  sent 
word  to  President  Jewett  that  they  had  decided  not 
to  lend  him  the  $500,000  on  the  coal  lands  security, 
as  counsel  had  advised  them  that  there  was  doubt 
on  the  legality  of  the  Erie's  title  to  the  property. 
A  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  was  held  at 
Director  Barlow's  Madison  Avenue  residence,  on  the 
evening  of  that  day,  and  President  Jewett  announced 
the  eleventh-hour  decision  of  the  coal  companies. 
At  the  meeting  previous  to  this  one  the  Board  had 
determined  to  individually  provide  for  the  June 
interest,  and   the   President,  at  the  meeting  on  the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


241 


25th,  declared  that  lie  felt  it  his  duty,  before  permit- 
ting any  one  to  become  involved  in  such  a  trans- 
action, to  acquaint  the  Board  with  the  fact  that  the 
financial  condition  of  the  Company  was  extremely 
critical.  The  so-called  second  consolidated  mort- 
gage for  $15,000,000,  which  was  negotiated  at  forty 
cents  on  the  dollar,  he  declared  fraudulent  both  of 
issue  and  in  the  method  of  its  manipulation  by  James 
McHenry  and  the  London  Banking  Association,  and 
that  no  bona-fidc  holders  had  them;  and  even  if 
there  were  bona-fide  holders,  the  Company  was  only 
liable  for  the  amount  it  had  received  for  the  bonds. 
The  first  consolidated  bonds,  $12,076,000  outstand- 
ing, and  the  $10,000,000  convertible  gold  bonds, 
were  believed  to  be  valid  obligations.  The  annual 
rentals  for  lines  leased  by  the  Company  was  $986,- 
722.31,  and  liable  to  forfeiture  unless  paid  when  due. 
The  outstanding  unsecured  debts  due,  and  shortly 
to  become  due,  were  $2,648,531.55,  of  which  $1,086,- 
891.87  were  due  for  wages,  and  $635,809.89  for  sup- 
plies. There  were  many  suits  pending  against  the 
Company,  and  judgments  against  it  had  been  ob- 
tained in  many  others.  The  purchase  of  the  coal 
lands  was  a  violation  of  the  charter  and  a  just  ground 
for  forfeiture  of  it,  although  they  had  cost  the  Com- 
pany thus  far  upward  of  $1,000,000.  The  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  lease  was  also  in  violation  of  the 
charter,  and  should  be  adjudged  void.  The  scrip 
dividend  of  February  11,  1869,  and  the  Watson 
dividends  of  1872  and  1873,  he  held  were  not  earned, 
and  consequently  had  been  illegally  declared,  and 
that  there  should  be  an  accounting.  The  current 
net  income  of  the  Company  from  the  earnings  had 
not  for  many  years,  at  any  time,  been  equal  to  the 
payment  of  the  current  obligations  as  they  matured, 
and  had  been  paid  by  borrowing  money,  which  in- 
creased rather  than  satisfied  the  obligations.  The 
Company  had  been  insolvent  for  more  than  a  year, 
and  had  not  paid  its  current  indebtedness,  the  net 
earnings  having  been,  since  July  14,  1874,  only 
$3,163,454.19.  The  current  obligations  during  the 
same  time  were  $4,784,911.  The  floating  debt  had 
been  somewhat  reduced  from  $5,000,000,  as  it  stood 
on  July  14,  1S74;  not  by  the  earnings,  but  by  apply- 
ing the  proceeds  of  the  bonds  sold  or  hypothecated 

at   the  sacrifice   mentioned,    and   was   therefore  not 
16 


diminished,  but  really  increased  in  amount.  The 
wages  of  the  employees  had  not  been  paid  since 
March,  and  a  wholesale  strike  of  12,000  men  was 
threatened.  The  only  available  assets  were  $100,000, 
nominal  value,  in  bonds.  There  was  imminent  dan- 
ger of  hypothecated  securities,  on  which  $1,405,000 
had  been  borrowed,  being  sold  at  a  sacrifice.  There 
was  interest  due  in  June,  amounting  to  $553,190.40. 
The  Company's  obligations  by  October  1st,  the  end 
of  the  fiscal  year,  would  be  $8,000,000,  outside  of 
the  specified  debts  due  and  falling  due,  and  the 
most  liberal  estimates  put  the  earnings  at  only  a 
little  more  than  $4,500,000  ($4,581,271.94),  near 
$4,000,000  less  than  the  expected  liabilities.  Even 
if  the  June  interest  were  paid,  the  prospects  of  pro- 
viding for  the  July  interest  were  not  promising,  and 
he  could  see  no  way  of  it  being  made  by  the  earn- 
ings of  the  Company.  He  said  that  it  was  a  part  of 
the  plot  against  the  Company  and  its  credit  to  in- 
volve employees  in  a  strike.  Under  all  the  circum- 
stances, he  was  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  better 
for  the  property  to  remain  in  the  control  of  those 
who  would  seek  to  preserve  it,  and  not  pass  into  the 
hands  of  selfish  conspirators,  whose  purpose  would 
not  be  to  regard  the  obligations  and  duties  of  the 
Company. 

The  result  of  the  discussion  of  the  subject  was  the 
adopting  of  a  resolution  that  "  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Board,  if  a  Receiver  of  the  property  and  assets 
and  credits  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  is  to  be 
appointed,  Mr.  Hugh  J.  Jewett  is  the  most  fit  and 
proper  person  to  be  charged  with  the  duty." 

The  Angell  suit  was  still  in  the  hands  of  Attorney- 
General  Pratt.  Early  in  May  Wilbur  M.  Brown, 
law  partner  of  the  Attorney-General,  and  by  his 
authority,  had  visited  President  Jewett  at  his  office 
in  New  York,  and  announced  that  the  Attorney- 
General  felt  that  he  must  proceed  at  once,  in  case 
the  rumor  regarding  the  Company's  prospective  de- 
fault on  its  June  interest  had  foundation.  President 
Jewett,  having  then  assurances  that  the  money 
would  be  forthcoming,  had  informed  Mr.  Brown 
that  there  was  no  probability  of  the  default  nor  need 
of  a  Receiver,  and  declared  that  the  parties  pressing 
the  Angell  suit  were  stock-jobbers  and  Wall  Street 
raiders.      Brown  thereupon  told  Jewett  that  no  action 


-4- 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


would  be  taken  by  the  Attorney-General  without 
he  first  informed  the  Erie  President. 

The  Angell  suit  had  Jay  Gould  at  its  back.  Soon 
after  it  was  begun,  November  9,  1874,  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  brought  suit  against  Jay  Gould  to 
r  $420,000  claimed  to  be  due  from  him  by  his 
default  in  a  certain  clause  of  the  Watson  "  repara- 
tion "  agreement.  This  action  was  still  pending  in 
May,  [875,  and  the  case  against  Gould  was  under- 
stood to  be  a  strong  one.  When  it  was  resolved  by 
the  Erie  Directors  to  apply  for  a  Receiver,  William 
ice  MacFarland,  of  the  firm  of  Shipman,  Bar- 
low, Larocque  &  MacFarland,  suggested  the  taking 
by  the  Company  itself  of  the  Angell  suit,  amending 
the  summons  for  relief,  and  applying,  through  the 
Attorney-General,  for  a  Receiver  on  charges  and 
allegations  of  that  suit.  This  was  agreed  to.  A 
conference  was  held  between  S.  L.  M.  Barlow  and 
Jay  Gould.  What  transpired  between  them  is  one 
of  the  unrevealed  Erie  secrets,  but  there  was  no 
opposition  made  by  Gould  or  any  one  else  to  the 
appropriating  of  the  Angell  suit  by  the  defendants 
against  whom  it  was  originally  brought,  or  to  any  of 
the  proceedings  that  were  begun  through  it,  and 
early  in  1876  Receiver  Jewett  applied  to  Judge 
Donahue  for  leave  to  settle  the  above  action  against 
Gould,  he  having  signified  a  willingness  to  remove 
mortgage  liens  upon  Erie  property  conveyed  to  the 
Company  by  him,  and  deliver  to  the  Receiver  $350,- 
000  in  the  mortgage  bonds  of  the  Northern  Central 
Railroad,  and  $50,000  in  the  stock  of  the  Suspension 
Bridge  and  Erie  Junction  Railroad,  on  which  stock, 
by  its  lease  of  that  road,  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
stood  as  guarantee  for  the  interest  or  dividends  at 
the  rate  of  seven  per  cent,  per  annum,  which  guar- 
antee alone  made  the  stock  of  any  market  value,  it 
being  worth  at  the  time  only  about  twenty  cents  on 
the  dollar.  To  the  Erie,  however,  Mr.  Jewett  said, 
this  stock  was  worth  more  than  that,  owing  to  the 
connecting  relations  between  the  two  roads. 

.May  26,  1875,  at  a  Special  Term  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  New  York,  at  the  Court  House  in  New 
York  City,  the  appropriated  Angell  suit  came  up 
for  a  hearing  before  Judge  Charles  Donahue.  The 
suit  was  called  "  The  People  of  the  State  of  New 
York,     plaintiff,    against    the     Erie    Railway    Com- 


pany, Hugh  J.  Jewett,  Thomas  A.  Scott,  John  Tay- 
lor Johnston,  Marshal  O.  Roberts,  Frederick  Schu- 
chardt,  William  Butler  Duncan,  Edwin  D.  Morgan, 
Herman  R.  Baltzer,  Samuel  L.  M.  Barlow,  H.  W. 
Meyer,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  R.  Suydam  Grant, 
Lucius  Robinson,  John  A.  C.  Gray,  Cortlandt 
Parker,  and  Homer  Ramsdell,  Directors;  and  J.  C. 
Bancroft  Davis,  W.  S.  Gregory,  Farmers'  Loan  and 
Trust  Company,  John  Earl  Williams,  Jay  Gould, 
C.  T.  Hunter,  William  Butler  Duncan,  Horatio  N. 
Otis,  Cornelius  Walsh,  John  Toucey,  Zenas  H.  Rus- 
sell, Coe  F.  Young,  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  Augustus 
Frank  Lawrence,  C.  Woodruff,  John  A.  C.  Gray, 
and  Legrand  Lockwood,  defendants,  as  Trustees 
under  the  various  mortgages."  Wilbur  M.  Brown 
appeared  on  behalf  of  the  Attorney-General  to  repre- 
sent the  plaintiff,  and  William  Wallace  MacFarland 
for  the  defendants.  On  these  proceedings  Hugh  J. 
Jewett  was  appointed  Receiver  by  Judge  Donahue. 
Mr.  Jewett  filed  the  required  bonds  in  $500,000, 
S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  Homer  Ramsdell,  and  Edwin  D. 
Morgan  qualifying  as  his  sureties.  The  compensa- 
tion of  Mr.  Jewett  as  Receiver  was  fixed  at  $40,000 
a  year. 

Quickly  following  Judge  Donahue's  order  the  fol- 
lowing was  issued,  on  the  same  day,  from  the  Erie 
general  offices,  and  the  Company's  second  career  as 
an  acknowledged  bankrupt  began : 

Receiver's  Order,  No.  1. 

The  undersigned  having  been  duly  appointed  Receiver  of 
the  Erie  Railway,  its  branches,  and  leased  lines,  has  this  day 
assumed  the  control  thereof,  and  of  the  equipment,  material, 
and  all  other  property  and  assets  belonging  thereto.  All  offi- 
cers, agents,  and  employees  will  continue  in  the  discharge  of 
their  respective  duties  as  heretofore,  until  otherwise  ordered. 

H.  J.  Jewett,  Receiver. 

Erie  stock  had  fallen  from  36  on  July  14,  1874,  to 
l6}4  on  May  25,  1875 — the  deepest  in  the  mud  of 
Wall  Street  this  foot-ball  of  speculation  and  pecula- 
tion had  been  trampled  since  the  luckless  days  of 
Charles  Moran. 

III.    CAREER    OF    A    BANKRUPT. 

The  default  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and 
the  turning  of  its  affairs  over  to  a  Receiver,  caused 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


243 


the  utmost  agitation  among  the  foreign  proprietors, 
and  many  of  them  in  London  affected  to  be  amazed, 
although  it  was  an  event  that  might  easily  have  been 
discounted,  on  the  strength  of  preceding  rumors. 
Their  alarm  was  particularly  grounded  on  the  allega- 
tion in  the  suit  on  which  the  Receiver  was  appointed 
that  the  second  consolidated  mortgage  bonds  were  a 
fraudulent  issue,  fraudulently  placed;  that  none  of 
them  was  in  the  hands  of  bona-fide  purchasers,  and 
that  even  if  such  were  the  case  the  Company  was 
liable  only  in  the  amount  it  had  received  from  them, 
something  less  than  one-half  the  outstanding  charge. 
This  possible  extinguishment  of  $1  5,000,000  of  obli- 
gations at  one  blow,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
altogether  wretched  showing  of  the  Company's  finan- 
cial and  physical  condition  as  promising  any  return 
in  the  future  for  the  investment  that  might  be  left 
intact,  was  such  an  unheard-of  reward  for  their  hav- 
ing responded,  only  the  year  before,  to  the  Com- 
pany's distressful  appeals — although  at  a  tremendous 
"shave" — that  the  English  bondholders  clamored 
loudly  for  the  taking  of  summary  proceedings  for 
redress.  The  shareholders,  now  fully  confirmed  in 
the  belief — which  by  this  time  would  have  needed 
no  further  confirmation  to  less  credulous  persons — 
that  the  slops  which  had  been  thrown  to  them  in 
1872  and  1873  in  the  shape  of  dividends  were  simply 
abstracted  from  their  own  property  and  returned 
to  them,  and  seeing  their  shares  sunk  to  scarcely  a 
nominal  price  in  the  market,  with  no  visible  pros- 
pect of  their  ever  again  rising  to  even  a  respectable 
showing,  clamored  more  loudly  than  the  bondholders 
for  redress.  The  foreign  proprietors  had  the  power 
to  foreclose  at  once  if  they  so  decided,  as  they 
owned  all  of  the  first  and  second  consolidated  mort- 
gage bonds,  and  most  of  the  fifth  mortgage  bonds. 
In  truth,  Mr.  O.  G.  Miller,  of  Dundee,  Scotland, 
one  of  the  largest  holders  of  Erie  securities  in  Great 
Britain,  and  especially  of  the  securities  in  default, 
did  take  steps  in  Scotland  toward  a  hostile  fore- 
closure, but  was  induced  to  suspend  proceedings  to 
await  subsequent  events. 

According  to  an  inventory  of  the  property  of  the 
Company,  taken  under  an  order  of  court  issued  by 
Judge  Donahue  May  26,  1875,  the  valuation  of  it 
was  placed  at  $40,000,000,   in   round   numbers,   and 


$60,000,000  including  bonds.  The  inventory  was 
taken  by  Col.  George  F.  Balch.  In  its  original  form 
it  filled  120  large  volumes.  These  were  reduced  to 
nineteen  folio  volumes,  which  were  condensed  into 
three  volumes,  of  enormous  size,  for  the  use  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  The  work  cost  $100,000.  Every 
possible  bit  of  property  imaginable  was  taken  into 
account,  even  to  the  number  of  spikes  in  the  1,800 
miles  of  track,  which  number  was  recorded  in  all 
seriousness  and  solemnity  as  21,600,000.  The  inven- 
tory was  not  completed  until  August,  1877. 

June  9,  1875,  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Com- 
pany of  New  York,  one  of  the  defendants  in  the 
Receivership  action,  filed  an  answer  to  it  and  ob- 
tained an  order  from  Judge  Donahue  extending  the 
Receivership  to  mortgages  held  by  the  Trust  Com- 
pany. June  15th  the  Trust  Company  brought  suit 
against  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  James  Brown 
and  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  as  Trustees,  to  have  the 
mortgage  which  they  held  foreclosed.  On  the  same 
da}'  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  as  Trustee,  began  a  suit  to 
foreclose  the  fifth  mortgage  and  the  mortgages  sup- 
plemental thereto.  Judge  Donahue  extended  the 
Receivership  in  both  of  these  suits,  appointing 
Hon.  James  C.  Spencer  Referee  in  the  Davis  action, 
to  pass,  decide,  and  report  on  the  accounts  and 
vouchers  and  doings  of  the  Receiver,  and  to  take 
testimony  for  the  use  of  the  Receiver  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  questions  that  might  arise  during  the 
Receivership.  December  21,  1875,  Judge  Donahue 
issued  an  order  in  the  suits  of  the  People,  the  Trust 
Company,  and  the  Brown-Davis  suit,  ordering  Ref- 
eree Spencer  to  report  on  the  accounts  and  doings 
of  the  Receiver  in  the  People's  suit  so  far  as  already 
examined,  to  cover  the  questions  of  final  accounting 
and  discharge  of  the  Receiver  and  release  of  his 
bondsman  in  that  suit,  "  it  being  understood  the 
same  was  about  to  be  discontinued  "  ;  also  the  costs 
and  allowances  and  compensation  and  expenses  to 
be  paid  by  the  Receiver  to  defendants  as  trustees, 
and  to  others  who  appeared  in  the  People's  suit, 
and  also  the  charges  of  the  Referee  for  services. 

In  this  country  some  feeble  attempts  were  made 
to  interfere  with  the  turn  affairs  had  taken,  chiefly 
under  the  direction  of  a  ridiculous,  fussy,  and  med- 
dlesome person   named   John    Livingston,   although 


=44 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Col.  Sylvester  IT.  Dunan,  the  Auditor  of  the  Com- 
pany under  Watson,  whose  revelations  as  to  the 
dividends  precipitated  the  downfall  of  that  admin- 
istration, came  to  the  surface  once  more  as  a  protest- 
ant,  and  as  quickly  disappeared.  In  May,  1S75,  an 
act  was  passed  by  the  New  York  Legislature  amend- 
ing the  act  of  April,  1872,  by  which  amendment  the 
time  for  holding  the  annual  election  for  the  Erie 
Directors  was  changed  so  that  after  the  election  of 
July.  1875,  no  elections  should  be  held  until  Novem- 
ber. 1876,  and  in  November  every  year  thereafter. 
This  was  to  bring  the  election  soon  after  the  end 
of  the  fiscal  year,  instead  of  three  months  before  it 
ended.  John  Livingston  saw  danger  in  this,  and,  as 
the  self-appointed  representative  of  what  he  called 
the  Erie  Protection  Committee  of  London,  he  got 
together  twenty-five  stockholders  of  the  Company 
on  July  12,  [875,  and  declared  to  them  that  the  en- 
suing election  of  July  14th  must  be  carried  against 
the  Jewett  management.  This  incident  has  no  im- 
portance in  this  history,  only  through  the  fact  that  it 
resulted  in  the  first  contest  in  an  election  for  Erie 
Directors  that  had  occurred  for  many  years.  The 
opposing  ticket  was  made  up  as  follows:  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt,  William  H.  Vanderbilt,  William  K.  Van- 
derbilt,  Moses  Taylor,  Percy  R.  Pine,  J.  E.  Burrill, 
D.  R.  Pearson,  William  L.  Clinch,  George  J.  Whit- 
ney, Samuel  Sloan,  Francis  K.  Thurber,  Charles  K. 
Dyer,  Samuel  F.  Berger,  Augustus  Schell,  Chester 
W.  Chapin,  E.  N.  Hollinger,  G.  A.  Hollinger. 

Livingston  appeared  at  the  election.  S.  L.  M. 
Barlow  offered  to  vote  on  proxies  for  236,000  shares, 
and  was  challenged  by  Livingston.  The  inspectors, 
ex-Judge  William  D.  Shipman,  George  Ticknor 
Curtis,  and  James  H.  Fay,  overruled  the  challenge, 
as  they  did  the  challenge  of  ex-Governor  Morgan, 
who  voted  on  5,000  shares.  The  Jewett  ticket 
received  251,735  votes,  the  opposition  casting  750. 
The  following  was  the  first  Board  elected  under  the 
Receiver: 

George  F.  Tallman,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  Samuel 
Sloan,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Edwin  D.  Morgan, 
John  Taylor  Johnston,  Hugh  J.  Jewett,  R.  Suydam 
Grant,  New  York;  Herman  R.  Baltzer,  Staten 
Island;  John  I',.  Brown,  Portland,  Me.;  Thomas 
Dickson,   Scranton ;    Solomon  S.   Guthrie,   Buffalo; 


Giles  W.  Hotchkiss,  Binghamton ;  Asa  Packer, 
Mauch  Chunk;  Homer  Ramsdell,  Newburgh;  J. 
Lowber  Welsh,  Philadelphia. 

Livingston  immediately  issued  a  circular  to  the 
stock  and  bondholders  declaring  that  the  election 
was  illegal  as  to  Packer,  Guthrie,  and  Dickson, 
because  the)-  were  not  stockholders  under  the  law, 
and  he  notified  the  Directors  that  he  would  contest 
the  election  in  the  courts.  The  motion  to  set  aside 
the  election  was  made  before  Judge  T.  E.  West- 
brook  August  13th,  after  one  adjournment,  and 
Judge  Westbrook  promptly  denied  the  motion, 
which  was  the  end  of  the  Livingston  attempt  to 
overthrow  the  Erie  management. 

Dunan's  effort  to  revolutionize  the  affairs  of  the 
Company  was  based  on  the  Receiver's  monthly 
reports,  which  Dunan  declared  were  misleading. 
They  might  have  been  so,  but  the  question  was  not 
one  that  seemed  to  interest  the  public,  far  less  one 
that  excited  it,  for  the  public  had  long  since  given 
over  the  task  of  attempting  to  unravel  the  distract- 
ing mysteries  of  railroad  reports.  However,  the 
alleged  insincerity  of  the  Receiver's  statements 
rasped  the  sensitive  soul  of  Dunan,  and,  through  one 
J.  Warden  Gedney,  a  meeting  of  persons  interested 
was  held  September  20,  1875,  to  consider  the  Dunan 
allegations.  Dunan  was  present,  and  on  the  strength 
of  his  remarks  it  was  resolved  that  foreclosure  pro- 
ceedings should  be  brought  at  once  on  the  sterling 
bonds,  then  due,  so  that  the  property  might  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  its  true  owners,  the  bond- 
holders. It  was  further  resolved  that  B.  H.  Cheever, 
S.  P.  Dinsmore,  and  T.  N.  Matthews  be  a  committee 
to  see  this  done,  and  to  retain  Charles  O'Connor  and 
Dexter  A.  Hawkins  to  do  it.  It  is  not  on  record 
anywhere  that  they  ever  did  it. 

But  the  disturbed  condition  of  things  among  the 
English  stock  and  bondholders  was  tending  toward 
events  of  a  nature  to  arouse  more  serious  apprehen- 
sion in  the  minds  of  the  Receiver  and  his  advisers 
than  these  ridiculous  outbreaks  in  New  York  could 
possibly  excite,  and  if  the  affairs  of  the  Company 
were  to  be  conducted  to  the  issue  contemplated  by 
Receiver  Jewett,  it  was  not  only  plain,  but  entirely 
necessary,  that  amicable  relations  must,  as  soon  as 
possible,  be  induced  between  the  justly  agitated  for- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


245 


eigners  and  the  Directors  in  the  new  order  of  things 
in  Erie,  so  that  all  interested  might  work  in  har- 
mony toward  a  common  end. 

The  revelations  as  to  James  McHenry  and  Bischoff- 
scheim  &  Goldschmidt,  regarding  their  stewardship 
or  handling  of  Erie  financial  affairs  entrusted  to  their 
disposition,  and  as  to  the  Atlantic  and  Great  West- 
ern entanglements,  had  removed  those  individuals 
signally  from  the  confidence  of  foreign  investors, 
and  the  management  of  the  latter's  interests  was  no 
longer  entrusted  to  them.  Sir  Edward  Watkin, 
M.P.,  a  man  experienced  in  railroad  financiering  and 
management,  was  selected  by  the  London  Commit- 
tee of  Erie  bond  and  shareholders  as  Chairman,  and 
he  was  commissioned  to  come  to  this  country,  in- 
vestigate, consult  with  Receiver  Jewett,  and  report 
to  the  Committee  what  measures  it  was  best  to  take 
to  protect  and  preserve  foreign  rights  in  the  Erie 
Railway  Company.  It  was  through  the  mediation 
of  Sir  Edward  that  the  impatient  Scotch  bondholder, 
Mr.  O.  G.  Miller,  was  induced  to  defer  his  hostile 
foreclosure  proceedings,  and  to  subsequently  become 
conspicuous  in  efforts  to  bring  about  an  amicable 
settlement. 

Sir  Edward  Watkin  arrived  in  New  York  early  in 
August,  1875.  Unable,  owing  to  an  accident  to 
Receiver  Jewett — who  had  been  recently  thrown 
from  his  carriage,  by  which  mishap  his  right  leg  was 
broken — to  have  an  interview  with  him,  Sir  Edward 
made  a  leisurely  tour  of  the  Erie  lines  and  the  At- 
lantic and  Great  Western  system,  informing  himself 
thoroughly  upon  their  condition  and  needs.  He 
•was  in  this  country  until  October,  when  he  returned 
to  London  to  make  his  report. 

September  30,  1875,  Judge  Donahue  granted  an 
order  authorizing  Receiver  Jewett  to  take  such  ac- 
tion as  he  might  deem  advisable  to  accomplish  the 
purpose  set  forth  in  an  affidavit  made  by  Charles  G. 
Barber,  Secretary  to  the  Receiver,  the  purport  of 
which  was  to  recognize  the  interest  of  the  foreign 
bond  and  shareholders,  so  that  the  bondholders 
might  have  a  voice  in  the  formulating  of  such  plans 
as  would  best  tend  to  aid  the  Receiver  in  his  duties 
and  hasten  the  rearrangement  or  reorganization  of 
the  Company,  and  in  the  expenditure  of  the  net 
earnings  that  otherwise  would  be  applied  to  the  pay- 


ment of  the  interest  in  default  on  their  holdings,  such 
voice  to  be  heard  through  a  committee  representing 
such  bondholders  or  bond  and  shareholders,  whose 
advice  the  Receiver  should  consult  in  the  expen- 
diture of  such  earnings;  that  the  committee  might 
open  an  office  in  London,  necessary  to  their  duties, 
their  expenses  to  be  paid  by  the  Receiver  out  of  his 
funds,  and  make  a  monthly  report  of  the  earnings 
and  expenditures;  that  the  laws  of  New  York  be  so 
amended  as  to  permit  the  foreign  bond  and  stock- 
holders a  representation  from  their  number  in  the 
Board  of  Directors;  that  the  Receivership  should  be 
terminated  as  soon  as  the  Company  could  be  relieved 
of  its  unjust  and  fraudulent  engagements,  originating 
in  former  managements — by  negotiation,  if  possible, 
or,  failing  in  that,  by  foreclosure;  that  Mr.  John 
Morriss,  legal  adviser  of  Sir  Edward  Watkin  and 
the  London  Erie  Committee,  be  associated  with  the 
counsel  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  and  the  Re- 
ceiver in  the  undertaking.  This  was  a  concession 
toward  recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  foreign  pro- 
prietors and  creditors  that  was  wise  and  judicious, 
saved  much  annoying  and  expensive  litigation,  and 
was  intended  to  hasten  the  time  when  the  Com- 
pany's affairs  might  be  placed  in  a  condition  to  be 
safely,  prudently,  and  efficiently  conducted  by  a 
corporation. 

John  Morriss  made  his  report  to  the  English  bond 
and  stockholders  October  1 8th,  and  it  was  another 
discouraging  event  in  the  long  list  of  discouraging 
events  in  the  history  of  their  investment  in  Erie, 
indicating,  as  it  did,  heavy  sacrifices  to  be  made  by 
them,  one  of  which  was  that  as  the  fixed  charges  of 
the  Company  exceeded  the  net  earnings  by  $1,000,- 
OOO,  they  would  have  to  subordinate  their  claims  to 
such  charges  and  to  the  floating  debt.  Sir  Edward 
Watkin  accompanied  Mr.  Morriss's  report  with  an 
extended  address,  in  which  he  reviewed  the  past 
managements  of  Erie,  to  their  great  disadvantage, 
and  criticised  freely  some  of  the  acts  of  President 
and  Receiver  Jewett,  but  summed  up  with  a  hopeful 
view  of  Erie  and  confidence  in  its  future,  if  the  Com- 
pany could  be  put  on  its  feet  again  and  in  the  hands 
of  honest  and  capable  management. 

Soon  after  the  report,  the  Erie  bondholders  in 
London  appointed  a  Committee  of  Consultation  to 


246 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


prepare  a  scheme  of  reorganization.  On  December 
3.  [875,  Judge  Donahue  granted  an  orderauthorizing 
iver  Jewett  to  remit  $10,000  to  John  Morriss,  in 
London,  for  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  the  claim  of 
Erie  Railway  Company  against  James  McHenry 
and  the  London  Banking  Association  for  $1, 000,000 
each. 

The  proceedings  in  equity  to  foreclose  on  the  fifth 
mortgage  against  the  Erie  Railway  were  begun  in 
the  court  of  Pike  County  at  Milford,  Pa.,  December 
24.  [875.  H.  J.  Jewett  was  appointed  Receiver, 
with  bonds  at  $30,000,  similar  proceedings  having 
been  begun  in  New  Jersey  and  New  York  City  in 
November.  These  were  amicable  suits  brought  by 
the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company  and  the 
Trustees  of  Erie  mortgages. 

Sir  Edward  Watkin  submitted  to  the  English  pro- 
prietors of  Erie,  on  December  16th,  a  scheme  to  be 
carried  out  under  foreclosure  by  a  committee  of 
which  Governor  Samuel  J.  Tilden  was  to  be  invited 
to  take  the  Chairmanship.  The  plan  proposed  to 
give  the  bondholders  the  voting  power  until  the 
position  of  the  undertaking  was  retrieved,  and  the 
fixed  liabilites  reduced  to  a  level  with  the  net  rev- 
enue, by  reducing  onerous  rent  charges  and  the 
gements  of  interest  on  the  first  and  second 
mortgage  bonds,  as  follows  : 

Holders  of  the  former  and  of  the  sterling  6  per 
cent,  bonds  to  receive  mortgage  bonds  of  the  same 
class  for  interest  at  the  existing  rates  to  March  1, 
1876;  thereafter  until  1880  the  interest  to  be  pay- 
able in  gold  at  6  per  cent.,  and  after  that  time  at 
7  per  cent.,  the  Company  being  entitled  to  redeem 
prior  to  1880  at  105  for  Erie  second  mortgage,  in- 
cluding the  convertible  gold  bonds.  Two  classes  of 
gold  sterling  mortgage  bonds,  running  ninety  years, 
were  to  be  substituted,  the  first  for  60  per  cent,  of 
the  principal,  carrying  interest  at  6  per  cent,  and 
payable  in  bonds  of  the  same  class  from  the  date  of 
default,  until  March,  1877,  and  thereafter  in  gold  ;  the 
second  for  40  per  cent,  of  the  principal,  carrying 
4  per  cent,  interest,  and  payable  only  out  of  net 
earnings  until  1881,  and  thereafter  5  per  cent. 

The  dividend  on  the  preferred  stock  was  to  be 
reduced  to  6  per  cent.  Assessments  were  to  be  car- 
ried at  the  rate  of  three  in  the  hundred  on  the  pre- 


ferred stock,  and  six  in  the  hundred  on  the  common 
stock,  shareholders  to  receive  for  the  amounts  thus 
paid  third  mortgage  bonds  to  bear  5  per  cent,  inter- 
est, payable  only  from  the  net  earnings,  and  also 
shares  in  the  reconstructed  Company. 

This  scheme  was  adopted  in  principle  by  the  bond- 
holders in  London  at  a  meeting  held  January  4,  1876, 
subject  to  modifications  to  be  made  after  consulta- 
tion with  the  Receiver  and  the  American  bond  and 
stockholders.  A  committee  was  appointed  and  em- 
powered to  execute  the  scheme.  O.  G.  Miller  and 
Robert  Fleming,  of  Dundee,  Scotland,  were  made 
this  committee.  They  undertook  the  task,  and  sailed 
for  New  York  on  January  30,  1876.  Thomas  Dick- 
son, Samuel  Sloan,  and  E.  D.  Morgan  were  ap- 
pointed a  special  committee  to  confer  with  Messrs. 
Fleming  and  Miller  during  their  stay  in  this  country, 
and  negotiate  the  terms  of  the  reorganization  scheme. 

The  representatives  of  the  London  Committee 
arrived  at  New  York  the  first  week  in  February,  and 
about  the  middle  of  March  the  scheme,  with  modi- 
fications and  additions,  was  agreed  upon  and  for- 
warded by  Messrs.  Fleming  and  Miller  to  London  to 
be  submitted  to  the  foreign  bond  and  shareholders. 
The  plan  seems  not  to  have  been  yet  in  form  to 
meet  the  approbation  of  all  parties,  for  it  was  still  in 
abeyance  in  July,  1S76,  when  Receiver  Jewett  was 
in  London,  having  gone  abroad  both  on  account  of 
impaired  health  and  in  connection  with  the  affairs  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company.  He  addressed  a  meet- 
ing of  stock  and  bondholders  in  London  July  13th, 
and  made  suggestions  as  to  further  modification  of 
the  reorganization  plan.  Soon  afterward  the  plan 
was  perfected  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  foreign  con- 
tingent in  interest,  for  it  received  the  necessary 
signatures  there  August  28,  1876.  The  signatures 
necessary  in  this  country  to  make  the  contract  valid 
were  not  attached  until  January  15,  1877.  With  the 
exception  of  its  legal  verbiage,  terms,  and  repeti- 
tions, the  plan  upon  which  the  amicable  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  the  winding 
up  of  its  memorable  and  by  no  means  savory  career, 
were  effected,  was  as  follows: 

There  was  to  be  no  reduction  of  interest  on  the 
first  consolidated  mortgage  bonds;  the  sterling  6  per 
cent,  bonds  to  bear  that  interest  up  to  September  1, 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


247 


1875,  and  7  percent,  after  that  date;  the  first  con- 
solidated bonds  to  fund  their  coupons  of  September 
1,  1875,  March  1,  1876,  March  1,  1877,  September  1, 
1877,  September  1,  1878,  and  September  1,  1879; 
coupon  bonds  to  be  issued  in  exchange  for  the 
funded  coupons,  payable  in  gold  September  1,  1920, 
with  7  per  cent,  interest,  and  to  be  secured  by  a 
deposit  of  the  funded  coupons,  the  interest  to  date 
from  September  I,  1877,  on  their  entire  amount. 
The  coupons  of  the  first  consolidated  mortgage 
bonds  falling  due  September  1,  1876  (but  to  be  paid 
on  December  1,  1876),  March  1,  1878,  March  1, 
1879,  and  March  1,  1880,  to  be  paid  in  cash,  the 
reconstruction  trustees  having  power,  at  the  request 
of  the  Receiver,  to  extend  the  time  of  paying  the 
first  coupon  to  March  1,  1877;  the  six  coupons  of 
these  bonds  intended  to  be  funded  to  be  forthwith 
deposited  with  the  Reconstruction  Trustees  and 
receive  in  exchange  certificates  representing  them, 
pending  the  preparation  of  the  new  coupon  bonds, 
thus  signifying  their  assent  to  the  arrangement. 

The  second  consolidated  mortgage  bonds  to  fund 
their  coupons  as  follows:  Ten  half-yearly  from  June 
1,  1875,  to  December  1,  1879,  inclusive,  the  coupons 
to  be  funded  at  the  existing  rate  of  interest  on  the 
bonds,  7  per  cent.,  and  funded  coupon  bonds  to  be 
issuedin  the  amounts  bearing  interest  at  the  reduced 
rate  of  5  per  cent,  from  December  i,  1877,  to  June 
1,  1883,  and  thereafter  at  6  per  cent.,  the  Recon- 
struction Trustees  having  power  to  postpone  for  six 
months  the  payment  of  the  first  coupon  on  these 
bonds,  falling  due  June  1,  1878,  at  the  request  of 
the  Receiver. 

The  principal  of  the  second  consolidated  and  gold 
convertible  bonds  to  be  represented  by  new  second 
consolidated  mortgage  bonds  at  6  per  cent,  from 
December  1,  1879,  anc^  maturing  December  1,  1969, 
the  funded  coupon  bonds  to  mature  at  the  same 
date.  The  second  consolidated  and  gold  convertible 
bonds  to  be  deposited,  with  all  coupons  attached, 
with  the  Reconstruction  Trustees,  for  exchange  for 
certificates  pending  the  conversion  of  the  new  secu- 
rities 

The  property  to  be  foreclosed,  and  the  Trustees 
to  buy  the  railroad  in  with  such  bonds  and  coupons 
thus  deposited  with  them  as  might  be  advisable,   a 


new  company  to  be  formed,  the  foreclosure  to  be 
obtained  under  one  or  more  of  the  existing  mort- 
gages best  to  carry  out  the  scheme. 

One-half  the  shares  of  the  new  company  to  be 
issued  in  the  names  of  one  or  more  sets  of  Trustees, 
to  be  called  the  Voting  Trustees,  who  should  hold 
them  for  voting  upon  them  until  dividends  had  been 
paid  on  the  preferred  stock  three  consecutive  years, 
certificates  to  be  issued  for  the  same,  entitling  the 
holder  to  receive  all  dividends  declared  on  the  shares 
held  in  trust;  the  Voting  Trustees  to  be  named  by 
the  Reconstruction  Trustees,  and  empowered  to  fill 
their  own  vacancies,  each  Voting  Trustee  to  be  a  sub- 
stantial bondholder  at  the  time  of  his  appointment, 
and  to  resign  in  the  event  of  his  ceasing  to  be  such. 

The  dividend  power  of  preferred  stock  was  re- 
duced from  "jYi  to  6  per  cent.,  payable  in  currency, 
and  dependent;  on  the  net  earnings,  each  shareholder 
to  be  admitted  to  the  new  Company,  share  for  share, 
preferred  for  preferred,  and  common  for  common,  but 
conditional  on  the  payment  of  $3  gold  per  preferred 
share  and  $6  gold  per  common  share,  on  or  before 
March  1,  1877,  the  shareholders  making  such  pay- 
ments to  receive  for  the  amount  non-cumulative 
income  bonds,  without  mortgage  security,  payable 
in  gold  on  June  1,  1877,  and  bearing  interest  from 
December  1,  1879,  payable  in  gold  at  6  per  cent., 
dependent  on  the  net  earnings.  Shareholders  had 
the  option  to  pay  on  or  before  March  1,  1877,  $2 
gold  per  preferred  share,  or  $4  per  share  for  com- 
mon, then  to  be  admitted  to  the  new  company 
without  receiving  income  bonds,  a  further  and  final 
period  to  be  fixed  for  the  payment  of  assessments 
beyond  March  1,  1877,  but  after  that  date  an  addi- 
tional charge  of  7  per  cent,  on  assessments  was  to 
be  made;  new  shares  to  be  issued  to  the  amount  of 
all  shares  in  default,  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  benefit 
of  the  new  Company.  (The  date  of  this  provision 
was  subsequently  changed  to  March  31st,  the  addi- 
tional assessment  made  10  per  cent.,  and  time  for 
coming  in  on  the  reorganization  fixed  at  six  months 
from  that  date.) 

All  the  new  bonds  were  to  be  payable  in  London 
and  New  York,  and  to  carry  voting  powers  accord- 
ing to  law,  and  made  payable  to  bearer  or  registered 
in   names  of  holders  at  their  option.     The  cost  of 


U8 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


istruction  and  foreclosure  and  all  expenses  nec- 
y  in  carrying  out  the  scheme  were  to  be  paid 
out  of  the  moneys  to  be  raised  by  the  scheme,  or  as 
the  Trustees  might  determine. 

Reconstruction  Trustees  for  the  first  consolidated 
mortgage  and  6  per  cent,  sterling  bonds  were  O.  G. 
Miller,  II.  Rawson;  for  the  second  consolidated 
mortgage  and  convertible  gold  bonds,  J.  K.  Cross, 
M.P.,  J.  Westlake,  O.C. ;  for  the  shareholders,  P. 
McLogan,  M.I'.,  B.  Whitworth,  M.P.  Independent 
Trustees,  not  representing  any  special  interest,  were 
Sir  Edward  Watkin,  M.P.,  with  a  casting  vote,  and 
Z.  W.  Powell.  The  scheme  was  subject  to  modifica- 
tion in  the  judgment  of  the  Reconstruction  Trustees, 
and  was  signed  as  follows: 

E.  \V.  Watkins,  M.P.,  Chairman;  Cecil  Beadon, 
K.C.S. ;  J.  K.  Cross,  M.P. ;  Philip  Rose,  O.  G.  Miller, 
T.  \V.  Powell,  B.  Whitworth,  M.P. ;  J.  Westlake, 
Q.C. ;  Henry  Rawson,  P.  McLogan,  M.P. ;  Robert 
Fleming,  Lawrence  Hayworth,  J.  M.  Douglas,  W. 
Leeming,  W.  Weir,  J.  C.  Conybeare,  A.  H.  Moncur. 

Signed  in  London,  August  28,  1876;  in  New  York, 
January  15,  1877,  for  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
Company,  agents  of  the  London  Reconstruction 
Trustees,  by  R.  G.  Rolston,  President. 

Before  any  substantial  movement  had  been  made 
toward  the  formulating  of  a  plan,  September  10, 
1875,  S.  L.  M.  Barlow  offered  his  resignation  as  a 
Director,  and  Mr.  Jewett  advised  its  acceptance. 
Mr.  Barlow,  owing  to  his  relations  with  McHenry, 
although  they  had  then  ceased,  was  not  acceptable 
to  the  existing  foreign  sentiment  in  regard  to  Erie 
management.  Marshall  0.  Roberts  resigned  at  the 
same  time.  John  P.  Brown,  of  Portland,  Me.,  and 
J.  Lowber  Welsh,  of  Philadelphia,  were  elected  to 
the  vacancies.  Mr.  Brown  represented  the  interests 
of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  Company. 

In  the  spring  of  1877  James  McHenry,  becoming 
convinced  that  Receiver  Jewett  was  determined  to 
push  the  proceedings  against  the  London  Bank- 
ing Association,  Bischoffscheim  &  Goldschmidt,  and 
himself,  came  forward  and  began  an  aggressive 
counter  campaign  against  the  Receiver.  As  early  as 
May  10th  he  made  a  fierce  attack  on  him  at  a  meet- 
ing   of    his    adherents    at    Guildhall    Coffee    House, 


London,  charging  him  with  mismanagement,  corrup- 
tion, and  duplicity.  Going  further,  he  sought  once 
more  the  aid  of  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  and  a  plan 
to  oust  the  existing  management  and  turn  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  once  more  over  to  the  control  of 
McHenry  was  formed.  Originally  this  was  intended 
to  be  a  coup  similar  to  the  one  of  1872,  but  there  was 
different  material  in  the  Board  of  Directors,  and  that 
line  of  action  was  abandoned.  Early  in  September 
rumors  were  abroad  that  General  Sickles  was  to  suc- 
ceed Jewett  as  Receiver  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany, and  it  was  noticed  that  ex-Auditor  Dunan  was 
again  in  evidence  as  an  expert  in  the  best  way  to  put 
Erie  on  its  feet. 

According  to  the  story  of  Joseph  W.  Guppy, 
before  the  Legislative  Investigating  Committee  of 
1879,  General  Sickles,  October  1,  1877,  sent  one 
Charles  O'Day  to  him  with  a  request  that  Guppy 
should  call  on  the  General.  Guppy  called,  and  Gen- 
eral Sickles  brought  up  the  subject  of  the  proposed 
movement  against  the  Jewett  management,  and  en- 
deavored to  enlist  Guppy  in  it.  He  declined  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  it.  Sickles  said  to  Guppy 
that  if  he  would  join  them  "  and  they  were  success- 
ful, they  would  divide  the  swag  with  him";  that 
"  the  parties  in  power  had  not  quite  stolen  every- 
thing there,  and  there  was  something  left,  probably 
enough  for  all."  Guppy  persisted  in  his  refusal  to 
join  the  Sickles  party. 

Subsequently  he  told  H.  D.  V.  Pratt  what  Sickles 
had  solicited  him  to  do.  Pratt,  in  a  conversation 
with  Gould  later  on,  repeated  the  information  to 
him.  On  the  morning  of  the  day  after  Christmas, 
1877,  Gould  sent  Giovani  Morosini,  his  private  sec- 
retary, to  Guppy,  requesting  the  latter  to  call  at  his 
office.     Guppy  did  so. 

"  Guppy,"  said  Gould,  "  if  you  will  appear  in 
behalf  of  the  Jewett  interest  against  the  Sickles 
raiders,  and  testify  as  to  what  they  have  offered  you 
to  come  in  and  aid  them,  Mr.  Jewett  will  take  that 
$10, OCX)  in  National  Stock  Yard  stock  and  pay  you 
par  for  it.  With  your  testimony  we  can  defeat  the 
Sickles  party  and  send  them  to  State  prison." 

Guppy  held  $10,000  in  National  Stock  Yard  stock, 
which,  in  1877,  had  little  intrinsic  value.  It  had 
been  given  him  on  the  formation  of  that  company 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


249 


by  Gould,  in  1870,  in  lieu  of  an  increase  in  his  salary 
as  Assistant  to  the  General  Superintendent.  Guppy 
was  in  poor  health  in  1877.  He  declined  to  accept 
Gould's  proposition  because,  for  one  reason,  of  the 
precarious  state  of  his  health,  and,  for  another,  that 
he  did  not  care  to  be  mixed  up  in  the  matter. 
Gould  tried  to  induce  him  to  change  his  mind,  and 
failing  in  that,  threatened  to  have  Guppy  examined 
ex-parte,  and  compelled  to  give  his  evidence. 

"  Do  not  allow*  that  to  be  done,"  said  Guppy; 
"  I  am  sick,  and  do  not  want  to  be  worried." 

"  It  is  too  late  for  me  to  interfere  in  the  matter," 
replied  Gould.  "  You  had  better  do  it  cheerfully. 
Otherwise  you  cannot  sell  your  stock." 

"  Mr.  Gould,"  insisted  Guppy,  "you  must  keep 
them  away  from  me  in  this  matter." 

I  cannot  control  it  now,"  repeated  Gould. 

"  Then,"  exclaimed  Guppy,  rising  to  take  his 
leave,  "  I  tell  you  that  for  your  own  good  you  had 
better  keep  them  away  from  me!  And,  young 
man,"  said  Guppy  significantly,  "  you  know  what 
that  means !  " 

Through  counsel  in  the  case,  as  well  as  H.  D.  V. 
Pratt,  and  by  means  of  detectives,  Gould  continued 
his  efforts  to  induce  Guppy's  aid  for  the  Jewett  side 
of  the  affair,  but  without  success,  and  the  inside  his- 
tory of  the  Sickles  raid  never  got  into  the  courts. 

On  March  22,  1877,  the  old  suit  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company,  brought  in  July,  1870,  by  Gould  and 
Fisk,  to  recover  from  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  the 
millions  paid  him  in  making  the  settlement  by 
which  the  Erie  escaped  from  the  Drew- Vanderbilt 
war  of  1868,  and  in  which  suit  the  plaintiff  was 
defeated  by  a  decision  in  Judge  Barnard's  court  in 
January,  1871,  came  to  the  surface  again.  The  case 
had  been  appealed  by  the  Railway  Company  to  the 
General  Term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  in  October 
of  that  year  that  court  reversed  the  Barnard  judg- 
ment. Vanderbilt  took  the  case  to  the  Court  of 
Appeals,  where  the  General  Term  was  sustained. 
Pending  a  retrial  of  the  case,  it  was  settled  out  of 
court  to  the  satisfaction  of  Vanderbilt,  who,  it  was 
charged,  was  interesting  himself  in  the  opposition 
to  the  Jewett  management. 

The  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  in  the 
preliminary  suits  tending  toward  the  reorganization 


of  Erie,  had  acted  in  its  capacity  of  trustee  of  the 
first  consolidated  mortgage,  in  conjunction  with 
J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis  and  others,  as  trustees  of  the 
fifth  mortgage.  On  September  24,  1877,  however, 
the  Trust  Company  entered  proceedings  to  press 
judgment  in  foreclosure  under  the  claims  of  the 
holders  of  the  second  consolidated  mortgage  bonds. 
This  opened  the  way  for  long,  expensive,  tedious, 
and  complicated  litigation,  which  James  McHenrv 
and  his  coadjutors  were  quick  to  take  advantage  of. 
Acting  on  the  proceedings  taken  September  24th, 
Judge  Charles  Donahue,  in  Supreme  Court  Cham- 
bers, New  York,  November  7,  1877,  granted  a  decree 
of  foreclosure  in  the  suit  of  the  Farmers'  Loan  and 
Trust  Company.  The  old  bonded  debts  of  the 
Company,  the  mortgages  on  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad,  were  in  amount:  First  mortgage,  $2,482,- 
000;  second,  $2,174,000;  third,  $4,852,000;  fifth, 
$709,500.  The  new  mortgages  were  as  follows: 
Sixth,  made  to  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Com- 
pany, $16,656,000,  on  which  $2,573,245  in  interest 
was  due;  seventh,  containing  two  parts,  one  for 
$10,000,000,  and  the  other  for  $15,000,000,  on  which 
$1,898,020.80  and  $2,855,312.50  in  interest  became 
due  on  November  1st.  The  amount  due  by  the 
Company  on  these  accounts  was  $62,167,078.30. 
The  place  of  sale  of  the  property  was  fixed  at  New 
York  City,  date  to  depend  on  the  close  of  the  aux- 
iliary suits  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  George 
Ticknor  Curtis  was  appointed  Referee  to  sell  the 
property.  The  sale  was  to  be  for  cash,  and  subject 
to  the  Receiver's  contracts.  Agents  having  been 
appointed  by  the  Bondholders'  Committee  to  form  a 
new  Company  under  the  law  of  New  York  State,  the 
decree  authorized  the  sale  of  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany's effects  to  the  new  corporation,  provided  it 
was  the  highest  bidder.  The  accounts  of  the  Re- 
ceiver were  to  be  audited  and  passed  upon  by  ex- 
Judge  James  C.  Spencer,  the  amount  found  to  be 
due  the  Receiver  to  be  a  first  lien  on  the  property, 
the  Receiver  having  authority,  also,  to  take  bonds 
and  coupons  at  their  face  value  from  the  new  Com- 
pany for  the  amounts  due  him.  The  date  of  sale 
was  subsequently  fixed  and  advertised  for  January 
21,  1878,  at  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  New  York, 
at  12  o'clock,  noon. 


2. SO 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


November  14,  1S77.  Judge  Spencer  had  made  his 
report  to  the  court  as  Referee  in  the  Receivership, 
under  the  order  of  Judge  Donahue  of  December  21, 
Later  in  the  month  there  were  rumors  that 
Attorney-General  Fairchild  would  take  measures  to 
interfere  with  the  proceedings  on  the  ground  that 
Jewett  had  been  appointed  in  an  irregular  manner, 
and  had  paid  William  M.  Brown,  of  the  Attorney- 
General's  office,  $5,000  for  making  the  affidavit  on 
which  Attorney-General  Pratt  had  made  the  appoint- 
ment. This  rumor  proved  not  to  be  true,  but  was 
an  emanation  from  the  McIIenry  camp,  which  was 
in  charge  of  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles.  There  was  this 
much  of  a  disturbing  element  in  the  bearing  of  the 
Attorney-General,  however.  The  original  suit  of 
the  People  against  Jewett  and  the  management  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company  (the  Angell  suit)  was 
discontinued  under  written  stipulation  of  Attorney- 
General  Pratt,  November  25,  1875.  When  the  mat- 
ter was  brought  to  the  attention  of  his  successor, 
Charles  S.  Fairchild,  after  the  decree  of  foreclosure, 
the  new  Attorney-General  was  unable  to  find  an 
order  of  discontinuance  on  record.  December  24th 
he  wrote  Referee  Spencer  from  Albany,  saying  that 
he  had  been  requested  by  the  attorneys  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  and  of  Receiver  Jewett  to  discon- 
tinue the  action  of  the  People  against  that  Company. 
He  said  that  he  had  also  been  requested  by  counsel 
representing  stockholders  and  bondholders  of  that 
Company  not  to  discontinue  the  action  without 
examination  of  the  plaintiffs  into  the  Receiver's 
accounts.  "  I  see  that  the  plaintiffs  do  not  appear 
to  have  had  any  notice,"  he  wrote,  "  of  the  pro- 
ceedings before  you  as  Referee,  or  to  have  been 
represented  upon  any  hearing.  I  deem  it  my  duty 
to  examine  into  the  Receiver's  doings  before  giving 
my  consent  to  the  discontinuance  of  the  action  and 
the  Receiver's  discharge.  I  have  requested  Messrs. 
Barlow  &  Olney  to  represent  me  in  this,  and  arrange 
with  the  various  parties  for  an  examination  before 
you  in  the  matter." 

At  a  hearing  held  in  New  York  City,  in  pursuance 
of  this  request  of  the  Attorney-General,  on  Decem- 
ber 27,  1877,  all  parties  being  represented  by  coun- 
sel, and  the  proposition  being  opposed  by  the  defend- 
ants in   the  various  cases,  Trustee  Spencer  decided 


to  reopen  the  reference,  considering  his  report  as 
being  cancelled,  and  giving  the  plaintiffs  a  hearing  in 
the  new  examination  of  the  Receiver's  accounts  and 
vouchers. 

But  long  before  Attorney-General  Fairchild  hail 
come  to  the  aid  of  the  plaintiff  in  the  Angell  suit, 
James  McIIenry  had  set  his  forces  working.  On 
November  24,  1877,  counsel  for  James  McIIenry, 
John  Henry  Brown,  and  Charles  Frederick  Evans, 
English  bondholders,  began  suit  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.,  at  Rochester, 
against  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  the  Farmers' 
Loan  and  Trust  Company,  and  others.  The  plain- 
tiffs claimed  to  be  the  owners  of  $91,000  of  the  first 
consolidated  mortgage  bonds  of  the  Company,  and 
the  purpose  of  the  suit  was  to  demand  an  accounting 
on  the  first  consolidated  bonds  and  for  the  overdue 
interest  on  them ;  the  removal  of  the  Farmers'  Loan 
and  Trust  Company  as  Trustees,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  another;  the  forfeiture  of  the  Trust  Com- 
pany of  all  right  to  compensation  for  its  services; 
and  an  injunction  restraining  it  and  others  from  pro- 
ceeding further  with  the  reconstruction  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company,  the  appointment  of  a  receiver 
pending  the  suit,  and  the  foreclosure  of  the  first  con- 
solidated mortgage  and  sale  of  the  Company's  prop- 
erty in  entirety.  The  complaint  in  this  case  charged 
the  Jewett  Receivership  with  being  illegal,  corrupt, 
oppressive,  and  coercive.  Similar  suits  were  brought 
in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 

November  27th  the  old  Board  of  Directors  was 
reelected  by  a  vote  of  548,802  to  29,929  for  scat- 
tering candidates.  December  7th,  before  Judge 
Donahue,  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company 
answered  the  charges  made  by  James  McHenry, 
John  Henry  Brown,  and  Charles  Frederick  Evans  in 
the  suit  brought  by  them  in  the  Supreme  Court  at 
Rochester,  entering  a  denial  of  them  all,  and  asking 
that  the  plaintiffs  be  enjoined  from  further  proce.  cl- 
ings. Judge  Donahue  issued  an  order  on  the  plain- 
tiffs, citing  them  to  show  cause  why  they  should  not 
be  permanently  enjoined,  and  pending  the  decision 
on  that  order,  stayed  the  proceedings  brought  in 
Monroe  Count}-. 

The  new  Erie  litigation  brought  into  the  Supreme 
Court  Chambers,  before  Judge  James  T.  Brad)',  such 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


251 


an  array  of  counsel  as  few  causes  had  ever  summoned 
together  at  any  one  time  in  New  York  City  or  else- 
where. On  December  23d,  in  behalf  of  the  Eng- 
lish Bondholders'  Committee,  appeared  Secretary  of 
State  William  M.  Evarts,  ex-Judge  Comstock,  and 
Amos  A.  Redfield.  Turner,  Lee  &  McClure  repre- 
sented the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company. 
Joseph  Larocque  and  William  Wallace  MacFarland 
appeared  for  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  Dor- 
man  B.  Eaton  was  present  to  guard  Receiver  Jewett's 
interests.  The  McHenry  party's  counsel  were  ex- 
Judge  Emott,  Burnett  &  Hammond,  Aaron  J.  Van- 
derpoel,  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  ex- Judge  Ashbel 
Green,  Hon.  Daniel  Dougherty  of  Philadelphia, 
Henry  Arden,  and  Dunning,  Edsall,  Hart  &  Fowler. 
This  latter  firm  appeared  simply  to  argue  a  motion 
to  compel  Receiver  Jewett  to  permit  an  examina- 
tion of  the  books  in  regard  to  the  last  election  for 
Directors,  and  show  cause  why  he  should  not  be  re- 
moved. Affidavits  which,  metaphorically,  threshed 
over  all  the  old  straw  of  the  alleged  illegal  Receiver- 
ship, its  mismanagement,  and  the  collusive  acts  un- 
der it,  and  counter-affidavits  denying  them,  were 
read.  The  hearings  and  arguments  on  these  and  a 
multitude  of  similar  actions,  all  exhibiting  the  re- 
sourcefulness of  McHenry  and  his  lieutenants — chief 
among  them  being  James  A.  Reilly,  not  personally 
eminent,  but  useful  to  his  long-time  chief  beyond 
calculation — and  all,  while  based  on  strong  technical 
points  of  law  and  urged  by  some  of  the  best  legal 
minds  of  the  day,  palpably  the  creatures  of  personal 
disappointment  and  private  vengeance.  They  were 
prosecuted  and  defended  with  vigor,  as  were  the 
numerous  counter-suits,  the  ultimate  result  being  in 
favor  of  Receiver  Jewett.  These  being  civil  suits, 
and  their  matter  threadbare  and  musty,  they  had  but 
small  interest  to  the  public,  but  in  January,  1878, 
the  tactics  of  the  opposition  assumed  a  more  dra- 
matic character,  and  enlivened  the  litigious  events 
of  the  Erie  as  of  old. 

Frank  Piatt,  claiming  to  be  an  English  stock- 
holder in  the  Company,  was  selected  as  the  medium 
through  which  this  move  was  to  be  carried  forward. 
He  made  affidavit  that  on  November  23,  1877,  Re- 
ceiver Jewett  had  sworn  to  the  annual  statement  of 
the  Company  as  being  true  in  every  particular;  that 


the  amount  of  the  funded  debt  of  the  Company  at 
that  date  was  $54,271,844;  the  floating  debt,  $1,887,- 
216.  ii;  and  the  amount  of  interest  paid  on  the 
funded  debt  for  the  year  covered  by  this  report 
was  $3,807,764.50,  whereas,  according  to  the  Piatt 
affidavit,  which  was  based  on  the  affidavits  of  Charles 
Barrett  and  Alexander  Robertson,  experts  in  railway 
accounts,  who  claimed  to  have  examined  the  Erie 
books  under  an  order  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the 
funded  debt  of  the  Company  was  actually  $63,324,- 
367.47;  the  floating  debt,  $4,861,533.86,  and  the 
interest  paid  for  the  year  was  only  ^>/86,6jt,,  instead 
of  $3,807,764.50.  Piatt  charged  that  Jewett  had 
sworn  to  the  statement,  knowing  that  it  was  false, 
with  intent  to  deceive  the  bondholders  and  stock- 
holders of  the  Company.  Ex-Judge  William  A. 
Beach  was  Piatt's  chief  counsel.  Information  that 
such  a  complaint  had  been  made  before  Police  Jus- 
tice Bankson  J.  Morgan,  at  Jefferson  Market  Court, 
was  received  by  Mr.  Jewett,  and  on  the  morning  of 
January  30th  he  drove  with  his  counsel,  Dorman  B. 
Eaton,  to  that  court  and  appeared  informally  before 
Judge  Morgan.  Thus  the  issuing  of  a  warrant  for 
the  Receiver's  arrest  was  made  unnecessary.  Mr. 
Eaton  demanded  an  examination  in  behalf  of  his 
client,  and  February  5th  was  fixed  by  the  court  as 
the  day  of  such  examination. 

Mr.  Jewett  explained  the  discrepancies  in  the 
figures  of  the  statement  he  had  sworn  to  and  the 
figures  as  presented  by  Piatt  by  the  declaration  that 
the  former  did  not  show  the  amount  of  interest  paid, 
but  the  amount  of  interest  payable,  the  Receiver 
having  so  construed  the  requirement  of  the  statute 
in  that  respect.  As  to  his  statement  in  regard  to 
the  debt  of  the  Company,  Mr.  Jewett  said  that  it 
would  be  for  experts  to  determine  whether  it  had 
been  understated,  as  "  the  charge  seemed  to  rest  on 
details  of  book-keeping  too  complicated  for  ready 
explanation,  and  requiring  experts  to  show  upon 
what  facts  the  returns  in  that  regard  should  be 
based." 

Stephen  Little,  then  Auditor  of  the  Company, 
declared,  in  an  affidavit,  that  the  declarations  of 
Accountant  Robertson  were  false  in  every  particu- 
lar, and  that  although  the  Receiver's  books  had  been 
thrown  open  to  him,  he  was  incompetent  to  the  task 


-5- 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


of  ascertaining  the  truth  from  them,  and  that  Bar- 
rett's affidavit  was  also  based  on  wrong  premises  and 
was  thus  misleading.  These  experts  had  examined 
the  books  on  the  order  of  court  granted  in  the  suit 
of  Isaac  S.  Fowler,  December  15,  187;. 

February  5th  Receiver  Jewett  appeared  at  Jeffer- 
son Market  Police  Court,  with  his  counsel,  ex-Judge 
Fullerton,  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  William  Wallace 
MacFarland,  and  ex-Judge  Comstock,  and  accom- 
panied by  Thomas  Dickson,  President  of  the  Dela- 
ware and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  ex-Governor 
Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  J.  Lowber 
Welch,  of  Philadelphia,  J.  D.  Ayer,  Secretary  of  the 
Reconstruction  Trustees  of  London,  and  other  dis- 
tinguished persons.  Ex-Judge  Fullerton  said  his 
client  would  waive  examination  and  give  bail  for 
appearance  at  court.  Ex-Judge  William  A.  Beach 
objected  strenuously.  Judge  Morgan  decided  that 
he  would  hear  argument  further  on  the  question, 
and  postponed  it  until  February  6th.  At  the  hear- 
ing on  that  day  Judge  Morgan  decided  that  his 
duty  was  to  proceed  with  the  examination.  Mr. 
Fullerton  requested  the  justice  to  fix  bail  then,  as 
Mr.  Jewett  had  bondsmen  present  who  desired  to 
qualify.  Judge  Morgan  refused  to  fix  bail  before 
the  examination  was  held.  Ex-Judge  Comstock,  of 
Jewett's  counsel,  then  left  the  court-room.  The 
hearing  was  proceeded  with.  Exciting  examina- 
tions of  witnesses  were  had.  It  was  evident  from 
the  dilatory  interferences  and  objections  of  Mr.  Ful- 
lerton that  the  departure  of  Judge  Comstock  was  to 
have  a  sequel,  and  that  it  would  be  of  no  effect  if  it 
did  not  appear  before  the  examination  was  over. 
Judge  Fullerton  was  cross-examining  Robertson, 
one  of  the  experts,  when  there  was  a  bustle  at  the 
door,  and  Lawyer  Joseph  Stiner  entered  in  haste, 
and  waving  a  paper  in  his  hand,  exclaimed : 

'  Your  Honor,  I  have  here  a  writ  of  certiorari  and 
habeas  corpus,  issued  by  Judge  Donahue,  command- 
ing the  appearance  of  Hugh  J.  Jewett  before  him  at 
Supreme  Court  Chambers  at  1  o'clock  to-d;iv." 

This  rather  dramatic  interruption  brought  the  pro- 
ceedings to  a  close,  and  Judge  Morgan  adjourned 
them  until  10  o'clock  next  day.  In  the  proceedings 
on  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  before  Judge  Donahue, 
John  R.  Fellows  argued  the  case  for  Receiver  Jewett. 


Judge  Donahue  withheld  his  decision,  and  the  exam- 
ination of  Mr.  Jewett  in  the  police  court  was  further 
adjourned  pending  the  result.  February  7th  Judge 
Donahue  decided  that  Judge  Morgan  must  either 
commit,  discharge,  or  hold  to  bail  in  the  case.  The 
order  was  served  on  Judge  Morgan  February  8th, 
and,  although  he  declared  his  belief  in  the  correct- 
ness of  his  judgment  in  the  case,  he  held  Jewett  in 
$10,000  bail,  which  was  furnished  by  ex-Governor 
Morgan.  The  proceedings  were  objected  to  all  the 
way  through  by  ex- Judge  Beach,  who  appealed  from 
the  decision  of  Judge  Donahue. 

The  appeal  was  argued  February  2 1st  before  Chief 
Justice  Noah  Davis  and  Judge  Brady,  at  General 
Term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  at  New  York.  Ex- 
Judge  William  Fullerton  and  John  R.  Fellows  ap- 
peared on  behalf  of  Receiver  Jewett,  and  William  A. 
Beach  in  opposition.  Decision  was  reserved,  and 
not  rendered  until  April  30th.  The  decision  was 
that  Judge  Donahue's  ruling  under  the  habeas  cor- 
pus proceedings  was  wrong,  but  that  as  the  police 
justice  had  acted  under  it  and  accepted  bail,  there 
would  be  no  remedy  by  reversing  the  order.  The 
police  magistrate  had  no  further  jurisdiction,  and 
the  matter  now  lay  with  the  Grand  Jury.  May  9th 
the  Grand  Jury  dismissed  the  complaint,  and  the 
effort  of  the  McHenry  contingent  to  use  the  crim- 
inal courts  to  serve  a  purpose  they  could  not  induce 
the  civil  courts  to  take  cognizance  of  was  foiled, 
much  to  their  disappointment  and  to  the  damage  of 
their  prospects  in  the  Erie  litigation.  The  shrewd- 
ness and  astuteness  of  ex-Judge  Fullerton  rescued 
Receiver  Jewett  from  this  unpleasant  and  critical 
dilemma. 

Receiver  Jewett  charged  Col.  George  T.  Balch 
with  having  been  designedly  the  cause,  in  conspiracy 
with  the  sponsors  of  the  attempted  new  "  Sickles 
Raid"  of  1877,  of  the  criminal  proceedings.  Colo- 
nel Balch  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and  had 
been  for  fifteen  years,  and  up  to  1862,  an  officer  in 
the  regular  army.  October  1,  1872,  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  under  Presi- 
dent Watson,  as  assistant  to  the  Inspecting  Engi- 
neer. He  continued  as  such  until  January,  1873, 
when  he  was  put  in  charge  of  the  repairs  and  con- 
struction of  Erie  property  at  Jersey  City  and   New 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


253 


York.  July  1,  1873,  he  was  appointed  General 
Storekeeper  and  Inspector  of  Supplies  for  the  Com- 
pany, which  place  he  filled  until  May,  1874,  when 
the  office  was  abolished.  When  Mr.  Jewett  came 
into  control  of  Erie,  Colonel  Balch  was  detailed  to 
prepare  a  history  of  the  Supply  Department  of  the 
Company  for  the  previous  ten  years,  which  he  did 
so  satisfactorily  that  President  Jewett  gave  into 
his  charge  the  compiling  of  the  reports  of  the  Com- 
pany made  annually  to  the  proper  State  officials  of 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey.  Colonel 
Balch  compiled  these  reports  for  the  years  1874, 
1875,  1876,  and  1877,  and,  such  was  Mr.  Jewett's 
confidence  in  him,  according  to  his  (Jewett's)  sub- 
sequent declaration,  his  figures  were  accepted  and 
sworn  to  by  Jewett,  both  as  President  and  Receiver, 
without  the  suspicion  of  a  doubt  as  to  their  accuracy 
and  truthfulness.  Colonel  Balch  also  had  charge  of 
the  taking  of  the  inventor}'  of  the  Company's  prop- 
erty, under  the  order  of  Court  appointing  the  Re- 
ceiver in  1875,  and  by  Receiver  Jewett's  direction. 

After  Receiver  Jewett's  arrest  on  the  charge  of 
perjury  in  February,  1878,  he  began  an  investiga- 
tion. Colonel  Balch  had  prepared  the  report  for 
1877,  on  the  alleged  falsity  of  which  the  arrest  was 
made.  The  result  of  Jewett's  investigation  was  that 
on  May  7th  he  summarily  dismissed  Colonel  Balch 
from  the  Company's  employ,  in  a  scathing  letter  in 
which  he  reviewed  Balch's  connection  with  the  Com- 
pany, reminded  him  of  the  great  leniency  with  which 
the  writer  had  treated  him  on  a  previous  occasion, 
when  a  certain  act  of  his  was  not  above  suspicion, 
but  for  which  Jewett  had  taken  Balch's  plausible 
explanation  as  satisfactory,  and  charging  him  with 
having  been  guilty — after  having  had  sole  charge  of 
making  out  the  annual  reports  of  the  Company  to 
the  State  Engineer  for  several  years,  in  the  entire 
personal  confidence  of  Mr.  Jewett — of  making  state- 
ments in  the  report  for  1S77 — which  was  verified  as 
usual  by  the  Receiver— that  had  led  to  Jewett's 
arrest  on  the  charge  of  perjury,  and  then  failing  to 
come  forward  and  assume  the  responsibility  for  the 
complication  and  exonerate  the  Receiver  from  blame. 
Moreover,  the  Receiver  charged  Balch  with  playing 
him  false,  making  efforts  to  aid  the  conspiracy  for 
the   projected   Sickles  raid   in   1877,  and  aiding  and 


abetting  other  enemies  of  the  Jewett  management, 
with  the  hope  and  expectation  of  personal  aggran- 
dizement. Balch  replied  in  a  long  letter,  recounting 
the  history  of  the  matters  charged  by  the  Receiver, 
and  denying  them  all. 

Among  those  whom  Mr.  Jewett  believed  he  had 
indubitable  reason  to  suspect  of  treachery  to  him  at 
this  time  was  William  Pitt  Shearman,  who  had  been 
Treasurer  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  and  Assist- 
ant to  the  Receiver,  and  Mr.  Shearman  was  com- 
pelled to  quit  the  service.  Shearman  always  claimed 
that  he  was  sacrificed  because  he  would  not  recog- 
nize and  approve  officially  matters  of  accounting 
which  he  believed  to  be  wrong.  It  was  originally 
for  this  that  he  was  promoted,  as  he  supposed,  from 
the  Treasurership,  in  1877,  to  be  Assistant  to  the 
Receiver,  which  promotion  proved  to  be  merely  one 
in  appearance.  As  Treasurer  he  had  protested 
against  the  payment  of  accounts  of  the  Receiver  as 
irregular,  and  it  was  to  get  rid  of  his  unpleasant 
presence  in  that  office  that  he  was  made  Assistant 
to  the  Receiver,  Bird  W.  Spencer,  who  had  been 
Assistant  Treasurer,  being  then  appointed  as  Acting 
Treasurer.  Mr.  Shearman  soon  found,  however, 
that  his  acts  as  Assistant  to  the  Receiver  were  regu- 
larly disregarded  in  the  Auditing  Department  and 
the  Treasury  Department,  both  of  which  were  sus- 
tained by  the  Receiver  as  against  him.  When  the 
new  Company  was  organized  Mr.  Shearman  was  left 
out  of  any  participation  in  it,  and  the  charge  of 
treachery  to  Mr.  Jewett  and  his  management  was 
offered  as  the  reason. 

"If  any  action  I  ever  took  while  connected  with 
the  Jewett  management  could  be  called  disloyalty," 
Mr.  Shearman  said  to  the  compiler  of  this  History, 
in  1894,  "  it  thus  became  all  the  greater  an  act  of 
loyalty  to  the  true  interests  of  the  Company." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  neither  this 
move  in  the  police  court  against  Receiver  Jewett, 
nor  any  other  of  the  harassing  litigation,  would  have 
been  heard  of  had  he  proceeded  in  the  management 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  according  to  the  lines 
McHenry  had  marked  out,  when  he  and  his  friends 
permitted  Mr.  Jewett's  election  as  President  in  July, 
1874;  for  McHenry  was  then  still  in  control  of  the 
English  stock,  and  without  his  assent  neither  Jewett 


254 


I'.KfWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


noi  any  one  else  proposed  could  have  been  chosen. 
has  been  seen.  President  Jewett  repudiated 
the  Watson  lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railroad,  and,  instead  of  leaving  uncovered  the  Erie 
Treasury  that  it  might  be  used  to  the  benefit  of  that 
utterly  insolvent  corporation,  and  acknowledging  the 
right  of  McHenry  and  his  associates  to  $2,000,000  of 
Erie  funds  then  in  their  possession  as  custodians,  he 
actually  closed  the  one  and  demanded  the  restitu- 
tion of  the  other,  which,  being  refused,  he  sought 
the  arbitration  of  the  English  courts  in  the  matter. 
Hence,  the  righteous  indignation  of  McHenry,  and 
the  discovery  that  Receiver  Jewett  was  a  fraudulent 
Receiver  and  a  corrupt  manager,  and  the  litigation 
hindering  and  endeavoring  to  prevent  any  reorgani- 
zation of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  that  would  for- 
ever destroy  the  McHenry  interest  and  influence  was 
the  outcome. 

THE    SALE THE    STRUGGLE    TO    PREVENT    IT. 

In  all  the  history  of  Erie  in  the  courts  there  is  no 
record  of  such  a  struggle  as  the  opponents  of  the 
Jewett  Receivership  made  to  prevent  the  sale  of  the 
Erie  Railway  and  its  property,  or  to  change  the 
terms  and  conditions  of  the  sale,  between  the  time 
the  public  notice  of  the  sale  was  given  until  and  up 
to  the  very  hour  of  the  day  it  at  last  took  place. 
The  struggle  began  January  18,  1878.  Judge  James 
T.  Brady,  in  the  Supreme  Court,  at  New  York  City, 
granted  an  order  postponing  the  sale  of  the  railroad 
property  sixty  days,  pending  the  outcome  of  litiga- 
tion then  in  the  courts. 

Before  Judge  Barrett,  the  same  day,  in  Supreme 
Court  Chambers,  Dorman  B.  Eaton  appeared  for  the 
Receiver  in  the  complicated  situation  of  affairs  that 
the  action  of  Attorney-General  Fairchild,  Novem- 
ber, 1877,  had  induced.  Augustus  Schoonmaker, 
Jr.,  had  in  the  meantime  succeeded  Fairchild  as 
Attorney-General  of  New  York,  and  his  opinion  was 
that  the  old  suit  of  the  People  against  the  Erie  (the 
Angell  suit)  should  not  be  reopened,  but  should  be 
discontinued.  Amasa  J.  Redfield,  who  represented 
the  Erie  corporation,  asked  that  the  suit  be  discon- 
tinued, on  the  written  stipulation  made  by  Attorney- 
General  Pratt  in  1875,  by  which  he  granted  leave  to 


discontinue.  Peter  B.  Olney  appeared  on  behalf  of 
Attorney-General  Schoonmaker,  and  read  a  letter 
from  him  to  the  law  firm  of  Barlow  &  Olney,  in 
which  he  expressed  a  wish  to  be  a  passive  agent  in 
the  disposal  of  the  vexing  question,  and  calmly 
handed  the  matter  over  to  the  adjudication  of  the 
court,  upon  the  result  of  which  his  action  would 
abide.  Judge  Barrett,  however,  declined  to  act  as 
the  adviser  of  the  Attorney-General,  and  the  case  was 
adjourned.  January  30th  Turner,  Lee  &  McClure 
and  Amasa  J.  Redfield  appeared  before  Judge  Law- 
rence in  Supreme  Court  Chambers  in  further  argu- 
ment in  opposition  to  the  reopening  of  the  case. 
Peter  B.  Olney,  Ashbel  Green,  and  Gen.  Daniel  E. 
Sickles  represented  the  McHenry  interest.  Judge 
Lawrence  took  the  papers.  Early  in  February 
Attorney-General  Schoonmaker  wrote  Barlow  & 
Olney,  his  representatives  at  New  York,  that  the 
office  of  the  Attorney-General  did  not  exist  for  the 
promotion  of  personal  interests,  and  that  before  he 
consented  to  the  reopening  of  the  Receiver's  ac- 
counts, after  they  had  been  approved  by  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  order  a  reexamination,  he  should 
require  proof  by  affidavit  as  to  why  it  was  sought 
and  what  good  it  was  expected  to  accomplish  or 
how  to  prevent ;  by  whom  the  reaccounting  was 
required,  and  by  what  right  and  when  acquired; 
what  of  the  Receiver's  transactions  were  claimed  to 
be  fraudulent,  and  how  the  claimants  were  injured 
thereby;  and  whether  there  was  not  some  other 
remedy.     The  case  was  never  reopened. 

January  19,  1878,'  Elihu  Root,  as  attorney  for 
Charles  Potter,  Samuel  Bird,  John  Jones,  Christina 
M.  Edwards,  Inslee  A.  Hopper,  James  M.  Durand, 
Augustus  F.  R.  Martin,  Enos  Runyon,  Louis  May, 
and  James  A.  Reilly,  claiming  to  hold  2,000  shares 
of  Erie  stock,  obtained  leave  from  Judge  Barrett  to 
sue  Receiver  Jewett,  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
Company,  and  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  on  complaints 
and  allegations  presented.  These  charged  fraud  and 
mismanagement  sweepingly — fraud  on  Jewett's  part 
in  obtaining  the  office  of  Director  September  24, 
1874;  conspiracy  between  him  and  his  friends  in 
bringing  about  the  Receivership,  when  the  Com- 
pany's earnings  were  more  than  enough  to  meet  all 
its  liabilities,  for  the  purpose  of  making  large  gains 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE  255 

by   means  of  "short"    speculations   in    Erie  stock,  disposal  of   Erie  if  they  succeeded  in  overthrowing 

Jewett's  share  in  the  profits  of  which,  the  complaint  Receiver  Jewett.     All  his  information  was  hearsay, 

alleged,    were,    on    one    occasion,    $70,000,    and    on  as  he  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  any  wrongdoing 

another  $140,000;  fraud  and  irregularity  in  the  fore-  by  an  Erie  officer. 

closure  proceedings;  fraud  on  the  part  of  Jewett  as  While  the  Potter  suit  was  pending  in  the  courts, 
Receiver  in  granting  rebates  to  the  Delaware  and  most  of  the  plaintiffs  in  the  case  made  affidavit  that 
Hudson  Canal  Company,  and  other  shippers  over  their  names  had  been  used  without  their  authority. 
the  Erie;  in  misrepresenting  the  cost  of  the  third  February  19th,  before  ex-Judge  Spencer,  Referee, 
rail  between  West  Junction  and  East  Buffalo;  and  Henry  Arden,  as  counsel  for  Charles  and  William 
in  having  credited  himself  with  the  payment  of  Zaggel  and  George  Talbot,  who  had  small  judgments 
$85,233.85  more  than  it  cost;  in  the  making  of  con-  against  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  objected  to  the 
tracts  with  the  Standard  Oil  Company  and  the  New  continuation  of  the  reaccounting  of  the  Receiver 
Jersey  Lighterage  Company;  in  the  purchase  of  unless  his  clients'  right  to  participate  was  acknowl- 
Pennsylvania  coal  lands;  and  in  putting  numerous  edged  and  allowed.  The  settling  of  this  question 
useless  employees,  including  relatives  and  friends,  in  favor  of  the  claimants  would  disturb  and  render 
on  the  Company's  salary  lists  at  extravagant  salaries,  void  the  entire  foreclosure  proceeding.  It  was  op- 
through  all  of  which  the  expenses  of  operating  the  posed  in  the  Receiver's  interest  by  Charles  L.  Atter- 
road  had  been  unnecessarily  increased  $5,000,000  a  bury,  and  on  behalf  of  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
year.  The  complaint  attacked  the  legality  of  the  Company  by  J.  H.  Henshaw.  February  21st  Ref- 
foreclosure  proceedings,  and  declared  that  the  scheme  eree  Spencer  decided  that  it  must  be  passed  upon 
of  reconstruction  was  promoted  by  fraud  on  and  by  the  Supreme  Court.  Before  it  came  to  adjudica- 
deception  of  the  court.  The  removal  of  Receiver  tion  in  the  courts,  the  judgments  held  by  Arden's 
Jewett  was  demanded,  and  an  injunction  restraining  clients  were  transferred  to  other  parties,  who  dis- 
all  further  proceedings  under  the  foreclosure  was  posed  of  them  to  Receiver  Jewett.  Elihu  Root  had 
asked  for.  become  interested  in  the  case  as  counsel,  and  on 
The  defendants  in  the  suit  obtained  an  order  for  April  4,  1878,  before  Referee  Spencer,  denounced 
the  examination  of  James  A.  Reilly,  McHenry's  the  transaction  as  merely  one  to  cover  up  the  Re- 
agent,  and  Freeling  H.    Smith  was  appointed   Ref-  ceiver's  accounts. 

eree  to  conduct  it.  Counsel  for  the  defendants  were  As  something  of  a  relief  to  the  monotony  of  the 
particularly  anxious  to  obtain  from  Reilly  the  names  Receivership  litigation,  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
of  the  railway  officials  from  whom  he  had  obtained  Company  applied  to  Judge  Donahue,  February  26, 
the  information  on  which  the  allegations  of  the  com-  1878,  for  an  order  directing  Receiver  Jewett  to  pay 
plaint  in  the  Potter  suit  were  based.  He  declined  it  $7,500  of  the  Erie's  money  in  his  hands  to  defray 
to  answer.  The  Referee  held  that  he  must  answer  legal  expenses  the  Trust  Company  had  been  under, 
the  question  or  be  committed  for  contempt.  Elihu  owing  to  the  annoying  and  harassing  lawsuits  the 
Root,  Reilly's  counsel,  then  obtained  an  order  from  affairs  of  the  Company  had  involved  the  Trust  Corn- 
Judge  Lawrence,  January  31st,  directing  Receiver  pany  in,  because  it  had  interested  itself  as  Trustee  in 
Jewett  to  show  cause  why  Reilly's  examination  efforts  to  straighten  out  such  affairs,  and  inasmuch 
should  not  be  set  aside  or  restricted  in  its  scope,  as  it  had  thus  far  received  only  $4, 500  toward  such 
The  matter  came  before  Judge  Donahue  February  expenses.  Judge  Donahue  granted  the  order. 
1st,  but  he  declined  to  interfere  in  the  matter  because  The  return  of  the  order  to  show  cause  why  James 
the  order  of  Reference  had  not  been  made  by  him,  McHenry  should  not  be  admitted  as  a  party  to  the 
and  because  he  considered  the  Referee  fully  com-  suits  of  the  Attorney-General,  the  Farmers'  Loan 
petent.  Reilly,  February  9th,  testified  that  he  was  and  Trust  Company,  and  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis 
acting  in  the  interest  of  McHenry,  General  Sickles,  against  the  Company,  and  also  why  the  sale  of  the 
and  General  Barrett,  who  had  an  agreement  as  to  the  railroad  should  not  be  further  postponed,  was  argued 


256 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


before  Judge  Lawrence  in  the  Supreme  Court  Cham- 
bers, March  20,  1S78.  John  A.  Davenport  appeared 
for  McHenry.  William  Wallace  MacFarland  repre- 
sented Mr.  Jewett,  and  objected  to  the  proceei 
as  being  simply  a  device  to  secure  the  postponement 
ot  the  sale  of  the  road.  The  matter  was  adjourned 
until  next  da}-,  when  a  decision  was  rendered  by 
■  Daniels  denying  McIIenry's  motion,  on  the 
ground  that  if  McHenry  and  his  associates  had  any 
just  grievance  it  had  its  remedy  in  the  Monroe 
County  suit,  Judge  James  T.  Brady  having  sustained 
McHenry  in  that  action  the  same  day,  denying  the 
motion  of  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company 
to  make  permanent  Judge  Donahue's  injunction 
restraining  McHenry  from  further  proceedings  in 
that  suit.  In  denying  the  Trust  Company's  motion, 
Judge  Brady  held  that  the  charges  of  fraud  and  mis- 
management on  the  part  of  the  Receiver  made  in  the 
complaint  in  that  suit  "are  sufficient  in  substance  to 
justify  the  relief  demanded  (if  true);  and  whether 
the\-  are  true  or  not  is  an  issue  which  the  plaintiffs 
in  that  suit  have  the  right  to  present  and  to  have 
determined  therein."  He  held  that  the  Trust  Com- 
pany could  not  be  allowed  to  prevent  the  investi- 
gation in  regard  to  the  performance  of  the  trust. 
March  23d  Judge  Brady  dissolved  Judge  Donahue's 
injunction.  McHenry  appealed  from  Judge  Dan- 
iels's decision  to  the  General  Term,  where,  April 
iSth,  Judge  Lawrence  decided  that  he  had  no  case, 
and  denied  his  application. 

March  21st  the  application  of  Albert  de  Betz, 
Morit/.  Lewin  Borchard,  and  Jules  Levita,  foreign 
bondholders,  claiming  to  own  $345,00x3  of  the  second 
consolidated  mortgage  bonds,  to  be  made  parties  to 
the  foreclosure  suit,  to  present  charges  against  the 
Receiver,  examine  his  accounts,  etc.,  was  granted 
by  Judge  Daniels.  The  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
Company  disputed  the  claim  of  these  plaintiffs  to  be 
bona-fide  bondholders. 

March  22d  another  great  array  of  legal  talent 
appeared  in  the  next  move  in  the  McHenry  litiga- 
tion before  Judge  Lawrence.  In  McHenry's  employ 
were  Aaron  J.  Vanderpoel,  Ashbel  Green,  Daniel  E. 
Sickles,  Elihu  Root,  and  John  A.  Davenport.  The 
Receiver  had  in  his  interest  William  Wallace  Mac- 
Farland and  Dorman  B.  Eaton.      Herbert  B.  Turner 


and  George  F.  Comstock  looked  after  the  Trust 
Company's  interests.  Peter  B.  Olncy  and  Luke  F. 
Cozans  represented  the  Attorney-General,  who  had 
been  made  a  party  to  the  suit.  Mr.  Cozans  asked 
for  an  adjournment.  Mr.  Vanderpoel  insisted  that 
if  an  adjournment  was  allowed,  the  sale  of  the  rail- 
road should  be  postponed,  as  it  was  proposed  by  the 
Receiver,  he  said,  to  sell  $19,000,000  of  property  not 
covered  by  the  mortgages  under  which  the  fore- 
closure was  obtained.  Postponement  of  the  sale  was 
opposed  by  ex-Judge  Comstock  and  Mr.  MacFar- 
land. Judge  Lawrence  withheld  his  decision,  and 
on  Monday,  March  24th,  Judge  Daniels  granted  an 
order  based  on  the  suit  of  Albert  de  Betz,  Moritz 
Lewin  Borchard,  and  Jules  Levita,  the  alleged  for- 
eign bondholders,  postponing  the  sale  of  the  railroad 
thirty  days.  On  the  contention  that  they  were  not 
bondholders,  William  Allen  Butler  was  appointed 
Referee  to  ascertain  whether  the  plaintiffs  in  the 
action  were  bona-fidc  bondholders;  to  report  on  the 
amount  of  lawful  indebtedness  incurred  by  the  Re- 
ceiver in  the  execution  of  his  trust,  properly  con- 
stituting a  lien  upon  the  mortgaged  premises  prior 
to  the  lien  of  the  second  consolidated  mortgage;  on 
the  executory  contracts  properly  made  by  the  Re- 
ceiver, subject  to  which  the  mortgaged  property 
should  be  sold ;  on  the  charges  against  the  Receiver, 
and  the  items  of  his  accounts,  etc. ;  and  to  report  a 
particular  description  of  the  property  which  should 
properly  be  sold  under  the  judgment,  and  the  amount 
of  indebtedness  and  of  outstanding  bonds  and  cou- 
pons secured  by  the  mortgage. 

April  4,  1878,  Henry  Arden,  of  counsel  for  de 
Betz,  Borchard,  and  Levita,  at  a  meeting  before  the 
Referee,  sought  to  have  his  clients  represented  there, 
but  as  they  had  not  yet  established  their  claim  as 
bondholders  before  Referee  Butler,  Referee  Spencer 
ruled  that  they  had  no  right  to  appear. 

The  postponement  of  the  sale  for  thirty  days  was 
made  absolute.  In  case  the  counsel  on  behalf  of  the 
Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company  should  stipulate 
to  deduct  from  the  amount  of  the  judgment  such 
sums  as  should  be  found  by  Referee  Butler  not 
proper  charges  prior  to  the  mortgage,  and  also  to 
deduct  any  sums  improperly  allowed  to  the  Receiver, 
besides  stipulating  that  the  applicants  should,  if  they 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


257 


chose,  be  entitled  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  the 
reorganization  scheme,  no  further  postponement 
should  be  allowed.  If  the  Trust  Company  should 
refuse  to  make  such  stipulations,  the  sale  would 
stand  further  postponed  until  the  coming  in  of  the 
Referee's  report.     The  stipulations  were  agreed  to. 

April  2nd  Henry  Arden  came  to  the  front  again 
as  the  attorney  of  John  Henry  Brown  and  F.  W. 
Isaacson,  of  London,  who,  as  alleged  stockholders 
in  the  Erie,  also  professed  to  be  fearful  of  the  result 
to  their  interests  of  the  sale  of  the  railroad,  peti- 
tioned for  a  postponement  of  the  sale,  and  a  reopen- 
ing of  the  decree  of  foreclosure.  General  Sickles, 
for  McHenry,  was  the  backer  of  Arden  in  the  latest 
effort,  and  all  the  old  McHenry  charges  were  re- 
hashed. The  good  faith  of  the  action  was  doubted 
by  the  Receiver's  counsel,  and  Judge  Potter  ad- 
journed the  hearing  until  9  o'clock  A.M.,  April  24,  at 
noon  on  which  day  the  Erie  sale  was  to  be  held.  The 
counsel  for  the  petitioners  were  A.  J.  Vanderpoel, 
ex-Judge  James  Emott,  Ashbel  Green,  Daniel  E. 
Sickles,  Elihu  Root,  William  A.  Beach,  H.  L.  Bur- 
nett, and  Henry  Arden.  In  opposition  were  ex- 
Judge  George  F.  Comstock,  Herbert  B.  Turner, 
William  Wallace  MacFarland,  E.  R.  Bacon,  and 
John  H.  Henshaw. 

When  Judge  Potter,  pursuant  to  adjournment, 
opened  Supreme  Court  Chambers  that  morning  to 
hear  the  continuation  of  the  argument  for  a  post- 
ponement of  the  sale  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company's 
property,  few,  if  any,  of  the  large  number  of  persons 
present  had  any  idea  that  the  matter  would  be  so 
summarily  disposed  of  as  to  permit  the  sale  to  take 
place  at  the  time  advertised.  The  argument  was 
resumed  in  such  a  stead)',  thoroughgoing  manner 
that  it  bade  fair  to  last  all  day,  if  not  longer.  Ex- 
Judge  Comstock  spoke  in  defence  of  the  motives  and 
conduct  of  those  opposed  to  McHenry's  attacks. 
William  A.  Beach  followed  in  a  long  speech,  insisting 
on  the  rights  of  the  stockholders,  who,  he  claimed, 
should  have  been  notified  of  what  property  was  to 
be  sold  in  time  to  enable  them  to  form  some  kind  of 
combination  to  protect  their  interests.  Mr.  Beach 
concluded  his  remarks  at  11.35  A.M.  Then  ex-Judge 
Emott  spoke  a  few  words  on  the  necessity  of  post- 
poning the  sale.  Twenty  minutes  before  noon 
17 


Judge    Potter    put    an    end    to    the    discussion    by 
saying : 

"  This  is  a  very  important  matter.  I  have  had 
little  opportunity  to  give  it  any  thought  whatever, 
and  only  such  as  occurred  in  the  progress  of  this 
discussion.  It  seems  this  decree  was  taken  last 
November,  and  from  that  time  to  this  there  have 
been  various  applications,  and  now  this  one  is  made 
just  at  the  eve  of  sale.  If  any  injustice  is  done  by 
the  sale,  any  fraud  practised,  or  any  mistake  made, 
the  courts  can  relieve  against  it.  I  think  the  sale 
should  take  place." 

There  was  a  sensation  in  court  at  this  abrupt 
decision,  which  seemed  to  stun  the  counsel  on  both 
sides.  In  a  moment,  however,  the  counsel  favoring 
the  sale  made  a  rush  for  the  door  of  the  court-room, 
and  as  soon  as  they  reached  the  corridors  they  tele- 
graphed to  have  the  sale  proceeded  with. 

An  immense  crowd  had  gathered  in  the  Exchange 
salesroom  by  noon  to  witness  the  sale  of  the  great 
railway  at  public  action.  The  sale  was  to  be  under 
judgments  of  foreclosure  obtained  by  the  Farmers' 
Loan  and  Trust  Company  of  New  York  as  Trustee 
for  the  second  consolidated  mortgage  bondholders, 
in  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York;  by  the  Elmira 
Iron  and  Steel  Rolling  Mills  Company,  before  the 
New  Jersey  Master  in  Chancer}-,  and  by  certain  per- 
sons in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Pike  County, 
Pa.,  before  Judge  Henry  M.  Seeley.  Among  those 
present  at  the  sale  were  George  Ticknor  Curtis,  the 
Referee  for  the  sale;  R.  G.  Rolston,  President  of 
the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  and  Samuel 
Sloan,  President  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and 
Western  Railroad  Company.  Receiver  Jewett  was 
not  present.  At  precisely  12  o'clock  Bernard  Smyth, 
the  auctioneer,  mounted  the  rostrum  and  began  read- 
ing the  description  of  the  property,  the  decree  of  the 
court,  and  the  terms  of  sale. 

The  decree  described  the  property  to  be  sold  as 
the  railway  from  Piermont  on  the  Hudson  River 
to  Dunkirk  on  Lake  Erie;  that  from  Newburgh, 
.X.  Y.,  to  the  main  line  at  Greycourt,  N.  Y. ;  that 
from  Hornellsville,  N.  Y.,  to  Attica,  N.  Y.,  and 
"  all  other  railways  and  property  belonging  to  the 
Company  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
Jersey,"   and   numerated   the   incumbrances   on    the 


25» 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN'  AND  THE  LAKES 


property,    viz.:    A    mortgage   of    $2,483,000,    with 

interest  from  November  1,  1877;  a  mortgage  of 
§2.174,000,  with  interest  from  March  I,  [878;  a 
for  $4. 852,000,  with  interest  from  March  1, 
.  a  mortgage  for  -  OO,  with  interest  from 

October  1.  1877;  a  mortgage  for  $"09,500,  with 
interest  from  December  1,  1877;  the  Receiver's 
indebtedness  at  the  time  of  sale:  the  debt  to  the 
Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  amounting  to 
$16,656,000  gold,  with  accrued  interest  to  Novem- 
ber 1,  1S77,  aggregating  $2,573,245,  gold,  and  inter- 
est  since  that  date,  and  all  executory  contracts  exist- 
ing at  the  time  of  sale. 

Persons  proposing  to  become  bidders  were  also 
required  to  assume  the  auxiliary  judgments  and 
decrees  obtained  in  the  New  Jersey  Court  of  Chan- 
cer)-, and  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Pike 
County,  Pa. 

During  the  reading  the  auctioneer  was  interrupted 
by  Lawyer  Frank  Piatt  with  a  demand  for  an  inven- 
tory. Referee  Curtis  announced  that  an  inventory 
of  the  property  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  in 
eighteen  large  folio  volumes,  was  at  hand,  and  was 
open  to  the  inspection  of  any  intending  bidder.  No 
one  undertook  the  task.  Auctioneer  Smyth  asked 
for  a  bid.  He  was  interrupted  again  by  Lawyer  Piatt, 
who  entered  a  formal  protest  against  the  sale  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  stockholder 
outside  of  the  Reconstruction  Committee  to  make  a 
bid,  because  no  opportunity  had  been  given  for  an 
examination  of  the  inventor}-.  Auctioneer  Smyth 
took  counsel  with  ex-Judge  Comstock,  and  on  his 
advice  proceeded  with  the  sale. 

Fx-Governor  Edwin  D.  Morgan  bid  $5,000,000. 
Mr.  Piatt  bid  $5,500,000.  Ex-Governor  Morgan 
followed  with  a  bid  of  $6,000,000.  The  auctioneer 
gave  time  for  any  further  bidder  to  announce  his 
bid,  but  none  was  made,  and  the  property,  rights, 
franchises,  etc.,  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  were 
knocked  down  to  ex-Governor  Morgan  for  $6,000,000, 
the  actual  purchasers  being  ex-Governor  Morgan, 
David  A.  Wells,  and  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  of  the  Recon- 
struction Committee.  Lx-Governor  Morgan  at  once 
drew  his  check  on  the  National  Hank  of  Commerce 
of  New  York  City  for  $720,000,  and  handed  it  to 
Referee  Curtis,  who  sent  it  to  the  bank  for  certifica- 


tion. When  it  was  returned  certified,  the  prelim- 
inary papers  were  signed  on  both  sides,  and  the 
assemblage  quietly  dispersed.  The  entire  proceed- 
ings occupied  just  one  hour. 

The  sale  was  confirmed  by  the  court  April  25, 
1S7S.  April  27th  articles  of  incorporation  of  the  new- 
Company  were  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  and  then  the  Purchasing  Trustees  formally 
conveyed  the  property  to  the  new  Company — the 
New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Corn- 
pan}- — and  the  Erie  Railway  Company  was  no  more. 
At  10.30  o'clock,  April  27th,  a  meeting  of  incorpo- 
rators of  the  new  Company  was  held  at  ex-Governor 
Morgan's  orifice,  54  Exchange  Place.  Those  present 
were  R.  Suydam  Grant,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie,  Hugh 
J.  Jewett,  John  Taylor  Johnston,  Edwin  D.  Morgan, 
Cortlandt  Parker,  Homer  Ramsdell,  Samuel  Sloan, 
Henry  G.  Stebbins,  George  F.  Tallman,  J.  Lowber 
Welsh,  David  A.  Wells,  William  Walter  Phelps, 
Charles  Dana,  J.  Frederick  Pierson,  Theron  R. 
Butler,  and  James  J.  Goodwin.  The  absentees  were 
Herman  R.  Baltzer,  who  was  in  Europe;  John  B. 
Brown,  of  Portland,  Me. ;  Thomas  Dickson,  of  Scran- 
ton,  Pa.  ;  Asa  Packer,  of  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa.  ;  Giles 
W.  Hotchkiss,  of  Binghamton,  and  Marshall  0. 
Roberts.  The  following  members  of  the  English 
Reconstruction  Committee  were  also  named  in  the 
articles  as  incorporators:  Sir  Edward  William  Wat- 
kin,  M.P.  ;  Oliver  Gourlay  Miller;  Henry  Rawson ; 
John  Kynaston  Cross,  M.P.  ;  John  Westlake,  Q.C. ; 
Peter  M.  Logan,  M.P.;  Benjamin  Whitworth,  M.P., 
and  Thomas  WiLde  Powell.  At  this  meeting  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  this  Board  tender  to  Hon.  Hugh  J.  Jewett  its 
gratitude  and  sincere  thanks  for  his  able,  wise,  and  energetic 
administration  of  the  property  and  affairs  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company,  both  as  President  and  Receiver. 

Resolved,  That  we  extend  to  him  the  emphatic  assurance  of 
our  entire  respect  and  confidence,  and  we  denounce  as  utterly 
false,  malicious,  and  defamatory  the  various  loose,  vague,  and 
general  charges  of  mismanagement  and  misconduct  that  have 
been  brought  against  him  in  the  course  of  the  litigation  in  op- 
position  t'>  the  scheme  of  reconstruction,  and  in  various  news- 
papers published  in  London. 

Hugh  J.  Jewett  was  elected  President  <>f  the  new 
Board,  and  A.  R.  Macdonough  Secretary.  Bird  W. 
Spencer   was   named    for  Treasurer,  but   action   as  in 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE  259 

regard    to    that    office,    Vice-President,    and    other  Attorney-General   Fairchild  in  November,  1877,  had 

officials,    was    postponed    until    a    future    meeting,  been  continued  from  time  to  time  until  May  20,  1878, 

Shipman,  Barlow,  Larocque  &  MacFarland  were  con-  when,  on  motion  of  the  Attorney-General  (Augustus 

tinued  as  counsel  to  the  corporation.      The  benefits  W.  Schoonmaker  having  succeeded  Charles  S.  Fair- 

ol    the    reorganization   remained    open   to  all    inter-  child  in  that  office),  against  the  protest  of  the  oppos- 

ested    in    the    property   who    chose    to    unite    in    it.  ing  counsel,  Judge  Donahue  issued  a  further  order 

Nearly   all   the  bondholders   and  a   majority  of   the  appointing  Judge  Spencer  Referee  in  the   People's 

stockholders  had  given  their  adhesion  to  the  plan,  action,   under  which  order  the  accounts  of  the  Re- 

and  all  others  had  six  months  in  which  to  come  in,  ceiver  already  rendered  were  to  be  accepted,  but  the 

by  paying   the  4  per  cent,  installment   on   the  pre-  Attorney-General  was  clothed  with  power  to  reexam- 

ferred  stock  and  6  per  cent,  on  the  common.  ine  them   and   require  more  specific   accounts   from 

May  7th  Judge  Donahue  confirmed  the  Receiver's  the  Receiver,  if  he  thought  advisable,  and  to  ascer- 

accounts,    and   authorized   the   transfer  of   the   Erie  tain  what  property  or  assets  Mr.  Jewett  as  Receiver 

Railway  Company's  assets  to  the  New  York,  Lake  had    disposed   of  or  held,   not   covered   by  the  lien 

Erie  and  Western   Railroad   Company.      Mr.  Jewett  of  the  mortgages  foreclosed,  and  what  interest  the 

was   discharged    from    further   liability  and   duty  as  Farmers'    Loan   and    Trust    Company   had    in    such 

Receiver,  except  as  concerned  the  discharge  of  his  assets  or  property,  the   Referee  to  report  the  testi- 

indebtedness   as   such   Receiver,   and   the   defending  mony  and  his  opinion  to  the  court.     This  order  also 

and  prosecuting  of  suits  against  or  by  him   in  that  gave  the  Attorney-General  leave  to  ask,  if  he  deemed 

capacity.  it  expedient,  for  the  appointment  of  a  Receiver  in 

George  Ticknor  Curtis  was  awarded,  May  16,  1878,  place    of    Mr.    Jewett.     The   Attorney-General    saw 

by  Judge   Donahue,  $13,50x3   as  fees  and  $3,500  as  nothing  in  the  situation   that  warranted  him  to  take 

expenses  for  clerk  hire,  etc.,  for  his  services  as  Ref-  any  action  under  Judge  Donahue's  order, 

eree  in  the  foreclosure  and  sale  of  the  Erie  Railway  The  action   under  which  this  order  was  obtained 

property.  was  the  result  of  allegations  made  subsequent  to  the 

April  21,  1878,  Judge  Van  Vorst,  at  Special  Term  sale  of  the  Erie   Railway,  that  the  Receiver  had  in- 

of   the   Supreme   Court,    gave    judgment    for  $103,-  eluded  in  the  properties  sold   under  the  foreclosure 

647.50,  with  interest  from  August  14,  1877,  to  Henry  a  large  and  valuable  amount  which  was  not  subject 

Bischoffscheim,  successor  to  Bischoffscheim  &  Gold-  to  lien,   which  action   made  the  sale   irregular,   and 

schmidt,    for    services    in    negotiating    for    Receiver  furnished  ample  grounds  to  have  it  declared  illegal 

Jewett   bonds  under  the  agreement   with   President  and  void.     The  property  alleged  to  have  been  thus 

Watson,  May  8,  1872.     The  court  gave  Mr.  Jewett  sold  was  the  Grand  Opera  House  property,  the  river 

leave  to  answer  on  paying  costs.      May  3d  Bischoff-  front  property,  and  the  leasehold  of  the  property  in 

scheim's  counsel  applied  to  Judge  Donahue  for  an  West   Street,    New   York,   occupied    as   the   general 

order  compelling  Mr.  Jewett  to  deposit  a  sufficient  offices  of  the   Erie   Railway   Company;    real   estate 

sum    to    meet    the    possible    outcome   of    that   suit,  along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  in  New  York  and  New 

Judge    Donahue   denied    the    petition,    and    decided  Jersey;  leaseholds  of  various  kinds,  and  the  terminal 

that   Bischoffscheim's  success  on   the  first   suit  was  property    at    Buffalo;    coal    lands    in    Pennsylvania; 

fatal,    because   it    showed    that    the    companies   that  docks,  stock-yards,  car  companies ;  securities  held  as 

were   parties   to   the   foreclosure   suit   in   which    Mr.  collateral  in  trust,  book  accounts  against  McHenry, 

Jewett   was   Receiver   were   not  parties  to  Bischoff-  the  London   Banking  Association,  the  Atlantic  and 

scheim's  suit,    which  put  an  end  to   that   harassing  Great  Western  Railroad  Company,  and  the  Hillside 

move  in  the  McHenry  warfare.  Iron  and  Coal  Company;  patent  rights,  etc. 

The    examination    in     the    cancelling    of    Referee  Judge  Spencer  filed  his  report  as  Referee,  October 

Spencer's   report   on    the    Receivership   and    the  re-  31,  1879.      It  was  accompanied  by  his  opinion  on  the 

opening  of  Receiver  Jewett's  accounts,  requested  by  questions  raised  by  the  Attorney-General.      He  held 


200 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


that  all  the  property  alleged  to  have  been  sold  ille- 
gally was  covered  by  the  mortgage,  and  passed  by 
losure  sale,  and  that  consequently  Mr.  Jewett 
did  not  acquire,  hold,  or  dispose  of  any  property  or 
assets  not  covered  by  the  mortgage  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  to  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Com- 
pan\ .  The  opinion  of  the  Referee  was  sustained 
and  approved  by  Judge  Donahue,  and  confirmed  by 
him  November  25,  1879.  The  same  day  Judge 
Donahue  confirmed  the  acts  of  the  Receiver, 
and  placed  him  in  possession  of  the  new  Com- 
pany. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  Referee,  the 
amount  of  cash  received  by  Receiver  Jewett  on  May 
26,  1876,  as  part  of  the  assets  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company,  was  §52,495.42.  During  his  term  as  Re- 
ceiver he  sold  securities  to  the  amount  of  §62,360.47. 
From  May  26,  1875,  to  May  31,  1878,  he  borrowed 
on  notes  and  certificates  to  meet  the  expenses  and 
obligations  of  the  Receivership,  $13,342,088.29.  He 
repaid  those  loans  during  that  time  to  the  amount 
of  §1 1,970,710.32.  At  the  close  of  his  Receivership 
he  was  indebted  on  such  notes  and  certificates 
$1,371,372.97. 

The  Receiver's  disbursements  during  his  term 
were  for  the  current  expenses  of  the  management 
and  operation  of  the  railroad ;  the  expenses  of  real 
estate;  principal  and  interest  on  money  borrowed 
from  time  to  time;  payments  on  indebtedness  exist- 
ing at  the  time  of  the  Receivership,  and  subse- 
quently, under  direction  of  the  court;  payments  for 
purchase  of  capital  stock  and  bonds  of  other  cor- 
porations, by  order  of  court;  advances  made  to  coal 
companies,  purchase  of  rolling  stock,  real  estate, 
rails,  etc.,  and  all  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  oper- 
ation of  the  road.  The  aggregate  amount  thus  dis- 
bursed was  $10, 867,326. 

Mr.  [ewett  was  continued  as  Receiver  by  order  of 
Judge  Donahue,  on  petition  of  the  Farmers'  Loan 
and  Trust  Company,  in  proceedings  brought  to  trans- 
fer the  property  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  to 
the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad 
Company,  although  he  was  President  of  the  latter 
Company.  This  was  to  enable  him  to  defend  .suits 
and  settle  up  much  unfinished  business  of  the  Re- 
ceivership,    lie  was  discharged  as  Receiver  of  the 


Erie  Railway  Company,  however,  and  his  bondsman 
released. 

The  Receivership  proceedings  were  begun  under 
Attorney-General  Pratt,  continued  through  the 
administration  of  Attorney-General  Fairchild,  and 
terminated  under  Attorney-General  Schoonmakcr. 
The  regular  counsel  engaged  in  them  were:  Amasa 
J.  Parker,  of  Albany,  and  Luke  F.  Cozzens,  of  New 
York,  for  the  Attorney-General;  Shipman,  Barlow, 
Larocque  &  MacFarland  for  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany; Dorman  B.  Eaton  for  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis; 
Charles  L.  Atterbury  for  the  Receiver;  and  Turner, 
Kirkland  &  McClure  for  the  Farmers'  Loan  and 
Trust  Company.  The  Erie  paid  in  counsel  fees 
during  the  Receivership  upward  of  $400,000. 

Thus  the  Erie  Railway  disappeared  after  seven- 
teen years  of  existence,  the  lingering  victim  of  what 
it  would  be  the  broadest  charity  to  designate  as  gross 
mismanagement  on  the  part  of  those  into  whose 
hands  the  larger  part  of  its  career  had  been  confided. 
If  it  had  been  otherwise,  the  Erie  Railway  Company 
would  not  have  died  a  disreputable  bankrupt,  but 
would  have  existed  as  a  profitable,  influential  cor- 
poration, with  an  honored  and  unsullied  name.  The 
Erie  Railway  Company  had  succeeded  the  unfortu- 
nate New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  which 
had  also  closed  a  memorable  career  under  a  cloud. 
It  started  forward  practically  unhampered  by  its 
obligations.  Its  funded  debt  was  $19,831,500,  its 
capital  stock  being  the  old  New  York  and  Erie's 
chartered  capital  and  the  addition  of  the  preferred 
stock  under  the  terms  of  reorganization,  altogether 
$19,973,200.  There  was  no  floating  debt.  The 
cost  of  the  road  and  equipment  up  to  January  1, 
1862,  was  $39,704,700.  The  road  earned  a  dividend 
of  5  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock  in  1862;  3^  per 
cent,  on  the  preferred  and  y/2  on  the  common  stock 
in  the  first  half  of  1863;  7  per  cent,  on  the  preferred 
and  8  per  cent,  on  the  common  stock  in  1S64;  the 
same  on  both  stocks  in  1865  ;  7  per  cent,  on  the  pre- 
ferred stock  in  1866,  and  the  same  in  1867.  From 
that  time  until  its  sale  in  1878,  the  Erie  had  never 
earned  a  dividend,  although,  as  we  have  seen,  divi- 
dends were  declared  and  paid.  After  the  years  of 
stock    jobbing,    corrupt    manipulation    for   personal 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


261 


ends,  and  management  for  individual  revenue  only 
had  at  last  done  their  work,  and  in  consequence  of 
it,  the  Erie  Railway  died  a  bankrupt.  The  Com- 
pany's accounts  showed  that  the  capital  stock  had 
been  increased  to  more  than  four  times  its  original 
amount,  and  was  $86,536,910.  The  funded  debt 
was  $54,271,814,  or  nearly  three  times  what  it  was 
in  1862,  and  the  floating  debt  was  $1,159,060.46. 
Moreover,  the  cost  of  the  road  and  its  equipment 
stood  charged  on  the  books  at  $1 17,445,120.54 — an 
addition  of  nearly  $80,000,000  in  seventeen  years,  or 
about  $4,500,000  a  year,  alleged  to  have  been  ex- 
pended in  improvements  and  construction,  when  the 
actual  condition  of  the  railroad,  its  equipment,  its 
capacity,  and  its  belongings  generally,  gave  abun- 
dant evidence  that  if  more  than  $5,000,000  had  been 
appropriated  to  honest  construction  and  equipment 
in  all  these  years,  the  Erie  Railway  Company  had 
made  a  bad  bargain. 


IV. 


THE    BURDEN    TOO    HEAVY. 


The  period  of  the  Jewett  Receivership  had  been 
marked  by  many  disturbing  events,  not  the  least  of 
which  was  the  memorable  strike  of  July,  1877,  which 
paralyzed  the  business  of  the  Company  for  nearly 
two  weeks,  a  time  as  much  longer  being  required  to 
so  arrange  operations  on  the  road  that  traffic  could 
be  regularly  resumed.  The  Centennial  year  of  1876 
came  during  the  Receivership,  when  the  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  carried  5,000,000  passengers  without 
a  single  passenger  receiving  injury  or  a  piece  of  bag- 
gage being  lost.  Notwithstanding  the  great  busi- 
ness of  that  year,  the  road  was  operated  at  a  loss  of 
more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  dollars,  the 
deficit  the  preceding  year  having  been  over  $1,350,- 
OOO.  The  deficit  of  the  strike  year  of  1877  was 
$1,300,000.  The  business  for  1878  up  to  June  1st, 
the  day  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western 
Railroad  Company's  life  began,  showed  a  loss  of 
$203,000. 

The  first  statement  of  operations  made  by  Mr. 
Jewett  as  President  of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie 
and  Western  Railroad  Company,  was  for  the  period 
between  June  1  and  September  30,  1878,  and  was 
as  follows:  Gross  earnings,  $5,192,681.22;  operating 


expenses,  $3,272,748.77;  total  net  earnings  from 
all  sources,  $1,930,479.93;  rentals  on  leased  lines, 
$311,047.75;  total  net  revenue,  $1,619,432.18.  De- 
ducting interest  on  mortgages  and  loans  (not  bonds), 
premium  on  gold,  etc.  ($47,482.02),  and  interest  on 
the  funded  debt  ($743,403.70),  left  a  balance  to  the 
credit  of  profit  and  loss  of  $828,546.40.  Combining 
the  eight  months  of  the  fiscal  year,  the  operations 
for  which  were  reported  separately  under  the  Re- 
ceivership, the  statement  showed  earnings  for  the 
year  of  $15,644,978.09;  operating  expenses,  $10,635,- 
863.67;  net  earnings,  $5,000,114.42;  net  revenue, 
deducting  "  losses  from  various  sources,"  $4,913,- 
075.69.  Deducting  interest,  rent  claims,  expenses 
of  foreclosure,  reorganization,  etc.,  the  profit  for  the 
year  was  $625,431.77.  The  gross  earnings  of  the 
leased  and  unleased  lines  and  branches  were  esti- 
mated at  between  $4,000,000  and  $5,000,000.  The 
leased  lines  showed  a  net  loss  of  $283,744.26.  The 
funded  debt,  excluding  prior  lien  bonds  of  $2,500, - 
OOO,  was  reported  at  $66,818,203.69,  which  made, 
total  funded  debt  and  stock  indebtedness,  $152,072,- 
603.69.  Taking  the  circumstances  all  together,  Mr. 
Jewett  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  Company's  pros- 
pects were  fairly  encouraging. 

But  the  first  six  months  of  1879  failed  to  bring  a 
realization  of  this  hope.  The  earnings  had  fallen  off 
largely.  The  quantity  of  business  was  large,  but 
transportation  rates  were  low,  owing  to  a  war  of 
rates  between  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and  the 
New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad  Com- 
panies. The  work  of  improving  the  terminal  facilities 
at  Jersey  City,  New  York,  and  Buffalo,  which  in- 
cluded the  building  of  costly  grain  elevators,  was 
progressing,  as  was  the  important  work  of  complet- 
ing the  double-tracking  of  the  line.  These,  and 
many  other  needed  improvements,  were  absorbing 
largely  of  the  Company's  earnings.  "  But,"  said 
Mr.  Jewett,  in  June  of  that  year,  "  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  plans  of  the  reorganization  cannot  be  made 
a  perfect  success,  or  why  the  Company  should  not 
be  able  to  comply  with  all  the  obligations  which  it 
assumes  in  adopting  such  a  plan." 

The  question  of  leasing  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railroad  was  the  uppermost  one  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Company  during  1879.     This  company 


262  BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 

.  in  the  hands  of  a  Receiver  for  the  third  time,  January,  1880,  that  those  proceedings  culminated  in 
and  its  prospects  wore  anything  but  bright.  The  the  sale  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  property. 
courts  of  three  Stati  s  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  reorganization  of  the  company  as  the  New 
and  Ohio— were  trying  to  straighten  out  its  affairs,  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company, 
and  had  been  so  engaged  for  three  years.  The  com-  For  more  than  three  years  after  that  the  new  com- 
pany owed  $6o,O0O,O0O.  Reorganization  could  soon  pany  was  sanguine  enough  to  believe  that  it  could 
be  effected  if  the  company  could  raise  between  exist  as  a  corporation  independent  of  permanent 
§4,000,000  and  $5,000,000.  The  New  York.  Lake  coalition  with  any  other  company,  but  at  last  recog- 
Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Company  was  willing  nized  the  impossibility  of  it,  and  April  6,  1883, 
and  anxious  to  guarantee  and  pay  the  interest  on  agreed  to  a  lease  of  its  property  to  the  Erie  for 
bonds  to  the  necessary  amount  in  return  for  a  lease  ninety-nine  years.  The  property  thus  acquired  by 
of  the  railroad,  although  the  road  had  scarcely  suffi-  the  Erie  was  sorely  dilapidated,  but  it  was  the  Erie's 
cient  equipment  to  run  a  train  over  a  division.  The  only  salvation  if  that  Company  were  to  have  ever  a 
United  States  Rolling  Stock  Company  had  been  secure  connection  for  its  Western  business.  The 
organized  some  years  before  to  equip  the  road  with  terms  of  the  lease  were  criticised,  and  even  con- 
broad-gauge  cars,  but  the  railroad  company  had  not  demned  in  many  quarters,  but  the  time  was  at  hand 
paid  the  obligations  due  on  them,  and  the  rolling  when  criticism  of  any  measure  the  Erie  management 
stock  company  had  taken  possession  of  the  cars,  might  favor  was  a  natural  sequence  of  events, 
the -railroad  company  still  owing  $1,000,000  for  the 

use  of  them.     The  proposed  arrangement  between  Toward   the   close   of    1880  the   condition    of   the 

the  Erie  and  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Rail-  Company's  business,  according  to  the  reports,  seem- 

road  Company  was   substantially  that  the  Trustees  ing  to  warrant  it,  foreign  holders  of  preferred  stock 

of  the   latter  were   to   raise  money  on  construction  became  dissatisfied  that  no  dividends  were  paid  on 

bonds    sufficient    to    standard-gauge    the    road    and  such  shares.     President  Jewett  claimed  that  the  true 

equip  it,  which  bonds  were  to  be  placed  at  the  dis-  meaning  of    the   reorganization    plan    was    that   the 

posal  of  the  Erie  for  the  purpose.     The  net  earnings  profits  were  to  be  applied  to   the  improvement  and 

of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  were  to  additions   to   the    Company's   property,    so   that   its 

be  divided  in  proportion  of  two-thirds  to  that  com-  earning  capacity  might  be  increased,  with  the  intent 

pany  and  one-third   to  the   Erie.     The  cost  to  the  of  enhancing  the  interests  of  all  holders  of  obliga- 

latter  Company,    at  a  guarantee  of  6  per  cent,    on  lions,  bond  and  stock,  and   consequently  he  was  not 

kxi.OOO  of  bonds,  $300,000  a  year,  was  regarded  justified   in   diverting  the  profits   for  the  benefit  of 

as   a   mere   bagatelle   in    return    for  an    independent  any  one  class  of  creditors.      He  did,  however,  recom- 

through  trunk  line  connection  to  and  from  the  West,  mend  the  payment  of  the  coupons  on  the  income 

The  proposed  lease  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  West-  bonds,  which  was  done  by  order  of  the  Board,  made 

em   Railroad   to  the   Erie  aroused  James   McHenry  November    30,    1880.      The    stand    taken     by    Mr. 

again.      He   had    induced   his   fellow-countrymen   to  Jewett,  however,  in  the  matter  of  not  paying  divi- 

invest    something   like   $50,000,000  in   the   stock  of  dends,  did  not  tend  to  lessen  the  dissatisfaction  of 

that  company,  and  nearly  $70,000,000  in  its  bonds,  the  foreign  shareholders,  and  the  dissatisfaction  in- 

The  entire   property  was  not,  and   never  had  been,  creased,  so  that  it  took  the  form  of  such  opposition 

worth    $10,000,000.      This   company   had    been    the  to  the  Jewett  management  that   the  Reorganization 

isof  all  McHenry's  litigation  with  the  Erie,  and  Trustees  of  London,  who  held  a  majority  of  the 
lied  him  to  think  that  it  was  likely  to  pass  into  voting  power,  resolved  to  use  it  against  President 
the  control  of  his  hated  foe.  He  and  his  associates,  Jewett  at  the  annual  election  in  1881.  William  H. 
although  in  a  minority,  were  able  to  retard  the  Vanderbilt  was  offered  the  Presidency,  the  English- 
necessary  proceedings  looking  to  a  reorganization  of  men  being  willing  to  throw  the  Erie  into  his  hands, 
the  company  to  such  a  degree  that  it  was  not  until  and  on   his   refusal  to  accept  the  place,   Jay  Gould 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


263 


was  actually  solicited  to  resume  the  control  of  Erie 
that  the  English  stockholders  had  forced  from  him 
in  1872!  Mr.  Gould  declined  the  offer,  time  and 
his  remarkable  facility  having  placed  him  in  charge 
of  better  things.  The  opposition  was  allayed,  how- 
ever, by  Mr.  Jewett  changing  his  policy,  and  at  the 
election  of  1881  the  Jewett  ticket  was  chosen  almost 
unanimously.  The  Board  decided  to  pay  a  dividend 
of  6  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock,  and  the  coupons 
on  income  bonds.  The  new  Directory  was:  Theron 
R.  Butler,  Charles  Dana,  Thomas  Dickson,  Harri- 
son Durkee,  R.  Suydam  Grant,  Jacob  H.  Schiff, 
Solomon  S.  Guthrie,  Hugh  J.  Jewett,  John  Taylor 
Johnston,  William  Martins,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Court- 
landt  Parker,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  William  L.  Strong, 
of  New  York;  Francis  N.  Drake,  of  Corning,  N.  Y. ; 
Homer  Ramsdell,  of  Newburgh,  N.  Y. ;  J.  Lowber 
Welsh,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Messrs.  Schiff,  Martins, 
and  Drake  succeeded  Messrs.  James  R.  Keene,  John 
Frederick  Pierson,  and  James  J.  Goodwin. 

The  year  1882  was  marked  in  the  affairs  of  Erie 
by  a  memorable  rate  war,  and  by  the  efforts  of  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad  Company  and  its  aux- 
iliary contingent  to  cripple  the  Erie  by  closing  to 
it  a}l  connections  west  of  Buffalo  and  Salamanca. 
The  manner  in  which  these  difficulties  were  met  and 
overcome,  handicapped  as  the  Erie  was  by  its  nu- 
merous other  harassing  troubles,  should  stand  con- 
spicuously forward  as  a  manifestation  by  the  Jewett 
rt'gimc  of  extraordinary  genius  in  railway  manage- 
ment. Advantages  that  the  Erie  Company  enjoys 
to-day  are  due,  in  a  large  degree,  to  the  alertness, 
determination,  and  rare  foresight  that  characterized 
the  men  then  in  Erie,  who  found  themselves  pitted 
against  adversaries  whose  strength  and  equipment 
would  have  discouraged  and  disheartened  lesser  men. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders  for  1883 
had  some  exciting  features,  and  it  was  evident  that  a 
cloud  was  rising  on  the  horizon  of  Erie  affairs,  and 
that  it  was  likely  to  gather  in  proportion  and  por- 
tent. Mr.  Jewett  had  the  control  of  affairs  still  in 
his  hands,  but  his  vote  on  the  proxies  he  held  was 
challenged  by  Stockholder  Brenkendorf,  who  came 
to  the  front  when  the  question  of  the  approval  of 
the  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  lease  came 
up.      He  charged  that  the  holdings  were  not  in  the 


names  of  their  rightful  owners.  Mr.  Jewett  was 
obliged  to  swear  that  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge 
and  belief  he  was  entitled  to  vote  on  his  proxies. 
The  lease  was  approved  by  seven-eighths  of  the 
stock  and  bonds  voted.  James  D.  Fish,  President 
of  the  Marine  Bank  of  New  York,  which  had  become 
the  depository  of  the  Erie  funds,  was  elected  to  the 
Board,  in  place  of  ex-Governor  Morgan,  who  had 
died  during  the  year.  Mr.  Jewett,  in  his  statement 
of  the  results  of  the  Company's  business  for  the  year, 
said  the  surplus  earnings  were  $1,265,484.98.  The 
Board  of  Directors  elected  was  composed  of  Theron 
R.  Butler,  Charles  Dana,  F.  N.  Drake,  Thomas 
Dickson,  Harrison  Durkee,  James  D.  Fish,  R.  Suy- 
dam Grant,  James  J.  Goodwin,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie, 
Hugh  J.  Jewett,  John  Taylor  Johnson,  Courtlandt 
Parker,  John  Frederick  Pierson,  Homer  Ramsdell, 
Jacob  H.  Schiff,  William  L.  Strong,  and  J.  Lowber 
Welsh. 

A  dividend  of  6  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock 
was  declared,  payable  in  January,  1884.  President 
Jewrett,  broken  in  health  by  his  labors,  threw  them 
off  for  the  time  and  went  South  after  the  November 
election. 

It  was  evident,  early  in  1884,  that  a  crisis  was  im- 
pending in  Erie  affairs.  The  Jewett  management 
had  been  in  control  nearly  ten  years — the  longest 
continuous  regime  in  the  history  of  the  Erie — and 
the  wonder  was  that  it  had  sustained  itself  so  amaz- 
ingly well.  The  patient  and  accommodating  Eng- 
lish share  and  bondholders  had  once  more  become 
aroused,  and  in  the  spring  of  1884  they  held  a  meet- 
ing at  London,  and  sent  a  committee  to  this  country 
to  investigate  the  Erie  situation,  and  find  out  if  they 
could  if  there  was  any  ground  for  hope  that  Erie 
would  ever  make  any  return  for  all  the  millions  of 
money  that  had  been  delivered  over  to  various  of  its 
alluring  managements.  This  committee  was  T.  W. 
Powell  and  J.  Westlake. 

Rumor  was  busy  all  winter  long  to  the  effect  that 
the  dissatisfaction  with  the  Jewett  management,  its 
methods,  and  the  results  of  its  policy  was  such  that 
its  retirement,  either  voluntary  or  compulsory,  was 
to  come  to  pass  at  an  early  day.  The  statement  was 
put  forward  with  such  positiveness  that  it  had  the 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


bearing  of  indisputable  fact,  that  the  interest  on  the 
second  consolidated  mortgage  bonds,  due  June  1st, 
would  be  passed.  Early  in  the  spring  it  was  declared 
on  the  Street  that  the  Company  was  borrowing 
money,  or  trying  to  borrow  money,  on  commercial 
paper,  to  help  it  over  impending  trouble.  President 
Jewett,  as  late  as  April,  denied  the  prevailing  rumors 
that  the  road  was  in  wretched  condition ;  that  the 
Company  was  borrowing  money  on  commercial  paper 
at  a  large  discount,  or  that  the  management  was  on 
the  eve  of  resigning  at  the  demand  of  dissatisfied 
stockholders,  and  declared  that  the  affairs  of  the 
Company  were  in  perfectly  satisfactory  shape;  that 
it  had  expended  nearly  $14,000,000  in  betterments 
of  its  property  under  his  management,  and  that 
"  President  Jewett  and  the  Board  of  Directors  have 
no  intention  of  resigning,  and  they  know  of  no 
earthly  reason  why  they  should  be  accused  of  such 
an  intention." 

Perhaps,  if  an  entirely  unexpected  termination  in 
the  career  of  highly  accredited  financial  concerns  had 
not  intervened  at  this  critical  time  in  the  affairs  of 
Erie,  time  might  have  borne  out  President  Jewett's 
estimate  of  his  Company's  situation  and  condition ; 
but  the  hand  of  Fate  was  busy.  The  fact  was  that 
the  Company  had  then  applied,  or  did  soon  after- 
ward apply,  to  the  Wall  Street  firm  of  Grant  &  Ward 
for  a  large  loan  on  its  notes,  as  security  for  which 
11,000  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  Cleveland,  Colum- 
bus, Cincinnati  and  Indianapolis  Railroad  Company 
were  deposited  with  the  firm.  Moreover,  the  Erie 
had  placed  with  the  same  firm  §1,150,000  of  the 
bonds  of  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railroad  Com- 
pany, to  be  sold  for  the  Erie's  account.  Pending 
these  negotiations,  on  Ma}-  6,  1S84,  the  Marine 
National  Bank  closed  its  doors,  to  the  consternation 
of  Wall  Street  and  the  entire  financial  world.  This 
was  followed  by  the  immediate  failure  of  Grant  & 
Ward,  whose  transactions  were  closely  allied  to  those 
of  the  bank;  in  fact,  it  was  the  peculiar  transactions 
of  the  house  of  Grant  &  Ward  that  carried  down  the 
bank.  James  D.  Fish,  President  of  the  bank,  was  a 
member  of  the  Erie  Directory.  His  bank  was  also 
the  accredited  depositor)'  for  the  Erie  funds.  In- 
stantly the  direst  reports  affecting  the  affairs  of  the 
Railroad  Company,  as  connected  with  these  failures, 


were  set  afloat,  one  to  the  effect  that  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Company  was  involved  in  a  compromising 
way  with  the  transactions  of  Grant  &  Ward,  through 
his  relations  with  the  Marine  Bank  as  such  officer. 
It  was  found  that  Grant  &  Ward  had  hypothecated 
the  §1,100,000  of  stock  deposited  with  them  by  the 
Company;  had  also  negotiated  the  Company's  notes 
separately,  and  had  hypothecated  the  Chicago  and 
Atlantic  bonds  for  their  own  use  instead  of  nego- 
tiating them  for  the  Erie. 

This  was  most  unfortunate  for  the  Company.  It 
was  in  need;  and  although  President  Jewett  and  the 
Directors  returned  cheering  words  to  all  inquirers, 
and  declared  that  everything  was  all  right,  and  that 
disturbing  rumors  and  untoward  appearances  were 
misleading,  Secretary  MacDonough,  May  23,  1884, 
made  official  public  announcement  that  the  Company 
would  not  paj-  the  interest  on  its  second  consoli- 
dated mortgage  bonds,  due  June  1st.  This,  he  said, 
was  only  a  temporary  postponement,  and  was  made 
necessary  by  the  great  falling  off  in  the  earnings  for 
the  first  half  of  the  year.  Under  the  terms  of  the 
reorganization  of  1878,  payment  of  Erie  bonds  could 
not  be  enforced  for  three  years  after  default,  which 
alone  kept  the  Company  out  of  a  Receiver's  hands 
in  June,  1884.  Following  closely  on  the  heels  of 
this  default,  the  Company,  July  1st,  failed  to  meet 
the  interest  on  its  Car  Trust  bonds,  class  G.  The 
Auditing  Department,  however,  made  optimistic 
statements  to  the  public,  from  which  could  be 
evolved  the  conclusion  that  Erie,  instead  of  being 
in  hard  lines,  was.  actually  in  excellent  form.  The 
fact  was,  though,  that  the  treasury  was  empty,  and 
the  Company  bankrupt.  The  Erie  estate,  by  the 
Company's  official  showing,  was  §150,311,883.15, 
although  a  valuation  one-third  less  than  that  would 
have  been  an  extremely  liberal  one.  A  prominent 
holder  of  Erie  securities  at  this  time  declared  that 
the  Company  "owns  not  more  than  §90,341,859,  and 
its  liabilities  are  §178,089,495. 19.  The  indebtedness 
outside  of  the  stock  is  more  than  the  amount  of  the 
assets,  and  the  stock  is  worthless  and  the  road 
bankrupt."  The  truth  of  the  charge  was  not  chal- 
lenged. 

But  in  spite  of  all  the  disclaimers  that  the  Com- 
pany was  in  straits  or  the  management  unpopular, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


26  = 


or  that  there  was  any  thought  or  intention  of  aban- 
doning its  policy  or  of  changing  its  personnel,  July 
14,  1884,  President  Jewett  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  Board  the  following  letter: 


New  York,  July  14,  18S4. 

To  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Xew   York,  Lake  Erie  and 
Western  Railroad  Company  : 

Gentlemen: — Ten  years  ago  this  day  I  was  elected  Presi- 
dent of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  with  the  understanding 
(which  was  immediately  thereafter  put  in  the  form  of  a  con- 
tract) that  I  was  to  serve  for  a  term  of  ten  years. 

Upon  the  dissolution  of  that  company  and  the  organization 
of  this  company,  that  contract,  perhaps,  became  inoperative, 
but  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  serve  the  company  for  the  full 
time  if  such  service  was  desired,  regardless  of  any  contract 
obligations,  and  so  advised  the  members  of  this  Board.  I, 
however,  never  contemplated  a  longer  official  connection  with 
the  company. 

For  ten  years  I  have  devoted  my  entire  time,  with  all  the 
skill  and  ability  I  am  possessed  of,  to  the  care  and  management 
of  these  companies,  to  the  absolute  and  entire  neglect  of  my 
private  business  and  personal  interests,  looking  forward  to  the 
end  of  the  ten  years  when  I  could  return  to  them,  and,  to  some 
extent,  reinstate  them  to  the  condition  in  which  I  left  them. 
For  some  time  past  I  have,  with  great  care  and  anxiety,  been 
reviewing  the  details  of  the  improvements,  extensions,  and 
management  of  the  properties,  interests,  and  business  of  the 
companies  since  my  connection  with  them,  expecting  to  realize 
that  I  had  made  many  mistakes,  and  fearing  that  I  might  find 
some  of  a  serious  and.  perhaps,  dangerous  character.  That  I 
have  made  mistakes  there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  I  am  gratified 
to  find  and  to  be  able  to  say  that  upon  such  a  careful  review  of 
the  whole  period  I  can  find  no  transaction  of  importance  that, 
with  the  same  lights  only  which  were  then  before  me.  I  would 
not  now  repeat.  With  the  same  lights  and  the  additional  ex- 
perience I  now  have,  in  many  instances  I  would  perhaps  have 
advised  a  different  line  of  action  and  of  policy.  If.  therefore, 
there  was  nothing  else  involved,  and  the  business  of  the  country 
was  in  a  happy  and  prosperous  condition  (which  is  all  that  is 
necessary  to  a  healthy  and  prosperous  condition  of  this  com- 
pany), after  tendering  to  you  my  most  sincere  thanks  for.  and 
unqualified  appreciation  of,  your  uniform  kindness  to  and  co- 
operation with  me  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties.  I 
should  tender  to  you  my  resignation  as  President  of  this  com- 
pany. But  in  view  of  the  disordered  and  disorganized  state  of 
affairs  and  of  business  generally,  as  well  as  of  the  business  and 
interests  of  this  company.  I  can  do  nothing  more  at  present, 
therefore,  than  to  place  before  you  the  facts  and  to  remain 
subject  to  your  will  and  pleasure,  with  the  distinct  understand- 
ing, however,  that  I  cannot  consent  to  a  reelection  so  as  to 
have  devolved  on  me  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  all  the  duties 
of  supervising  and  directing  the  detailed  management  of  the 
various  departments  and  interests  of  the  company.  With  the 
greatest  consideration  and  respect,  I  remain, 

Yours  very  truly. 

H.  J.  Jewett. 


and  R.  Suydam  Grant  to  take  the  matter  into  con- 
sideration, and  to  devise  some  satisfactory  plan  of 
action.  During  their  consideration  of  the  subject 
many  men  of  prominence  in  railway  affairs  were 
mentioned  as  being  men  whose  services  would  be 
desirable  as  an  assistant  to  Mr.  Jewett.  John  King 
was  at  last  decided  upon  as  being  the  one  who  would 
be  the  most  likely  to  meet  all  the  requirements  of 
the  case,  but  the  committee  did  not  purpose  making 
any  selection  at  all,  unless  it  could  be  accompanied 
by  assurances  that  would  relieve  the  Company  from 
its  pressing  financial  necessities.  The  following  let- 
ter opened  the  way  for  action  by  the  committee: 

New  York,  August  18,  1884. 

Hon.   H.    J.    Jewett,   President  Xew    York,  Lake  Erie  and 
Western  Railroad  Company  : 

Dear  Sir: — I  am  satisfied  from  representations  made  to  me 
by  Messrs.  Powell  and  Westlake,  representatives  of  the  Euro- 
pean interests  in  your  company,  that  if  I  am  elected  Assistant 
President  of  your  company  for  the  time  being,  with  the  under- 
standing that  I  am  to  be  elected  President  at  the  annual  meeting 
in  November  next,  the  funds  needed  to  retire  the  floating  debt 
of  the  company  and  to  place  the  company  upon  a  safe  financial 
basis  will  be  furnished,  and  it  is  upon  this  assurance  that  I 
consent  to  accept  the  position  referred  to. 

I  am,  very  respectfully  yours,  etc., 

John  King. 

This  letter  was  endorsed  as  follows: 

We  have  given  Mr.  King  such  assurance  as  above  mentioned. 

T.    W.    Powell, 
J.   Westlake. 

Thereupon  the  committee,  August  21,  1884,  ln 
a  resolution  unanimously  adopted,  appointed  John 
King  Assistant  President  of  the  Company,  and  to 
take  Mr.  Jewett's  place  as  President  at  an  early 
date,  to  be  determined  by  Mr.  Jewett.  The  resolu- 
tion also  directed  that  a  contract  be  made  with  Mr. 
Jewett,  after  his  resignation  as  President,  "  whereby 
his  counsel,  advice,  and  aid  in  the  management  of 
the  affairs  of  this  Company  may  be  secured  as  Chair- 
man of  the  Executive  Committee,  or  otherwise,  for 
the  term  of  one  year  after  such  resignation,  at  his 
present  salary." 


The   Board   appointed   a  committee  consisting  of  The  report  of  the  English  representatives,  Messrs. 

Thomas  Dickson,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  Jacob  H.  Schiff,      Powell    and    Westlake,    was    published    in    London, 


266 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


September  12th,  and  its  character  was  such  that  the 
Company's  second  consolidated  bonds  fell  from  59 
to  56,  and  there  was  a  great  scramble  in  Wall  Street 
to  get  rid  of  holdings  in  those  securities.  The  float- 
ing debt  of  the  Company  (according  to  this  report), 
for  which  immediate  funds  were  necessary,  was 
$4.477.3 16>  and  $5,750,000  (Car  Trust  bonds  to  be 
cared  for  early  in  the  future)  could  be  properly  added 
to  that  amount.  The  committee  said  that  the  Com- 
pany's credit  had  been  unable  to  withstand  the  strain 
the  Grant  &  Ward  failure  put  upon  it,  and  that  the 
Company  should  without  delay  raise  a  permanent 
loan  of  $5,000,000  on  available  securities.  In  com- 
menting on  the  condition  of  Erie  affairs,  as  this  report 
showed  them  to  be,  the  London  Telegraph  said: 

Some  explanation  is  wanting  regarding  the  Erie's  liability 
of  $5,750,000  for  future  installments  to  car  trusts,  extending 
to  May,  [892.  But,  anyway,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  the 
English  public,  however  skillfully  approached,  will  lend  another 
million  pounds,  or  half  million,  even,  with  no  better  guarantee 
for  the  future  management  of  the  road  than  the  substitution 
of  Mr.  King  for  Mr.  Jewett  as  President. 

The  report  met  with  indignant  disapproval  on  the 
part  of  the  English  shareholders,  and  they  con- 
demned universally  the  suggestions  of  the  Commit- 
tee that  they  come  forward  to  the  aid  of  the  Com- 
pany once  more.  This  did  not  tend  to  the  benefit 
of  the  Jewett  influence  as  a  factor  in  outlining  or 
dictating  the  future  policy  of  the  Company,  but  as 
late  as  the  middle  of  October  that  influence  still 
aspired  to  predominance  in  the  management.  Octo- 
ber 16th  John  King,  James  A.  Raynor,  Ogden  Mills, 
and  J.  G.  McCullough  were  elected  Directors  to 
fill  vacancies.  Mr.  Jewett's  resignation  as  President 
was  made  as  of  effect  November  1st,  and  Mr.  King 
was  elected  to  succeed  him  on  that  date.  Presi- 
dent Jewett  said  the  Company's  prospects  were 
bright,  notwithstanding  the  depressed  conditions  of 
business  throughout  the  country.  He  defended  his 
lease  of  the  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio 
Railroad,  although  it  had  as  yet  shown  no  profit- 
able return  to  the  Company.  The  future,  how- 
ever, would  show  the  wisdom  of  the  arrangement, 
he  declared.  The  opposition  to  the  retention  of 
Mr.  Jewett  as  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee, which   had   always  been   held    by   the    President 


of  the  Company,  made  itself  known  as  the  annual 
election  approached.  This  opposition  was  cham- 
pioned by  I.  &  S.  Wormser,  the  bankers,  and  they 
solicited  proxies  from  the  foreign  stockholders  for 
use  at  the  election,  to  elect  a  Directory  that  would 
give  President  King  the  authority  ami  support  it 
was  claimed  he  was  entitled  to  in  the  management 
of  the  property.  The  result  of  this  was  that  Mr. 
Jewett,  before  the  election  came  round,  notified  the 
Board  that  he  would  decline  to  assume  the  Chair- 
manship of  the  Executive  Committee,  and  wrote 
President  King  and  others  who  held  voting  proxies 
that  he  intended  to  withdraw  from  the  Board  and  all 
further  connection  with  the  Company,  and  requested 
that  his  name  be  not  presented  as  a  member  of  the 
Direction  for  the  coming  year. 

According  to  the  last  annual  report  of  the  Jewett 
management,  which  was  for  the  year  ending  Septem- 
ber 30,  1884,  the  result  of  operations  for  that  year 
was  as  follows : 

Gross   Earnings $22,715,06097 

Operating   Expenses 16.358,077  74 

Net    Earnings $6,356,983  23 

Interest,  Rentals,  etc.,  paid $5,375,736  18 

Interest  passed,  June  1 1,679,870  00 

Total   $7,055,606  18 

Net   Earnings 6,356,983  2i 

Deficit   $698,62295 

Decrease  in  Gross  Earnings  from 
1883,  including  the  Operations 
of  the  New  York,  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio   Railroad $1,164,811  87 

Increase  in  Working  Expenses.  . .        9'3.494  62 

Decrease  in  Net  Earnings $2,078,306  49 

Decrease  in  Gross  Earnings,  ex- 
clusive of  the  New  York.  Penn- 
sylvania and   Ohio   Railroad...  $2,979,595  4') 

Decrease  in  Working  Expenses..     1,509.362  29 

Decrease  in  Net  Earnings $1,470,233  20 

Gross  Earnings  of  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road, under  the  Lease $4,018,458  73 

Working   Expenses 4.288,739  98 

Loss  in  Operating  the  New  York, 

Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad $270,281  25 

Stock,  Bond,  and  Trust  Obligations. 

Capital  Stock.  Issued $85,332,000  00 

Funded   Debt 75,268,485   10 

Car  Trust  Obligations,  payable  in  Installments 
to   1892 5,666,00000 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


257 


Debts  Due  and  Past  Due. 

Loans  Payable $2,255,392  94 

Bills   Payable 1.053,418  05 

Accrued  Interest 2.888.961  25 

Rentals  of  Leased  Lines 410.846  18 

Rent  Due  New  York,   Pennsylvania  and  Ohio 

Railroad   327,604  81 

Pay  Rolls,  etc 3,582,406  15 

Total    $10,518,629  38 

Due  the  Company  from  Agents,  etc.,  including 

$355,115.82.  cash  on  hand 9.162.963  09 

Leaving  Cash  Assets  Less  than  Immediate  Lia-      

bilities    $1,355,66627 


At  the  election  November  26th  not  a  remnant  of 
what  might  have  been  regarded  as  Jewett  influence 
was  perceptible.  John  King  voted  on  the  entire 
English  holding  of  stock,  some  $23,000,000.  John 
G.  McCullough  voted  the  Park  and  Mills  interests, 
aggregating  $38,000,000.  Among  the  large  stock- 
holders of  Erie  then  were  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co., 
$1,155,000;  Philadelphia  Savings  Fund  Institution, 
$1,000,000;  E.  D.  Morgan  &  Co.,  $650,000;  August 
Belmont,  William  A.  Wheelock,  E.  E.  White,  W. 
B.  Dinsmore,  and  others,  holding  $200,000  to  $500,- 
000.  They  all  gave  their  proxies  to  Wormser  &  Co. 
and  R.  Suydam  Grant  for  the  election.  The  follow- 
ing Board  of  Directors  was  chosen  : 

John  King;  William  Whitewright,  Chairman  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Union  Trust  Com- 
pany; J.  G.  McCullough,  President  of  the  Panama 
Railroad  Company;  Ogden  Mills;  William  A. 
Wheelock,  of  the  Central  National  Bank;  W.  B. 
Dinsmore,  President  of  the  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany; William  Libby,  formerly  of  the  house  of  A.  T. 
Stewart;  James  A.  Raynor;  George  M.  Graves, 
Vice-President  of  the  Bank  of  the  Metropolis ;  Henry 
H.  Cook;  George  W.  Quintard,  President  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Company;  William  N.  Gilchrist; 
Jacob  Hayes  (all  new  men);  William  L.  Strong,  the 
dry-goods  millionaire,  and  subsequently  Mayor  of 
New  York;  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  of  Philadelphia;  Court- 
landt  Parker;  James  J.  Goodwin,  of  Drexel,  Morgan 
&Co. 

The  Board  met  and  elected  John  King  President; 
Charles  G.  Lincoln,  Treasurer,  in  place  of  Bird  W. 
Spencer;   Edmund  S.  Bowen,  Vice-President ;  A.  R. 


Macdonough,  Secretary.  Charles  G.  Barber,  Mr. 
Jewett's  chief  lieutenant,  resigned.  Mr.  Jewett  was 
not  present  at  the  meeting.  No  resolution  of  regret 
that  he  was  severing  his  long  connection  with  the 
Company  was  offered.  This  was  an  act  of  discour- 
tesy which  placed  the  ending  of  the  Jewett  manage- 
ment in  the  light  of  being  an  enforced  one  rather 
than  a  voluntary  retirement,  and  seemed  to  be  an 
official  and  emphatic  answer  in  the  negative  to  the 
question  :  Did  the  Company  make  a  good  bargain 
with  Mr.  Jewett  in  securing  his  services  in  1874,  on 
his  own  terms  ?  and  to  stamp  with  official  approval 
the  opinion  that  events  had  failed  to  carry  to  reali- 
zation his  declaration,  made  on  taking  control  ten 
years  before,  that  he  had  "  accepted  the  Presidency 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  with  the  determina- 
tion, if  possible,  to  place  the  road  on  such  a  basis  as 
will  enable  it  to  compete  successfully  with  the  other 
great  trunk  lines." 

Were  these  conclusions  just  ? 

The  history  of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and 
Western  Railroad  Company  under  President  Jewett 
had  been  one  of  advancement  toward  the  ideals 
other  managements  had  professed  but  never  attained. 
During  the  Jewett  administration  the  road  was  laid 
with  steel  rails  entire;  the  double  track  was  com- 
pleted between  New  York  and  Buffalo ;  the  gauge 
was  reduced  from  the  unfortunate  six  foot  to  the 
standard;  the  terminal  facilities  at  Jersey  City  were 
enlarged,  improved,  and  to  a  great  extent  made 
new;  grain  elevators  were  erected  both  at  Jersey 
City  and  Buffalo;  the  rolling  stock  and  machinery 
of  the  road  were  brought  up  to  the  best  standard  of 
excellence  then  obtainable,  with  every  modern  appli- 
ance, including  air-brakes,  and  gas-lighting  of  passen- 
ger trains  ;  an  equable  traffic  agreement  with,  and  what 
had  seemed  to  be  a  wise  and  profitable  lease  of,  the 
long-coveted  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad 
were  secured,  that  company  having  been  reorganized 
as  the  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company;  new  branch  connections  were  obtained; 
the  coal  properties  of  the  Company  in  Pennsylvania 
were  consolidated  and  fused  into  the  present  invalu- 
able and  profitable  possessions  of  the  Erie;  unde- 
sirable contracts  with  outside  corporations,  such  as 
the  Jefferson  Car  Company  and  the  National  Stock 


26S 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


Yard  Company,  were  settled  and  discontinued  to  the  Company  in  the  coal  lands  in  Pennsylvania,  known 
,f  the  Company,  and  the  Erie  generally  as  the  stock  of  the  Northwestern  Alining  and  Ex- 
placed  in  position,  as  far  as  its  physical  condition  change  Company,  might  be  consolidated  with  the 
was  concerned,  to  compare  favorably  with  the  best  Shawmut  Company,  owning  lands  adjoining  and  sur- 
railroads  of  the  day.  More  than  these.  President  rounding  the  Erie  property,  in  Elk  and  Jefferson 
Jewett  had  built  and  put  in  successful  operation  a  counties.  To  effect  this  a  mortgage  was  to  be  exe- 
railroad  which,  in  connection  with  the  New  York,  cuted  on  the  property  to  secure  bonds  to  the  amount 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad,  gave  the  Erie  an  of  $4,000,000,  which  were  to  be  disposed  of  by  ex- 
independent  line  of  its  own  between  New  York  and  Judge  W.  D.  Shipman  as  Trustee.  The  consoli- 
Chicago.  This  was  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Rail-  dated  company  was  then  to  be  transferred  to  the 
road,  from  Marion,  O.  It  released  and  relieved  the  Receiver  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  by  the  ex- 
Erie  from  dependence  on  rival  lines  for  the  courtesy  change  of  5,000  shares  of  Northwestern  stock  for 
of  travel  over  them,  and  is  to-day  the  link  that  $1,366,667  of  the  bonds  at  par,  subject  to  the  pay- 
makes  the  Erie  Railroad  a  successful  competitor  of  ment  of  the  balance  due  on  the  purchase  of  the  lands 
all  the  other  trunk  lines  for  Chicago  business  and  of  the  Northwestern  Company,  amounting  to  $544,- 
traffic  to  and  from  the  great  West.  He  had  fought  000,  the  Shawmut  Company  to  receive  mortgage 
to  a  successful  termination  most  vexing  and  harass-  bonds  in  payment  for  its  interest  in  the  mortgaged 
in°-  litigation,  thus  removing  that  great  obstacle  from  premises.  This  was  to  be  followed  by  the  consolida- 
te path  of  future  managements.  tion  of  the  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad 

Were  not  these  things,  then,  sufficient  to  warrant  Company,    the    Pittsburg,    Buffalo    and     Rochester 

his    approval   by  the    stockholders,    instead  of    sub-  Railroad  Company,  and  the  Brandy  Camp  Railroad 

mitting  him   to   implied   condemnation?      It  would  Company,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $4,000,000  in  shares 

certainly  seem  so.  of  100  each,  22,900  shares  to  be  delivered  to  the  Erie 

Railway    Company,    the    consolidated    company    to 

Receiver  Jewett,  early  in  his  administration,  be-  guarantee  the  principal  and  interest  of  the  $4,000,000 
came  convinced  that  the  Pennsylvania  coal  lands  bonds  of  the  Northwestern  Mining  and  Exchange 
purchased  and  leased  during  the  Watson  administra-  Company;  the  name  of  the  new  consolidated  com- 
tion,  might  be  made  profitable  to  the  Company,  if  pany  to  be  the  Pennsylvania  and  Erie  Coal  and  Rail- 
properly  handled,  instead  of  being  a  bad  bargain,  as  road  Company.  The  proceeds  of  the  bonds,  or  a 
he  had  at  first  believed  and  announced.  These  lands  sufficient  amount,  were  to  be  used  in  building  rail- 
included  8,000  acres  in  fee,  and  large  tracts  in  lease-  roads  and  developing  the  coal  lands  in  connection 
hold    and    mining    right,    located    in    Luzerne    (now  with  the  railroads  named. 

Lackawanna),    Wayne,    and    Susquehanna   counties,  The  purposes  and  advantages  of  this  arrangement 

and   14,000  acres  in  fee,  and    13,000  acres  in  mining  were  to  be  the  obtaining  of  cheaper  coal  for  the  use 

right,   located  in   Elk  and   Jefferson  counties.     The  of  the   Erie  Railway  Company,  the  opening  up  of  a 

former  were  anthracite,   the   latter  bituminous  coal  rich  but  then  isolated  and  undeveloped  country,  and 

lands.     The  anthracite  property  cost  $2,236,663,  and  the  ultimate  production  of  coal  so  much  greater  than 

the  bituminous  lands  $1,094,029.     Two  companies  the  needs  of  the  Company  as  to  create  a  remunera- 

had  been  formed  under  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania  to  tive  business  in  merchantable  coal,  and  the  arrange- 

operate  and  develop  these  lands — the  Hillside  Coal  ments  were  consummated. 

and  Iron  Company  for  the  anthracite  region,  and  As  no  mention  was  made  in  any  of  these  negotia- 
te Northwestern  Mining  and  Exchange  Company  tions  of  the  possibilities  or  probabilities,  as  an  oil- 
for  the  bituminous  region.  producing  region,  of  the  country  the  Erie  Railway 

In    1S75   Receiver  Jewett   had   obtained   an   order  Company  was  then    about   to   largely  control,   it   is 

from  Judge  Westbrook  permitting  the  execution  of  a  safe  to  assume  that  the  parties  interested   were  of 

contract  by  which  the  property  of  the  Erie  Railway  those  who  thought  lightly,  if  they  thought  at  all,  of 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


269 


the  prospects  of  McKean  County,  Pa.,  and  the  adja- 
cent districts  as  a  petroleum  field,  although  even 
then  many  wells  were  down  at  and  about  Bradford 
— flowing  wells  and  fair  producers — and  speculators 
and  operators  were  flocking  thither  from  all  parts  of 
the  old  oil  country  in  Venango  County.  Even  if 
the  factor  of  petroleum  had  not  subsequently  come 
in  to  make  the  Erie  Railway  Company's  consolidated 
interests  still  more  valuable,  Receiver  Jewett's  plan 
of  dealing  with  the  coal  lands  would  have  been  wise 
and  profitable.  At  the  time  the  arrangement  was 
made,  the  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad 
(Bradford  Branch  of  the  Erie)  was  earning  perhaps 
$2,500  a  month.  A  year  later,  the  receipts  from 
freight  and  passengers  between  Bradford  and  Carrol- 
ton,  at  the  junction  with  the  main  line  of  the  Erie, 
24  miles,  were  over  $2,500  a  day.  This  was  the  rail- 
road that  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  denounced  in  1868  as 
the  worthless  road  that  had  been  foisted  upon  the 
Erie  to  enrich  the  Directors  concerned  in  organizing 
it.  His  allegation  was  undoubtedly  true  at  the 
time.  The  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Rail- 
road was  but  a  sorry  one.  It  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  men  who  unloaded  it  or  the  Erie  Railway 
Company,  in  1867,  at  a  profit  of  $75,000  apiece  to 
them,  although  they  were  Erie  Directors,  but  they 
would  have  been  glad  to  have  bought  it  back  again 
in  1S76  at  many  times  the  amount  of  the  profit  they 
made  by  disposing  of  it  to  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany. They  had  builded  for  the  Erie  much  better 
than  they  knew  or  suspected,  otherwise  they  would 
have  builded  for  themselves  alone.  The  wonderful 
oil  reservoir  from  which  was  poured  forth  unceas- 
ingly for  more  than  ten  years  the  yield  of  petroleum 
that  supplied  the  world's  demand  had  been  tapped, 
and  the  Bradford  Branch  of  the  Erie  became  for  the 
time  its  most  valuable  collateral  property. 

The  suits  that  had  been  brought  against  James 
McHenry  by  Mr.  Jewett  as  Receiver  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company,  and  so  continued  by  him  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Rail- 


road Company,  having  passed  through  all  the  varied 
and  tedious  methods  of  procedure  in  the  courts  of 
this  country,  and  been  decided  upon  by  the  English 
Court  of  Chancery,  invariably  against  McHenry, 
were  at  last  passed  upon  finally  April  24,  1883,  in 
the  United  States  District  Court  at  New  York, 
before  Judge  Coxe  and  a  jury.  The  ground  of  the 
Jewett  contention  was  that  McHenry,  as  an  agent 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  had,  in  1873,  1874, 
and  1875,  sold  certain  securities  on  behalf  of  that 
Company,  and  failed  to  account  to  it  for  the  pro- 
ceeds. This  was  the  transaction  in  the  bonds  that 
President  Watson  had  left  in  London  to  be  dis- 
posed of,  in  1873-74.  The  jury  in  the  final  action 
before  Judge  Coxe  found  for  the  Company  in  judg- 
ment to  the  amount  of  $1,406,813.96.  This  made 
the  aggregate  amount  of  judgment  the  Company  had 
obtained  against  McHenry  nearly  two  millions  and  a 
half  of  dollars.  The  Company  held  11,477  shares  of 
the  stock  of  the  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Cincinnati  and 
Indianapolis  Railroad,  and  13,000  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  extension  certificates,  representing  a  like 
number  of  the  shares  of  the  same  stock.  These 
securities  were  to  be  turned  over  to  McHenry  on 
satisfaction  of  the  judgment.  He  submitted  various 
propositions  in  writing  to  President  Jewett,  all  of 
which  were  declined.  He  came  to  this  country  in 
the  spring  of  1884,  for  the  purpose,  it  was  thought, 
of  settling  the  matter.  He  did  not  do  so,  and  was 
preparing  to  return  to  Europe,  when,  April  9th, 
Jewett  secured  an  order  for  his  arrest  in  supplemen- 
tary proceedings.  McHenry  then  came  to  terms,  and 
surrendered  his  claim  to  the  securities,  turning  them 
over  to  the  Company  at  a  valuation  of  $1,500,000. 
That  left  $800,000  due  on  the  judgment,  which 
McHenry  gave  a  written  agreement  to  pay,  one-half 
in  one  year  and  the  balance  in  two  years.  The  order 
of  arrest  was  then  vacated,  and  McHenry  sailed  for 
home.  The  litigation  had  been  in  the  courts  more 
than  six  years,  had  virtually  ruined  McHenry,  and 
had  not  a  little  to  do  with  bringing  about  the  bank- 
ruptcy of  Erie. 


CHAPTER    XX. 


ADMINISTRATIONS   OF  JOHN'  KING,    PRESIDENT,    AND  JOHN  KING  AXD  J.   G.   McCULLOUGH, 

RECEIVERS— 1884    TO    1895. 

I.    RETRENCHMENT  AND   REFORM!   A   Start   Toward   It  —  A  Stubborn  Floating  Debt — Ex-President  Jewett  Resents  His  Treatment  by  the 

King   Management,  ami   Erie  Once  More   Dances  Attendance  on  Courts  and  Lawyers  —  Another  Erie  Dividend,  and  the   Last  — 

ing   Reports  of  the  Prospects,  but  Doleful  Actual  Results —  Erie  Again  Tottering  Under  Its  Burden.     II.   Ix  THE  Old   Rdl  1 

-  The  Floating  Debt  Asserts  Itself  —  The  Use  of  Interest  Money  to  Quiet  It  Compels  Default —  Receivers  Appointed 

ike  Charge  of    the  Company — The   Drexel-Morgan  Plan   to   Rescue  It  from   Its  Dilemma — The  Tlan   Opposed   as  neither 

tical    nor    Just  —  A    New    Plan   of    Reorganization    Submitted    and    Approved — The    Efficiency   of    a   Sioo,ooo,ooo  Blanket 

Mortgage  —  Sale  of  the  Railroad,  and   the   Forming  of  a  New  Corporation  —  The   Erie   Railroad  Company  Arises  from  the   Ruins 

of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  the  Erie   Railway  Comoany,  and  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and   'Western  Railroad 

Company. 


I.     RETRENCHMENT    AXD    REFORM. 

THE  avowed  policy  of  the  new  administration  was 
"  Retrenchment  and  Reform."  Retrenchment  was 
begun  at  once  by  cutting  down  salaries.  Mr.  Jewett 
had  been  receiving  $40,000  a  year  as  President  of 
the  Company.  Mr.  King's  salary  was  fixed  at 
$25,000  a  year.  Other  officers  were  reduced  in  pay 
from  30  to  50  per  cent.  The  offices  of  Assistant  to 
the  President  and  Assistant  Secretary  were  abol- 
ished. Other  changes  in  the  executive  and  operat- 
ing departments,  all  on  the  score  of  economy,  were 
made,  and  much  of  the  luxurious  space  in  the  Coal 
and  Iron  Exchange  Building  in  Cortlandt  Street 
that  the  late  Executive  Department  had  occupied 
was  abandoned  for  more  modest  quarters  higher  up 
in  the  same  building.  Rigid  economy  and  curtail- 
ment were  enforced  in  all  departments,  and  it  be- 
came a  matter  of  comment  that  if  Erie  could  be 
lifted  out  of  trouble  by  saving  money  in  running  its 
business,  Erie  was  surely  on  the  high  road  to  ways 
of  pleasantness  and  peace. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  Mr.  Jewett  had  de- 
parted from  the  Erie  fold  with  no  very  warm  feeling 
of  cordiality  toward  the  new  order  of  things.  This 
was  first  shown  when  he  vigorously  opposed  the  pro- 
p  d  removal  of  the  office  of  the  Chicago  and  Atlan- 
tic Railroad  Company,  of  which  he  was  President, 
from  Chicago  to  New  York,  by  which  move,  and  the 
removal  of  the  New  York,   Pennsylvania  and  Ohio 


offices  from  Cleveland  to  New  York,  the  new  man- 
agement declared  that  it  could  save  $50,000  a  year. 
The  Grant  &  Ward  notes  of  the  Jewett  administra- 
tion also  came  to  the  front  early  to  plague  the  King 
management,  in  a  suit  brought  by  Walter  S.  John- 
son, Receiver  of  the  Marine  National  Bank,  against 
the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad 
Company  and  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railway 
Company,  to  recover  on  thirty  notes,  made  by  the 
latter  Company  in  February  and  March,  18S4.  and 
endorsed  by  the  former.  The  amount  of  the  notes 
was  $405,000.  The  Erie  management  denied  liabil- 
ity for  the  notes  on  the  ground  that  its  name  as 
endorser  was  wrongfully  used  by  Treasurer  Bird  W. 
Spencer,  or  some  other  person,  and  that  no  consider- 
ation had  been  given  for  them.  The  further  charge 
was  made  that  fraud  had  been  committed  upon  the 
Company  in  the  issuing  of  the  notes  by  Grant  & 
Ward  to  the  Marine  Bank,  and  that  Bird  W.  Spencer, 
James  D.  Fish,  and  Grant  &  Ward  acted  in  collu- 
sion, Spencer  being  a  director  in  the  bank,  and  Fish 
being  its  President,  as  well  as  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  Grant  &  Ward.  This  suit  was  subsequently  com- 
promised. The  Company  paid  $310,000,  and  the 
hypothecated  securities  were  returned  to  its  treasury 
by  the  Marine  Bank. 

President  King  was  not  satisfied  with  the  arrange- 
ment ex-President  Jewett  had  made  by  which  he 
secured  the  completion  and  control  of  the  Chicago 
and  Atlantic  Railway  as  a  link  in  the  Erie  and  New 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


271 


York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  line  to  Chicago,  and 
refused  to  contribute  toward  the  payment  of  the 
interest  on  the  $6,500,000  Chicago  and  Atlantic 
bonds,  according  to  the  agreement  made  by  Jewett 
between  that  company,  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie 
and  Western  Railroad  Company,  and  the  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company.  Jewett, 
as  President  of  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railway 
Company,  charged  that  President  King  was  divert- 
ing freight  and  passenger  traffic  from  that  line  to 
other  lines.  Early  in  May,  1885,  Jewett  brought 
proceedings  before  Judge  Donahue,  in  the  New  York 
Supreme  Court,  to  compel  an  accounting  from  the 
Erie,  and  an  order  was  issued  by  the  court  direct- 
ing that  Company  to  keep  the  agreement  with  the 
Chicago  and  Atlantic. 

Ex-President  Jewett  also  opposed  the  Erie's  efforts 
to  maintain  traffic  relations  with  the  Cincinnati, 
Hamilton  and  Dayton  Railroad.  In  1882  Mr. 
Jewett,  as  President  of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie 
and  Western  Railroad  Company,  had  effected  an 
arrangement  by  which  a  transfer  of  a  majority  of  the 
stock  of  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  and  Dayton  Rail- 
road Company  was  placed  in  his  name,  trust  certifi- 
cates being  issued  to  the  owners  of  the  stock,  on 
which  3  per  cent,  semi-annual  dividends  were  guar- 
anteed by  the  Erie.  The  stock  was  held  by  Mr. 
Jewett,  subject  to  a  voting  proxy  as  the  Erie  Direct- 
ors might  decide.  The  continuance  of  the  relations 
with  the  Cincinnati  connecting  line  was  extremely 
desirable  to  the  Erie,  but  at  the  annual  election  in 
June,  1885,  it  was  evident  that  the  ex-President  of 
Erie,  in  whose  name  the  stock  still  remained,  in- 
tended to  vote  it  so  that  the  Erie  would  be  ousted 
from  its  relations  with  that  road.  The  Erie  Com- 
pany took  measures  to  compel  him  to  vote  the  stock 
according  to  the  spirit  of  the  contract,  but  on  his 
behalf  a  stockholder  of  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton, 
and  Dayton  Railroad  Company  asked  for  an  injunc- 
tion restraining  him  from  delivering  the  proxy  to  the 
Erie,  or  to  restrain  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  and 
Dayton  officers  from  counting  the  votes  if  they  were 
so  cast.  The  Superior  Court  judges  before  whom 
the  case  was  argued  at  Cincinnati,  May  26,  1885, 
decided  that  the  contracts  under  which  the  stock  was 
obtained  for  the  Erie  in    1SS2  were  invalid,  and  that 


the  proxies  could  neither  be  voted  by  ex-President 
Jewett  nor  by  the  Erie. 

The  Buffalo  and  Southwestern  Railroad  Company 
began  suit  against  the  Erie,  February  6,  1885,  claim- 
ing that  the  interest  on  a  mortgage  for  §1,500,000, 
which  had  been  guaranteed  by  the  Erie  in  return  for 
the  lease  of  that  railroad,  had  been  permitted  to  go 
to  default,  January  1st.  The  complaint  charged 
that  the  Erie  was  insolvent,  and  had  been  so  since 
the  first  of  the  year,  and  demanded  that  the  Com- 
pany be  enjoined  from  using  its  gross  receipts  until 
the  amount  of  interest,  $345,000,  was  paid. 

In  the  fall  of  1885  the  haunting  floating  debt  began 
to  be  troublesome,  and  in  November  of  that  year 
the  Company  negotiated  a  loan  on  the  pledge  of  the 
Long  Dock  property  to  pay  the  floating  debt,  by 
funding  the  coupons  of  the  second  consolidated 
mortgage  bonds  and  the  second  consolidated  funded 
coupon  bonds,  of  June  and  December,  1884,  June, 
1885,  and  June,  1886,  into  a  5  per  cent,  gold  bond 
due  in  1969. 

According  to  the  first  annual  report  of  the  King 
management,  the  earnings  of  the  railroad  for  the  year 
had  fallen  short  of  the  expenses  $1,376,943.55.  The 
burden  of  bonded  debt  was  telling  severely  on  the 
capacity  of  the  property  to  sustain  it,  the  outlay  for 
interest  alone  having  been  nearly  as  much  as  the  net 
earnings,  which  were  $4,587,055.98.  The  working 
expenses  showed  a  decrease  over  1884  of  $2,010,- 
561.01.  There  was  a  decrease  of  $692,301.36  on  the 
net  earnings. 

As  Trustee  under  the  agreement  between  the  Erie 
and  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railroad  Company, 
ex-President  Jewett  held  control  of  the  latter  Com- 
pany, and  the  feeling  between  him  and  the  new  Erie 
management  made  the  relations  of  the  two  roads 
anything  but  pleasant.  President  King  was  desirous 
that  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  should  pass  to  the 
control  of  his  management,  as  that  railroad  was  his 
only  outlet  to  Chicago  in  direct  connection  with  the 
Erie.  The  terms  of  the  lease  of  the  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad  to  the  Erie  he 
charged  were  so  onerous  that  they  could  not  be 
maintained  without  loss  to  the  Erie.  On  this  ground 
he  twice  had  the  terms  modified.  March  5,  1886, 
determined  to  bring    about   the   removal   of  Jewett 


-7- 


BETWEEX  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


from  the  control  of  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Rail- 
possible,  President  King  had  recourse  to  the 
courts.  On  that  day  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
Company  of  New  York  asked  for  the  appointment  of 
a  Receiver  for  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Company 
before  Judge  Walter  O.  Gresham,  at  Chicago,  on 
the  ground  that  the  company  was  in  default  of  inter- 
est on  bonds.  The  motion  was  opposed  by  coun-t  1 
in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Jewett.  The  plaintiff  cited 
the  Jewett  hostility  to  the  Erie,  and  declared  that  he 
was  diverting  business  from  that  railroad  by  using 
the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  against  it,  although  the 
Chicago  line  had  been  built  by  Erie  funds  to  make 
it  an  adjunct  of  its  own  as  a  western  outlet.  The 
hypothecating  of  the  $2,500,000  second  mortgage 
bonds  of  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railway  Company 
with  Grant  &  Ward  as  collateral  for  a  loan,  under 
the  Jewett  management,  was  referred  to,  and  the 
claim  was  urged  that  the  Western  company  was 
indebted  to  the  Erie  in  that  amount,  this  being 
before  the  settlement  of  the  Grant  &  Ward  trans- 
action. 

April  S,  1886,  Judge  Gresham  decided  that  Jewett 
had  been  made  Trustee  of  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic 
Railroad  Company  simply  because  he  was  President 
of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad 
Company,  and  could  be  relied  upon  to  control  the 
road  as  the  western  outlet  of  the  Erie.  Judge 
Gresham  held  that  the  holders  of  the  past  due  and 
unpaid  coupons  were  entitled  to  their  money,  irre- 
spective of  the  arrangement  between  the  two  com- 
panies, and  that  if  the}-  were  not  paid  it  would 
become  necessary  to  appoint  a  Receiver.  A  Re- 
r  was  subsequently  appointed,  and  August  12, 
1887,  the  road  was  sold  to  the  Erie  for  $6,000,000, 
and  August  31,  18S7,  the  company  was  reorganized 
as  the  Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  with  all 
the  stock  in  possession  of  the  Erie,  which  gave  that 
Company  virtual  ownership  of  the  line.  S.  M.  Eel- 
ton,  First  Vice-President  of  the  New  York,  Lake 
Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Company,  was  elected 
President  of  the  new  company.  Eben  B.  Thomas, 
Second  Vice-President  of  the  Erie,  was  made  Gen- 
eral Manager. 

The  annual  Eric  report  for  1886  showed  an  in- 
crease in  net  earnings  of  the  entire  system  over  those 


of  1885  of  $3,915,984.37,  and  an  increase  of  expenses 
of  $2,041,121.41.  The  earnings  were  sufficient  to 
pay  expenses  and  leave  a  surplus  of  $14,610.95. 
Nearly  $2,000,000  were  expended  in  work  on  the 
road  "  that  should  have  been  done  in  previous 
years,"  the  report  declared — ballasting,  train-sheds, 
cross-ties  (the  laying  of  ties  alone  costing  $708,- 
193.08);  10,000  tons  of  steel  rails  were  put  down; 
$450,000  worth  of  new  rolling  stock  was  added; 
$214,000  was  expended  in  ballasting.  The  follow- 
ing Board  of  Directors  was  elected  for  the  ensuing 
year : 

John  King,  J.  G.  McCullough,  J.  Lowber  Welsh, 
Courtlandt  Parker,  Henry  H.  Cook,  William  Libby, 
William  A.  Wheelock,  William  Whitewright,  George 
W.  Quintard,  Ogden  Mills,  William  L.  Strong,  Will- 
iam B.  Dinsmore,  Morris  K.  Jessup,  James  J.  Good- 
win, William  N.  Gilchrist,  Josiah  Belden,  Joseph 
Ogden. 

John  King  was  reelected  President;  S.  M.  Felton, 
First  Vice-President;  Andrew  Donaldson,  Third 
Vice-President ;  A.  R.  Macdonough.  Secretary  ;  Ed- 
ward White,  Treasurer. 

To  all  outward  appearances  Erie  was  sailing 
smoothly  along  toward  a  safe  harbor  at  last.  The 
annual  report  for  1887  sparkled  with  statements  of 
increased  earnings,  increased  surplus,  increased  ton- 
nage, increased  passenger  traffic,  increased  rates,  in- 
creased steel  rail-laying,  increased  equipment  quota. 
The  same  Board  of  Directors  was  elected,  the  same 
officers;  the  same  policy  prevailed:  "  Retrenchment 
and  Reform."  In  1888,  13,000  tons  of  new  steel  rail-- 
were  laid,  and  forty-one  new  locomotives  purchased. 
November  27,  1889,  the  Board  of  Directors — which 
was  the  same,  except  that  S.  M.  Felton,  Jr..  had 
succeeded  Joseph  Ogden,  and  W.  F.  Reynolds  had 
taken  the  place  of  Director  Dinsmore,  who  died  in 
1888 — resolved  to  resume  payment  of  interest  on  the 
Company's  income  bonds  in  January,  1890,  the  first 
interest  that  had  been  paid  on  them  in  nine  years. 
January  21,  1890,  the  Board  voted  that  a  dividend 
of  1  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock  had  been  earned 
and  was  payable  for  the  quarter  ending  December  31, 
1 SS9,  and  would  be  payable  quarterly  thereafter. 
'  The  time  had  arrived  when  extraordinary  expendi- 
tures  for   improvements   and   the   necessities  of  the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


?73 


property  were  no  longer  necessary."  The  dividend 
was  made  payable  February  14,  1890,  with  the  dec- 
laration by  the  Board  that  it  was  believed  that  "  the 
dividend- could  not  only  be  maintained,  but  grad- 
ually increased,  the  property  at  the  same  time  being 
kept  up  in  good  condition." 

This  was  the  most  reassuring  news  that  had  come 
from  Erie  quarters  in  many  a  day.  President  Jewett 
had  paid  some  dividends,  not  many  years  before,  and 
he  had  made  declarations  anent  them  every  bit  as 
rosy  as  these  later  ones  from  his  successors.  But 
people  had  forgotten  that.  And  they  knew  little 
about  that  persistent  floating  debt  that  stalked  about 
in  Erie's  marble  halls.  The  dividend  was  paid. 
The  year  passed.  At  the  annual  election  of  1890 
S.  M.  Felton,  Jr.,  whose  rather  arbitrary  ideas  of 
railroad  management,  and  habit  of  asserting  them, 
had  not  met  with  the  approval  of  some  members  of 
the  Board,  retired  as  a  Director  and  First  Vice-Presi- 
dent, and  was  succeeded  by  Eben  B.  Thomas,  whose 
practical  methods  and  capacity  had  made  a  much 
different  impression  on  the  Directory.  President 
King  was  reelected.  The  annual  report  halted  a 
little.  Business  had  been  large,  but  rates  low,  due 
to  the  action  of  rival  lines.  The  dividend  which  was 
to  have  been  "  payable  quarterly"  right  along,  and 
"  gradually  increased,"  was  not  declared  this  year, 
but  the  Board  resolved  to  pay  the  interest  on  the 
income  bonds,  January  15,  1S91.  The  dividend  was 
not  resumed.  It  was  the  last  Erie  dividend  up  to 
elite  I  [898).  Disorganization,  if  not  demoralization, 
of  railroad  rates  continued.  The  floating  debt  grew 
apace.  The  burden  of  Erie  was  slowly  but  surely 
getting  to  be  more  than  it  could  bear. 

II.     IX    THE    OLD    ROLE    OF    BANKRUPT. 

From  early  in  1893  the  inability  of  the  Company 
to  maintain  itself  against  the  effects  of  continued 
decrease  in  earnings,  and  the  pressing  demands  of 
creditors  whose  accounts  were  past  due,  had  been 
believed  in  and  talked  about  by  a  very  confident  por- 
tion of  Wall  Street,  and  the  ease  with  which  Erie 
stock  yielded  to  every  hostile  assault  of  the  bear 
element  showed  that  there  was  nothing  back  of  it  to 
sustain  it  or  to  give  it  stability.  The  management 
is 


of  the  Company,  while  not  admitting  that  the  future 
was  dark,  did  not  deny  that  difficulties  were  con- 
fronting it  as  a  result  of  the  floating  debt,  which  was 
said  to  be  upward  of  $6,000,000,  an  estimate  that 
subsequent  revelations  proved  to  be  much  below  the 
actual  fact.  Yet  as  late  as  March  19,  1893,  the  New 
York  Times'  money  article  was  thus  positive  in  its 
treatment  of  a  prevailing  rumor: 


"  An  absurd  rumor  has  got  into  circulation  that  the  Erie  is 
in  danger  of  a  receivership.  This  is  nonsense.  The  company 
had  a  floating  debt  at  the  date  of  its  last  report  of  about  $5,- 
000.000,  which  is  probably  rather  larger  now,  and  doubtless  it 
is  experiencing  trouble  with  its  paper  from  the  conditions  of 
the  money  market.  That  is  the  extent  of  its  difficulties.  In 
June  it  has  to  meet  the  interest  on  its  $25,000,000  of  second 
consols,  but  in  these  bonds  there  is  what  might  be  called  an 
emergency  clause,  expressly  drawn  to  enable  the  company  to 
tide  over  times  of  difficulty,  whereby  it  is  entitled  to  postpone 
the  payment  of  six  consecutive  coupons  on  the  bonds  before 
foreclosure  proceedings  can  be  instituted.  The  company  has 
availed  itself  of  the  privilege  in  the  past,  the  outstanding  funded 
coupons  representing  the  defaulted  interest.  Previous  to  this 
the  seconds  had  declined  to  40  or  50." 


June  11,  1893,  Vice-President  Thomas,  in  denying 
rumors  as  to  financial  troubles  of  the  Erie,  said: 
'  The  interest  due  on  bonds  June  1st  was  paid,  and 
the  interest  due  July  1st  is  provided  for.  The  Erie 
is  in  as  good  condition  financially  to  meet  its  obliga- 
tions as  at  anytime  in  the  years  the  present  manage- 
ment has  been  in  charge." 

That  Erie  was  in  such  "  a  condition  financially  " 
was  undoubtedly  the  exact  truth,  for  at  no  time 
within  those  years  had  the  Company  been  in  any 
better  condition  to  meet  its  obligations  than  it  was 
in  June,  1893.  The  Company  was  bankrupt  dc  facto 
when  it  passed  to  its  new  control,  and  that  the  time 
when  it  must  become  a  bankrupt  de  jure  was  held  off 
so  long  was  a  striking  demonstration  of  the  tact  and 
resourcefulness  which  the  new  regime  had  been  able 
to  bring  to  bear  in  the  management  of  the  Com- 
pany's unpromising  affairs,  and  in  judicious  shifting 
and  manipulating  of  the  heavy  burdens  Erie  bore 
upon  its  chafed  and  weary  shoulders.  But  the  in- 
evitable was  simply  being  postponed,  and  the  further 
postponement  could  be  of  but  short  duration,  so 
short  that,  Juh-  25,  1893,  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  Board,  acting  under  previous  resolutions 
passed  by  the  full  Board,  came  to  the  relief  of  the 


■74 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


strained  situation  by  deciding  to  place  the  Com-  unsecured.  A  large  part  of  the  debt  was  owed  to 
pany  in  the  hands  of  Receivers,  and  the  motion  for  connecting  lines,  which  would  withdraw  traffic 
the  appointment  of  them  was  made  before  Judge  arrangements  unless  the  over-due  accounts  were 
Lacombe,  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  the  settled.  The  interest  on  the  first  mortgage  bonds 
same  day.  His  appointees  were  President  John  of  the  Company  was  to  fall  due  September  1st,  and 
King  and  Director  John  G.  McCullough,  they  hav-  December  1st  the  interest  on  the  second  mortgage 
ing  been  selected  by  the  Directors  for  the  task.  In  bonds  was  to  be  payable.  The  former  amounted  to 
explanation  and  justification  of  this  proceeding,  the  $720,894,  and  the  latter  to  $1,255,030.  Calls  for 
Board  made  the  following  statement :"  This  measure  margins  were  becoming  more  frequent  and  more 
was  taken  purely  in  the  interests  of  the  road  and  its  pressing,  and  to  save  the  collateral  deposited,  and 
creditors.  Within  the  last  few  weeks,  during  the  to  prevent  the  Company  from  falling  into  the  hands 
severe  money  stringency,  the  floating  debt  of  the  of  the  creditors,  some  of  whom  were  by  no  means 
Erie  (which  everyone  knows  has  existed  for  the  past  friendly  to  it,  Receivers  were  asked  for. 
few  years)  became  impossible  of  renewal,  and  in  July  26th  the  papers  in  the  action  were  filed  in 
order  to  not  sacrifice  the  best  interests  of  the  Com-  court,  and  Judge  Lacombe  approved  of  the  bonds- 
pany,  it  was  decided  to  place  the  road  in  Receivers'  men,  D.  O.  Mills  and  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  who  quali- 
hands  and  preserve  the  system  intact,  and  preserve  fied  in  $500,000  each  as  securities  for  the  Receivers, 
and  develop  the  transportation  business  of  the  Com-  The  announcement  of  the  Receivership,  although 
pany.  The  owners  of  its  securities  should  not  sacri-  the  probability  of  it  had  been  long  discounted,  had 
fice  their  holdings  because  of  this  step.  The  names  a  disastrous  effect  in  Wall  Street,  it  being  quickly 
of  the  Directorate  of  the  Erie  are  a  sufficient  guar-  followed  by  a  sharp  decline  in  all  kinds  of  railroad 
anty  of  the  honest  and  intelligent  management  of  securities,  although  just  why  Erie's  troubles  should 
the  interest  committed  to  their  hands."  have  caused  so  general  a  "  slump  "  in  the  market  is 
The  formality  necessary  to  conserve  the  legal  to  this  day  not  exactly  clear.  It  was,  to  be  sure,  a 
requirements  of  the  proceeding  was  a  complaint  time  of  universal  suspicion,  and  the  bears  of  the 
entered  by  Trenor  L.  Park,  in  which  he  set  forth  Street  used  it  to  its  full  value  and  reaped  their  har- 
that  he  was  a  creditor  of  the  Company  to  the  extent  vest.  That  there  was  no  real  cause  for  the  alarm 
of  $200,000  in  bonds  and  other  securities.  Decern-  that  seized  holders  of  railroad  stocks  was  shown  by 
ber  1,  1892,  to  meet  a  pressing  necessity  of  the  Com-  the  rapid  recovery  of  the  Street  from  the  excitement 
pany,  he  had  advanced,  on  a  demand  note,  $34,000.  of  the  26th,  the  tumbling  stocks  rallying  next  day 
This  the  Company  was  unable  to  meet.  The  com-  to  almost  the  position  they  held  when  the  news  of 
plaint  averred,  furthermore,  that  the  net  earnings  Erie's  fourth  failure  reached  the  Street, 
of  the  Company  were  diverted  from  their  proper  During  the  succeeding  five  months  the  manage- 
channels,  and  a  floating  debt  of  over  $5,000,000  had  ment  bent  its  efforts  toward  evolving  a  plan  of  re- 
been  contracted  for  improvements,  wages,  traffic  organization  of  the  finances  of  the  Company,  the 
balances,  and  other  expenses.  Other  creditors  were  result  of  which  labor  was  submitted  to  the  bond  and 
pressing  their  claims  against  the  Company,  and  there  shareholders  January  2,  1895.  The  circular  through 
was  danger  of  attachments  and  court  proceedings  which  it  was  submitted  stated  that  Drexel,  Morgan 
that  would  prove  to  be  detrimental  to  the  holders  of  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  and  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co.,  of 
the  mortgage  bonds  if  these  were  not  prevented.  A  London,  had  agreed  to  assist  in  carrying  out  the 
large  part  of  the  liabilities  consisted  of  loans  made  plan,  which  involved  the  making  of  a  mortgage  to 
by  banks,  trust  companies,  and  individuals,  part  of  run  for  one  hundred  years,  covering  the  property  of 
which  had  been  secured  by  the  depositing  of  col-  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad 
lateral  by  the  Company,  but  the  depressed  state  of  Company,  the  leasehold  of  the  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
the  stock  market  had  greatly  reduced  the  value  of  vania  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  and  the  stock  of 
that    collateral.      Many    of    the   loans   were   entirely  the  Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  thus  giving 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


275 


control  of  the  entire  line  between  New  York  and 
Chicago,  and  securing  bonds  limited  to  the  amount 
of  $70,000,000,  bearing  interest  at  5  per  cent,  from 
December  1,  1893,  principal  and  interest  payable  in 
gold.  Of  this  mortgage,  $33, 597,400  was  to  be  used 
to  acquire  the  second  consolidated  mortgage  bonds 
of  the  reorganization  of  1878,  conditioned  on  each 
depositor  of  such  bonds  subscribing  and  paying  in 
90  per  cent,  and  interest  for  additional  bonds  and 
interest,  in  the  proportion  of  a  $1,000  new  bond  for 
each  $4,000  of  second  consolidated  bonds  deposited; 
$4,031,400  to  acquire  the  funded  coupon  bonds  of 
1885,  at  par,  on  the  same  conditions  of  deposit; 
$508,008  to  acquire  the  income  bonds,  at  par,  each 
depositor  of  such  bonds  to  subscribe  and  pay  90  per 
cent,  and  interest  for  additional  bonds  of  the  new 
issue  to  the  amount  of  income  bonds  deposited.  Of 
the  proposed  new  mortgage  bonds,  $9,915,208  were 
to  be  for  subscription  by  depositors  of  second  con- 
solidated mortgage  bonds,  funded  coupon  bonds,  and 
income  bonds,  as  above;  $6,512,800  were  to  be 
reserved  to  acquire  or  provide  for  the  first  lien  bonds 
and  collateral  trust  bonds  of  the  reorganization  of 
1878,  on  such  basis  as  the  new  mortgage  should  pro- 
vide; $15,485,184  were  to  be  specially  set  apart  and 
used,  under  proper  restrictions,  only  for  construc- 
tion, equipment,  the  acquisition  of  new  property 
and  betterments,  etc.,  to  an  extent  not  exceeding 
$1,000,000  in  any  one  year,  except  that  the  bonds 
thus  reserved  might  be  further  used  in  any  year  to 
the  extent  of  $500,000  if  necessary,  in  order  to 
acquire  existing  Car  Trust  liens;  the  second  consol- 
idated and  funded  coupon  bonds  of  1885  to  be  kept 
alive,  when  acquired,  and  deposited  with  the  Trus- 
tee, who  was  to  hold  them  as  long  as  might  be 
deemed  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  new 
bonds. 

The  circular  dwelt  particularly  on  the  peculiar 
terms  and  conditions  of  the  second  consolidated 
mortgage  bonds,  which  had  practically  precluded  the 
Company  from  securing  the  necessary  funds  for  the 
expenditures  that  had  confronted  it  for  years  in  pro- 
viding for  the  development  of  the  transportation 
facilities  and  the  protection  of  the  Company's  prop- 
erty. "  It  is  true,"  the  circular  stated,  "  that  the 
conditions  which  have  confronted  the  Company  were 


contemplated  in  187S,  when  the  second  consolidated 
mortgage  was  created,  and,  with  this  in  mind,  a  pro- 
vision was  inserted  in  it  to  the  effect  that  no  fore- 
closure rights  should  accrue  to  the  bondholders 
unless  the  Company  should  default  in  the  payment 
of  six  successive  coupons.  This  peculiar  provision 
has  at  all  times  deprived  the  second  mortgage  bonds 
of  the  market  character  they  would  be  entitled  to 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  if  the  legitimate 
requirements  of  the  Company  had  been  properly 
provided  for.  The  necessity  of  procuring  construc- 
tion funds  by  defaulting  in  interest  obligations  is, 
of  course,  discreditable  to  the  Company  and  disas- 
trous to  its  second  mortgage  bondholders,  and  the 
possibility  of  its  recurrence  at  any  time  is  a  constant 
menace  to  the  latter;  but  so  long  as  no  other  means 
are  available,  its  recurrence  is  almost  a  matter  of 
necessity." 

In  such  a  situation  it  was  the  unanimous  opinion 
of  the  Board  that  such  change  should  be  made  as 
would  obviate  the  perplexing  difficulties,  which  they 
thought  might  be  done  by  creating  a  new  mortgage 
to  run  one  hundred  years,  to  acquire  outstanding 
obligations  as  outlined  above.  This  arrangement,  it 
was  claimed,  would  provide  for  the  floating  debt, 
then  nearly  $9,000,000,  and  for  the  outstanding  Car 
Trust  obligations,  amounting  to  $6,000,000,  and  the 
fixed  charges  of  the  Company  would  not  be  in- 
creased. 

In  a  circular  of  even  date,  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co. 
and  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co.  warmly  endorsed  the  plan 
(which  was  but  natural,  as  it  had  been  drawn  up 
from  suggestions  submitted  by  them),  and  urged  its 
prompt  acceptance  by  the  holders  of  the  securities 
affected  by  the  proposed  reorganization. 

Analyzed,  this  reorganization  scheme  meant  that 
a  cash  contribution  of  $9,000,000  was  asked,  not 
from  the  stockholders,  but  from  the  second  consol- 
idated mortgage  bondholders,  to  whose  rights  those 
of  the  stockholders  were  subordinate.  These  bond- 
holders were  to  consent  that  the  interest  on  their 
bonds  should  be  reduced  from  6  per  cent,  per  annum 
to  5  per  cent.,  and  that  their  security  should  be 
weakened  by  increasing  the  total  amount  secured  by 
their  mortgage  from  $40,000,000  to  $70,000,000,  of 
which  $70,000,000  they  were  to  receive  an  amount 


!76 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN"  AND  THE  LAKES 


equal  to  that  which  they  held  of  the  $40,000,000 
tie,  and,  besides,  were  to  purchase  22^  per  cent. 
more  at  90  cents  on  the  dollar  in  cash.  The  practi- 
cal result  was  to  have  been  that  the  holder  of  §4,000 
of  the  $40,000,000  bonds  at  6  per  cent,  would  have 
paid  $900  in  cash  and  become  the  owner  of  $5,000 
in  bonds  of  the  5  per  cent.  $70,000,000  issue,  thus 
receiving  as  compensation  for  the  $900  an  increase 
of  annual  income  from  $240  to  $250. 

This  plan  met  with  prompt  opposition  from  promi- 
nent holders  of  Erie  securities,  or  representatives  of 
Erie  bondholders.  Such  capitalists  and  representa- 
tives of  capitalists  as  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co. ;  August 
Belmont  &  Co. ;  Hallgarten  &  Co. ;  Vermillye  & 
Co.;  the  United  States  Trust  Company;  J.  D. 
Probst  &  Co. ;  Charles  J.  Peabody,  Agent  of  the 
Astor  Estate;  and  E.  H.  Harriman  were  among 
these.  They  suggested,  and,  in  fact,  insisted  on, 
material  modifications  of  the  reorganization  plan,  so 
that  it  might  be  more  equable  and  just  to  those  who 
were  to  make  sacrifices  to  carry  it  forward.  Jan- 
uary 30,  1895,  these  objectors  to  the  plan  addressed 
President  King  in  a  letter  on  the  subject.  He  re- 
plied, February  5th,  saying  that  all  the  points  the 
writers  submitted  had  been  fully  considered  in  for- 
mulating the  plan  proposed  by  the  Company,  and 
that  subsequent  consideration  had  confirmed  him  in 
the  opinion  that  the  modifications  asked  for  were 
not  for  the  best  interests  of  the  Company. 

Soon  afterward  a  "  Protective  Committee,"  con- 
sisting of  E.  11.  Harriman,  Henry  Burdge,  of  Hall- 
garten &  Co.,  John  J.  Emery,  and  Sidney  Webster, 
was  appointed  by  the  protesting  bondholders  to 
organize  and  press  the  opposition  to  Drexel,  Morgan 
&  Co.'s  plan  of  reorganization,  and  endeavor  to 
secure  the  desired  modifications.  The  Committee 
retained  Evarts,  Choate  &  Beaman  as  their  counsel. 
March  1st  the  Committee  addressed  a  circular  to  the 
Company,  in  which  the  objections  to  the  reorganiza- 
tion scheme  were  set  forth  as  follows: 

'.—That  by  enlargement  of  the  issue  from  which  the 
bonds  lo  be  exchanged  for  ours  are  to  be  taken  it  reduces 
our  security  by  more  than  one-half. 

Second— That  no  pr.  >  alent  is  offered  for  the  reduc- 

tion of  interest  on  our  bonds. 

Third.— That    the    n  to    purchase   new   bonds   at 

more  than  their  value  (being  in  effect  an  assessment  011  the 


bondholder)  is  an  unjust  and  hitherto  unheard  of  imposition 
by  a  debtor  upon  a  secured  creditor. 

Fourth. — That  if  an  assessment  may  be  forcibly  demanded 
and  collected  by  a  debtor  of  a  second  creditor  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  debtor's  property  and  to  keep  it  in  his  control,  this 
plan  does  not  go  far  enough.  The  contribution  demanded  is 
not  sufficient  to  put  the  company  on  a  sound  and  interest- 
paying  basis. 

Fifth. — It  calls  for  no  effort  or  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the 
debtor  company  to  preserve  its  property  and  redeem  it  from 
insolvency. 

Sixth. — The  scheme,  if  successful,  would  tend  to  establish 
a  dangerous  precedent  which  would  be  a  discredit  to  American 
railroad  finance,  violating  the  plain  obligations  of  the  contract 
of  security,  and  tend  to  increase  distrust  in  all  American  rail- 
road securities. 

We  also  regard  as  objectionable,  considering  the  relation 
of  the  parties,  the  language  of  the  circular  of  the  company  and 
its  bankers,  containing  an  implied  threat  of  punishment  to 
those  declining  their  proposition,  and  the  scant  consideration 
given  to  suggestions  by  the  bondholders  for  a  modification  of 
the  scheme. 


March  6,  1894,  in  a  circular  letter  to  the  holders 
of  the  bonds  to  be  affected  by  the  proposed  reorgan- 
ization, Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.  gave  notice  that  de- 
posits of  outstanding  bonds  made  after  March  21, 
1894,  "  if  received,"  would  be  subject  to  such  pen- 
alties as  they  might  see  fit  to  thereafter  fix.  The 
same  day,  at  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  at  which 
630,000  shares  were  voted  upon  (623,000  being  voted 
by  President  King),  the  reorganization  scheme  was 
ratified.  March  14,  1894,  Evarts,  Choate  &  Beaman 
gave  their  clients  a  long  and  exhaustive  opinion  on 
the  question  of  the  impairment  of  bondholders'  legal 
rights  by  the  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.  scheme,  hold- 
ing that  the  plan  was  fatally  defective  in  that  respect, 
and  could  not  hold  in  law.  The  Protective  Com- 
mittee, on  the  strength  of  this  opinion,  appealed  to 
the  bondholders  not  to  deposit  their  bonds  with 
Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.,  under  the  fear  that  failure  to 
do  so  would  destroy  the  life  of  their  securities,  but 
to  delay  such  deposit  in  the  interest  of  a  modified 
plan.  But  in  spite  of  these  efforts  of  the  opposition 
to  show  bondholders  how  onerous  the  terms  of  the 
Erie  reorganization  plan  were  to  them,  by  far  the 
larger  part  of  them  accepted  it  and  agreed  to  pay  in 
the  $9,000,000  it  demanded  from  them. 

The  entire  issue  of  bonds  for  the  new  $70,000,000 
mortgage  was  printed,  and  deposited  with  the 
Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Company  as  Trustee, 
March    16,    1894.     The   mortgage   was    formally   re- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


277 


corded  April  18th,  but  May  30th  Drexel,  Morgan  & 
Co.  announced  that  owing  to  opposition  to  the  plan 
of  reorganization  the  new  bonds  would  not  issue 
until  certain  legal  questions  were  settled.  June  19, 
1894,  John  J.  Emery,  for  himself  and  other  bond- 
holders, through  James  C.  Carter,  Charles  C.  Bea- 
man,  and  Charles  B.  Atterbury  as  counsel,  sought 
an  injunction  from  Judge  Ingraham  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  Chambers,  to  restrain  the  issue  of  the  bonds, 
which  motion  was  denied. 

But  an  obstacle  more  difficult  to  overcome  than 
injunctions  or  tedious  law-suits  had  intervened  to 
discredit  the  reorganization  plan,  bring  about  its 
eventual  abandonment  for  another,  and  spare  the 
second  consolidated  mortgage  bondholders  the  sac- 
rifice demanded  from  them.  The  interest  on  the 
bonds  in  default  being  only  $2,4010,000  a  year,  and 
that  on  the  proposed  new  issue  being  $3,500,000,  it 
was  inevitable,  unless  the  business  of  the  road  greatly 
improved,  that  a  default  on  the  new  bonds  should 
speedily  take  place.  Such  default  was  actually  made 
on  the  first  coupon  of  the  issue.  It  has  never  been 
figured  out  yet  how  it  was  expected  that  a  road 
that  could  not  earn  enough  to  pay  an  obligation  of 
$2,400,000  could  start  in,  under  even  more  depress- 
ing circumstances,  and  earn  enough  to  pay  a  debt 
more  than  a  million  dollars  greater  than  that  amount. 

Recognizing  the  danger  that  beset  their  plan 
through  this  default  on  the  very  threshold  of  its 
existence,  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.  issued  a  circular, 
December  10,  1894,  in  which  they  announced  that 
unless  depositors  of  bonds,  according  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  reorganization  plan,  would  consent  to 
waive  payment  of  the  June  and  December  coupons 
until  the  earnings  of  the  road  after  December  1, 
1894,  were  sufficient  to  pay  them,  the  plan  would 
have  to  be  abandoned.  No  call  had  been  made  for 
subscriptions,  and  $32,000,000  out  of  $38,000,000  of 
the  second  consolidated  mortgage  bondholders  had 
deposited  their  bonds  as  requested.  A  majority  of 
the  bondholders  had  acceded  even  to  the  making  of 
this  additional  sacrifice  by  April,  1895,  but  yet  the 
stability  of  things  did  not  seem  to  be  of  a  character 
calculated  to  assure  the  future  of  either  the  reorgan- 
ization plan  or  the  welfare  of  the  Company  under  it, 
so  a  new  plan  was  subjected  to  the  processes  of  evo- 


lution. It  was  fashioned  into  form  August  26,  1895. 
This  reorganization  scheme  proposed  to  consolidate, 
in  the  ownership  of  a  single  new  corporation,  there- 
after to  be  created,  the  properties  belonging  to  the 
New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western,  the  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  and  the  Chicago  and  Erie 
Railroad  Companies,  and  forming  a  continuous  line 
of  railroad  from  New  York  to  Chicago,  with  numer- 
ous branches.  Upon  this  consolidated  line  and  its 
branches  the  new  corporation  was  to  place  a  mort- 
gage for  $175,000,000,  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of 
4  per  cent,  per  annum,  of  which  $35,000,000  was  to 
be  prior  in  lien  to  the  remaining  $140,000,000,  called 
general  lien  bonds.  The  corporation  was  to  have 
common  stock  to  the  amount  of  $100,000,000,  first 
preferred  stock  to  the  amount  of  $30,000,000,  and 
second  preferred  stock  to  the  amount  of  $16,000,000. 
The  common  stock,  the  preferred  stock,  the  $35,000,- 
OOO  prior  lien  bonds,  and  $30,000,000  of  the  $140,- 
000,000  general  lien  bonds  were  to  be  issued  at  once, 
leaving  $110,000,000  of  the  general  lien  bonds  to 
take  up  unmatured  existing  mortgage  bonds  and  to 
provide  for  improvements. 

To  supply  the  ready  money  needed  to  carry  out 
the  scheme,  the  Erie  stockholders  were  called  upon 
to  contribute  $12  per  share  on  the  common  stock 
and  $8  per  share  on  the  preferred,  making  in  all 
$10,000,000,  besides  which  $15,000,000  of  the  prior 
lien  bonds  were  to  be  sold  to  a  syndicate  at  95, 
yielding  $14,250,000  more. 

According  to  the  figures  given  by  the  Company  in 
the  promotion  of  this  plan,  the  annual  fixed  charges 
of  the  new  company  for  the  rentals  and  the  interest 
left  undisturbed  by  the  proposed  reorganization  were 
these: 

Interest  on  Bonds  of  the  Erie  System  Proper $2,112,727 

Rental  on  Leases  of  that  System 1.609. iKS 

Interest   and   Rentals  of  the   New   York,   Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Ohio  System 1.261,019 

Interest  and  Rentals  of  the  Chicago  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company 615,000 

Total   $5,687,934 

Adding  to  this  the  interest  at  4  per  cent,  on  the 
proposed  issue  of  $35,000,000  prior  lien  bonds, 
amounting  to  $1,400,000,  and  of  3  per  cent,  on 
$29,433,000     general     lien     bonds,     amounting     to 


-7s 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


$882,990,  made  a  total  of  $7,970,924.  For  the  year 
the  net  earnings  of  the  separate  properties  of  which 
1894  the  new  consolidated  system  was  to  be  com- 
posed were  but  §7,400,000,  which  left  a  deficiency  of 
$570,924  to  be  made  up  out  of  increased  net  earn- 
ings in  the  future. 

l:i  the  circular  submitting  this  plan  it  was  an- 
nounced that  the  net  earnings  of  the  properties  were 
for  several  years  prior  to  1893-94  sufficient,  on  an 
average,  to  pay  not  only  the  proposed  fixed  charges, 
but  also  to  leave  a  surplus  of  $1,500,000  for  the 
stockholders.  The  Company  candidly  admitted, 
however,  that  nearly  the  whole  of  this  $1,500,000 
was  derived  from  trackage  paid  by  the  Lehigh  Valley 
Railroad  Company,  which  income  ceased  in  1892. 
The  estimate  of  fixed  charges  under  the  new  plan 
being  $7,850,000  per  annum,  to  pay  this  the  net 
earnings  would  have  not  only  to  equal  those  of 
1893-94,  but  exceed  them  by  $450,000. 

This  plan  was  entered  into  subsequent  to  the  de- 
cree of  foreclosure  sale  of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie 
and  Western  Railroad  property,  which  decree  issued 
from  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York,  August  21,  1895. 
Under  the  plan,  upward  of  750,000  shares  of  the 
common  and  82,000  of  the  preferred  stock  were 
deposited  with  the  Reorganization  Committee, 
Charles  H.  Coster,  Louis  Fitzgerald,  and  Anthony 
J.  Thomas,  who  also  held  upward  of  $32,700,000  of 
the  second  consolidated  bonds  of  1878,  upward  of 
$3,700,000  of  the  funded  coupon  5  per  cent,  bonds 
of  1885,  and  upward  of  $475,000  of  the  income 
bonds.  The  actual  assessment  on  the  stock  to  be 
deposited  was  $18  a  share  on  the  common  and  $12 
on  the  preferred,  a  deduction  of  $6  per  share  on  the 
former  and  $4  on  the  latter  being  allowed  if  shares 
were  deposited  on  or  before  September  20,  1895, 
and  the  assessments  paid  in  four  equal  installments 
on  September  20,  October  21,  November  21,  and 
December  23,  1895. 

The  new  plan  was  received  with  general  favor.  In 
the  first  place,  warned  by  the  failure  of  the  plan  of 
January,  [894,  wherein  new  bonds  were  rated  at 
higher  figures  than  their  intrinsic  merits  justified, 
the  committee  had  made  a  more  thorough  examina- 
tion into  all  the  affairs— great  and  small— of  the  Erie, 


and  arranged  their  plan  accordingly.  Then,  in  order 
to  justify  the  severity  with  which  the  junior  bonds 
and  shares  of  the  old  system  were  to  be  treated,  the 
Committee  found  itself  obliged  to  make  a  confession 
which,  no  doubt,  it  was  loath  to  put  in  print — that 
the  alleged  surpluses  shown  in  the  annual  reports  for 
the  five  years  previous  to  1894  were  at  least  twice  as 
large  as  the  actual  earning  capacity  of  the  Company. 

This  was  the  second  time  the  truth  had  been 
bluntly  told  about  Erie,  the  first  being  the  memor- 
able uncovering  of  the  Company's  true  condition  by 
President  Jewett  in  the  spring  of  1875. 

That  feature  of  the  Erie  plan  which  contemplated 
one  organization  to  control  all  the  lines  and  proper- 
ties was  heartily  commended.  Any  one  who  had 
followed  the  train  of  vicissitudes  that  had  attended 
the  Erie's  efforts  to  compete  with  rival  lines  by  de- 
pendence on  the  uncertain  tenure  of  traffic  arrange- 
ments with  alien  lines,  and  the  fleeting  advantages 
of  leases  of  connecting  lines,  or  control  of  them  by 
dickering  for  their  stock,  could  see  at  once  that  such 
a  consummation  as  this  could  not  fail  to  add  greatly 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  system  as  a  whole.  The  new 
plan  also  provided  several  millions  of  new  capital  for 
pressing  improvements,  a  thing  from  whose  lack  the 
Erie  had  suffered  from  its  earliest  days. 

The  road  was  sold  under  foreclosure  November  6, 
1895,  for  $20,000,000.  Francis  Lynde  Stetson,  rep- 
resenting the  purchasers,  Charles  H.  Coster,  Louis 
Fitzgerald,  and  Anthony  J.  Thomas;  and  David 
McClure,  representing  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
Company,  appeared  before  Judge  Lacombe,  in  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court,  November  9th,  and 
asked  for  a  confirmation  of  the  sale.  William  Wal- 
lace MacFarland,  representing  the  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania and  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  interposed  a 
formal  objection  on  the  ground  that  he  did  not  think 
the  court  had  jurisdiction  to  foreclose  the  mortgage. 
November  nth  Judge  Lacombe  dismissed  the  objec- 
tion, and  confirmed  the  sale.  The  New  York,  Lake 
Erie  and  "Western  Railroad  Company,  which  had 
been  comprehensive  only  in  name,  ceased  to  be,  and 
the  Erie  Railroad  Company,  its  great  scope  being  in 
no  sense  represented  by  its  title,  succeeded  to  the 
demesne,  rights,  titles,  and  franchises  of  the  old  Com- 
pany, and  to  rights,  titles,  and  franchises  in  efforts 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


279 


to  secure  which  various  of  the  new  Company's  pre- 
decessors had  called  up  many  troubles  to  sorely 
plague  them. 

The  plan  of  readjusting  and  reorganizing  the  Com- 
pany was  in  the  hands  of  Charles  H.  Coster,  Louis 
Fitzgerald,  and  Anthony  J.  Thomas.  They  had 
wide  discretionary  powers.  The  certificate  of  incor- 
poration of  the  Erie  Railroad  Company  was  filed  in 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  John  Palmer,  at 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  November  14,  1895.  The  incor- 
porators or  temporary  directors  named  were  Temple 
Bowdoin,  Charles  H.  Coster,  J.  H.  Emanuel,  Jr., 
A.  H.  Gilland,  A.  B.  Hopper,  Thomas  W.  Joyce, 
W'alterS.  Kermeys,  J.  P.  Morgan,  Jr.,  Francis  Lynde 
Stetson,  Mortimer  F.  Smith,  W.  T.  Townsend, 
J.  H.  Tierney,  and  E.  B.  Thomas.  The  capital 
stock  of  the  Company,  as  fixed  by  the  plan  of  reor- 
ganization, was  $146,000,000,  divided  into  300,000 
shares  of  non-cumulative  4  per  cent,  first  preferred 
stock;  16,000  shares  of  non-cumulative  4  percent, 
second  preferred  stock;  and  1,000,000  shares  of  com- 
mon stock,  each  class  being  of  a  par  value  of  $100 
per  share.  The  first  preferred  stock  had  the  prior 
call  for  dividends  (non-cumulative)  at  the  rate  of 
4  per  cent,  per  annum,  beginning  with  June  30, 
1896,  out  of  the  undivided  net  profits  of  the  Com- 
pany, whenever,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Board  of 
Directors,  a  dividend  might  be  declared.  The  sec- 
ond preferred  stock  was  entitled  to  no  dividend, 
except  when  there  should  remain  a  surplus  undi- 
vided net  profit  after  a  dividend  on  the  first  pre- 
ferred stock  had  been  paid.  Dividends  on  the  com- 
mon stock  were  payable  out  of  the  surplus  only  that 
might  remain  after  both  the  preferred  stocks  had 
been  paid  full  dividends  from  the  profits  of  any 
fiscal  year. 

Under  the  plan  of  reorganization  a  mortgage  or 
trust  deed  was  given  to  secure  two  series  of  bonds, 
known  respectively  as  prior  lien  bonds  and  general 
lien  bonds.  The  authorized  issue  of  the  former 
series  was  §35,000,000,  bearing  interest  at  4  per 
cent.,  and  of  the  latter  issue  $140,000,000,  with  in- 
terest at  3  per  cent,  until  July  1,  1896,  and  4  per 
cent,  thereafter,  interest  and  principal  of  both  series 
to  be  paid  in  gold,  the  life  of  the  mortgage  being 
one  hundred  years,   or  until  January,    1996.      The 


prior  lien  bonds,  as  their  name  indicates,  had  priority 
over  the  general  lien  bonds  in  regard  to  payment  of 
principal  and  interest,  and  the  rights  of  their  holders 
could  not  be  affected  by  foreclosure  of  the  lien  of 
the  general  lien  bonds. 

Out  of  the  $35,000,000  of  prior  lien  bonds, 
$15,000,000  were  issued  at  once,  and  the  proceeds, 
together  with  the  cash  received  from  assessments  of 
stock,  used  for  reorganization  purposes  and  for  taking 
up  outstanding  obligations  of  the  New  York,  Lake 
Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Company,  as  follows : 

Reorganization  First  Lien  Bonds,  issued  under 
the  Mortgage  of  October  5,  1878  (Principal) $2,500,000 

Collateral  Trust  Bonds,  secured  by  Trust  Deed  of 
November  1,  1882  (Principal) 3.344.000 

Equipment  Trust  Obligations  to  mature  within 
three  years,  estimated  at  (Principal) 2,000,000 

Any  Floating  Indebtedness  of  that  Company  or  the 
Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  or  any 
Company  in  its  System,  and  any  Certificates  and 
other  Indebtedness  of  the  Receivers  of  the  New 
York,  Lake  Erie,  and  Western  Railroad  Com- 
pany, estimated  at 11.500.000 

The  balance  of  the  issue  of  prior  lien  bonds  was 
reserved  for  use  as  follows:  $14,400,000  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  railroad  and  property  of  the  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  subject 
to  a  mortgage  of  $8,000,000;  $5,000,000  for  the 
enlargement  and  improvement  of  terminal  facilities 
at  Jersey  City,  Buffalo,  and  elsewhere;  reducing 
grades;  constructing  double  track,  and  purchasing 
additional  equipment.  The  cost  of  the  Nypano 
(which  has  come  to  be  the  official  designation  of  the 
New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad)  involved 
an  annual  fixed  charge  of  $1,741,386,  which,  in  the 
light  of  the  average  net  earnings  of  that  road  since 
1885  ($1,811,758),  was  not  an  unwise  responsibility 
to  assume. 

From  the  total  of  the  general  lien  bonds,  $30,927,- 
000  were  issued  at  once  for  reorganization  purposes. 
Of  the  remainder,  $79,918,000  were  reserved  to  take 
up  at  or  before  maturity  outstanding  bonds  of  the 
New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Com- 
pany, the  Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  and 
the  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company,  and  of  other  lines,  lands,  and  properties 
in   which   the  Company  was  interested,  as  lessee  or 


28o 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


stockholder;  $8,636,000  to  acquire  the  stock  of  com- 
panies subsidiary  to  the  Erie  system;  §4,092,000 
to  take  up  equipment  bonds  and  trust  certificates, 
notes,  or  obligations;  817.000,000  for  new  construc- 
tion, betterments,  equipment,  and  acquisition  of 
new  property  along  lines  leased  or  controlled  by  the 
Company,  or  in  which  it  was  interested  as  a  holder 
of  a  majority  of  stock,  not  over  $1,000,000  of  the 
reserved  bonds  to  be  thus  used  in  any  one  year  after 
January  I,  1898.  This  new  mortgage  specifically 
provides  that  all  outstanding  divisional  liens  (except 
the  New  York  and  Erie  first  mortgage  bonds  of  1845, 
which  might  be  extended  at  maturity,  and  which 
were  extended,  May  1,  1897,  for  forty  years),  must 
be  paid  at  maturity  and  cancelled,  or  acquired  and 
pledged,  or  cancelled  and  renewal  bonds  pledged, 
under  the  mortgage,  thus  in  time  making  the  prior 
lien  bonds  an  absolute  first  mortgage,  either  by 
direct  lien  or  through  collateral  trust,  on  the  entire 
consolidated  properties,  except  on  the  Buffalo  and 
Southwestern  Railroad,  on  which  there  is  a  lien  not 
intended  to  be  retired  by  the  general  lien  bonds,  and 
on  which  those  bonds  will  be  a  mortgage  subject  to 
the  prior  lien  bonds.  The  mortgage  (or  more  prop- 
erly, the  mortgage  deed)  is  substantially  a  first  lien, 
either  by  mortgage  or  by  collateral  trust,  upon  the 
Company's  principal  coal  properties,  upon  its  water 
transportation  lines  (including  valuable  terminal  prop- 
erties appurtenant  thereto),  and  upon  its  valuable 
local  railroads  in  New  Jersey  and  near  Buffalo;  a 
second  lien  (subject  only  to  some  of  the  divisional 
mortgages)  upon  the  remaining  coal  properties;  upon 
the  terminals  at  Jersey  City;  upon  the  Buffalo,  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad;  upon  the  Buffalo  terminal 
properties,  other  than  those  upon  which  it  is  a  first 
lien;  and  upon  the  entire  line  from  Salamanca, 
N.  Y.,  to  Chicago;  and  a  second  consolidated  mort- 
gage upon  the  lines  of  the  original  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company,  between  Piermont  and  Dun- 
kirk. 

The  denomination  of  the  bonds  issued  under  this 
mortgage  is  $1,000  each.  The  Company  is  obligated 
to  the  payment  of  all  taxes,  present  or  future,  on 
the  bonds. 

Following  is  a  list  of  bonds  and  stocks  pledged 
under  the  mortgage: 


Bonds. 


Title. 

Date. 

Int. 
Rate  %. 

Principal 
Payable. 

Total 
Issue. 

Amount 
Pledged. 

Buffalo,    Bradford 

,\:  Pittsburg  RR. 

1865 

7 

Jan. 

1896 

$580,000 

$185,000 

Chic.  &   Erie  RR. 

Income  bonds. 

1890 

5 

Oct. 

1982 

10,000,000 

9,776,000 

Middletown      & 

Crawford  RR .  . 

1871 

4', 

Apr. 

1 92 1 

66,000 

57,200 

Newark    &    Hud- 

son RR 

1871 

7 

Sept. 

1901 

250,000 

250,000 

N.  Y.  L.  E.  &  W. 

Dock    Improve- 

ment Co 

1883 

6 

|uly 

1913 

4,000,000 

604,000 

N.  Y.  L.  E.  &  \V. 

Coal  &  RR.  Co. 

IS82 

6 

May 

1922 

3,000,000 

1,900,000 

Paterson,  Newark 

&  N.  Y.  RR.  Co. 

1868 

7 

Jan. 

1878 

500,000 

499,000 

Suspension  Bridge 

&  Erie  Junction 

RR 

1870 

7 

July 

1900 

I  ,000,000 

35,000 

Total 

$13,306,200 

Stock. 


Name  of  Company. 

Total 
Capital. 

Amount 
Pledged. 

Basis  of 

Ex.  %  of 

Par. 

Arnot  &  Pine  Creek  RR 

$255,000 

200,000 

40,000 

I.OOO.OOO 

2,286.400 

250,000 

950  OOO 

lOO.OOO 

3,000,000 

19,100 

90,200 

96,190 

1,000,000 

2,095,450 

800,000 

122,200 

I  50,000 

250,000 

145.750 

604,400 

500,000 
250,000 
100,000 
405,800 
433.350 

500,000 
189,700 
391,200 
1,000,000 
I  50,000 

$255,000 

200,000 

40,000 

1 ,000,000 

2,189,000 

125,000 

823,000 

IOO.OOO 

Buffalo.Bradford  &  Pittsb'g 
Buffalo  Creek  RR 

RR. 

IO 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.  &  Erie  RR 
Chicago  &  Erie  RR 

150 

Cleveland  &  Mahoning  Vy. 

RR. 

225 

18,750 
6l,000 

1 ,000,000 

2,095,450 

8o0,000 

So.OOO 

250,000 

Goshen  &  Deckertown  RR  .... 
Hillside  Coal  &  Iron  Co 

70 

Jefferson  RR 

IOO 

Middletown  &  Crawford  RR.. . 

20 
70 

Newark  &  Hudson  RR 

Newcastle  &  Shenango  Vy.  RR. 
N.  Y.,  L.  E.  &  W.  Docks  &  Im- 

IO 

604,400 

500,000 
250,000 
100,000 

Northwestern     Mining    & 

Ex- 

Paterson,  Newark  &  N.  Y. 
Pavonia  Ferry  Co 

RR. 

Rochester  &  Genesee  Valley 

RR. 

IOO 

125 

IOO 

Suspension  Bridge  &  Erie  J 
tion   RR 

unc- 

499,200 
189,700 
390,900 
1,000,000 
I  50,000 

Tioga  RR.,  preferred 

Tioga  RR.,  common 

20 

Union  Steamboat  Co 

Union  Dry  Dock  Co 

Total  

$17,294,340 

$12,722,700 

All  of  the  companies  named  above  whose  stocks 
are  not  pledged  as  collateral  under  this  mortgage, 
are  secured  to  the  Erie  by  long  leases. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


281 


All  classes  of  stock  in  the  new  corporation  are 
vested  in  Voting  Trustees,  who  are  to  hold  it,  under 
a  trust  agreement  with  the  Committee,  for  five  years, 
and  for  such  further  period  as  may  elapse  before  a 
4  per  cent,  cash  dividend  is  paid  on  the  first  pre- 
ferred stock,  the  trust  to  be  terminated,  however,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  Trustees,  they  to  issue  stock 
trust  certificates  entitling  registered  holders  to  re- 
ceive stock  certificates  for  the  number  of  shares 
stated  in  the  trust  certificates,  and  payments  to  the 
amount  of  dividends  collected  by  the  Voting  Trus- 
tees upon  those  shares,  which  are,  with  all  voting 
powers  and  other  interest,  to  remain  vested  in  the 
Voting  Trustees  until  the  shares  shall  become  deliv- 
erable according  to  the  provisions  of  the  stock  trust 
certificates.  Registered  owners  of  prior  lien  or  gen- 
eral lien  bonds  without  coupons,  or  registered  coupon 
bonds,  or  persons  in  whose  names  coupon  bonds 
stood  registered  within  one  year  prior  to  the  date  of 
a  meeting,  have  the  right  to  vote  after  the  termina- 
tion of  the  Voting  Trust,  one  bond  of  $1,000  entitling 
the  holder  to  the  same  vote  as  ten  shares  of  stock. 
The  Voting  Trustees  named  under  the  plan  were  J. 
Pierpont  Morgan,  Louis  Fitzgerald,  and  Sir  Charles 
Tennant,  Bart.,  and  they  are  still  in  office  (1898). 


None  of  the  $5,000,000  prior  lien  nor  of  the 
$17,000,000  general  lien  bonds  reserved  for  construc- 
tion requirements  was  used.  Of  the  fund  received 
from  the  Reorganization  Committee  for  early  con- 
struction requirements  and  improvements,  amount- 
ing to  $4,343,850.13,  to  which  was  added  the  pro- 
ceeds of  $383,000  of  New  York  and  Greenwood  Lake 
prior  lien  5  per  cent,  bonds  received  from  the  Com- 
mittee ($363,850),  making  total  cash  received  $4,707,- 
700.13,  there  was  expended  for  construction  and 
equipment  and  old  Car  Trusts  $3,467,036.39,  leaving 
still  available  $1,210,663.74  'n  cash. 

The  Reorganization  Committee  submitted  their 
final  account  to  the  Board  early  in  1896,  which,  after 
examination,  was  approved  and  accepted.  The  bal- 
ance turned  over  to  the  Company  by  the  Commit- 
tee far  exceeded  the  expectation  of  the  Board, 
and  amounted  to  $8,469,163.35,  consisting  as  fol- 
lows: 

Cash  $4,343,850  13 

Securities  for  Construction  Purposes 2,750.655  22 

Securities  for  General  Use 55,732  00 

Securities  held  in  Trust  to  be  Pledged  under  the 
First  Consolidated  Mortgage  Deed 1,318,926  00 

Total   $8,469,163  35 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF   EBEN    B.    THOMAS— 1895    TO    1899. 

lation —  End   of  the  Atlantic   and    Great   Western-New  York,    Penn- 

'""J  ii'  Betterment  of 

t  Purpose,  Proving   Its   Wisdom  —  For   the   first   Time   in    Its 

the  Fathers  —  To  What  the  Forty-six    Miles  of  Railroad 

Grown,      II.    Bui   A1    v.  i  :  What  the  Kehabilii  after  All   Its  Years  of   Tribulation  —$300.- 

•  d  by  Its  Stocks  and   bonds  —  And    Erie   became  bankrupt  Once  Because  It  Could  Not    I'a\    (4 

Owed  for  Interest. 


I       . 

'I  111  new  Erie  Railroad  Company  took  possession 
of  its  property  and  assumed  its  operation  Decem- 
ber 1,   1895,  with  the  followii  i/.ation: 

Officr-.      I..  B.  Thomas,   President;  W,   F.  Mer- 
rill, lent;   A.    Doi  .   Third 
lit;  '•■  G.  Cochran,  Fourth  Vice-Presi- 
Middleton,  Secretary;  Edward  White, 
I  •■       r<  '  ,  J.  T.  Warm,  Auditor. 

I>ir<ctors. — Charles  II.  Coster,  James  J.  Goodwin, 
Abram    S.    Hewitt,    Darius  O.    Mills,   Alexander  E. 
'.'.'.  Quint;  uel   Spencer,  Francis 

Lynde  E,  B.  Thomas,  New  York;  John  G. 

Mc<  Vermont;   I.  Lowber  Welsh,  Philadel- 

phia;  Samuel    E.    Williamson,   Cleveland,  O.     One 

President    Thoma  .   being   a  man  of  action,   not 

no  public  proclamation  of  his  inten- 

tioi  .  or  his  f>  ars  a    to  th€  future  of  Erie. 

I    the  author,  in  his  search  throi 
the  of  that  time  foi    tomt   i  icpn  ision  of 

oi  I  rii   on  th<  subject, 
fou  of  the  m  '   interviewer  in 

lii  y  of  the  '  lompany,  nulating 

was  not  forth- 
ithouf    1  it   in  the 

lat< '  1  i  tory  of  Erie.     H   Pn  iidi  nt  'I  homas  felt  that 
he  ty  task,  and  one  who  • 

1     ■  b  idi    him  I    for  prayi  i 

ful  ■■  he  I.-  pi  the  knowledge  to  himself  and 

went  i"  wor]       He  1  bly  at   work  thr<  i 


years.  Chronicles  of  the  affairs  of  Erie  have  filled 
scarcely  a  column's  space  in  any  newspaper  in  all 
that  time.  In  court  corridors  and  chambers,  where 
erstwhile  in  the  one  it  had  become  a  byword  and  in 
the  other  a  monopolizer  of  the  dockets,  the  name 
of  Erie  has  gradually  grown  less  and  less  famil- 
iar, until  now  it  is  but  a  memory.  Legislative  halls 
have  not  rung  with  indignant  eloquence  provoked 
by  Erie's  alleged  transgressions,  nor  conscienceless 
lobbyists  swarmed,  like  unclean  birds  of  prey,  to 
share,  as  of  old,  loot  from  Erie's  helpless  treasury. 
The  long-fostered  policy  of  temporizing  with  disaster 
was  cast  aside  three  years  ago.  The  knife  was  thrust 
in  to  the  root  of  the  evil  that  held  Erie  prone  under 
its  spell.      Behold  the  result. 

The  work  of  consolidation  was  pushed  steadily  and 
so  rapid]}-  that  at  the  submitting  of  the  Compan 
first  annual  report,  September  15,  [896,  which  report 
included  only  the  first  seven  months  of  possession, 
from  January  1  to  June  30,  1896,  the  management 
able  to  state  that  the  following  subsidiary  lines 
had  been  merged  into,  or  otherwise  practically  con- 
solidated with,  the  Erie  Railroad: 

"  The  Buffalo  and  Southwestern. — The  unsatisfac- 
tory lease  to  the  old  Company  of  this  line  (based  on 
of  its  gross  earnings)  was  assumed  by 
the  new  Company,  the  entire  capital  stock  of  the 
Buffalo  and  Southwestern  Company  having  been 
viously  purchased  by  the  Reorganization  Com- 
mittee, and  that  company  was  duly  merged  into  the 
Erie  Company  November   19,    1895.     In   exchange 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


283 


for  the  capital  stock  of  the  Southwestern  Company, 
the  Erie  issued  1,200  fully-paid  shares  of  its  com- 
mon stock  and  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $1, 000,000, 
secured  by  a  second  mortgage  on  the  Southwestern 
Road,  bearing  5  per  cent,  per  annum  interest.  The 
road  was  thus  obtained  at  an  annual  charge  of  $50,- 
000,  and  interest  on  its  first  mortgage  of  $1,500,000 
at  6  per  cent.,  or  a  fixed  total  annual  charge  of 
$140,000,  which  will  in  due  course  be  still  further 
reduced  by  taking  up  the  latter  mortgage  with  the 
Erie's  4  per  cent,  general  lien  bonds." 

The  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad. — 
The  long-conflicting,  costly,  and  harassing  relations 
of  the  Erie  with  this  railroad  were  at  last  set  at  rest 
forever  by  an  agreement  whereby  the  Erie  should 
operate  the  road  at  a  fixed  annual  rental  until  it 
could  be  sold  under  foreclosure  proceedings  and 
reorganized  into  the  Erie  system.  "  After  due  pro- 
ceedings in  the  courts,  the  property  was  sold  at  pub- 
lic auction  February  25,  1896,  and  purchased  by  a 
committee  in  behalf  of  the  Erie.  Corporations  called 
The  Nypano  Railroad  Company  were  incorporated 
under  the  general  law  of  the  States  of  Ohio  and 
Pennsylvania,  and  consolidated  into  one,  under  the 
same  title,  to  which  was  deeded  the  property  of  the 
New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad  Com- 
pany, purchased  at  the  sale.  The  Nypano  Company 
took  the  property,  subject  to  $8,000,000  prior  lien 
bonds,  bearing  4^  per  cent,  interest,  the  rentals  of 
the  old  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company's  leased  lines,  and  the  outstanding  Car 
Trusts.  It  issued  common  capital  stock  to  the 
amount  of  $20,000,000,  and  a  mortgage  to  the 
amount  of  $20,000,000,  bearing  4  per  cent,  interest 
per  annum.  This  entire  capital  stock,  and  all  the 
bonds  issued  under  the  latter  mortgage,  are  owned 
by  the  Erie,  and  are  deposited  with  the  Trustee 
under  the  first  consolidated  mortgage,  as  additional 
security.  The  Erie,  therefore,  became  the  owners 
of  the  Nypano  Railroad  Company,  and  secured  a 
line  from  Salamanca,  N.  Y.,  to  Dayton,  O.,  with 
branches  to  Youngstown  and  Cleveland,  and  in  pay- 
ment therefor  issued  $14,400,000  of  its  new  prior 
lien  4  per  cent,  bonds,  $7,960,000  of  its  first  pre- 
ferred stock,  and  $16,986,000  of  its  common  stock, 
.receiving  in  the  adjustment  $742,320  in  cash.     Proper 


reservation  of  Erie's  securities  was  made  to  retire 
the  liens  on  the  Nypano  property  as  they  mature." 

Thus  passed  out  of  existence  a  corporate  body 
which  from  its  birth,  more  than  thirty  years  before, 
had  been  a  curse  to  its  projectors,  had  brought  ruin 
to  successive  owners,  and  had  been  the  means  of 
heaping  upon  the  Erie  a  large  portion  of  that  moun- 
tain of  ills  under  which  the  Company  had  staggered 
so  helplessly  through  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  its 
career.  It  was  but  retributive  justice  that  the  Erie 
should  absorb  the  source  of  all  that  evil,  and  turn  it 
toward  its  own  good  at  last. 

Lockport  and  Buffalo  Raihvay. — The  Company 
accepted  an  assignment  of  the  lease  of  this  road 
from  the  Suspension  Bridge  and  Erie  Junction  Rail- 
road Company,  acquired  the  ownership  of  its  entire 
capital  stock,  and,  November  25,  1895,  merged  it 
into  the  Erie  Company.  The  road  runs  from  Lock- 
port,  N.  Y.,  to  Tonawanda,  N.  Y.,  a  distance  of 
15^  miles,  and  is  a  valuable  feeder  to  the  Com- 
pany's main  line.  It  was  subject  to  a  mortgage  of 
$140,000,  bearing  7  per  cent,  interest,  which  lien 
was  satisfied  on  maturity,  October  1,  1897. 

Erie  International  Railway. — The  Erie  took  a  lease 
of  this  railroad,  and  subsequently,  becoming  the 
owner  of  its  entire  capital  stock,  merged  the  Inter- 
national Company  into  the  Erie  Railroad  Company 
November  27,  1895.  The  Erie  International  Rail- 
way Company  had  no  funded  debt.  The  railroad  is 
four  miles  long,  and  gives  the  Erie  access  to  the 
International  Niagara  Bridge  at  Buffalo. 

Suspension  Bridge  and  Erie  Junction  Railroad. — 
This  railroad  forms  the  Erie's  Niagara  Falls  line, 
running  from  East  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ,  to  Suspension 
Bridge,  N.  Y.,  a  distance  of  24  miles,  and  gives  the 
Erie  connection  with  the  Canadian  lines.  The  Erie 
leased  the  railroad,  acquired  the  entire  capital  stock 
of  the  company,  and  merged  it  into  the  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  April  3,  1896.  This  railroad  is  sub- 
ject to  a  mortgage  of  $1,000,000,  of  which  amount 
$965,000  is  held  by  the  public,  the  balance  by  the 
Erie. 

Buffalo,  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad. — This  road 
extends  from  Painted  Post,  N.  Y.,  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
a  distance  of  14°/^  miles,  and  gives  the  Erie  the 
greater  part   of   its    Rochester  line   and   secures   its 


284 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


Buffalo  terminal.  The  advisability  of  acquiring  a 
more  absolute  title  to  this  property  than  a  leasehold 
was  apparent.  The  Erie  purchased  the  entire  cap- 
ital stock  of  this  Company,  and  merged  it  into  the 
Erie  Company  April  3,  1896.  It  has  a  funded  debt 
of  $2,380,000,  bearing  7  per  cent,  interest,  and  matur- 
ing June  1,  1916. 

The  Union  Steamboat  and  Union  Dry  Dock  Com- 
panies.— The  Union  Steamboat  Company  owning 
the  entire  capital  stock  of  the  Union  Dry  Dock  Com- 
pany at  Buffalo,  the  latter  was  merged  into  the 
former  June  11,  1896;  and,  the  entire  capital  stock 
of  the  Union  Steamboat  Company  being  owned  by 
the  Erie,  that  corporation  was  merged  into  the  Erie 
Railroad  Company  June  30,  1896,  thus  doing  away 
with  the  maintenance  of  two  separate  corporations 
and  bringing  the  management  of  the  Lake  Line  and 
Dry  Dock  into  the  parent  Company. 

The  Erie  also  purchased  all  the  stock  of  the  Tioga 
Railroad  Company,  excepting  six  shares,  the  owners 
of  which  could  not  be  found ;  all  the  capital  stock  of 
the  Arnot  and  Pine  Creek  Railroad  Company,  and 
about  two-thirds  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Elmira 
State  Line  Railroad  Company.  These  three  roads 
had  formed  parts  of  the  Erie  system  through  leases 
or  ownership  of  stock.  By  this  consolidation  the 
Erie  became  the  absolute  owner  of  those  properties, 
which  command  sole  entry,  from  the  East,  to  the 
valuable  semi-bituminous  coal  fields  and  the  great 
farming  and  lumber  regions  of  Tioga  County,  Pa. 

Avon,  Gcneseo  and  Mount  Morris  Railroad. — This 
railroad,  from  Avon,  N.  Y.,  to  Mount  Morris,  N.  Y., 
a  distance  of  nearly  18  miles,  had  long  served  as  a 
feeder  to  the  Erie,  and  was  held  under  a  lease  at  an 
annual  rental  of  $13,600,  being  6  per  cent,  upon  its 
capital  stock.  As  the  road  was  being  operated  at  a 
loss,  the  new  Erie  Company  decided  not  to  assume 
the  lease  unless  a  material  reduction  in  the  rental 
could  be  secured,  which  was  accomplished,  a  new 
arrangement  being  effected  as  follows:  Two  and  a 
half  per  cent,  upon  the  capital  stock  for  four  years, 
3  per  cent,  for  the  fifth  year,  and  3^  per  cent,  there- 
after. 

The  Erie's  suburban  lines,  running  almost  exclu- 
sively within  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  had  enjoyed 
so  steady  a  growth  that  they  at  times  severely  taxed 


the  facilities  of  the  Erie  at  the  Jersey  City  terminal. 
The  New  York  and  Greenwood  Lake  and  the  New 
Jersey  and  New  York  Railroads,  using  that  terminal 
as  tenants,  and  the  Northern  Railroad  of  New  Jersey, 
operated  upon  a  percentage  basis,  had  paid  practi- 
cally nothing  for  the  valuable  terminal  facilities  they 
enjoyed.  As  a  remedy  for  this  unequal  condition  of 
affairs,  the  Company  declined  to  assume  the  North- 
ern Railroad  of  New  Jersey  contract  on  the  reorgan- 
ization, and  notified  that  company,  and  the  New 
York  and  Greenwood  Lake  Railway  and  the  New 
Jersey  and  New  York  Railroad  companies,  that  they 
would  be  required  to  bear  their  equitable  proportion 
of  the  cost  of  operating  the  Jersey  City  terminal. 
The  result  has  been  that  all  of  these  roads  have 
passed  virtually  within  the  control  of  the  Erie,  the 
Northern  Railroad  and  the  New  Jersey  and  New 
York  Railroad  by  purchase,  and  the  New  York  and 
Greenwood  Lake  Railroad  by  lease. 

April  28,  1897,  an  important  contract  was  con- 
cluded between  the  Company  and  the  authorities  of 
Jersey  City,  by  which  all  Erie  grade  crossings  in  that 
city,  between  the  Hudson  River  and  Bergen  Tunnel, 
a  distance  of  \l/±  miles,  are  to  be  eliminated  by  the 
elevation  of  the  tracks  of  the  Company  and  depres- 
sion of  certain  streets.  The  contract  also  provides 
for  the  construction  of  two  or  more  additional  tracks 
over  or  through  Bergen  Hill,  above  and  adjacent  to 
the  present  two  tracks  in  the  tunnel,  also  lying  within 
the  boundaries  of  Jersey  City.  Under  the  contract 
the  Company  began  the  work  November  1,  1897. 
The  work  is  to  be  completed,  as  far  as  the  streets 
east  of  the  tunnel  are  concerned,  on  or  before  Jan- 
uary 1,  1900.  A  company,  called  the  Penhorn  Creek 
Railroad  Company,  was  organized  to  execute  that 
part  of  the  agreement  relating  to  the  work  to  be 
done  between  the  east  end  of  the  tunnel  and  Pen- 
horn  Creek,  which  latter  is  the  western  boundary  of 
Jersey  City.  This  great  work  of  elevating  the  tracks 
of  the  Erie  is  progressing. 

Work  now  in  progress  (1898),  looking  toward  the 
still  further  improvement  of  the  line,  embraces  the 
laying  of  third  and  fourth  tracks;  eliminating  grade 
crossings  at  Buffalo;  elevating  the  tracks  at  Jersey 
City;  erecting  new  stations  and  other  buildings;  lay- 
ing of  90-pound  steel  rails,  and  the  further  improving 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


285 


of  the  terminal  facilities  at  Cleveland,  the  work 
already  completed  there  having  reduced  the  cost  of 
handling  coal  and  ore  from  67  cents  per  car  to  52 
cents  per  car,  besides  greatly  facilitating  the  loading 
and  unloading  of  freight.  The  cost  to  the  Erie  of 
the  Buffalo  improvements  alone  will  be  §750,000. 

In  line  with  its  policy  of  consolidation,  the  Com- 
pany, in  February,  1898,  decided  that  it  would  be 
advisable  to  go  beyond  fields  that  were  direct  and 
natural  feeders  of  the  Erie  main  line,  and  add  to  the 
Erie  system  a  property  that,  owing  to  the  situation 
of  the  Company's  interests  in  the  anthracite  coal 
regions,  and  to  the  importance  of  certain  items  of 
local  traffic,  notably  that  of  milk,  might  well  be 
regarded  as  a  property  so  closely  allied  to  the  Erie 
that  a  consolidation  of  its  interests  with  those  of  that 
Company  would  be  not  only  good  business  policy 
for  the  present,  but  a  guarantee  of  supremacy  in  a 
field  certain  to  be  sought  by  competitors  at  no  far 
distant  day.  Accordingly,  February,  1898,  that 
property  was  secured  to  the  Erie  by  the  purchase  of 
a  large  majority  of  its  stock.  This  property  was  the 
New  York,  Susquehanna  and  Western  Railroad  and 
its  leased  and  controlled  lines,  including  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  and  Eastern  Railroad.  This  railroad  system 
extends  from  Jersey  City  to  Middletown,  N.  Y.,  to 
Stroudsburg,  Pa.,  thence  to  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa.  To 
purchase  this  property  the  Erie's  capital  stock  was 
increased  §26,000,000  by  an  authorized  issue  of 
130,000  shares  each  of  the  first  preferred  and  the 
common  stock. 

It  was  also  deemed  wise  by  the  Board  to  strengthen 
the  traffic  relations  of  the  Company  with  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Reading  System,  and  a  trackage  contract 
was  made  with  the  Fall  Brook  Railroad  Company 
which  gives  the  Erie  the  use  of  that  road  for  freight 
traffic  between  Corning.  X.  Y.,  and  Williamsport, 
Pa.,  connecting  at  the  latter  point  with  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Reading  Road,  and  giving  it  a  through 
line,  under  its  own  control,  to  and  from  the  West 
to  the  Reading  territory.  This  arrangement  went 
into  force  early  in  1897. 


Gross  Revenue  from  Operation $17,017,376  59 

Operating  Expenses  and  Taxes 12.877.423  87 

Net  Income  from  Operation $4,139,952  72 

Income  from  Securities  Owned 55-546  26 

Total   Income $4,195,49898 

Interest  and  Rentals  Paid 4.043.789  55 

Balance — Credit  to  Profit  and  Loss $151,709  43 


The  second  annual  report  (1897)  stated  the  income 
account  for  that  year  as  follows : 

Gross  Revenue  from  Operation $31,497,030  92 

Operating  Expenses  and  Taxes 23.332,242  58 

Net  Income  from  Operation $8,164,788  34 

Income  from  Securities  Owned,  etc 3l3oi3  3° 

Total   Income $8,478,301  64 

Interest  and  Rentals 8,126,282  77 

Balance — Credit  to  Profit  and  Loss $352,018  87 

The  report  for  1898  is  an  exhibit  still  better: 

Gross  Revenue  from  Operations $33,740,860  16 

Operating  Expenses  and  Taxes 25.438,037  95 

Net  Income  from  Operations $8,302,822  21 

Income  from  Securities  Owned,  etc 4!3-367  59 

Total    Income $8,716,189  80 

Interest  and  Rentals 8.082.273  04 

Leaving  a  Balance — Credit  to  Profit  and 

Loss— of   $633,916  76 


The  Company  is,  therefore,  apparently  earning  its 
fixed  charges  with  ease,  and  enough  more  to  leave  a 
handsome  surplus.  Moreover,  the  hideous  spectre 
— the  floating  debt — that  haunted  for  so  many  years 
successive  managements  of  Erie,  and  not  only  would 
not  down,  but  steadily  grew  in  hideousness,  has  been 
exorcised  of  its  spell  at  last,  and  has  taken  its  dis- 
quieting presence  elsewhere.  The  floating  debt  has 
disappeared.  At  least  the  last  Erie  report  declared: 
"The  Company  has  no  floating  debt."  For  the 
first  time  in  its  history  the  Erie  is  paying  as  it  goes. 
Out  of  its  own  pocket  ?     Time  will  tell. 


The  report  of    Erie   Railroad   Company's  income  As  the  result  of  the  reorganization  and  consolida- 

account  for  the  fiscal  year  of    1896  made  this  show-     tion  under  it,  this  is  the  stupendous  development  of 
ing:  the  Greater  Erie: 


286 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


MILES   OF   ROAD    OPERATED,   JUNE   30,    1898. 

Owned  by  Ekii;  Railroad  Company  or  Controlled  by 
Ownership  of  Entire  Stock. 


Long  Dock  Company's  Railroad — Passen- 
ger Station,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  to  Bridge 
Creek,  Jersey  City.   \.  J 

Newark  and  Hudson  Railroad — Bergen 
Junction,  X.  J.,  to  Newark,  X.  J 

Paterson,  Newark,  and  New  York  Rail- 
road— Newark,  N.  J.,  to  Paterson,  X.  J. 

Bergen  County  Railroad  —  Rutherford 
Junction.  X.  J.,  to  Ridgewood  Junction, 
X.  J 

Arlington  Railroad  —  Newark  Junction, 
X.  J.,  to  New  York  and  Greenwood 
Lake  Junction.  XT.  J 

Bergen  and  Dundee  Railroad — Garfield, 
N.  J.,  to  Passaic.  X.  J 

Piermont,  X.  Y..  to  Dunkirk,  N.  Y 

Ea  1  I'ortal  Bergen  Tunnel,  Jersey  City, 
N.  J.,  to  Junction  with  New  Jersey 
Junction  Railroad  Company's  Tracks.. 

Arden  Junction,  X.  Y.,  to  Yail's  Gate 
Junction,   N.  Y 

Greycourt,  X.  Y..  to  Newburgh,  X.  Y. .. . 


1ST  TRACK.    2D  TRACK. 


2.56l 

5-620 

II.326 

9.821 

I. I6O 

2.450 
446.636 

•  433 

12.642 
18.731 


Jefferson  Railroad : 

lloiiesdale     Branch.     West     Hawley. 

Pa.,  to  Honesdale,  Pa 8.180 

Jefferson  Branch,  Lanesboro,  Pa.,  to 

Carbondale,  Pa 36.510 


Moosic  Mountain  and  Carbondale  Rail- 
road— Winton,  Pa.,  to  Marshwood,  Pa. 

Hornellsville,  X.  Y,  to  Buffalo.  N.  Y.  ..  . 

East  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  to  Suspension  Bridge, 
N.  Y 

International  Junction,  X.  Y..  to  Inter- 
national Bridge,  N.  Y 

Erie  and  Black  Rock  Railroad — Black 
Rock  Junction.  X.  Y..  to  Black  Rock, 
X.  Y 

Tonawanda,  X.  Y.,  to  Lockport,  X.  Y..  .. 

Painted  Post,  X.  Y,  to  Attica.  N.  Y.  (via 
Avon)    109.012 

Conesus  Lake  Railroad — Conesus  Lake 
Junction,  X.  Y.,  to  Lakeville.  X.  Y 

Buffalo  Creek  Railroad  Junction,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  to  Jamestown,  X.  Y 

Erie  Breaker,  Pa.,  to  Edgerton  Breaker, 
Pa ' 


4.210 
92.161 

24.010 

4.500 


1. 140 
15.120 


1. 610 


66.360 


'.500 


New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Coal 
and  Railroad  Company's  Railroad : 

Main  Line.  Crawford  Junction,  Pa.,  to 

Johnsonburg,  Pa 

Alton  Loop,  Alton,  Pa.,  to  Riderville 

Junction,   Pa 

Toby  Branch.  Brockwayville,  Pa.,  to 

Dagus  Mines,  Pa 

Mead  Run  Branch,  Brockport,  Pa.,  to 

Shawmut,  Pa 


29.920 


1. 126 


2.100 


2.561 


4-51/ 


0.606 


9.821 


305.900 


■433 


6.330 

3-IS0 
35-190 

92.161 
5-340 
4.500 


21.310 


Daguscahonda  and  Elk  Branch, 
Daguscahonda,  Pa.,  to  Dagus 
Mines,  Pa 


1ST  TRACK.        2D  TRACK. 


5-500 


Nypano : 

Salamanca,  N.  Y.,  to  Dayton,  0 388.040 

Buchanan  Junction,  Pa.,  to  Oil  City, 

Pa 33.780 

Silver  Creek  Junction,  O.,  to  Coal 
Mines,  O.,  including  both  North 
and  South  Branches 7.77° 

Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad — Marion  Junc- 
tion, O.,  to  Indiana  and  Illinois  State 
Line,  near  Hammond,  Ind 249.570 


1ST  TRACK.      2D   TRACK. 


Total  1,606.499        491.819 


Controlled  by  Ownership  of  Over  a  Majority 
of  Stock. 


New    York  and   Greenwood  Lake  Rail- 
way : 

Main  Line.  New  York  and  Greenwood 
Lake  Junction.  N.  J.,  to  Sterling 
Forest,   N.  J 

YYatchung  Railway.  Forest  Hill,  N.  J., 
to  Main  Street,  Orange,  N.  J 

Caldwell  Railway,  Caldwell  Junction, 
N.  J.,  to  Caldwell,  N.  J 

Roseland  Railway,  Caldwell,  N.  J.,  to 
Essex  Falls,  N.  J 

Ringwood  Branch,  Ringwood  Junc- 
tion, X.  J.,  to  Ringwood,  N.  J 


Neiv  Jersey  and  New  York  Railroad: 

Main    Line,    New    Jersey    and    New 

York   Junction,    N.    J.,    to    Nanuet 

Junction    

Main  Line.  Spring  Valley,  N.  Y.,  to 

Haverstraw,  N.  Y 

Stony    Point    Branch,     Stony    Point 

Junction,    N.    Y.,   to    Stony    Point, 

.   N.    Y 

New  City  Branch,  New  City  Junction, 

X.  Y.,  to  New  City,  N.  Y 

Middletown  and  Crawford  Railroad  — 
Crawford  Junction,  N.  Y.,  to  Pine  Bush, 
N.  Y 

Elmira  State  Line  Railroad — State  Line 
Junction,  N.  Y-,  to  Pennsylvania  State 
Line    

Tioga  Railroad: 

Pennsylvania  State  Line  to  Hoytville, 

Pa 

Tioga  Junction,  Pa.,  to  Lawrenceville, 

Pa.   (State  Line) 

Morris    Run    Branch,    Blossburg    to 

Morris,   Pa 


39.261 
4- 163 

4.500 

•947 
2.789 

20.634 
10.905 

1.042 
4-293 


11.950 


11.050 


6.509 

51.091 
3-500 
3560 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


287 


Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburgh  Rail- 
road : 

1ST  TRACK.        2D  TRACK. 

Main  Line.  Carrollton,  N.  Y.,  to 
Gilesville,  Pa 26.170         

West  Branch,  Bradford,  Pa.,  to  Ter- 
minus             5240         

Total 194.824  23.000 


Trackage  Rights. 


1ST  TRACK.        2D  TRACK. 


N.  J.,  to  Suf- 
fern,  N.  Y. 


Leased. 

Paterson    and    Hudson] 

River  Railroad,  BridSe    Creek 

Paterson  and  Ramapo  - 
Railroad, 

Union  Railroad, 

Montgomery  and  Erie  Railroad — Goshen, 
N.  Y.,  to  Montgomery,  N.  Y 

Goshen  and  Deckertown  Railroad — 
Goshen,  N.  Y.,  to  Pine  Island.  N.  Y... 

Pennsylvania  Coal  Company's  Railroad — 
Hawley  Branch,  Lacka waxen,  Pa.,  to 
West  Hawley,  Pa 

Rochester  and  Genesee  Valley  Railroad — 
Avon,  N.  Y.,  to  Rochester,  N.  Y 

Avon,  Geneseo,  and  Mount  Morris  Rail- 
road— Avon.  N.  Y..  to  Mount  Morris, 
N.  Y 

Cleveland  and  Mahoning  Valley  Railway 
— Cleveland.  O.,  to  Pennsylvania  State 
Line,  including  line  from  Youngstown, 
O.,  to  Hazleton,  O 

Niles  and  New  Lisbon  Railroad — Xiles. 
O.,  to  three  miles  south  of  New  Lis- 
bon. O 

Liberty  and  Vienna  Railroad — Mosier,  O., 
to  Coal  Mines  below  Vienna,  O 

Westerman  Railroad — Centre  of  Mill  St., 
Sharon,  Pa.,  to  Pennsylvania  State  Line 

Sharon  Railway — Centre  of  Mill  Street, 
Sharon.  Pa.,  to  Pymatuning,  Pa.,  in- 
cluding Middlesex  Branch  from  Fer- 
rona,  Pa.,  to  West  Middlesex,  Pa 

Sharpsville  Branch — Boycc.  Pa.,  to  Fur- 
naces at  Sharpsville,  Pa 

New  Castle  and  Shenango  Valley  Rail- 
road, West  Middlesex,  Pa.,  to  New 
Castle,   Pa 

Youngstown  and  Austintown  Railway — 
Youngstown,  O.,  to  Leadville  Mines 
and  Branch  to  Manning  and  Tippecanoe 
Shafts   

Canal  Branch — Girard,  O.,  to  Crab  Creek, 
Youngstown,  O 


1ST  TRACK.   2D  TRACK. 


28.682 

10.430 
II.64O 

I5.6IO 
I8.4OI 

I/.7OO 

80.8lO 

36.250 

6.800 
2.O9O 

14.790 

1-550 
16.730 

8.490 
6005 


Total 275.978 


Operated  Uxder  Agreements. 


28.6S2 


65.760 


9+442 


Northern     Central     Railway  —  Southport 

Junction,  N.  Y.,  to  State  Line  Junction, 

N.    Y 2.094         

Philadelphia  and  Erie  Railroad.  Johnson- 
burg,  Pa.,  to  Brockwayville,  Pa 27.760  7.800 

Philadelphia  and  Erie  Railroad.  Ridgway, 

Pa.,  to  Daguscahonda,  Pa 5.000  

Garnersville   Railroad — Miners  Creek,  N. 

Y.,  to  Garnersville  Print  Works 1.000  

Chicago  and  Western  Indiana  Railroad — 

Indiana   and   Illinois    State    Line,    near 

Hammond,   Ind.,  to  Dearborn   Station, 

Chicago,  111 19990  19990 

New  Jersey  Junction   Railroad — Junction 

with     New     Jersey     Junction     Railway 

Company's    Tracks    to    Delaware    and 

Hudson    Canal    Company's    Docks    at 

Weehawken   3.015  3.015 

Fall  Brook  Railway — Corning,  N.  Y.,  to 

Newberry  Junction,  Pa 109.200         


Total    168.059 


Recapitulation. 


30.805 


1ST  TRACK.        2D  TRACK. 


Owned   by    Erie    Railroad    Company,    or 
Controlled    by     Ownership     of     Entire 

Stock    1,606.499        492-979 

Controlled  by  Ownership  of  over  a  Ma- 
jority of  Stock 194.824  23.000 

Leased  by  Erie  Railroad  Company 275.978  94-442 

Operated  Under  Agreements 26.050  21.540 

Trackage   Rights 168.059  30805 


Northern   Railroad  of  New  Jersey — Ber- 
gen Junction,  N.  J.,  to  Nyack,  N.  Y. .. .        26.050 


1ST  TRACK.         2D  TRACK. 


21.540 


Total 2.271.410        662.766 

Note. — There  are  3.960  miles  of  third  and  the  same  of  fourth 
track  on  the  New  York  Division,  between  the  western  opening 
of  the  Bergen  Tunnel  and  Rutherford,  N.  J. 


II.    BUT    AT    WHAT    COST  ! 

The  Erie,  by  the  heroic  treatment  of  its  new  pos- 
sessors, is  brought  up  out  of  the  slough  of  despond 
wherein  it  so  long  floundered,  but  at  what  cost! 
Upon  the  broadened  and  strengthened  shoulders  of 
the  Company  is  a  burden  of  more  than  three  hun- 
dred millions  of  debt,  which  the  railroad,  that  was 
originally  to  have  been  placed  between  the  Hudson 
River  and  Lake  Erie  at  a  cost,  "  liberally  esti- 
mated," of. less  than  $7,000,000,  is,  with  the  aid  of 
its  collateral  railroads,  expected  by  its  creditors  to 
pay,  and  once  this  same  railroad  became  a  bank- 
rupt property  because  the  Company  could  not  pay 
$40,000  due  for  interest !     The  cost  of  Erie's  present 


jSS 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


independent  position  among  the  great  railroads  of 
the  world  may  be  thus  exhibited: 

March  II,  1898,  the  Company's  capital  stock 
was  increased  by  130,000  shares  of  first  preferred 
stock,  and  130,000  shares  of  common  stock,  for  the 
purpose  of  acquiring  the  ownership  of  the  New 
York,  Susquehanna,  and  Western  Railroad.  The 
greater  portion  of  the  authorized  increase  of  the 
capital  stock  has  been  issued  and  used  for  the 
purpose  stated,  and  the  total  issue  now  stands  as 
follows  : 

Non-cumulative  four  per  cent.  First  Preferred. .  $42,844,000  00 
Non-cumulative  four  per  cent.  Second  Preferred  16,000.000  00 
Common    112,246.30000 


Total  Capitalization   $171,090,300  00 

The  outstanding  bonded  indebtedness  of  the  Erie 
Railroad  Company,  which  includes  the  debts  inher- 
ited from  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company, 
the  Erie  Railway  Company,  and  the  New  York,  Lake 
Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Company,  is  (June  30, 
1898)  $137,044,100.  The  list  of  the  mortgages  rep- 
resenting this  debt  is  a  long  and  varied  one,  and  the 
following  grouping  of  the  lot,  with  a  description  of 
the  Erie  property  covered  by  each  mortgage,  cannot 
fail  to  be  of  interest  to  the  general  reader,  as  a  curi- 
ous chapter  in  Erie  history,  and  of  great  value  to  the 
investor  and  to  the  railroad  financier  as  a  matter  of 
reference.  An  asterisk  (*)  indicates  that  the  stock 
of  the  Company  thus  marked  is  pledged  under  the 
first  consolidated  mortgage,  with  distinct  agreement 
that  the  present  indebtedness,  if  any,  upon  this  prop- 
erty shall  not  be  increased,  and  at  maturity  shall  be 
paid  off  or  acquired,  and  renewal  bonds  pledged 
under  the  first  consolidated  mortgage,  to  the  end 
that  ultimately  said  mortgage,  either  by  direct  mort- 
gage or  through  collateral  trust,  shall  be  the  first 
lien  on  the  entire  system. 

Erie  Railroad  Company's  ioo-Year  First  Consolidated 
Mortgage  Deed,  Prior  lien  bonds,  $30,000,000.  Issue, 
1895.  Principal  payable  January  1,  1996;  interest,  4  per 
cent.,  gold,  payable  January  and  July,  $1,200,000.  De- 
nomination of  bonds,  $1,000.  Genera!  lien  bonds,  $31,- 
032,000.  Issue,  1895.  Principal  payable  January,  1,  1996  ; 
interest,  4  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  January  and  July, 
$1,241,280.     Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000. 


This  mortgage  is  a  first  lien  upon  the  Company's 
principal  coal  properties,  upon  its  water  transporta- 
tion lines,  including  valuable  terminal  properties 
appurtenant  thereto,  and  upon  a  number  of  profit- 
able local  lines  in  New  Jersey  and  near  Buffalo;  a 
second  lien  (subject  only  to  some  of  the  divisional 
mortgages)  upon  the  remaining  coal  properties  and 
upon  the  railroads  leading  to  all  the  coal  properties, 
upon  the  terminals  at  Jersey  City,  upon  the  Buffalo, 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  the  Buffalo  ter- 
minal properties  other  than  those  upon  which  it 
is  a  first  lien,  and  upon  the  entire  line  from  Sala- 
manca to  Chicago,  and  a  second  consolidated  mort- 
gage upon  the  line  of  the  original  New  York  and  Erie, 
between  Piermont  and  Dunkirk.  Covered  by  this 
mortgage  are  the  following  important  properties: 

*Thc  Hillside  Coal  Company  s  property. — This  com- 
pany owns  in  fee  6,614  acres  of  anthracite  coal  lands 
in  Lackawanna,  Susquehanna,  and  Wayne  counties, 
Pa.;  1,960  acres  of  surface  lands,  and  has  mineral 
rights  in  1,566  acres,  on  which  there  is  no  mortgage 
except  this  one.  Capital  stock,  $1,000,000,  all  owned 
by  the  Erie. 

*  The  Northwestern  Mining  and  Exchange  Com- 
pany s  property. — This  company  owns  in  fee  8,520 
acres  of  bituminous  coal  lands,  and  has  mineral  rights 
in  5,654  acres  in  McKean,  Elk,  and  other  Pennsyl- 
vania counties.  The  entire  capital  stock  of  the  com- 
pany, $500,000,  is  owned  by  the  Erie. 

*The  Blossburg  Coal  Company's  holding  of  6,107 
acres  of  bituminous  coal  lands  in  Pennsylvania. — The 
capital  stock  of  this  company,  $1,000,000,  is  owned 
by  the  Erie. 

The  leasehold  rights  in  the  Paterson  and  Ramapo 
and  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  Railroads,  which  form 
the  main  line  of  the  Erie  from  Suffern,  N.  Y.,  to  the 
east  portal,  Bergen  Tunnel;  all  of  the  stock  of  the 
Paterson,  Newark  and  New  York  and  the  Newark 
and  Hudson  railroads,  which  form  the  Newark 
Branch,  and  of  the  Bergen  County  Railroad  (Bergen 
Short-cut),  the  Long  Dock  Company,  and  the  New 
York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Docks  and  Improve- 
ment Company  (Weehawken,  N.  J.),  and  $1,900,000 
of  the  bonds  of  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  West- 
ern Coal  and  Railroad  Company,  are  also  pledged 
under  the  general  mortgage. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


289 


New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company's  First  Mort- 
gage, currency,  $2,482,000.  Issue,  1S45.  Principal  pay- 
able May,  1937  ;  interest,  7  per  cent.,  payable  May  and 
November.  Covers  446.63  miles  of  the  railroad.  Annual 
interest,  $99,280. 

This  is  the  amount  still  unpaid  of  the  original 
mortgage  for  $3,000,000,  issued  under  the  enabling 
act  of  1845,  by  which  it  was  possible  to  continue  the 
work  of  constructing  the  railroad  westward  from 
Middletown,  N.  V.  It  is  a  first  mortgage  on  the 
main  line,  Piermont  to  Dunkirk.  The  mortgage  was 
extended  in  1867  to  May,  1897,  and  in  Way,  1897, 
to  May,  1937.  The  interest  paid  by  the  Company 
on  this  original  loan  amounts  (1898)  to  more  than 
three  times  the  principal  of  the  debt,  and  to  nearly 
half  as  much  as  the  entire  cost  of  building  the  rail- 
road from  Piermont  to  Dunkirk,  which  was,  in  round 
numbers,  $23,000,000. 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company's  Second  Mort- 
gage, gold,  $2,149,000.  Issue,  1849.  Principal  payable 
September,  1919  ;  interest,  5  per  cent.,  payable  March  and 
September.  Covers  446.63  miles  of  railroad.  Denomina- 
tions of  bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $107,450. 

Issued  (original  amount  $4,000,000)  to  provide 
funds  for  continuing  the  construction  of  the  railroad 
west  of  Binghamton,  and  to  purchase  rolling  stock. 
It  is  a  second  mortgage  on  the  main  line,  Piermont 
to  Dunkirk.  The  mortgage  was  extended  in  1859 
to  September,  1919.  Interest  reduced  from  7  to  5 
per  cent.,  and  principal  and  interest  made  payable 
in  gold. 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company's  Third  Mort- 
gage, gold,  $4,617,000.  Issue,  1853.  Principal  payable 
March  1,  1923  ;  interest,  44  per  cent.,  payable  March  and 
September.  Covers  446.63  miles  of  the  railroad.  Denom- 
ination of  bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $207,765. 

This  is  a  lien  on  the  main  line,  Piermont  to  Dun- 
kirk. Principal  and  interest  were  originally  payable 
in  currency.  The  mortgage  was  extended  in  1883 
to  March,  1923;  interest  reduced  from  7  to  4^  per 
cent.,  and  principal  and  interest  made  payable  in 
gold.  The  original  amount  of  the  issue  of  this  loan 
was  $5,200,000,  and  these  bonds  were  the  first  ones 
for  which  the  Company  had  to  borrow  money  to  pay 
the  interest  on. 
19 


New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company's  Fourth  Mort- 
gage, gold,  $2,926,000.  Issue,  1857.  Principal  payable 
October  1,  1920;  interest,  5  percent.,  payable  April  and 
October.  Covers  465.36  miles  of  the  railroad.  Denom- 
ination of  bonds,  $1,000.    Annual  interest,  $146,300. 

A  fourth  mortgage  on  the  main  line,  Piermont  to 
Dunkirk;  also  a  first  mortgage  on  the  Newburgh 
Branch,  Newburgh  to  Greycourt,  N.  Y.,  and  a  mort- 
gage on  the  leasehold  rights  in  the  Union  Railroad, 
Paterson  and  Ramapo  Railroad,  Paterson  and  Hud- 
son Railroad,  and  the  Long  Dock  Company,  together 
forming  the  line  from  Suffern,  N.  Y.,  to  Jersey  City. 
The  mortgage  was  extended  in  1880  to  October, 
1920 ;  interest  reduced  from  7  to  5  per  cent.,  and 
principal  and  interest  made  payable  in  gold. 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company's  Fifth  Mort- 
gage, gold,  $709,500.  Issue,  1858.  Principal  payable 
June  I,  1928  ;  interest,  4  per  cent.,  payable  June  and 
December.  Covers  465.36  miles  of  railroad.  Denomina- 
tion of  bonds,  $200  and  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $28,380. 

Fifth  mortgage  on  the  main  line,  second  mortgage 
on  the  Newburgh  Branch,  and  second  mortgage  on 
the  leasehold  rights  in  the  New  Jersey  railroads  and 
Long  Dock  Company.  It  was  extended  in  1888  to 
June,  1928;  interest  reduced  from  7  to  4  per  cent., 
and  principal  and  interest  made  payable  in  gold. 

Buffalo  Branch  First  Mortgage,  $182,600.  Issue,  1861. 
Principal  payable  July  1,  1931  ;  interest,  4  per  cent.,  gold, 
payable  January  and  July.  Covers  60.92  miles  of  railroad. 
Denomination  of  bonds,  $200  and  $1,000  Annual  in- 
terest, $7,304. 

First  mortgage  on  the  Buffalo  Branch,  from  Hor- 
nellsville,  N.  Y.,  to  Attica,  N.  Y.  It  was  extended 
in  1891  to  July,  1931  ;  interest  reduced  from  7  to  4 
percent.,  and  principal  and  interest  made  payable  in 
gold.  This  is  balance  due  on  the  mortgage  issued 
during  the  Receivership  of  Nathaniel  Marsh  (1859- 
61)  for  the  purchase  of  the  Buffalo  and  New  York 
Railroad,  to  secure  a  Buffalo  connection,  the  Erie 
having  been  hampered  by  previous  arrangements 
with  that  company  in  the  running  of  its  trains 
between  Hornellsville  and  Buffalo. 

Erie  Railway  Company's  First  Consolidated  Mortgage, 
$16,891,000.  Issue,  1870.  Principal  payable  September, 
1,  1920  ;  interest,  7   per  cent.,   gold,   payable  March    and 


290 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


September.  Covers  526.28  miles  of  railroad.  Denomina- 
tion of  bonds,  $1,000  or  ,£200.  Annual  interest,  $1,182,- 
370. 

Sixth  mortgage  on  the  main  line,  third  mortgage 
on  the  Newburgh  branch,  and  second  mortgage  on 
the  Buffalo  Branch.  Also  mortgage  on  leasehold 
rights  in  the  Union  Railroad,  Buffalo,  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad,  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg 
Railroad,  Rochester  and  Genesee  Valley  Railroad, 
and  the  Long  Dock  Company.  Issue  was  limited  to 
$30,000,000,  of  which  $13,065,000  was  reserved  to 
retire  the  first,  second,  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  mort- 
gage bonds  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company,  and  the  Erie  Railway  and  Buffalo  Branch 
first  mortgage  bonds.  This  loan  was  the  famous 
Gould  issue  of  bonds,  wise  in  its  intent,  but  a  good 
intention  belated  and  fallen  on  evil  times. 

New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Company's 
First  Consolidated  Mortgage  Coupon  Bonds, 
$3,699,500.  Issue,  1878.  Principal  payable  September, 
1,  1920;  interest,  7  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  March  and 
September.  Covers  526.28  miles  of  railroad.  Denomina- 
tion of  bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $258,965. 

These  bonds  are  secured  by  the  same  property  as 
the  above  consolidated  mortgage,  they  having  been 
issued  to  fund  coupons  from  the  bonds  of  that  issue, 
which  coupons  are  held  as  collateral  security.  These 
bonds  were  provided  for  in  the  reorganization  plan 
of  1878.  With  this  included,  the  total  outstanding 
debt  of  the  Erie  under  the  Erie  Railway  Company's 
first  consolidated  mortgage  is  $33,663,077. 

Buffalo  and  Southwestern  Railroad  Company's  First 
Mortgage,  gold,  $1,500,000.  Issue,  1877.  Principal  pay- 
able July  1,  1908;  interest,  6  per  cent.,  payable  January 
and  July.  Covers  66.36  miles  of  railroad.  Denomina- 
tion of  bonds,  $50,  $100,  $500,  and  $1,000.  Annual  in- 
terest, $90,000. 

First  mortgage  on  the  above  railroad,  Buffalo 
Creek  Railroad  Junction,  Buffalo,  to  Jamestown, 
N.  Y. 

Erie  Railroad  Company's  Second  Mortgage  on  the 
Buffalo  and  Southwestern  Railroad,  gold,  $1,000,- 
000.  Issue,  1895.  Principal  payable  July  I,  1908  ;  interest, 
6  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  January  and  July.  Covers  66.36 
miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000.  An- 
nual interest,  $50,000. 


This  mortgage  covers  the  same  property  as  the 
Buffalo  and  Southwestern  first  mortgage,  and  was 
placed  to  facilitate  and  insure  consolidation  of  that 
railroad  with  the  Erie  system  in  1895. 

Newburgh  and  New  York  Railroad  Company's  First 
Mortgage,  $250,000.  Issue,  1868.  Principal  payable 
January  I,  1929;  interest,  5  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  Jan- 
uary and  July.  Covers  12.64  miles  of  railroad.  Denom- 
ination of  bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $12,500. 

First  mortgage  on  that  railroad,  Arden  Junction 
to  Vail's  Gate  Junction,  N.  Y.  Consolidated  with 
Erie  in  1895.  This  railroad  is  the  "  Newburgh 
Short-cut."  It  was  built  by  a  corporation  entitled 
the  Newburgh  and  New  York  Railroad  Company, 
which  was  composed  of  the  leading  men  in  control 
of  the  Erie  in  the  time  of  President  Berdell  and  later 
under  the  Eldridge  and  Gould  regimes.  The  rail- 
road was  to  be  the  link  that  was  to  bring  about  the 
much-vaunted  Erie  connection  with  Boston  and  the 
East,  by  means  of  the  railroad  then  exploited  under 
the  name  of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie,  of  un- 
savory memory,  and  of  contact  most  unfortunate  to 
Erie  interests. 

*  Bergen  County  Railroad  First  Mortgage,  $200,000. 
Issue,  1881.  Principal  payable  April  1,  1911;  interest,  6 
per  cent.,  payable  April  and  October.  Covers  9.82  miles 
of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000.  Annual 
interest,  $12,000. 

First  mortgage  on  that  railroad,  Rutherford  Junc- 
tion, N.  J.,  to  Ridgewood  Junction,  N.  J.  Stock 
$200,000,  all  owned  by  the  Erie. 

♦Buffalo,  New  York  and  Erie  First  Mortgage,  $2,380,- 
000.  Issue,  1876.  Principal  payable  June  I,  1916;  inter- 
est, 7  per  cent.,  payable  June  and  December.  Covers 
140.25  miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000. 
Annual  interest,  $166,600. 

First  mortgage  on  Buffalo,  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad,  Painted  Post,  N.  Y.,  via  Avon,  to  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.  The  total  capital  stock  of  this  Company  is 
$950,000,  of  which  $946,000  is  owned  by  the  Erie. 
This  road  was  leased  by  the  Erie  in  1S63  for  four 
hundred  and  ninety  years.  Rental  7  per  cent,  on 
stock,  interest  on  bonds,  and  $5,000  for  organization 
expenses. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


291 


♦Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad  First  Mortgage,  $12,000,- 
000.  Issue,  1890.  Principal  payable  May  1,  1982  ;  inter- 
est, 5  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  May  and  November.  Covers 
249.57  miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000. 
Annual  interest,  $600,000. 

First  mortgage  on  the  Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad, 
Marion,  O.,  to  Illinois-Indiana  State  line,  near  Ham- 
mond, Ind. ;  also  mortgage  on  leasehold  rights  in  the 
Chicago  and  Western  Indiana  Railroad,  on  $1,000,000 
of  capital  stock  of  Chicago  and  Western  Indiana 
Railroad,  and  on  $240,000  capital  stock  of  the  Belt 
Railway  of  Chicago,  being  one-fifth  interest  in  the 
stock  of  each  of  said  companies.  The  entire  capital 
stock  of  the  Chicago  and  Erie  is  owned  by  the  Erie. 

Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railway  Terminal  First  Mort- 
gage, gold,  $300,000.  Issue,  1888.  Principal  payable 
July  1,  1918  ;  interest,  5  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  January 
and  July.  Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000.  Annual  inter- 
est, $15,000. 

First  mortgage  on  lands  situated  along  the  line  of 
the  Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad,  formerly  known  as 
Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  in  the  States  of  Ohio 
and  Indiana,  together  with  all  depots,  engines, 
freight  and  car-houses,  and  all  other  improvements 
on  the  lands. 

♦Jefferson  Railroad  Company's  First  Mortgage,  $2,- 
800,000.  Issue,  1869.  Principal  payable  January  I,  1909; 
interest,  5  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  April  and  October. 
Covers  36.51  miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds, 
$1,000.      Annual  interest,  $140,000. 

First  mortgage  on  the  Jefferson  Railroad,  Carbon- 
dale,  Pa.,  to  Susquehanna,  Pa.,  36.51  miles.  Entire 
capital  stock  $2,095,450,  owned  by  the  Erie. 

Jefferson  Railroad  Company  (Honesdale  Branch), 
First  Mortgage,  $204,000.  Issue,  1867.  Principal  pay- 
able July  I,  1927  ;  interest,  4+  per  cent.,  payable  January 
and  July.  Covers  8.18  miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of 
bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $9,180. 

First  mortgage  on  above  railroad,  on  Honesdale 
Branch,  Honesdale,  Pa.,  to  Hawley,  Pa.,  S.18  miles. 
The  mortgage  was  extended  in  1887  until  1927; 
interest  reduced  from  7  to  4*4  per  cent. 

Jefferson  Railroad  Company  (Honesdale  Branch), 
Second  Mortgage,  $96,000.  Issue,  1869.  Principal 
payable  January  1,  1929;  interest,  6  per  cent.,  payable 
January  and  July.  Covers  8.18  miles  of  railroad.  Denom- 
ination of  bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $5,760. 


Second  mortgage  on  same  property  as  above.  It 
was  extended  in  1889  until  1929;  interest  reduced 
from  7  to  6  per  cent. 

*Long  Dock  Company's  Consolidated  Mortgage,  $7,- 
500,000.  Issue,  1885.  Principal  payable  October  1,  1935  ; 
interest,  6  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  April  and  October. 
Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $450,000. 

First  mortgage  on  577  acres  of  land  and  land  under 
water,  located  at  Jersey  City,  including  the  tunnel 
through  Bergen  Hill,  the  lands  used  by  the  Erie  for 
depot  and  track  purposes,  and  the  strip  of  land  100 
feet  wide  extending  from  the  terminus  of  the  Pater- 
son  and  Hudson  Railroad  at  the  west  portal  of  the 
tunnel,  to  the  Hudson  River;  also  mortgage  on  alL 
buildings  constructed  or  to  be  constructed,  and  all 
tracks,  etc.  On  this  property  there  are  about  48 
miles  of  track,  many  large  warehouses  and  docks, 
ferry  slips,  passenger  depot,  machine,  boiler,  and  car 
repair  shops,  and  other  structures.  Estimated  value 
of  all,  $16,000,000.  These  bonds  are  redeemable  by 
lot  at  no,  but  "  only  from  the  proceeds  of  sale  of 
such  lands  as  may  be  sold  ...  as  not  necessary  for 
the  purposes  of  the  Company."  Capital  stock,. 
$800,000,  all  of  which  is  owned  by  the  Erie. 

*  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Docks  and  Im- 
provement Company's  First  Mortgage,  $3,396,000. 
Issue,  1883.  Principal  payable  July  1,  1913  ;  interest,  6  per 
cent.,  payable  January  and  July.  Denomination  of  bonds, 
$1,000.     Annual  interest,  $203,760.- 

First  mortgage  on  94.17  acres  of  land  and  land 
under  water  at  YVeehawken,  N.  J.,  having  a  shore 
front  of  2,558  feet,  together  with  grants  and  leases 
from  State  of  all  riparian  rights  in  front  of  property. 
Original  consideration  for  the  lands  alone,  $2,342,- 
708.  Property  situated  south  of  West  Shore  Rail- 
way terminals  and  north  of  the  Delaware  and  Hud- 
son Canal  Company's  terminals.  Depth  of  water, 
25  feet.  Property  improved  with  8  piers,  varying 
in  length  from  700  to  1,000  feet,  and  in  width  from 
40  to  100  feet;  also  a  coal  trestle  1,000  feet  long,  and 
a  cold  storage  warehouse  about  200  feet  square, 
shops,  etc.  Structures  are  kept  insured  for  80  per 
cent,  of  value.  About  25  miles  of  railroad  track  are 
laid  on  the  property.  The  mortgage  also  covers  the 
floating  equipment   of  this  Company,  consisting  of 


2Q2 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


ferry-boat,  barges,  car  floats,  lighters,  etc.  This 
property  constitutes  the  main  freight  terminal  of  the 
Erie  in  New  York  Harbor.  The  total  issue  of  these 
bonds  was  $4,000,000,  of  which  $604,000  and  the 
entire  capital  stock  of  the  company  are  owned  by 
the  Erie. 


New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Coal  and  Rail- 
road Company's  First  Mortgage,  $1,100,000.  Issue, 
1882.  Principal  payable  May  1,  1922  ;  interest,  6  per  cent., 
payable  May  and  November.  Denomination  of  bonds, 
$1,000.     Annual  interest,  $66,000. 


New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad  Com- 
pany's Prior  Lien  Mortgage,  gold,  $8,000,000.  Issue, 
1880.  Principal  payable  March  1,  1935  ;  interest,  4|<  per 
cent.,  gold,  payable  March  and  September.  Covers  429.59 
miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds,  $1,000,  or  .£200; 
$500,  or  £100.     Annual  interest,  $360,000. 

First  mortgage  on  main  line  of  the  Nypano,  Sala- 
manca, N.  Y.,  to  Dayton,  O.,  383.04  miles;  branches 
to  Oil  City,  Pa.,  33.78  miles,  and  to  Coal  Mines,  O., 
"]."]"]  miles.  This  mortgage  matured  March,  1895, 
and  was  extended  forty  years,  interest  being  reduced 
from  6  per  cent,  to  45^  per  cent. 


First  mortgage  on  the  main  line  of  the  above  com- 
pany's railroad,  Crawford  Junction,  Pa.,  to  Johnson- 
burgh,  Pa.,  29.92  miles,  and  branches  27.72  miles; 
-total,  57.64  miles;  also  on  14,120  acres  of  coal  lands 
owned  in  fee,  and  the  mining  rights  in  8,057  acres 
additional.  Total  issue  of  bonds,  $3,000,000,  of 
which  $i. 900,000  is  owned  by  the  Erie.  The  entire 
■capital  stock,  $500,000,  is  owned  by  the  Northwest- 
ern Mining  and  Exchange  Company. 

*  Suspension  Bridge  and.  Erie  Junction  Railroad  Com- 
pany's First  Mortgage,  $965,000.  Issue,  1870.  Prin- 
cipal payable  July  1,  1900;  interest,  7  per  cent.,  payable 
January  and  July.  Covers  24.01  miles  of  railroad.  De- 
nomination of  bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $67,550. 

First  mortgage  on  the  above  railroad,  East  Buffalo 
Junction,  N.  Y.,  to  Suspension  Bridge,   N.  Y.,  via 

Niagara  Falls.  The  total  issue  of  bonds  was  $1,000,- 
000,  of  which  $35,000  is  owned  by  the  Erie.  Of  the 
capital  stock,  $500,000,  all  but  $800  is  owed  by  the 

Erie. 

Elmira  and  State  Line  Railroad  Company's  Mort- 
gage, $160,000.  Issue,  1875.  Principal  payable  October 
1,  1905  ;  interest,  7  per  cent.,  payable  April  and  October. 
Covers  6.50  miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds, 
$500  and  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $11,200. 

First  mortgage  on  the  Elmira  and  State  Line  Rail- 
road, New  York-Pennsylvania  State  line  to  Northern 
Central  Railroad  Junction,  Elmira,  N.  Y.  Principal 
and  interest  guaranteed  by  the  Tioga  Railroad  Com- 
pany. Leased  to  that  Company  in  1876  for  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  years.  Stock  $90,200,  of 
•which  $61,000  is  owned  by  the  Erie. 


*  Tioga  Railroad  Company's  First  Mortgage,  $239,500. 
Issue,  1852.  Principal  payable  November  I,  1915  ;  inter- 
est, 5  per  cent.,  gold,  payable  May  and  November.  Covers 
38.89  miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of  bonds,  $500  and 
$1,000.     Annual  interest,  $11,975. 

First  mortgage  on  the  above  railroad,  from  the 
coal-beds  near  Blossburg,  Pa.,  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  near  Lawrenceville.  The 
mortgage  was  extended  in  1872  until  191 5 ;  interest 
reduced  from  7  to  5  per  cent.  Stock — $391,200 
common,  $189,700  preferred — is  all  owned  by  the 
Erie,  except  $300  of  common. 

Tioga  Railroad  Company's  Tioga  Extension  First 
Mortgage,  $265,000.  Issue,  1875.  Principal  payable 
October  1,  1905  ;  interest,  7  per  cent.,  payable  April  and 
October.  Covers  6.50  miles  of  railroad.  Denomination  of 
bonds,  $1,000.     Annual  interest,  $18,550. 

First  mortgage  on  the  Tioga  extension,  extending 
from  a  point  on  the  main  line  south  of  Lawrence- 
ville, Pa.,  to  the  terminus  of  the  Elmira  and  State 
Line  Railroad  at  the  New  York-Pennsylvania  State 
line. 

Recapitulating  the  above  summary,  the  outstand- 
ing obligations  of  the  Company  (June  30,  1898) 
are  : 

Capital  stock $171,090,300 

Bonded  debt 137,044,100 

Erie  total  indebtedness $308, 1 34,400 

FIXED   CHARGES. 

Following  are  the  sums  the  Erie  must  provide  for 
annually,  to  pay  the  charges  against  it,  over  and 
above  its  operating  expenses: 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


293 


Interest. 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  First  Mort- 
gage Bonds $99,280 

New    York   and    Erie    Railroad    Company    Second 

Mortgage  Bonds 107,450 

New-  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  Third  Mort- 
gage Bonds 207,765 

New    York    and    Erie    Railroad    Company    Fourth 

Mortgage  Bonds 146,300 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  Fifth  Mort- 
gage Bonds 28,380 

Buffalo  Branch  Mortgage  Bonds 7. 304 

Erie   Railway   Company   First   Consolidated   Mort- 
gage Bonds 1,182,370 

New  York,  Lake  Erie,  and  Western  Railroad  Com- 
pany First  Consolidated  Mortgage  Coupon  Bonds  258,965 

Erie  Railroad  Company  Prior  Lien  Bonds 1,200,000 

Erie  Railroad  Company  General  Lien  Bonds,  3  per 
cent.  Gold,  July,   1896,  to  July,   1898,  4  per  cent. 

Gold   thereafter 1.241,280 

Newburgh  and  New  York  Railroad  Bonds 12,500 

Long  Dock   Company  Bonds 450,000 

Buffalo,  New  York,  and  Erie  Railroad  Bonds 166,600 

Honesdale  Branch  Railroad  Bonds 9,180 

Honesdale  Branch  Railroad  Bonds 5,760 

Jefferson  Branch   Railroad  Bonds 140,000 

Bergen  County  Railroad  Bonds 12,000 

New  York,  Lake  Erie,  and  Western  Docks  and  Im- 
provement Company  Bonds 203,760 

New  York,  Lake  Erie,  and  Western  Coal  and  Rail- 
road Company  Bonds 66,000 

Suspension     Bridge    and    Erie    Junction     Railroad 

Bonds   67,550 

Buffalo  and  Southwestern  Railroad  Company  First 

Mortgage  Bonds 90,000 

Erie  Railroad  Company,  Buffalo  and  Southwestern 

Division,  Second  Lien  5  per  cent.  Gold  Bonds...  50,000 

Tioga  Railroad  First  Mortgage  Bonds 1 1.975 

Tioga  Railroad,  Tioga  Extension  Bonds 18,550 

Elmira  State  Line  Railroad  Bonds 11,200 

New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio  Railroad  Com- 
pany Prior  Lien  Bonds 360,000 

Chicago  and   Erie   Railroad   First   Mortgage   Gold 

Bonds  600,000 

Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railway  Terminal  Bonds....  15.000 

Total   $6,769,169 

Rentals. 

Union  Railroad $3.50000 

Paterson  and  Ramapo  Railroad 26.500  00 

Paterson  and  Hudson  Railroad 48,400  00 

Montgomery  and  Erie  Railroad 16,000  00 

Goshen  and  Deckertown  Railroad 19,035  00 

Hawley   Branch 50,00000 

Rochester  and  Genesee  Valley  Railroad 34.012  00 

Middletown  and  Crawford  Railroad 10.500  00 

Elmira  State  Line  Railroad 6.314  00 

New  Jersey  Junction  Railroad 6,001  00 

Avon,  Geneseo,  and  Mount  Morris  Railroad....  5.725  00 

New  York  and  Greenwood  Lake  Railway 75.000  00 

Cleveland  and  Mahoning  Valley  Railway 5-5-967  38 

Sharon  Railway 37.101  00 


Westerman  Railroad $4,000  00 

New  Castle  and  Shenango  Valley  Railroad 15,037  50 

Chicago     and     Western      Indiana      Railroad  — 

Estimate  194.955  97 

Total   $1,078,048  85 

Interest  on  Bonds $6,769,169  00 

Rental  for  Railroads 1,078,048  85 

Other  Interest  and  Rentals.  .        235,055  19    


Total    Fixed  Charges $8,082,273  04 

Can  the  Erie  earn  this  appalling  sum  ?  Can  it  pay 
this  terrible  penalty  that  its  misguided  past  has 
doomed  it  to — and  live  ? 

The  annual  reports  give  every  assurance  that  it  can. 
The  three  of  them  that  have  been  issued  since  the 
formation  of  the  Erie  Railroad  Company  show  that 
the  sum  has  thus  far  been  earned.  According  to  the 
report  for  1898  the  net  earnings  of  the  railroad  and 
income  from  other  sources  (year  ending  June  30th) 
were  $8,716,189.80,  which  provided  for  the  fixed 
charges  and  left  a  surplus  of  more  than  $633,000. 
This,  then,  would  seem  to  demonstrate,  beyond  dis- 
pute or  cavil,  the  correctness  of  the  claim  of  those 
who  pressed  the  reorganization  to  success,  that  the 
Erie  Railroad's  earnings  would  easily  be  more  than 
its  expenses,  if  the  Company  were  relieved  of  the 
incubi  that  had  hampered  it  for  a  generation,  and 
the  subsidiary  lines  necessary  for  the  Erie's  traffic 
were  changed  from  a  warring,  irresponsible  group  to 
one  uniform  system,  through  a  rational,  business-like 
process  of  consolidation,  by  which  they  might  be 
brought  under  the  control  and  direction  of  one  head. 
By  such  a  consolidation  of  the  Erie  system,  the 
days  of  loading  upon  Erie  worthless  and  extravagant 
leases,  the  aftermath  of  corrupt  stock-jobbery,  and 
the  cost  and  future  responsibility  of  bad  personal 
undertakings  generally,  have  become,  necessarily  and 
happily,  a  thing  of  the  past.  Those  plunderings  of 
Erie  are  represented  to-day  by  not  less  than  $100,- 
000,000  of  her  tremendous  debt.  If  the  Company 
and  the  railroad,  conducted  on  correct  principles  of 
business  and  financiering  and  of  operative  manage- 
ment, can  show  a  surplus  above  the  large  sum  of 
fixed  charges  made  necessary  by  that  unrighteous 
debt,  what  might  not  this  highway  of  most  unfor- 
tunate memory  have  done  if  it  had  not  fallen  into 
designing  hands  years  and  years  ago  ? 


294 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


A    STUDY    IN    THE    GROWTH    OF    ERIE. 

The  Railroad  was  opened  to  Goshen,  N.    V.,  September  23,  1841.      The  earnings  from  that  date  until  December  31,  1841, 
both  inclusive,  according  to  the  FIRST  Erie  Official  Report  of  Earnings,  were  : 


FOR  THE 
MONTHS  OF 

FREIGHT. 

PASSENGERS. 

Revenue. 

No.  Carried. 

Revenue. 

Pounds 
9 

Eastward. 

Total. 

Tolls 
Westw'd. 

Tolls 
Eastward. 

Total. 

1st 
Class. 

2d 
Class. 

Total. 

From  Railroad. 

Steamboat 

Total. 

1st  Class. 

2d  Class- 

BothCla's. 

BothClasses 

September,  1 841 

208,620 

53,492 

322,112 

$341.38 

$63.31 

$404.69 

566} 

27 

593* 

$671.59 

$20.51 

$203.26 

$895.36 

October,  1841.. 

1,006,246 

1,394,704 

2,400,950 

1,510.04 

2,044.03 

3.554-64 

3,501 

209^ 

3.7IO* 

3,394-23 

"3-57 

1,236.40 

4,744.20 

November,  1841 

2,120,830 

2,693,815 

4,814,645 

2,550.61 

3,440.01 

5,996.62 

4,106 

674 

4,173* 

3,882.83 

52.33 

1.374-38 

5.249-54 

December,  1S41 
Grand  Totals 

2,287,735 

1,732,077 

4,019,817 

2,242.44 

2,325.60 

4,568.04 

3.149* 



3.149* 

3,022.62 

1,243.72 

4,276.34 

5,683,431 

5,S74,oSS 

",557,519 

$6,645.04 

$7,8iS.95 

$14,523.99 

11,323 

304 

11,627 

$10,921.77 

$iS6.3i 

$4,057.76 

$15,165.44 

Revenue  from 

14,523.99 

Total  Earnings 
for  four  months 

$29,689.43 

What  the  Railroad  earned  for  the  same  period  in  1897,  according  to  the  LAST  Erie  Official  Report  of  Earnings  : 


Freight. 

Coal. 

Passenger. 

Mail. 

Express. 

Rents  and 
Miscellaneous. 

Total 
Earnings. 

Last  8  days  of 

September,  1897,  (averaged). 

$443,427.20 
1,715,264.02 
1,520,021.36 
1,490,643.65 

$187,423.56 
848,441.37 
802,911.00 
651,653.69 

$l63,735-76 
505,317.51 
436,720.91 
453,408.46 

$11,029.60 

38,974-11 
41,076.43 
39,760.56 

$12,932.16 
47,987.98 
48,114.55 
48,855-63 

$32,007.52 
113,307.89 
107,175.74 
108,972.57 

$850,578.80 
3,269,292.88 
2,956,019.99 
2,793,294.56 

Total  Earnings,  four  months. 

$9, S69, 186.23 

(For  continuation  of  the  Thomas  Administration,  see  "Addenda,"  pp.  jij,ji6.) 


<[)ii^jLr^^ui\u^ 


296 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


persons  as  shall  associate  with  them  for  that  purpose,  are  constituted  a 
body  corporate  and  politic,  by  the  name  of  "  The  New-York  and  Erie 
Rail-Road  Company,"  with  power  to  construct  a  single,  double  or 
treble  rail-road  or  way,  from  the  City  of  New-York  to  Lake  Erie, 
commencing  at  the  City  of  New- York,  or  at  such  point  in  its  vicinity 
as  shall  be  most  eligible  and  convenient  therefor,  and  continue  said 
rail-road  through  the  southern  tier  of  counties,  by  way  of  Owego,  in 
the  County  of  Tioga,  to  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  at  some  eligible  point 
a  the  Cattaraugus  creek  and  the  Pennsylvania  line  ;  with  power 
to  transport,  take  and  carry  property  and  persons  upon  the  same,  by 
the  power  and  force  of  steam,  of  animals,  or  of  any  mechanical  or 
other  power,  or  of  any  combination  of  them,  for  the  term  of  fifty 
years  from  the  passage  of  this  act. 

Sec.  2. — If  the  said  corporation  hereby  created,  shall  not,  within 
four  years  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  commence  the  construction  of 
the  said  rail-road  or  way,  and  spend  within  one  year  thereafter,  the 
sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  thereon,  and  shall  not,  within 
ars  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  construct,  finish  and  put  in 
operation  one-fourth  part  of  the  said  rail-road  or  way,  and  shall  not, 
within  fifteen  years  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  construct,  finish  and 
put  in  operation  one-half  of  the  said  rail-road  or  way,  and  shall  not, 
within  twenty  years  from  the  passage  of  this  act,  complete  and  put  in 
operation  the  whole  of  the  said  rail-road  or  way,  or  in  the  event  of  a 
failure  by  the  company  to  construct  the  parts  of  the  said  rail-road 
within  either  of  the  times  above  mentioned,  then  the  rights,  privileges 
and  powers  of  the  said  corporation  under  this  act,  shall  be  null  and 
void. 

Sec.  3. — The  capital  stock  of  the  company  shall  be  ten  millions  of 
dollars  :  which  shall  be  divided  into  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars 
each  ;  which  shall  be  deemed  personal  property,  and  transferable  in 
such  manner  as  the  said  corporation  shall  by  by-laws  direct. 

Sei  .  4. — Walter  Bowne,  Morgan  Lewis,  William  Paulding,  Peter 
Lorillard,  Isaac  Lawrence,  Jeromus  Johnson,  John  Steward,  junior, 
Henry  T.  Wyckoff,  Nathaniel  Weed,  Hubert  Van  Wagenen,  David 
Rogers,  Samuel  Swartwout,  John  Hone,  John  G.  Coster,  Goold  Hoyt, 
Peter  I.  Nevius,  Robert  Buloid,  Benjamin  L.  Swan,  Thomas  A. 
Ronalds,  John  Haggerty,  Elisha  Riggs,  Garret  Storm,  George  Curtis, 
Richard  M.  Lawrence,  Charles  Henry  Hall,  Robert  White,  Stephen 
Whitney,  Eleazar  Lord,  John  P.  Stagg,  Sam'l  Alley,  Josiah  Hedden, 
Thomas  T.  Woodruff,  Michael  Burnham,  Gideon  Lee  and  Cornelius 
Harsen,  of  New  York  ;  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson,  Cornelius  J.  Blauvelt, 
Edward  Suffern,  John  J.  Wood  and  Benjamin  Blackledge,  of  Rock- 
land ;  Selah  Reeve,  George  D.  Wickham,  Alexander  Thompson, 
Samuel  S.  Seward,  Stacy  Beaks  and  John  Ilallock,  junior,  of  Orange  ; 
Randall  S.  Street  and  John  P.  Jones,  of  Sullivan  ;  John  Sudani  and 
John  Van  Buren,  of  Ulster;  James  G.  Elliot,  of  Greene;  Erastus 
Root,  of  Delaware;  Sherman  Page,  of  Otsego;  John  C.  Clark,  of 
Chenango;  Joshua  Whitney,  Stephen  Weed,  Christopher  Eldridge 
and  Levi  Dimmick,  of  Broome;  James  Pumpelly,  Lyman  Covell, 
William  Maxwell,  Grant  B.  Baldwin,  Darius  Bentley  and  John  Jack- 
son, ol  Tioga  ;  John  Magee,  Ira  Davenport,  William  H.  Bull  and 
William  S.  Hubbell,  of  Steuben  ;  Luther  Gere,  Andrew  D.  W.  Bruyn 
and  Francis  A.  Bloodgood,  of  Tompkins;  Philip  Church,  of  Alle- 
gany; Timothy  II.  Porter  and  Henry  Saxton,  of  Cattaraugus; 
Thomas  Campbell,  Daniel  G.  Garnsey,  Elial  T.  Foote,  Joseph 
White,  junior,  Oliver  Lee  and  Leverett  Baker,  of  Chautauqua,  shall  be 
commissioners  ;  the  duly  of  whom  it  shall  be,  within  the  period  of  six 
months  after  the  passing  of  this  act,  at  some  suitable  place  in  the  city 
of  New-York,  and  such  other  place  as  they  may  choose  to  designate, 
to  open  books  to  receive  subscriptions  to  the  capital  stock  of  the  said 
corporation,  and  twenty  days'  public  notice  shall  be  given  by  the  said 
commissioners  of  the  time  and  place  of  the  opening  of  such  books,  in 
one  of  the  public  newspapers  in  each  of  the  said  places  ;  and  any  five 
of  the  said  commissioners  shall  constitute  a  board  to  receive  subscrip- 
tions :  and  as  soon  as  the  same  shall  be  subscribed,  to  give  a  like 
notice  for  a  meeting  of  the  sto<  kholders,  at  such  time  and  place  as  the 


said  commissioners  may  appoint,  to  choose  seventeen  directors  ;  and 
such  election  shall  be  then  and  there  made  by  such  of  the  stockholders 
as  shall  attend  for  that  purpose,  either  in  person  or  by  lawful  proxy  ; 
each  share  of  the  capital  stock  entitling  a  stockholder  to  one  vote  ;  and 
the  said  commissioners,  or  such  of  them  as  shall  attend  for  such  pur- 
pose, shall  be  inspectors  of  the  first  election  of  directors  of  the  said 
corporation,  and  shall  certify,  under  their  hands,  the  names  of  those 
duly  elected,  and  deliver  over  the  subscription  books  to  the  said  direct- 
ors. And  the  time  and  place  of  holding  the  first  meeting  of  directors 
shall  be  fixed  by  the  said  commissioners.  And  the  said  directors  shall 
have  power  to  appoint  an  engineer,  or  engineers,  and  to  cause  such 
examination  and  surveys  for  the  said  rail-road  to  be  made,  as  may  be 
necessary  to  the  selection  of  the  most  advantageous  line  or  lines,  for 
the  location  of  the  road  :  and  the  said  directors  shall,  after  such 
examinations  and  surveys  shall  be  made,  select,  and  by  certificates 
under  their  hands  and  seals,  designate  the  line,  course  or  way,  which 
they  may  deem  most  advantageous  for  the  said  rail-road  ;  one  of  which 
certificates  shall  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  register  of  the  city  of  New- 
York,  and  one  in  the  office  of  each  of  the  county  clerks  of  the  several 
counties  through  which  the  said  rail-road  or  way  shall  pass  ;  which  line, 
course  or  way,  so  selected  and  certified,  shall  be  deemed  the  line, 
course  or  way  on  which  the  said  corporation  shall  construct,  erect, 
build  or  make  their  single,  double  or  treble  rail-road  or  ways,  as  here- 
inafter mentioned  :  the  expenses  of  all  such  surveys  and  examinations, 
and  all  manner  of  incidental  expenses  relating  thereto,  shall  be  paid 
for  by  the  said  corporation. 

Sec.  5. — If,  within  three  days  after  opening  the  subscription  books 
as  aforesaid,  a  sum  exceeding  ten  millions  of  dollars  shall  be  sub- 
scribed, the  commissioners,  who  shall  meet  for  that  purpose,  shall 
proceed  to  apportion  the  stock  among  the  subscribers,  and  shall  com- 
plete the  apportionment  within  sixty  days  after  the  opening  of  said 
subscription  ;  and  any  nine  of  the  said  commissioners  shall  constitute 
a  board  for  the  purpose  of  such  distribution,  if  no  more  than  nine  of 
the  said  commissioners  shall  then  attend  for  the  purpose  of  making 
such  distribution  ;  and  if  the  full  amount  of  capital  be  not  subscribed 
within  three  days,  as  aforesaid,  then  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  com- 
missioners to  open  the  subscription  books,  from  time  to  time,  until 
the  whole  amount  shall  have  been  subscribed.  The  commissioners 
shall  receive  no  subscription,  unless  five  dollars  on  each  share  sub- 
scribed be  paid  at  the  time  of  the  subscription. 

Sec.  6. — The  company,  hereby  incorporated,  shall  first  construct, 
lay  down  and  complete  one  line  or  track  of  rail-road  from  the  city  of 
New-York,  or  from  some  point  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Hudson 
River,  in  the  said  southern  tier  of  counties  unto  Lake  Erie,  and  shall 
convey  either  passengers  or  materials  thereon,  before  they  shall  lay 
down  the  rails  of  any  part  or  portion  of  the  said  line  or  track  of  the 
said  rail-road. 

Sec.  7. — The  said  directors  to  be  chosen  at  such  meeting,  or  at 
such  annual  election,  shall,  as  soon  as  may  be  after  every  election, 
choose  out  of  their  own  number,  one  president,  and  one  other  person 
to  be  vice-president  ;  and  in  case  of  the  death,  resignation  or  absence 
of  the  president,  the  vice-president  shall  preside  until  the  next  annual 
election  thereafter,  or  until  another  president  is  chosen  ;  and  in  case 
of  the  death  or  resignation  of  the  president  or  vice-president,  or  of 
any  director,  such  vacancy  or  vacancies  may  be  filled  for  the 
remainder  of  the  year  wherein  they  may  happen,  by  the  board  of 
directors  ;  and  in  case  of  the  absence  of  the  president  and  vice-presi- 
dent, the  board  of  directors  shall  have  power  to  appoint  a  president 
pro  tempore,  who  shall  have  and  exercise  such  powers  and  functions 
as  the  by-laws  of  the  said  corporation  may  provide. 

Sic.  8. — In  case  it  should  at  any  time  happen  that  an  election  of 
directors  shall  not  be  made  on  any  day,  when  pursuant  to  this  act.  it 
ought  to  have  been  made,  the  said  corporation  shall  not,  for  that 
cause,  be  deemed  to  be  dissolved  ;  but  such  election  may  be  held  at 
any  time  within  sixty  days  thereafter. 

Sec.  9. — The  corporation  is  hereby  empowered  to  purchase,  receive 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


297 


and  hold  such  real  estate  as  may  be  necessary  and  convenient  in  ac- 
complishing the  objects  for  which  this  incorporation  is  granted,  and 
may,  by  their  agents,  surveyor  and  engineers,  enter  upon  and  take 
possession  of,  and  use  all  such  lands  and  real  estate  as  may  be  indis- 
pensable for  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  their  single,  double 
or  treble  rail-road  or  way,  and  the  accommodations  requisite  and  ap- 
pertaining thereto  :  and  may  also  receive,  hold  and  take  all  such  vol- 
untary grants  and  donations  of  land  and  real  estate,  as  shall  be  made 
to  the  said  corporation  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  to  aid  in  the 
construction,  maintenance  and  accommodation  of  the  said  single, 
double  or  treble  rail-road  or  way  ;  but  all  lands  or  real  estate  thus 
entered  upon,  which  are  not  donations,  shall  be  purchased  by  the  said 
corporation,  of  the  owner  or  owners  of  the  same,  at  a  price  to  be 
eventually  agreed  upon  between  them  ;  and  in  case  of  a  disagreement 
as  to  price,  and  before  making  any  portion  of  said  road  or  said  land, 
the  said  corporation,  or  the  owner  of  such  land,  may  apply  by  petition 
to  the  vice-chancellor  of  the  circuit  within  which  such  land  lies,  par- 
ticularly describing  the  lands  to  be  appraised,  who,  upon  such  appli- 
cation, shall  cause  such  notice  to  be  given  to  the  other  party  as  he 
shall  deem  proper  and  sufficient,  appointing  therein  the  time  and 
place  of  hearing  the  parties  :  at  which  time  and  place,  upon  proof 
that  the  notice  directed  has  been  given,  the  said  vice-chancellor  shall 
direct  the  manner  of  ascertaining  the  damages  which  the  owner  of 
such  land  or  real  estate  will  sustain  by  the  occupation  thereof  by  the 
said  corporation  ;  and  the  said  vice-chancellor  shall  appoint  three 
competent  and  disinterested  commissioners,  who  shall  be  free-holders 
and  residents  of  the  county  in  which  the  land  described  in  said  peti- 
tion is  situate,  and  who  shall,  under  the  direction  of  the  said  vice- 
chancellor,  make  appraisements  and  determine  said  damages,  and 
report  in  writing  under  their  hands  to  the  said  vice-chancellor,  who 
shall  examine  the  same  and  hear  the  parties  in  relation  thereto,  if  he 
deem  it  expedient,  and  increase  or  diminish  the  damages  if  he  shall 
be  satisfied  injustice  has  been  done.  The  report  shall  contain  a 
minute  description  of  the  land  appraised.  The  commissioners  shall 
be  allowed  three  dollars  each  a  day  for  their  services.  Upon  proof  to 
the  vice-chancellor,  to  be  made  within  thirty  days  after  his  determina- 
tion, of  payment  to  the  owner,  or  of  depositing  to  the  credit  of  the 
owner,  in  such  incorporated  monied  institution  as  the  said  vice-chan- 
cellor shall  direct,  of  the  amount  of  said  damages  and  the  payment 
of  all  expenses,  the  said  vice-chancellor  shall  make  an  order  or  de- 
cree, particularly  describing  the  land  and  reciting  the  appraisement 
of  damages  and  the  mode  of  making  it,  and  all  other  facts  necessary 
to  a  compliance  with  this  section  of  this  act  ;  and  when  the  said  order 
or  decree  shall  be  recorded  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  said  vice- 
chancellor,  the  said  corporation  shall  be  seized  and  possessed  of  such 
land  or  real  estate,  and  may  enter  upon  and  take  possession,  and  use 
the  same  for  the  purposes  of  the  said  read. 

SEC.  io. — In  case  any  married  woman,  infant,  idiot  or  insane  person, 
or  non-resident  of  the  State,  who  shall  not  appear  after  such  notice, 
shall  be  interested  in  any  such  land  or  real  estate,  the  said  vice-chan- 
cellor shall  appoint  some  competent  disinterested  person  to  appear 
before  the  said  commissioners,  and  act  for  and  in  behalf  of  such  mar- 
ried woman,  infant,  idiot,  insane  person  or  non-resident. 

Sec.  II. — The  said  corporation  is  hereby  authorized  to  construct, 
erect,  build,  make  and  use  a  single,  double  or  treble  rail-road  or  ways, 
of  suitable  width  and  dimensions,  to  be  determined  by  the  said  cor- 
poration, on  the  line,  course  or  way  designated  by  the  directors  as 
aforesaid,  as  the  line,  course,  and  way  whereon  to  construct,  erect, 
build  and  make  the  same,  and  shall  have  power  to  regulate  the  time 
and  manner  in  which  goods  and  passengers  shall  be  transported,  taken 
and  carried  on  the  same  ;  and  shall  have  power  to  erect  and  maintain 
toll  houses  and  other  buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  their  con- 
cerns, as  they  may  deem  suitable  to  their  interest. 

Sec.  12. — The  said  corporation  shall  not  at  any  point  connect  the 
said  single,  double  or  treble  rail-road  or  ways  with  any  rail-road,  either 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  or  New  Jersey,  or  leading  into  either  of 


the  said  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  this  Stati 
pain  of  forfeiting  the  powers  and  privileges  conferred  by  this  act. 

Sec.  13. — Whenever  it  shall  be  necessary  for  the  construction  of 
their  single,  double  or  treble  rail-road  or  way,  to  intersect  or  cross  anv 
stream  of  water  or  water  <  ourses,  or  any  road  or  highway,  it  shall  be 
lawful  for  the  said  corporation  to  construct  their  way  or  ways  across 
or  upon  the  same  ;  but  the  corporation  shall  restore  the  stream  or 
water  courses,  or  road  or  highway,  thus  intersected  to  its  former 
state,  or  in  a  sufficient  manner  not  to  have  impaired   its  usefulness. 

SEC.  14 — It  shall  be  lawful  for  the  company  hereby  incorporated 
from  time  to  time  to  ti\,  regulate  and  receive  the  tolls  and  charges  by 
them  to  be  received  for  transportation  of  property  or  persons  on  the 
single,  double  or  treble  rail-road  or  ways  aforesaid,  hereby  authorized 
to  be  constructed,  erected,  built,  made  and  used  ;  and  to  take  and  re- 
ceive tolls  upon  any  part  of  said  route,  whenever  and  as  fast  as  sec- 
tions of  ten  miles  are  fully  completed. 

Sec.  15. — If  any  person  shall  wilfully  do  or  cause  to  be  done  any 
act  or  acts  whatever,  whereby  any  building,  construction  or  work  of 
the  said  corporation,  or  any  engine,  machine  or  structure,  or  any  mat- 
ter or  thing  appertaining  to  the  same,  shall  be  stopped,  obstructed,  im- 
paired, weakened,  injured  or  destroyed,  the  person  or  persons  so 
offending  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  forfeit  and  pay  to  the 
said  corporation  double  the  amount  of  damages  sustained  by  means  of 
such  offence  or  injury,  to  be  recovered  in  the  name  of  the  said  corpo- 
ration, with  costs  of  suit  by  action  of  debt. 

Sec.  16. — It  shall  be  lawful  for  the  directors  to  require  payment  of 
the  sums  to  be  subscribed  to  the  capital  stock,  at  such  times  and  in 
such  proportions,  anil  on  such  conditions,  as  they  shall  deem  fit,  under 
the  penalty  of  the  forfeiture  of  such  stock,  and  of  all  previous  pay- 
ments thereon,  and  shall  give  notice  of  the  payments  thus  required, 
and  of  the  place  and  time  when  the  same  are  to  be  paid,  at  least  thirty 
days  previous  to  the  payment  of  the  same,  in  a  public  newspaper  pub- 
lished in  the  city  of  Xew  York,  and  in  each  of  the  counties  through 
which  the  said  road  shall  pass,  and  in  such  other  places  as  the  said 
directors  may  deem  proper  to  direct. 

Sec.  17.  It  shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  corporation  to  unite  with 
any  other  rail-road  company  already  incorporated  upon  the  route  of 
said  road  through  said  southern  tier  of  counties,  upon  such  terms  as 
may  be  agreed  upon  by  the  directors  of  said  companv,  in  making  a 
continuous  rail-road  from  New  York  to  Lake  Erie  ;  at  all  times,  how- 
ever, confining  the  route  of  said  road  to  said  southern  tier  of  counties. 

Sec.  18. — This  said  corporation  shall  possess  the  general  powers, 
and  be  subject  to  the  general  restrictions  and  liabilities  prescribed  by 
such  parts  of  title  third  of  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  first  part  of 
the   Revised  Statutes  as  are  not  repealed. 

Sec.  ig. — The  directors  of  said  company  shall  make  an  annual  re- 
port, in  detail,  of  their  proceedings  and  expenditures,  verified  by  the 
affidavit  of  at  least  two  of  them,  which  report  shall  be  filed  in  the 
office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  ;  and  in  like  manner  shall,  at  the  ex- 
piration of  each  year,  for  the  term  of  fifteen  years  after  the  completion 
of  said  road,  file  in  the  said  office  a  detailed  statement  of  tolls  re- 
ceived on  such  rail-road,  and  of  all  moneys  expended  by  said  com- 
pany for  repairs  or  otherwise  for  the  purpose  of  said  rail-road. 

Sec.  20. — If  the  Legislature  of  this  State  shall,  at  the  expiration  of 
ten  and  within  fifteen  years  from  the  completion  of  said  railroad, 
make  provision  by  law  for  the  repayment  to  the  said  company  of  the 
amount  expended  by  them  in  the  construction  of  said  rail-road,  together 
with  all  moneys  expended  by  them  for  permanent  fixtures  for  the  use 
of  said  rail-road,  with  interest  on  such  sums  at  the  rate  of  fourteen 
per  centum  per  annum,  together  with  all  moneys  expended  bv  said 
company  for  repairs  or  otherwise  for  the  purposes  of  said  road,  after 
deducting  the  amount  of  tolls  received  on  said  road,  then  the  said 
rail-road,  with  all  fixtures  and  appurtenances,  shall  vest  in  and  become 
the  property  of  the  people  of  this  State. 

Sec.  21. — The  Legislature  may  at  my  time  hereafter  alter,  modify 
or  repeal  this  act. 


298 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


1S33. 

Petitions  poured  in  upon  the  Legislature  at  its  session  for 

1  ar,  praying  for  an  amendment  to  the  Erie  article  of 

incorporation,  on  the  ground  that  in  the  provisions  of  the 

original  bill  it  was  impossible  to  organize  a  company,  and  for 

tension  of  the  time  for  completing  the  railroad.     The 

ms  were  referred  to  the  Railroad  Committees.     January 

17th,  James  C.  Curtis,  of  Sullivan  County,  from  the  Assembly 

Railroad  Committee,  reported  a  bill  amending  the  charter  as 

prayed  for.     This  bill  passed  the  Assembly  February  9th,  by 

a  vote  of  87  to  5.     It  was  debated  in  the  Senate  until  April 

6th,  amended  and  passed  on  that  day  by  a  vote  of  23  to  4. 

The  Assembly  concurred  April   15  th,  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

The  bill  was  signed  by  the  Governor  April  19th. 

{Abstract  of  Act  Amending  Charter.") 

April  19,  1833.  An  act  to  amend  the  charter.  Authorizing  the 
commissioners  to  open  books  for  subscriptions  to  stock  the  second 
Tuesday  of  fuly,  1833,  at  the  Merchants'  Exchange  in  New  York 
City  ;  to  organize  a  company  on  subscriptions  of  $1,000,000  and  pay- 
ment of  ten  per  cent,  of  the  subscriptions  ;  whole  route  of  the  road 
to  be  surveyed  before  the  construction  of  any  section  shall  be  under- 
taken ;  books  to  be  opened  from  time  to  time,  if  a  company  is  organ- 
ized, until  a  sufficient  sum  is  subscribed  to  complete  the  road,  but 
time  for  completion  is  not  extended.  (Chapter  1S2,  Laws  of  New 
York,  1 


1834. 

January  8th,  in  the  Assembly,  a  petition  from  the  President 
and  Directors  of  the  Company,  and  a  memorial  from  a  con- 
vention of  delegates  from  the  City  of  New  York  and  southern 
tier  counties,  praying  the  aid  of  the  State  in  the  construction 
of  the  railroad  and  for  a  survey  of  a  route,  were  read  and 
referred  to  the  Railroad  Committee. 

February  3d,  a  memorial  from  Philip  Church  and  127 
other  citizens  of  Allegany  County,  remonstrating  against  the 
State  extending  aid  to  the  present  managers  of  the  Company," 
and  asking  consent  to  withdraw  their  subscriptions  toward 
the  railroad,  was  read  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Railroads.  ("  First  Administration  of  Eleazar  Lord,"  pages 
21,  22.) 

March  26th,  Mr.  Todd,  from  the  majority  of  that  com- 
mittee, made  a  report  on  the  memorials  and  petitions, 
deprecating  the  appropriation  of  public  funds  for  the  aid 
of  private  corporations,  and  recommending  against  it.  The 
minority  of  the  committee  also  made  a  report  unfavorable  to 
the  appropriation. 

April  41b.  (  hades  Winfield,  of  Orange  County,  moved  that 
the  matter  be  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on  Railroads, 
with  authority  to  report  a  bill  authorizing  a  survey  of  the 
route  of  the  railroad  by  the  State.  This  was  agreed  to  by  a 
vote  of  66  to  33,  Messrs.  Coe  and  Shays,  of  the  Committee 
on  Railroads,  voting  in  the  affirmative.     April  9th,  Mr.  Shays 


reported  a  bill  entitled  "An  Act  to  authorize  the  survey  by 
the  State  of  the  route  of  the  contemplated  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad."  It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  the 
Whole.  April  14th,  on  motion  of  John  R.  Drake,  of  Tioga 
County,  it  was  taken  from  that  committee  and  referred  to  a 
select  committee  to  report  on  it.  Mr.  Drake,  Merritt  H. 
Cash,  of  Orange  County,  and  Aaron  Spafford,  of  Oneida 
County,  were  appointed  on  this  committee. 

April  1 6th,  Mr.  Drake  reported  that  the  committee  had 
amended  the  bill,  changed  the  title  to  "An  Act  to  authorize 
the  survey  of  a  route  for  a  railroad  from  the  City  of  New 
York  to  Lake  Erie."  The  bill  was  passed  April  21st,  by  a 
vote  of  64  to  2,^. 

In  the  Senate,  May  5th,  the  Assembly  bill  providing  for 
the  survey  came  up  for  final  passage,  having  been  in  consid- 
eration by  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  since  April  2 2d. 
Persistent  effort  was  made  to  defeat  it,  but  on  that  day  it 
was  passed  by  the  narrow  vote  of  12  to  n.  William  H. 
Seward,  of  the  Seventh  District,  led  the  opposition  to  the  bill 
in  all  its  stages.  The  bill  became  a  law  May  6th.  It  directed 
the  Governor  to  appoint  a  competent  and  experienced  engi- 
neer to  "  explore  and  survey  a  route  for  a  railroad,  commenc- 
ing at  the  City  of  New  York,  or  the  most  eligible  and  con- 
venient point  in  its  vicinity,  and  continue  it  through  the 
southern  tier  of  counties  of  the  State,  by  way  of  Owego,  to 
the  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  at  some  eligible  point  between  the 
Cattaraugus  creek  and  the  Pennsylvania  line."  The  engineer 
was  empowered  to  employ  necessary  assistants.  A  map  ami 
profile  of  the  survey  were  to  be  placed  with  the  Secretary  of 
State.  The  aggregate  of  the  cost  of  the  survey  was  not  to 
exceed  §15,000.  This  act  is  Chapter  311  of  the  Laws  of 
New  York  for  1834. 

1335- 

February  9th,  a  petition  from  the  officers  and  Directors  of 
the  Company,  praying  for  a  State  subscription  or  loan  of 
$3,000,000  in  aid  of  the  railroad,  was  read  in  the  Assembly, 
and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Railroads,  which,  March 
4th,  reported  a  bill  entitled  "An  Act  to  expedite  the  con- 
struction of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad."  The  report 
was  submitted  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole.  March  20th, 
this  committee  reported,  through  Peter  P.  Murphy,  of  Her- 
kimer County,  against  the  bill.  The  report  was  sustained  by 
a  vote  of  61  to  47.     ("Administration  of  James  Gore  King," 

pages  32-35-) 

Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  of  New  York,  offered  a  resolution 
that,  inasmuch  as  the  survey  for  such  a  railroad  ordered  by 
the  State  having  demonstrated  its  practicability  and  construc- 
tion at  a  reasonable  expense,  the  Committee  on  Railroads  be 
instructed  to  prepare  and  report  a  bill  to  provide  for  the 
construction  by  the  State  of  a  railroad  from  the  City  of  New 
York  to  Lake  Erie.     The  bill  was  laid  on  the  table. 

April  24th,  James  J.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  of  New  York,  intro- 
duced a  bill  entitled  "An  Act  to  further  amend  the  act  to 
incorporate    the    New   York   and    Erie    Railroad   Company, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


299 


passed  April  24,  1832,"  and  it  was  passed  the  same  day. 
The  Senate  amended  the  act,  and  on  May  6th  the  House 
agreed  to  the  amended  bill  and  passed  it.  It  became  a  law 
May  8th,  and  was  entitled  "An  Act  to  further  amend  the  act 
of  incorporation."  It  authorized  the  Company  to  begin  the 
railroad  at  any  point  on  the  route  designated,  and  to  put  in 
operation  a  single  or  double  railway  on  any  section  thereof 
when  completed — but  the  several  sections  to  be  completed 
within  the  periods  limited  by  the  charter:  certificates  desig- 
nating sections  of  the  line  and  course  of  the  railroad  to  be 
filed  in  the  offices  of  the  clerks  of  the  counties  through  which 
the  same  should  pass.  This  act  is  Chapter  247  of  the  Laws 
of  New  York  for  1835. 


1836. 

In  the  Assembly,  February  1 2th,  a  memorial  from  the  Corpo- 
ration of  the  City  of  New  York,  praying  for  the  passage  of  a 
bill  granting  financial  aid  to  the  Company,  a  resolution  to 
the  same  purpose  from  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council 
of  Brooklyn,  and  petitions  from  Westchester,  Delaware, 
Genesee,  Allegany,  and  Cattaraugus  counties,  were  presented. 
They  were  all  referred  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  the 
Committee  on  Railroads,  for  some  reason,  being  ignored  in 
their  consideration. 

February  18th,  Orville  Robinson,  of  Oswego  County, 
reported  from  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  a  bill  entitled 
"  An  Act  to  expedite  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  New 
York  to  Lake  Erie."  John  Wilkinson,  of  Onondaga  County, 
led  in  strong  opposition  to  the  bill,  but  the  report  was  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  61  to  51.  February  20th,  the  bill  came  up  for 
final  action.  Preston  King,  of  St  Lawrence  County,  moved 
it  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Two-third  Bills.  The 
Speaker  (Charles  Humphrey,  of  Tompkins  County)  ruled  the 
motion  out  of  order.  Mr.  King  appealed  from  the  decision 
of  the  chair.  The  decision  was  sustained.  After  lively  de- 
bate and  unsuccessful  efforts  for  an  adjournment  the  bill  was 
voted  on,  and  was  decided  in  the  affirmative  by  a  vote  of  63 
to  45.  The  Speaker  decided  the  bill  passed.  Preston  King 
appealed  from  the  decision,  which  Mr.  Robinson  moved  to 
lay  on  the  table.  Amid  great  confusion  a  motion  to  adjourn 
was  made  and  voted  down.  The  motion  to  lay  on  the  table 
the  motion  appealing  from  the  decision  of  the  chair  was  with- 
drawn, and  was  renewed  by  Mr.  King  himself.  It  was  voted 
down.  The  question  on  the  appeal  was  put  by  the  Speaker, 
and  the  chair  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  61  to  29. 

In  the  Senate,  February  23d,  the  Assembly  bill  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Railroads.  March  3d,  Mr.  Mack,  from 
that  committee,  made  a  voluminous  report  on  the  bill,  and 
recommended  its  passage. 

The  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 

April  22d,  the  bill  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  17  to  12.  It 
was  signed  by  the  Governor  April  23d,  and  was  the  first 
legislative  act  granting  State  aid  to  the  Company.  ("Ad- 
ministration of  James  Gore  King,"  pages  38-40.) 


{Abstract  of  the  First  Erie  Relief  Bill.) 

An  Act  to  expedite  the  construction  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road. It  authorized  the  Comptroller  to  issue  $600,000  in  special  cer- 
tificates of  stock,  at  4^  per  cent,  interest,  payable  quarterly,  when  a 
continuous  line  of  single  track  railroad  should  have  been  constructed 
from  the  I  'elaware  and  Hudson  Canal  to  the  ChenangoCana]  ;  $700,- 
000  on  completion  of  the  road  from  the  Chenango  Canal  to  the  Alle- 
gany River  ;  $300,000  on  completion  of  the  road  from  the  Allegany 
River  to  Lake  Erie;  $4(x>,ooo  on  completion  of  the  road  from  the 
Hudson  River  in  Rockland  County  to  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal ;  $i, 000,000  on  the  completion  of  the  line  of  double  track  from 
the  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie  ;  certificates  of  acceptance  of  slock  to 
be  filed  by  the  Company  with  the  Comptroller  before  the  issuing  of 
any  stock  by  him,  such  certificate  of  acceptance  to  be  recorded  and 
become  a  lien  on  the  Company's  property  as  security  for  the  payment 
of  the  principal  and  interest  of  the  amounts  of  stock  accepted  ;  the 
stock  to  be  denominated  "  The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Stock," 
for  the  payment  of  the  interest  and  redemption  of  the  principal  of 
which  the  credit  of  the  State  was  pledged  ;  stock  to  be  issued  in  cer- 
tificates not  exceeding  $1,000  each,  payable  to  the  Company  on  its 
order,  and  assignable  or  transferable  on  the  Company's  books  at  such 
bank  in  New  York  city  as  the  Comptroller  should  designate,  or  such 
other  place  in  the  said  city  as  the  Legislature  should  direct ;  stock  to 
be  reimbursable  at  any  time  within  twenty  years  from  its  respective 
issues,  interest  payable  at  the  office  of  transfer  on  the  first  days  of 
January,  April,  July,  and  October  ;  stock  to  be  sold  by  auction  within 
three  months  after  its  receipt  by  the  Company,  under  direction  of  the 
State  Comptroller,  in  the  City  of  Xew  York  ;  any  premium  raised  on 
such  sale  to  be  paid  into  the  school  fund  of  the  State  ;  if  stock  was  not 
salable  at  par  at  such  sales,  the  Company,  with  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Comptroller,  to  defer  the  sale  until  such  time  as  he  might  think 
expedient ;  the  Company  to  provide  for  the  punctual  payment  of 
interest  and  redemption  of  stock,  the  tolls  and  income  of  the  road, 
after  paying  necessary  expenses,  being  pledged  for  the  payment  of  the 
interest :  no  stock  to  issue  until  full  and  satisfactory  proof  was  given 
the  Comptroller,  to  be  approved  by  the  Attorney-General,  that  no 
prior  lien  or  incumbrance  existed  on  the  Company's  property.  In 
case  of  default  in  payment  of  either  interest  or  principal  of  the  stock, 
the  Comptroller  was  to  sell  the  road  and  its  appurtenances  by  auction 
to  the  highest  bidder,  after  six  months'  notice  of  time  and  place  of 
sale,  published  once  in  each  week  in  the  State  paper,  and  in  two  news- 
papers in  New  York  city  ;  or  to  buy  in  the  same  at  such  sale  for  the 
use  and  benefit  of  the  State,  subject  to  such  disposition  as  the  Legis- 
lature might  thereafter  direct.  (Chapter  170,  Laws  of  Xew  York, 
1S36.) 


1337. 

In  the  Senate,  May  nth,  the  memorial  of  the  Company 
for  an  amendment  to  the  Act  of  April  23,  1836,  granting  it 
further  aid,  was  read  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Rail- 
roads. May  13th,  Mr.  Mack,  from  that  committee,  made 
a  report  against  the  memorial,  and  no  aid  was  granted. 


1838. 

The  Legislature  was  flooded  with  petitions  from  all  along 
the  line  praying  for  State  aid  for  the  railroad.  They  were 
referred  to  the  Committees  on  Railroads.  In  the  Assembly, 
February  13th,  Mr.  Holley,  of  that  committee  for  that  body. 
reported  a  bill  entitled  "  An  Act  to  amend  an  act  to  expedite 


3°° 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  New  York  to  Lake  Erie, 
passed  April  25,  1S36." 

The   bill  was  opposed  at  every  stage,  under  the  lead  of 

Preston  King,  of  St.   Lawrence    County,  but,  March    iSth, 

it  passi  sembly  by  a  vote  of  84  to  12.     It  passed  the 

Senate  April   14th,   by  a  vote  of  21  to  7,  and  was  signed  by 

moi   Mui  v   \pril  18th. 

This  was  the  first  act  of  the  Legislature  that  extended  any 
real  aid  to  the  Erie  project.  It  amended  the  act  of  April 
j  ;.  1  836,  so  that  when  the  Treasurer  and  two  of  the  direct- 
ors of  the  Company  should  satisfy  the  State  Comptroller  by 
affidavit  that  Sjoo.ooo  collected  on  the  State  stock  had  been 
expended  in  the  survey  and  construction  of  the  road,  he 
should  issue  to  them  $300,000  of  the  special  certificates,  in 
sums  of  Si 00,000  each,  evidence  to  be  furnished  by  the 
Company  that  one  installment  had  been  expended  according 
to  law  before  another  should  issue ;  and  when  the  Company 
had  expended  this  $300,000,  the  Comptroller  to  issue  Sioo,- 
000  for  every  similar  sum  of  $100,000  expended  by  the 
Company  in  the  actual  construction  of  its  railroad  and  col- 
lected on  its  capital  stock,  as  well  as  the  whole  proceeds 
of  the  sales  of  State  stock  previously  issued ;  continuing  the 
issues  of  $100,000  under  like  circumstances  until  the  total 
amount  of  stock  thus  issued  should  equal  $3,000,000  ;  no 
part  of  this  stock  to  be  issued  until  ten  miles  of  the  railroad 
extending  westerly  from  the  Hudson  River  at  Tappan,  in  the 
county  of  Rockland,  and  ten  miles  eastwardly  from  Dunkirk, 
in  the  county  of  Chautauqua,  should  have  been  located,  and 
grading  for  such  sections  actually  under  contract.  This  act 
is  Chapter  226  of  the  Laws  of  New  York  for  1838.  ("Ad- 
ministration of  James  Gore  King,"  page  43.) 

1839. 

The  feeling  of  the  people,  as  indicated  by  the  petitions 
that  poured  in  on  the  Legislature  at  this  session,  was  almost 
unanimously  in  favor  of  the  abandonment  of  the  railroad  by 
the  Company  and  the  turning  of  the  work  over  to  the  State. 
In  response  to  these  petitions  and  to  a  memorial  from  the 
Directors  of  the  Company  itself,  January  19th,  Mr.  Scoles,  of 
the  Assembly  Committee  on  Railroads,  reported  a  bill  pro- 
viding for  State  ownership  of  the  railroad.  It  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 

March  28th,  Levi  S.  Chatfield,  of  Otsego  County,  intro- 
duced a  bill  postponing  for  ten  years  the  loan  to  the  Com- 
pany of  the  credit  of  the  State  for  $3,000,000,  or  so  much  of 
it  as  had  not  been  actually  made.  It  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Railroads. 

In  the  Senate,  February  13th,  a  communication  from  the 
Company  setting  forth  the  crisis  in  its  affairs  was  read,  and 
February  14th  Noadiah  Johnson,  of  the  Committee  on  Rail- 
roads, reported  on  the  petitions,  and  introduced  a  bill  pro- 
viding for  the  construction  of  the  railroad  by  the  State. 
The  bill  was  debated  and  amended  in  the  Committee  of  the 
Whole  until  April  3d,  when  it  was  reported  to  the  Senate.  It 
was  rejected  by  the  close  vote  of  15  to  14. 


April  23d,  the  Assembly  passed  the  Scoles  bill  of  January 
19th,  providing  for  the  construction  of  the  railroad  by  the 
State,  and  it  was  sent  to  the  Senate  for  action.  It  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Railroads  of  the  Senate,  which  re- 
ported it  favorably  April  26th.  It  was  in  daily  debate  in  the 
Committee  of  the  Whole  until  April  30th,  special  sessions  be- 
ing held  for  the  purpose.  On  that  day  it  was  reported,  with 
amendments.  The  excitement  was  intense  over  the  outcome 
of  the  vote  on  the  bill,  which  resulted  in  its  rejection  by  the 
close  vote  of  17  to  14. 

May  4th,  Mr.  Scoles,  from  the  Assembly  Railroad  Commit- 
tee, reported  against  the  Chatfield  bill  of  March  28th,  post- 
poning for  ten  years  the  loan  of  the  credit  of  the  State,  and 
it  was  rejected.  ("Administration  of  James  Gore  King," 
pages  46,  47.) 

1840. 

In  the  Assembly,  January  29th,  Wm.  H.  L.  Bogart,  of 
Tompkins  County,  presented  the  petition  of  the  Company 
for  a  modification  of  the  act  loaning  the  credit  of  the  State. 
It  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Committee  on  Railroads. 

February  6th,  Benjamin  Enos,  of  Madison  County,  offered 
a  resolution  requesting  the  Comptroller  to  report  to  the 
House  the  amount  of  stock  he  had  issued  to  the  Company 
under  the  Act  of  1838,  and  what  amount  had  been  issued  the 
past  year,  and  to  report  what  evidence  the  Company  had 
given  him  that  it  had  collected  any  portion  of  its  capital 
stock  and  expended  it  in  actual  construction  of  the  railroad. 

Andrew  G.  Chatfield,  of  Steuben,  offered  an  amendment 
by  adding  that  the  Comptroller  also  report  the  amount  of 
stock  that  had  been  sold  under  his  direction  since  January  1, 
1839,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Company,  and  the  sum  obtained 
for  it.     The  amendment  was  adopted. 

February  8th,  Bates  Cooke,  State  Comptroller,  reported  in 
response  to  the  resolution.  February  nth,  Elihu  Town- 
send,  Treasurer  of  the  Company,  reported  in  response  to 
the  Bogart  resolution  the  evidence  as  to  how  much  capi- 
tal of  the  Company  had  been  expended  in  construction — 
$400,000. 

February  15  th,  on  motion  of  James  J.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  of 
New  York,  the  Secretary  of  State  was  requested  to  lay  before 
the  House  the  annual  reports,  if  any,  of  the  proceedings  and 
expenditures  of  the  Company,  pursuant  to  the  nineteenth  sec- 
tion of  theirarticles  of  incorporation.  February  19th,  John  C. 
Spencer,  the  Secretary  of  State,  transmitted  the  reports  pur- 
suant to  the  resolution. 

February  25th,  on  motion  of  James  J.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  the 
Company  was  ordered  to  furnish  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
forthwith  a  copy  of  its  report  for  1839,  in  detail,  pursuant  to 
the  act  of  incorporation,  and  the  Secretary  of  State  to  sub- 
mit it  to  the  House  as  soon  as  it  was  filed  in  his  office,  and 
that  the  Company  report  to  the  House  without  delay  what 
provision  had  been  made  by  it  for  the  punctual  redemption 
of  the  State  stock  issued  to  it,  and  punctual  payment  of 
the  interests  which  had  accrued,  and  should  accrue,  on  it, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


?oi 


according  to  the  act  authorizing  it.  Adopted,  84  to  18.  The 
Company's  report  for  1S39  was  submitted  February  25th. 

February  27th,  on  motion  of  Charles  A.  Mann,  of  Oneida 
Count}',  the  Company  was  required  to  report  without  delay 
the  names  of  the  purchasers  of  the  Si 00,000  State  stock  is- 
sued by  the  Comptroller  December  4,  1839;  details  of  how 
the  money  received  for  it  was  spent ;  names  of  stockholders 
who  took  the  last  Si 00,000  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Com- 
pany (in  addition  to  the  5300,000  previously  expended); 
time  each  holder  paid ;  time  when  the  call  was  made  by  the 
Company  for  such  payment;  whether  paid  in  money,  labor, 
materials,  or  otherwise ;  amount  of  subscriptions  to  the 
stock  during  1839,  and  names  of  the  subscribers  ;  whether 
any  certificates  for  stock  were  issued  during  1839,  and  if  so, 
when,  in  particular  on  contracts  for  materials  or  labor  there- 
after to  be  furnished,  and  the  names  of  such  contractors  and 
stockholders,  and  amount  of  stock  issued  to  each ;  and  that 
the  report  be  verified  under  oath  of  the  President  of  the 
Company. 

( >n  motion  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  the  resolution  was  amended 
so  as  to  ask  the  date,  amount,  and  nature  of  the  contracts, 
names  of  the  officers,  Directors,  and  stockholders  of  the  Com- 
pany, with  their  names  and  residences,  and  whether  any 
changes  had  taken  place  since  January  1,  183S  ;  whether  the 
officers  having  the  custody  of  the  moneys  derived  from  the 
sale  of  the  State  stock  issued  to  the  Company  had  given 
security,  and  what  security,  for  safe-keeping  and  faithful  ap- 
plication of  them,  and  names  of  such  officers ;  whether  any 
sales  had  been  made  of  the  stock  of  the  Company  since 
January  1.  1838,  and  at  what  time  and  rates;  whether  the 
stock  had  any,  and  if  so  what,  market  value  ;  and  that 
said  report  be  verified  under  oath  of  the  President  of  the 
( lompany. 

March  6th,  Mr.  Roosevelt  moved  that  the  Comptroller  be 
directed  to  suspend  the  delivery  of  any  State  stock  to  the 
Company  beyond  S400.000  already  issued,  until  further  order 
of  the  Legislature.     This  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  82  to  25. 

Eleazar  Lord,  President  of  the  Company,  in  response  to 
the  resolution  of  February  27  th,  reported  under  date  of  March 
iSth,  and  the  report  was  read  in  the  Assembly  March  20th. 

In  the  Senate,  February  26th,  Mr.  Furman,  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Railroads,  to  which  had  been  referred  the  petitions  of 
citizens  of  Delaware,  Chenango,  and  Broome  counties,  and 
of  various  stockholders  of  the  Company,  that  the  railroad 
should  be  made  a  State  work,  reported  in  favor  of  the  peti- 
tioners, and  asked  permission  to  introduce  a  bill  to  that  effect, 
which  was  granted,  but  the  bill  was  not  introduced. 

March  25th,  in  discussion  on  a  bill  entitled  "An  Act  to 
amend  the  Act  entitled  '  An  Act  to  amend  an  Act  entitled 
"An  Act  to  expedite  the  construction  of  the  Xew  York  and 
Erie  Railroad,"  '  "  an  effort  was  made  by  the  opponents  of  the 
bill  to  refer  it  to  a  select  committee  to  inquire  into  and  in- 
vestigate the  Company's  management  as  to  alleged  specula- 
tions in  real  estate,  at  the  supposed  terminations  of  the  rail- 
road and  along  the  line,  by  its  Directors,  managers,  or  persons 
interested  in  the  Company,  and  whether  the  Company  was 


influenced  in  locating  the  route  and  terminations  by  any 
speculation,  but  the  resolution  was  voted  down  by  a  vote  of 
16  to  9. 

The  aid  bill  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  15  to  10. 

March  3d,  in  the  Assembly,  Mr.  Hubbard,  from  the  Com- 
mittee on  Railroads,  brought  in  a  report  favorable  to  the  peti- 
tions and  memorial,  and  presented  a  bill  entitled  "  An  Act  to 
facilitate  the  construction  of  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road." March  27  th,  the  Senate  sent  to  the  Assembly  for  con- 
currence a  bill  for  a  similar  purpose.  It  was  considered  in 
the  Committee  of  the  Whole  until  April  23d,  when  it  was  re- 
ferred to  a  select  committee  composed  of  Elias  Clarke  of 
Livingston  County;  Demas  Hubbard,  Jr.,  and  Arnold  B. 
Watson  of  Otsego  County.  The  bill  was  reported  from  the 
Select  Committee  the  same  day,  with  the  title  changed  to 
"  An  Act  to  amend  the  several  Acts  in  relation  to  the  Ni  w 
York  and  Erie  Railroad."  April  24th,  it  passed  the  Assembly 
by  a  vote  of  57  to  29,  A.  G.  Chatfield  of  Steuben  County, 
George  A.  French  of  Chautauqua  County,  and  John  A.  King 
of  Queens  County  being  excused  from  voting  because  they 
were  stockholders  in  the  Company  and  interested  in  the 
passage  of  the  bill. 

April  28th,  the  Senate  concurred  in  the  bill  as  amended  by 
the  Assembly,  by  a  vote  of  15  to  9. 

This  act,  which  is  Chapter  140,  Laws  of  Xew  York  for 
1840,  amended  the  several  acts  in  relation  to  the  Xew 
York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  authorized  the  Comptroller 
to  issue,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of 
April  16,  1838,  special  certificates  of  stock  to  the  Com- 
pany to  the  amount  of  Si 00,000,  bearing  such  a  rate  of  in- 
terest, not  exceeding  six  per  cent.,  as  in  the  Comptroller's 
judgment  would  make  the  stock  salable  at  par ;  and  for 
even-  further  sum  of  850,000  expended  by  the  Company  the 
Comptroller  to  issue  Sioo,ooo  under  the  same  conditions  of 
interest  rate,  the  whole  amount  of  stock  thus  issued  not  to 
exceed  8400,000  during  the  year  1840  ;  a  Railroad  Inspector 
to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  to  examine  the  work  on  the 
railroad,  whenever  stock  was  applied  for,  and  certify  to  the 
Comptroller  whether  avails  of  previous  State  stock  had  been 
expended  according  to  the  intent  of  the  act ;  the  Inspector 
to  be  paid  by  the  Company  from  the  proceeds  of  the  stock 
the  compensation  allowed  by  law  to  canal  appraisers ;  stock 
to  be  withheld  if  the  Inspector  found  the  provisions  of  the 
act  not  fully  and  fairly  complied  with,  until  the  Company 
complied  with  the  conditions  thereof  ;  stock  that  might  be 
issued  under  this  act  to  be  deemed  part  of  the  $3,000,000 
authorized  to  issue  by  the  Act  of  April  23,  1836.  The  Com- 
pany was  authorized  to  exchange  the  $100,000  in  four  and 
one-half  per  cent.  State  stock  last  issued  to  it  for  a  like 
amount  of  the  certificates  provided  for  in  this  act;  interest 
to  be  deposited  at  a  Xew  York  city  bank  designated  by  the 
State  Comptroller  five  days  before  it  became  due,  and  notice 
to  be  given  him  of  the  fact;  in  default  thereof,  the  Comp- 
troller was  to  make  provision  for  the  payment  of  the  in- 
terest, such  advani  e,  with  interest,  to  be  refunded  to  the 
State  by  the  Company  on  demand,  in  default  of  such  pay- 


302 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


ment  the  Comptroller  to  enforce  it  by  law.  All  the  provisions 
of  the  Act  of  April  23,  1S36,  except  the  first  section,  were  to 
apply  to  the  stock  authorized  by  this  act,  which  was  to  take 
effect  immediately. 

1 841. 

This  year,  there  being  no  Erie  legislation  before  the  Senate 
or  Assembly,  the  Assembly  ordered  an  investigation  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Company.  The  matter  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Railroads— Erastus  D.  Culver  of  Washington 
County,  Jonathan  Arthur  of  Dutchess  County,  William  C. 
Pierrepont  of  New  York,  Seth  C.  Hawley  of  Erie  County, 
Reuben  Howe  of  Montgomery  County.  It  was  subsequently 
placed  in  charge  of  a  special  committee — A.  G.  Chatfield, 
C.  G.  Graham,  and  William  B.  McClay. 


1S42. 

January  iSth,  the  Select  Committee  of  the  Assembly  of 
1 841,  appointed  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the  Company, 
made  its  report,  exonerating  the  Company  from  the  charges. 

Petitions  for  aid  to  the  railroad,  remonstrances  against  it, 
remonstrances  against  the  locating  of  the  route  in  the  Dela- 
ware Valley  and  its  passing  into  Pennsylvania,  were  sent  to  the 
Senate  by  the  thousand.  They  were  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Railroads,  March  1st.  Mr.  Scott,  from  that  com- 
mittee, made  a  report  and  introduced  a  bill  entitled  an  "  Act 
in  relation  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad."  Same  day, 
Andrew  B.  Dickinson,  of  the  Sixth  District,  introduced  a  bill 
entitled  "  An  Act  to  expedite  the  construction  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  by  the  State."  March  nth,  James 
Faulkner,  of  the  Sixth  District,  introduced  a  bill  entitled  an 
"  Art  to  aid  the  construction  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad." 

March  16th,  Mr.  Scott,  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Rail- 
mads,  reported  in  favor  of  the  remonstrance  of  citizens  of 
Sullivan,  Orange,  and  Ulster  counties  against  changing  the 
route  to  the  Delaware  Valley,  and  was  given  leave  to  intro- 
duce a  bill  preventing  the  change.  March  30th,  the  Committee 
on  Railroads,  to  which  had  been  referred  the  bill  in  relation 
to  the  construction  of  the  railroad  by  the  State,  reported 
against  the  bill. 

April  1st,  the  Senate  Railroad  Committee's  bill  entitled  "  An 
Act  in  relation  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad "  was 
passed  unanimously,  and  sent  to  the  Assembly  for  action. 

April  6th,  the  Faulkner  bill  of  March  nth,  extending  the 
aid  of  the  State  to  the  railroad,  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  18 
to  12. 

April  .Sth,  Mr.  Bockee,  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Rail- 
roads, introduced  a  bill  entitled  "An  Act  to  amend  an  act 
entitled  '  An  Act  to  incorporate  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company.'  "  April  nth,  the  bill  "  in  relation  to  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad,"  passed  by  the  Senate  April  rst,  was 
returned  from  the  Assembly  with  a  message  stating  that  it 


had  been  passed  without  amendment  as  a  majority  bill.  It 
was  sent  back  to  the  Assembly  with  the  information  that  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Senate  the  bill  required  a  two-thirds  vote, 
and  it  was  laid  on  the  table.  Same  day,  the  Senate  received 
from  the  Assembly  the  Senate  bill  of  April  8th,  amending  the 
act  of  incorporation  of  the  Company,  which  the  Assembly 
returned  with  amendments.  The  amendments  were  con- 
curred in,  and  the  bill  passed  by  a  vote  of  24  to  1.  This  was 
the  act  extending  the  time  of  completing  the  railroad. 

The  Legislature  adjourned  by  joint  resolution,  to  meet  in 
extra  session  August  16,  1842,  the  business  of  the  extra 
session  to  be  confined  to  the  apportionment  of  the  congres- 
sional districts  of  the  State.  Erie  affairs  were  left  in  a  most 
unsatisfactory  situation.  The  Company  had  defaulted  to  the 
State,  had  gone  into  bankruptcy,  and  the  road  had  been 
advertised  by  the  Comptroller  for  sale.  ("Administration 
of  James  Bowen,"  pages  57-66.)  Favorable  legislation  was 
needed  to  insure  the  prospects  of  the  Company  and  the 
railroad. 

AT   THE   EXTRA   SESSION. 

August  1 6th,  the  proceedings  of  a  convention  held  July 
20th  at  Owego  of  delegates  from  the  various  counties  inter- 
ested in  the  construction  of  the  railroad  were  read  in  the 
Assembly  and  laid  on  the  table. 

Mr.  Leland  offered  a  resolution  that  the  joint  resolution 
confining  the  business  of  the  extra  session  to  the  apportion- 
ment of  congressional  districts  be  so  modified  as  to  allow  the 
Legislature  to  proceed  to  business  in  relation  to  the  sale  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  which  was  tabled. 

August  i Sth,  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Faulkner  offered  a  con- 
current resolution  that  so  much  of  the  joint  resolution  as 
confined  the  subject  of  legislation  to  congressional  appor- 
tionment be  so  modified  as  to  allow  legislation  on  the  fol- 
lowing concurrent  resolution  : 

Resolved  (if  the  Assembly  concur).  That  the  Comptroller  be  and  is 
hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  suspend  all  further  proceedings  in 
the  collection  of  the  debt  or  debts  due  the  State  from  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  until  the  further  order  of  the  Legis- 
lature. 

Laid  on  the  table. 

In  the  Senate,  August  20th,  Mr.  Faulkner  offered  a  reso- 
lution modifying  the  joint  resolution  of  August  18th,  confining 
the  business  of  the  extra  session  to  the  congressional  appor- 
tionment, so  that  legislative  action  might  be  taken  in  relation 
to  the  sale  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  by  the  Comp- 
troller, as  follows  :  "  That  the  Comptroller  be  notified  and 
directed  to  bid  in  at  the  sale  (advertised  to  take  place  at  the 
Capitol  in  Albany  on  the  31st  day  of  December  next)  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  on  behalf  of  the  State,  at  an 
amount  not  exceeding  that  of  the  State  mortgage  of  three 
millions  of  dollars  and  the  interest  thereon." 

John  Hunter,  of  the  Second  District,  moved  to  amend  the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


303 


Faulkner  resolution  (if  the  joint  resolution  was  modified)  so 
that  it  would  read  :  "That  the  Comptroller  be  and  is  hereby 
authorized  and  directed  to  postpone  the  sale  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  and  its  appurtenances  until  the  first  Tues- 
day of  May  next." 

Carried  by  a  vote  of  15  to  n. 

August  27th,  the  Assembly  concurred  in  the  amended 
Faulkner  resolution,  anil  the  sale  of  the  railroad  was  post- 
poned. 

The  session  of  1S42  left  the  Company  newly  fortified 
against  adversity  so  far  as  the  following  acts  could  provide 
assistance  : 

Act  of  April  nth. — Extending  for  two  years  from  date,  the  time  pre- 
scribed by  the  act  of  incorporation  of  April  24,  1S32,  for  finishing  and 
putting  in  operation  one-fourth  of  the  railroad,  nothing  in  the  act  to 
be  construed  to  impair  the  rights  of  the  State  by  virtue  of  its  lien  on 
the  road,  nor  to  release  the  Company  from  any  penalty  or  forfeiture, 
in  consequence  of  any  neglect  or  refusal  of  the  Company  to  pay  the 
interest  on  the  State  stock.  (Chapter  227,  Laws  of  New  York, 
1842) 

Concurrent  Resolution,  August  27,  1S42.  Modifying  the  joint 
resolution  of  April  gth,  confining  the  subject  of  the  special  session  of 
the  Legislature  to  apportionment  of  congressional  districts,  and  author- 
izing the  Comptroller  to  postpone  the  sale  of  the  railroad  until  the 
first  Tuesday  of  May,  1S43. 

1S43. 

January  23d,  in  the  Senate,  James  Faulkner,  from  the  Com- 
mittee on  Railroads,  to  which  was  referred  the  memorial  of 
the  President  and  Company,  and  petitions  praying  for  a  bill 
giving  the  Company  authority  to  negotiate  a  loan  of  £3,000,- 
000,  that  would  be  a  lien  prior  to  the  State's,  introduced  such 
a  bill.     It  was  referred  to  a  select  committee. 

February  8th,  on  motion  of  John  Porter,  of  the  Seventh 
District,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company  furnish,  forthwith,  to  the  Senate  a  statement 
showing  whether  or  not  the  said  Company,  or  any  officer  or  agent  of 
said  Company,  in  their  behalf,  had,  at  the  time  when  the  President  of 
said  Company  informed  the  Governor  that  the  interest,  which  would 
become  due  on  the  stock  loaned  by  the  State  to  the  said  Company,  on 
the  first  day  of  April  then  next,  would  be  in  default,  any  of  said  stock 
unsold,  or  if  pledged,  to  whom  and  on  what  terms  ;  or  any  money  de- 
posited in  bank,  and  if  so,  how  much  ;  and  in  what  bank  or  banks  the 
same  is  deposited. 

And  that  they  further  state  whether  the  said  Directors,  or  any 
officer  i>f  said  Company,  have  assigned,  transferred,  or  in  any  way 
pledged  their  said  railroad,  or  any  part  thereof,  or  any  and  what  part 
of  their  personal  property  ;  and  if  so,  when  and  to  whom,  and  for 
what  purpose  said  assignment,  transfer,  or  pledge  was  made  ;  and  that 
they  send  with  said  statement  a  copy  or  copies  of  any  such  assign- 
ments, transfers,  or  pledges. 

That  the  clerk  deliver  a  copy  of  said  resolution  to  the  President  and 
Directors  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company. 

February  17th,  the  statement  requested  was  submitted  by 
the  Company.     (Senate  Document  No.  38,  1843.) 

March  3d,  the  Faulkner  bill  was  reported  from  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole,  and  Nehemiab  Piatt,  of  the  Sixth  Dis- 


trict, moved  that  one  providing  that  the  railroad  be  declared 
a  State  route  be  substituted  for  it,  which  was  rejected,  21 

to  5. 

March  4th,  William  C.  Ruger,  of  the  Fifth  District,  moved 
that  the  bill  be  referred  to  the  Attorney-General  for  his 
opinion  as  to  whether  it  was  a  two-thirds  bill.  Rejected,  17 
to  10.  The  Faulkner  bill  received  19  votes  to  18  against  it, 
and  the  chair  decided  it  passed.  Mr.  Ruger  appealed  from 
the  decision  of  the  chair,  upon  the  ground  that  the  bill  was  a 
two-thirds  bill.  Warm  debate  followed,  and  was  continued 
daily  until  March  6th,  when  the  chair  was  sustained  by  a  vote 
of  14  to  12. 

March  20th,  the  memorial  of  the  President,  Managers,  and 
Company  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company, 
praying  for  the  passage  of  a  law  to  prohibit  the  New  York 
and  Erie  from  locating  the  road  in  the  Delaware  Yalley, 
between  Port  Jervis  and  the  town  of  Cochecton,  was  read  and 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Railroads.  March  31st,  Mr. 
Scott,  from  the  Committee  on  Railroads,  to  which  the  memo- 
rial was  referred,  reported  a  bill  on  the  subject,  favorable  to 
the  petition. 

February  21st,  in  the  Assembly,  Robert  Flint,  of  Allegany 
County,  introduced  a  bill  to  provide  for  the  construction  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  by  the  State. 

April  5th,  Samuel  G.  Hathaway,  Jr.,  of  the  Select  Com- 
mittee to  which  was  referred  the  Senate  bill  in  relation  to  the 
construction  of  the  railroad,  reported  agreement  with  it  with- 
out amendment. 

Willis  Hall,  of  Albany,  moved  to  amend  by  striking  out  all 
after  the  enacting  clause,  and  inserting  a  section  providing 
that  the  State  should  loan  the  Company  $3,000,000  as  soon 
as  it  had  completed  its  railroad  from  Dunkirk  to  the  Hudson 
River,  and  procured  all  necessary  locomotives  and  cars  and 
appurtenances  for  operating  it.  Rejected  by  a  vote  of 
72  to  25. 

Alonzo  Hawley,  of  Cattaraugus  County,  moved  the  substi- 
tution for  the  Senate  bill  of  one  directing  the  Comptroller  to 
sell  the  road  and  bid  in  the  same  for  the  State,  unless  some 
one  bid  the  amount  due  the  State ;  placing  the  road  under 
the  control  of  the  Canal  Commissioners,  and  whenever  the 
enlargement  of  the  Erie  Canal  should  be  resumed,  one  dollar 
to  be  spent  on  the  construction  of  the  railroad  for  every  two 
spent  on  the  canal,  until  the  railroad  was  completed.  Re- 
jected by  a  vote  of  72  to  22. 

Frantic  efforts  were  made  to  have  the  Senate  bill  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Two-third  Bills,  and  to  the  Attomey- 
( leneral  for  his  opinion,  but  they  were  defeated,  as  were  the 
numerous  motions  to  adjourn  that  were  made  during  the 
warm  debate.  The  bill  was  finally,  on  the  motion  of  Jonathan 
Stratton,  of  Sullivan  County,  recommitted  to  the  Committee 
of  the  Whole,  which  reported  it  favorably  April  14th,  and  it 
received  a  vote  of  68  to  25  votes  against  it.  The  Speaker 
declared  it  passed.  Thomas  Sherwood,  of  Onondago  Count}-, 
appealed  from  trie  decision  of  the  chair,  on  the  ground  that 
the  bill  required  a  two-thirds  vote.  The  decision  of  the  chair 
was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  54  to  39. 


304 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


The  controversy  on  this  point  called  forth  a  long  state- 
ment from  the  Speaker,  defending  his  decision  and  jus- 
tifying it. 

latest  Erie  bill,  known  as  the  Faulkner  bill  (Chapter 
200,  Laws  of  New  York  for  1S43),  became  a  law  April  iSth. 
It  suspended  the  sale  of  the  railroad,  as  provided  for  by  the 
Act  of  April  23,  1836,  until  July  4,  1850,  on  condition  that 
the  Company  should  actually  resume  work  of  construction 
within  two  years  from  date,  prosecute  it  as  fast  as  funds 
could  be  raised,  and  complete  for  use  a  single  track  from  the 
Hudson  River  to  Like  Erie,  with  necessary  turnouts,  depots, 
etc.,  within  seven  years  from  date ;  authorized  the  issue  by 
the  Company  of  bonds  not  exceeding  S3 ,000,000  in  the 
aggregate,  of  denominations  not  less  than  S200,  principal  to 
be  made  payable  in  not  less  than  eight  years  from  date,  a 
portion  or  whole  of  the  road  to  be  pledged  as  security  for 
such  payment;  bonds  to  be  countersigned  by  a  Railroad 
Commissioner,  to  be  provided  for ;  duplicates  to  be  filed  in 
the  Comptroller's  office ;  no  bond  to  be  valid  until  thus 
countersigned  and  filed ;  bonds  to  be  an  absolute  lien  on  the 
railroad  and  its  appendages,  or  upon  divisions  thereof,  prior 
to  any  lien  or  incumbrance  which  the  State  has  by  virtue  of 
anv  previous  acts,  upon  condition  that  each  bond  should 
specify  on  its  face  that  the  State  was  not  responsible  for  its 
payment :  that  within  two  years  after  the  completion  of  the 
road  the  Legislature  might  pay  the  Company  the  cost  of  con- 
structing the  road  and  its  appendages,  with  seven  per  cent, 
interest,  deducting  the  amount  of  stock  loaned  by  the  State 
and  the  net  proceeds  derived  from  the  use  of  the  railroad, 
am  1  take  possession  of  it  as  the  property  of  the  State ;  in  case 
such  purchase  not  being  made,  the  Company  to  be  released 
from  all  obligation  to  redeem  the  §3,000,000  of  stock  issued 
to  it  by  the  State,  and  all  interest  due  thereon ;  a  Railroad 
Commissioner  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  to  examine 
the  progress  of  the  work,  approve  and  countersign  the  bonds 
and  contracts  made  by  the  Company,  and  see  that  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  bonds  were  faithfully  and  economically  expended 
for  the  purposes  on  which  they  were  authorized  to  be  issued ; 
examine  vouchers  of  all  payments,  and  report  to  the  Canal 
Board  the  result  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  January  of  each 
year;  no  contract  exceeding  S200  to  be  binding  on  the 
Company  unless  countersigned  by  the  Commissioner,  the 
State  not  to  be  liable  for  any  contract,  whether  so  counter- 
signed or  not.  In  case  of  non-payment  of  bonds,  the  holder 
was  authorized  to  deliver  same  to  the  Comptroller,  who  will 
proceed  to  sell  the  property  pledged  for  their  security. 
("Administrations  of  William  Maxwell  and  Horatio  Allen," 
pages  67  and  71.) 


1844. 

The  Erie  question  at  this  session  of  the  Legislature  that 
aroused  the  most  public  interest  was  a  proposed  bill  to 
authorize  the  City  of  New  York  to  vote  on  the  matter  of  sub- 
scribing §3,000,000  toward  the  aid  of  the  railroad.     ("Ad- 


ministration of  Horatio  Allen,"  page  70.)  Remonstrances 
against  such  a  bill,  signed  by  Peter  Lorillard,  Jr.,  Peter  Scher- 
merhorn,  John  Anthon,  and  others,  were  presented.  The  bill 
was  never  reached. 

March  25th,  Mr.  Faulkner  introduced  in  the  Senate  a  bill 
entitled  "An  Act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  'An  Act  to  incor- 
porate the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company.'  "  It 
passed  the  Senate  April  2d,  by  a  vote  of  22  to  2,  and  the 
Assembly  April  5  th. 

This  act  amended  the  articles  of  incorporation,  so  as  to 
further  extend  the  time  for  finishing  and  putting  in  operation 
one-fourth  of  the  railroad  for  the  period  of  two  years  from 
date.     (Chapter  118,  Laws  of  New  York,  1S44.) 


1845. 

The  Company's  affairs,  instead  of  being  made  easy  and 
promising  by  the  Legislature  of  1843,  had  been  complicated 
by  it,  for  when  the  Company  essayed  to  place  its  bonds 
authorized  by  the  Act  of  1843,  it  was  discovered  that  the  lan- 
guage of  the  act  was  so  ambiguous  that  there  was  grave 
doubt  whether  priority  of  lien  of  the  bonds  was  not  made  to 
depend  on  the  completion  of  the  road  within  the  prescribed 
time,  and  investors  would  not  accept  them  as  security.  This 
was  a  circumstance  of  such  vital  importance  that  the  Com- 
pany, in  1845,  appeared  again  as  an  applicant  for  legislative 
interference,  and  solicited  the  passage  of  an  act  removing  the 
cloud  on  the  title  of  the  proposed  bonds  to  priority  of  lien. 
Another  matter  that  affected  the  progress  of  the  railroad's 
construction,  and  which  required  legislative  authority  before 
the  Company  could  deal  with  it  satisfactorily,  was  the  final 
location  of  the  route  for  the  road  between  the  Shawangunk 
Summit,  in  Orange  County,  and  Binghamton,  in  Broome 
County.  So  the  time  of  the  session  of  1845  was  largely 
occupied  with  the  consideration  and  discussion  of  bills  having 
the  settlement  of  these  vexing  questions  in  view. 

Petitions  for,  and  remonstrances  against,  the  surrender  of 
the  lien  of  the  State,  on  the  Company's  property  were  pre- 
sented, and,  on  January  25th,  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg,  of  the 
Assembly  Committee  on  Railroads,  to  which  they  were  re- 
ferred, reported  in  favor  of  such  a  surrender.  January  2d, 
Mr.  Van  Yalkenburg  offered  the  following : 

Resolved  (if  the  Senate  concur),  That  pursuant  to  the  twelfth  sec- 
tion of  the  act  incorporating  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  the 
consent  of  the  Legislature  be  and  is  hereby  granted  allowing  said 
Company  to  connect  the  railroad  authorized  by  the  said  act,  with  a 
continuation  of  about  16  miles  of  the  line  thereof  into  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  around  the  great  bend  of  the  Susquehanna  ;  and  also  to 
connect  the  same  with  a  continuation  of  not  exceeding  25  miles  of  the 
line  thereof  into  said  State  of  Pennsylvania,  along  the  southerly  side  of 
the  Delaware  River,  in  the  County  of  Pike,  opposite  to,  and  in  order  to 
avoid  all  interference  with,  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  ;  and 
also  to  connect  the  railroad  with  the  Blossburgh  and  Corning  Railroad, 
at  the  intersection  thereof  in  the  village  of  Corning  ;  provided  that 
the  line  of  said  railroad  shall,  as  heretofore  contemplated,  pass 
through  the  villages  of  Deposit,  in  Delaware,  and  Binghamton,  in 
Broome  counties. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


305 


This  was  to  meet  the  conditions  of  Pennsylvania  legislation 
granting  the  railroad  right  of  way  through  that  State.  Its 
purpose  was  covered  by  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  act 
subsequently  passed. 

February  6th,  the  remonstrance  and  papers  relative  to  the 
locating  of  the  road  in  the  Delaware  Valley  or  out  of  the 
State,  made  in  1843,  were  ordered  from  the  files  and  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Railroads.  February  2rst,  Thornton 
M.  Niven,  of  Orange  County,  offered  a  resolution  to  the 
effect  that  "  the  ability  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company  to  meet  its  obligations  to  the  State  depends  on  its 
ability  to  carry  on  its  regular  business  undisturbed  by  the 
operations  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  and 
that  the  Comptroller  be  requested  to  furnish  to  the  Assembly 
a  statement  showing  the  amount  of  the  indebtedness  of  these 
companies  to  the  State,  and  also  whether  they,  or  either  of 
them,  have  paid  the  interest  on  their  indebtedness  to  the 
State." 

March  1st,  Mr.  Morrison,  from  the  Assembly  Committee 
on  Railroads,  reported  in  favor  of  the  resolution  referring  to 
the  change  of  route  of  the  railroad.  March  nth,  Mr.  Van 
Valkenburg,  of  the  same  committee,  reported  a  bill  entitled 
"An  Act  in  relation  to  the  construction  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad." 

In  the  Senate,  March  20th,  Mr.  Faulkner  introduced  a  bill 
entitled  "  An  Act  to  authorize  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  to  construct  a  branch  terminating  at  New- 
burgh."  This  was  passed  March  2Sth,  by  a  vote  of  22  to 
2,  Carlos  P.  Scovill,  of  the  Fifth,  and  Albert  Lester,  of 
the  Seventh  District,  voting  against  it.  The  Assembly  con- 
curred in  the  bill  April  5  th. 

April  29th,  the  Van  Valkenburg  bill  of  March  nth 
passed  the  Assembly  by  a  vote  of  92  to  20,  and  May  14th, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  Faulkner,  it  was  concurred  in  by  the  Sen- 
ate by  a  vote  of  24  to  4. 

This  act  amended  the  bonding  act  of  1843  and  combined 
with  it  the  provision  for  the  final  locating  of  the  route  of  the 
railroad.  ("Second  Administration  of  Eleazar  Lord,"  pages 
76-85.) 

(Abstracts  of  Enabling  Acts  of  1845.) 

April  itli. — Authorizing  the  Company  to  construct  a  branch  of  its 
road  in  Orange  County,  with  single  or  double  track,  from  the  main 
line  at  a  point  not  to  exceed  one  and  a  half  miles  east  of  the  village 
of  Chester,  and  extending  to  the  village  of  Newburgh,  at  such  point 
as  may  be  agreed  upon  between  the  Company  and  the  trustees  of  that 
village,  running  through  Front  Street  to  the  north  part  of  the  village, 
under  direction  of  the  trustees  ;  to  purchase  all  the  rights  and  priv- 
ileges that  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Railroad  Company  held  under 
its  charter  ;  the  Company  not  to  connect  its  branch  with  any  railroad 
leading  into  Pennsylvania  or  New  Jersey,  west  of  the  Shawangunk 
Kidge,  by  virtue  of  any  power  contained  in  the  charter  of  the  Hudson 
and  Delaware  Railroad  Company.     (Chapter  50,  Laws  of  New  York, 

1845O 

May  14M. — Authorizing  the  Company,  after  obtaining  bona  fide 
subscriptions  to  the  amount  of  $3,000,000,  25  per  cent,  paid  in,  and 
discharging  all  liens  and  incumbrances  on  its  real  estate,  except  the 
State   lien,  or  satisfying  the  Attorney-General    that   owners   of   such 


liens  have  consented  to  the  priority  of  the  bonds  to  be  issued  over 
such  liens,  to  issue  to  the  State,  in  liquidation  of  the  debt  due  the 
State,  $3,000,000  in  bonds  of  not  less  than  $1,000  each,  at  not  more 
than  7  nor  less  than  5  per  cent,  interest,  payable  in  not  less 
than  six  nor  more  than  twenty  years,  the  bonds  to  be  numbered  and 
registered  in  the  Secretary  of  State's  office,  and  become  mortgages  to 
the  State  on  all  the  Company's  property,  and  to  have  priority  of  lien 
over  all  previous  obligations  ;  an  agent  appointed  and  paid  by  the 
Company,  and  approved  by  the  Governor,  to  apply  the  bonds  in  the 
purchase  of  materials  for  the  construction  of  the  road,  or  to  negotiate 
the  sale  at  not  less  than  par,  and  to  apply  the  proceeds  in  payment 
for  materials  and  labor  ;  the  Comptroller  to  assign  all  bonds,  the  pur- 
chase of  which  has  been  contracted  for  through  the  agent,  on  ap- 
proval of  the  Board  of  Directors,  to  the  purchasers,  the  assignment 
being  endorsed  upon  the  bonds,  with  no  recourse  to  the  State,  but  not 
more  than  $750,000  to  be  assigned  until  it  shall  be  satisfactorily 
shown  that  the  Company  has  expended  $1,500,000  in  actual  construc- 
tion of  the  road  since  the  passage  of  this  act ;  after  which,  assign- 
ments shall  be  made  of  bonds  upon  the  showing  of  the  Company  that 
an  additional  sum  equal  to  the  amount  of  the  bonds  to  be  assigned 
has  been  paid  in  on  the  subscriptions  to  the  capital  stock  and  ex- 
pended in  the  construction  of  the  railroad,  and  equal  in  amount  to 
the  aggregate  amount  of  bonds  already  assigned  and  the  amount  de- 
sired to  be  assigned  at  any  one  time,  but  none  of  these  subsequent 
assignments  to  be  for  more  than  $500,000 ;  the  Company,  at  the  time 
of  each  and  every  assignment  of  bonds,  to  deposit  with  the  Comp- 
troller a  sum  sufficient  to  meet  the  annual  interest,  such  amount  to  be 
invested  by  the  Comptroller  in  the  stock  of  the-State,  and  the  interest 
on  the  bonds  to  be  paid  by  him  when  due  out  of  such  funds,  all  funds 
remaining  in  his  hands,  in  case  the  railroad  should  be  completed  be- 
fore they  are  all  expended,  to  be  delivered  to  the  Company  ;  no  ma- 
terials purchased  by  proceeds  of  the  bonds  to  be  liable  to  seizure  for 
any  debt  of  the  Company  until  permanently  fixed  in  or  upon  the  road, 
and  all  moneys  obtained  by  sale  of  bonds  to  remain  in  the  custody  of 
the  agent  and  be  paid  out  by  him  for  material  or  wages,  on  estimates 
for  the  one  or  certificates  for  the  other.  The  time  for  completing  a 
single  track  is  extended  for  six  years  from  date,  and  if  the  same  is 
constructed  within  that  time,  adopting  the  route  between  the  summit 
of  the  Shawangunk  Ridge  and  a  point  one  mile  westward  of  the 
village  of  Binghamton,  as  established  under  this  act,  and  cars  and 
engines  have  passed  over  the  same,  affidavit  to  that  effect  having  been 
filed  by  the  President  of  the  Company  with  the  Comptroller,  from  the 
time  of  filing  the  affidavit  the  Company  to  be  released  from  all  lia- 
bility to  the  State  for  any  debt  due  from  it  to  the  State,  with  the  ex- 
ception that  if  any  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Company  previously 
issued  and  certified  or  purporting  to  be  paid  in  full  shall  not  be  ex- 
changed by  the  holder  or  holders,  two  shares  for  one,  in  stock  to  be 
hereafter  issued,  within  six  months,  it  shall  not  be  subject  to  the 
conditions  of  this  act,  but  the  State  shall  retain  the  right  to  claim  on 
such  outstanding  stock,  and  the  Company  shall  pay  to  the  State 
all  dividends  on  it,  the  same  to  be  applied  to  the  credit  of  the  Com- 
pany until  the  State  shall  receive  in  such  dividends  so  much  of  its 
debt  of  $3,000,000,  and  the  interest  thereon,  as  would  be  the  pro- 
portion of  such  outstanding  stock  to  pay,  provided  the  whole  of  such 
debt  were  collected  ratably  from  all  the  stock  outstanding.  If  the 
Company  fails  to  complete  the  railroad  according  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  it  shall  be  liable  to  pay  to  the  State  the  amount  of  all  bonds 
assigned  by  the  State  for  its  use.  This  act  gave  the  State  the  option 
of  repaying,  within  one  year  after  completion  of  the  road,  the  cost  of 
the  road  and  its  fixtures,  with  interest  at  14  per  cent,  per  annum, 
together  with  the  amount  expended  by  the  Company  for  repairs,  etc., 
deducting  amount  of  tolls  received  and  proceeds  of  any  bonds  as- 
signed by  the  Comptroller  for  the  use  of  the  Company,  and  taking 
possession  of  the  property.  No  foreclosure  proceedings  to  be  had 
within  one  year  after  passage  of  this  act.  The  Act  of  April  1$,  1S43. 
and  al  other  acts  or  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  with  this  act,  repealed. 


306 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


The  act  further  provided  that  the  railroad  "shall  be  constructs  1  be- 
tween Deposit,  in  Delaware  County,  and  a  point  on  the  west  side  of 
Chenango  River,  one  mile  westerly  of  the  village  of  Binghamton,  in 
uity,  on  or  near  the  route  established  by  Benjamin 
via  Nineveh  and  Page  Brook,  with  the  privilege  of  running 
the  same  through  Chenango  County  :  Provided  said  route  is  practica- 
ble and  can  be  adopted  without  prejudice  to  the  public  interest,  which 
shall  be  decided  by  the  certificate  of  John  B.  Jervis,  Orville  \V. 
Childs,  and  Horatio  Allen,  engineers,  or  by  any  two  of  them.  If 
they  decide  that  route  not  to  be  practicable,  they  shall  locate  the  route 
from  Ik'posit  t,,  and  through  the  village  of  Binghamton  to  a  point 
one  mile  westerly  of  that  village,  or  any  other  route,  or  by  the  great 
bend  of  the  Susquehanna  River  ;  and  the  Company  is  authorized  to 
construct  the  road  in  the  county  of  Susquehanna  in  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania, as  may  be  necessary  for  that  purpose  ;  the  engineers  to  sur- 
vey all  the  proposed  routes  between  those  points. 

I  :  '  ..mpanv  is  required  to  construct  the  road  between  the  summit 
of  the  Shawangunk  Ridge  and  Deposit,  within  the  State  of  New 
York,  through  the  interior  of  Sullivan  County,  and,  if  necessary, 
through  a  portion  of  the  county  of  Ulster,  providing  a  practicable 
route  can  be  obtained,  which  is  to  be  decided  by  the  same  engineers  ; 
but  in  case  they  shall  not  so  decide,  the  Company  is  authorized  to 
construct  a  portion  of  its  road  on  such  route  as  the  Directors  shall 
decide  through  the  counties  of  Sullivan  and  Ulster,  the  engineers  to 
survey  all  the  routes  proposed  between  the  two  points. 

The  Company  is  authorized  to  connect  the  railroad  with  the  Corn- 
ing and  Blossburg  Railroad,  at  or  near  the  village  of  Corning,  and 
with  the  Williamsport  and  Elmira  Railroad,  at  or  near  the  village  of 
Elmira  ;  no  bonds  to  be  issued  or  assigned  by  the  Comptroller  until 
after  the  route  is  located  between  the  Shawangunk  summit  and  De- 
posit, and  Deposit  and  Binghamton,  according  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act.     (Chapter  325,  Laws  of  New  York,  1845.) 


I846. 

Petitions  from  Chenango  and  Delaware  counties  for  an  act 
compelling  the  Company  to  construct  its  railroad  on  the 
northern  route,  and  against  locating  any  part  of  the  route  in 
Pennsylvania;  and  from  the  Directors  for  an  act  to  amend  the 
Act  of  May  14,  1845,  as  regarded  the  locating  of  the  route, 
were  presented  early  in  the  session. 

In  the  Assembly,  March  16th,  Mr.  Titus,  from  the  Com- 
mittee on  Railroads,  reported  in  favor  of  such  a  bill.  March 
28th,  it  having  been  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on  Rail- 
roads, Mr.  Hush  reported  in  favor  of  its  passage.  Mr.  Blod- 
gett,  from  the  same  committee,  reported  against  the  passage 
of  any  bill  permitting  the  railroad  to  go  into  Pennsylvania  and 
against  ignoring  Sullivan  County.  The  bill  was  returned  to 
committee.  March  31st,  Mr.  Titus  re-reported  it  with- 
out amendment.  The  debates  on  and  amendments  to  the 
bill  in  the  Assembly  were  so  lively  and  numerous  that,  April 
9th,  on  motion  of  Alvah  Worden,  of  Ontario  County,  it  was 
referred  to  a  select  committee  of  eight,  consisting  of  one 
member  of  Assembly  from  each  Senate  District. 

The  Speaker,  William  C.  Crain,  appointed  from  the  First 
District  Mr.  Titus;  from  the  Second,  George  T.  Pierce; 
from  the  Third,  Henry  C.  Haynor;  from  the  Fourth,  Sid- 
ney Lawrence ;  from  the  Fifth,  Benjamin  F.  Cooper;  from 
the  Sixth,  Andrew  G.  ('Hatfield  ;  from  the  Seventh,  Mr.  Wor- 
den; from  the  Eighth,  Mr.  Blodgett. 


April  10th,  the  committee  reported  the  bill,  with  amend- 
ments, and  it  was  agreed  to.  Benjamin  Bailey,  of  Putnam 
County,  offered  an  amendment  that  if  the  railroad  was  built 
out  of  the  State,  or  connected  with  any  other  railroad,  the 
Company  should  forfeit  its  charter. 

Not  agreed  to. 

April  2 2d,  the  bill  reported  by  the  Select  Committee  of  the 
Assembly  was  rejected,  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  members 
voting  for  it. 

All  efforts  to  reconsider  the  vote  failed.  May  2d,  Mr.  Wor- 
den introduced  the  bill  anew,  and  it  was  passed  by  a  vote  of 
99  to  o. 

May  4th,  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Hard  introduced  a  bill  en- 
titled "  An  Act  to  amend  an  act  in  relation  to  the  construc- 
tion of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses "  ;  passed  May  14,  1845.  Same  day  the  Worden  bill 
was  received  from  the  Assembly,  and  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Railroads,  which  reported  in  favor  of  its  passage, 
without  amendment. 

May  7  th,  the  Senate  passed  the  Hard  bill  by  a  vote  of  23  to 
4.  May  8th,  it  was  amended  in  the  Assembly,  and  passed, 
May  9th,  by  a  vote  of  95  to  20.  Same  day,  the  Senate  agreed 
to  the  Assembly  amendments,  and  the  bill  passed  by  a  vote 
of  23  to  1,  Mr.  Putnam,  of  the  Eighth  District,  voting 
against  it.  May  13th,  the  Senate  passed  the  Worden  bill  by 
a  vote  of  23  to  o. 

{Abstracts  of  the  Bills.) 

May  wlh. — Repealed  the  section  of  the  Act  of  May  14,  1845,  re- 
ferring to  the  survey  of  the  route  by  John  B.  Jervis,  Orville  W. 
Childs,  and  Horatio  Allen,  and  appointed  John  B.  Jervis,  Orville  \V. 
Childs,  Horatio  Allen,  civil  engineers,  and  Frederick  Whittlesey  of 
Monroe  County,  Jared  Wilson  of  Ontario  County,  William  Dewey  of 
Jefferson  County,  and  Job  Pierson  of  Rensselaer  County,  Commis- 
sioners to  determine  the  route  by  surveys,  and  if  they  determine  that 
there  was  no  practicable  route  between  the  Shawangunk  Ridge  and 
Deposit,  through  the  interior  of  Sullivan  County,  the  Company  had 
the  privilege  of  leaving  its  contemplated  route,  or  the  completed  road, 
at  any  point  west  of  Goshen,  in  Orange  County,  and  locate  the  road 
through  Ulster  County,  on  the  east  side  of  Shawangunk  Mountains,  pur- 
suing the  valley  of  the-  Wallkill,  to  near  the  village  of  Rondout  ; 
thence  up  the  Rondout  Creek,  crossing  to  Esopus  Creek  ;  up  that  creek 
to  the  Barberbush  Kill,  in  the  town  of  Shandaken,  Ulster  County  ;  up 
that  creek  and  through  Stony  Clove  to  the  Schoharie  Kill,  in  the 
town  of  Hunter,  Greene  County  ;  down  the  Schoharie  Kill  to  the  Bear 
Kill;  up  that  kill  to  the  town  of  Stamford,  Delaware  County;  then  across 
through  the  town  of  Harpersfield  to  the  Charlotte  River  ;  then  down  the 
same  and  the  Susquehanna  River  to  the  best  point  to  cross  at  or  near 
Binghamton,  or  any  other  route  the  said  Company  shall  determine  to 
follow  through  Ulster,  Greene,  Delaware,  or  Sullivan  counties  ;  or  the 
Company  is  authorized  to  fix  and  locate  the  line,  the  Legislature  re- 
serving power,  at  its  next  annual  meeting,  to  direct  otherwise,  be- 
tween the  Shawangunk  Ridge  and  Deposit,  along  the  valley  of  the 
Delaware  River,  and  across  the  Delaware  to  the  Pennsylvania  side, 
but  not  to  construct  between  those  points  more  than  thirty  miles  in 
length  of  their  railroad  on  the  Pennsylvania  bank  of  the  Delaware, 
the  route  to  cross  the  Delaware,  between  Carpenter's  Point,  in  Orange 
County,  and  the  Glass  House  Rocks,  in  Pike  County,  Pa.,  and  recross 
the  Delaware  into  New  York  State,  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than 
ten  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Lackawaxen  River,  the  road  on 
the   Pennsylvania  side  of  the  Delaware  to  be  constructed  as  not  to 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


307 


contract  the  natural  flow  and  expansion  of  the  river  at  high  floods, 
nor  impede  nor  obstruct  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company 
in  its  plan  for  the  erection  of  an  aqueduct  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Lackawaxen  River,  nor  in  any  manner  to  disturb  or  injure  the  works 
or  impede  the  business  of  this  canal  company  in  Pennsylvania  or  New 
York. 

If  the  Commissioners  found  none  of  the  routes  practicable  between 
Deposit  and  Binghamton,  the  Company  was  authorized  to  construct 
the  railroad  on  any  other  route,  or  by  the  great  bend  of  the  Susque- 
hanna River,  and  in  or  through  Susquehanna  County,  Pa.  The  com- 
pensation of  the  Commissioners  to  be  determined  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  the  Comptroller.  The  report  of  the  Commissioners  on  the 
result  of  their  surveys  to  be  made  to  the  next  Legislature,  on  or  be- 
fore January  15th.     (Chapter  199,  Laws  of  New  York,  1S46.) 

May  13/A. — Extended  the  time  of  obtaining  the  $3,000,000  sub- 
scription to  the  stock  from  one  year  to  two  years  and  six  months,  and 
the  time  when  foreclosure  proceedings  might  begin,  from  one  year  to 
two  years  and  six  months.     (Chapter  318,  Laws  of  New  York,  1S46.) 


1847. 

A  large  part  of  the  time  of  the  Legislature  was  taken  up  at 
this  session  by  the  petitions  for  the  change  of  route  and 
remonstrances  against  it. 

January  14th,  John  B.  Jervis,  Horatio  Allen,  J.  Wilson,  and 
William  Dewey,  of  a  majority  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners, 
reported  voluminously  in  favor  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  Dela- 
ware Valley  route,  and  the  change  between  Deposit  and 
Binghamton.  F.  Whittlesey,  Orville  \Y.  Childs,  and  Job 
Pierson,  of  the  minority,  by  request  of  the  Assembly,  reported 
their  reasons  for  not  agreeing  with  the  majority  in  ordering 
the  change  of  route. 

March  Sth,  William  B.  W right,  of  Sullivan  County,  intro- 
duced a  bill  providing  for  the  construction  of  the  railroad 
entirely  within  the  State.  March  30th,  Mr.  Leavens,  from  a 
majority  of  the  Committee  on  Railroads,  reported  against  the 
bill.     Mr.  Wright,  from  the  minority,  reported  in  favor  of  it. 

April  8th,  a  bill  entitled  "  An  Act  in  relation  to  the  location 
and  construction  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad"  was 
introduced.  This  was  a  bill  prohibiting  the  change  of  route. 
It  did  not  pass. 

The  Legislature  adjourned  May  13  th  until  September  8, 

1S47. 

October  Sth,  Mr.  Hard  introduced  a  bill  to  amend  the  act 
passed  May  11,  1846,  in  relation  to  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad.  It  was  passed  October  12th,  by  a  vote  of  19  to  i, 
Harvey  R.  Morris,  of  the  Second  District,  voting  against  it. 

October  iSth,  the  bill  passed  the  Assembly  (there  is  no 
record  in  the  Journal  of  the  vote).  The  act  amended  the  Act 
of  May  14,  1845,  and  authorized  the  Company,  to  enable  it 
to  avoid  the  obstacles  on  the  Pennsylvania  side  of  the  Dela- 
ware River,  at  the  point  known  as  the  Glass  Factor)'  Rocks 
("  Administration  of  Benjamin  Loder,"  pages  90,  91),  to  cross 
the  river  above  the  Glass  House  Rocks,  and  below  Bolton 
Basin,  provided  the  Company  obtain  the  consent  in  writ- 
ing of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  to  such 
proposed  change,  nothing  in  the  act  to  impair  any  right  or 
privilege  the  Company  had  by  existing  laws  to  extend  its  rail- 


road across  the  Delaware  and  connect  with  any  railroad  in 
Pennsylvania  at  or  near  or  opposite  Carpenter's  Point  or  Port 
Jervis,  or  any  other  privilege  connected  therewith,  already 
granted.     (Chapter  316,  Laws  of  New  York,  1847.) 


1848. 

This  was  the  first  year  since  1832  that  the  Legislature  of 
New  York  was  not  occupied  in  special  matters  of  some  kind 
relating  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad.  This  year, 
however,  an  act  was  passed  (March  26th)  authorizing  the 
formation  of  railway  corporations.  This  was  the  original 
"General  Railroad  Law,"  but  was  passed  largely  through  the 
influence  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  as  it 
relieved  the  future  of  its  road  from  many  of  the  restrictions 
of  the  charter  which  time  had  shown  to  be  against  its  general 
interests.     (Chapter  140,  Laws  of  New  York,  184S.) 


1849. 

This  year  there  was  absolutely  nothing  in  the  Legislature 
that  in  any  way  affected  the  affairs  of  the  Erie,  even  in  a 
general  way. 

1850. 

The  changes  made  in  1S49  in  the  survey  of  the  route  through 
the  western  counties  of  Allegany,  Cattaraugus,  and  Chautauqua 
affected  the  interests  of  many  residents  in  those  counties,  and 
at  the  session  of  the  Legislature  for  1S50  petitions  poured  in 
from  them  for  the  passage  of  a  law  compelling  the  Company 
to  construct  its  road  on  the  route  surveyed  in  1845.  Peti- 
tions for  removing  all  obstacles  against  the  free  transit  of 
freight  and  passengers  from  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  through  New  Jersey  were  also  numerous  from  all 
the  counties  along  the  line,  except  Rockland.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  movement  to  run  trains  to  Jersey  City  as 
the  terminus,  instead  of  Piermont.  The  petitions  were  voted 
on  adversely. 

February  20th,  the  Senate  passed  a  bill  in  response  to  the 
petitions  of  the  people  of  the  western  counties,  compelling  the 
Company  to  build  its  railroad  on  the  survey  of  1S45,  and  sent 
it  to  the  Assembly  for  concurrence.  February  27  th.  the 
Assembly  Railroad  Committee,  to  which  it  was  referred,  re- 
ported against  the  bill,  and  the  report  was  sustained. 

February  31st,  Assemblyman  Allison  offered  a  resolution 
that  a  select  committee  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
amount  of  money  the  Company  had  expended  in  the  con- 
struction of  its  railroad ;  the  amount  expended  for  all  pur- 
poses on  the  line  abandoned  east  of  Binghamton  and  the 
part  proposed  to  be  abandoned  west  of  Olean  ;  the  amount 
expended  in  acquiring  the  right  to  run  its  road  through  a  part 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  whom  it  was  paid ;  and  the  several 
amounts  paid  to  procure  or  prevent  the  passage  of  laws  by 
the  Legislature  of  this  State,  and  to  whom  ;  the  committee  to 


3o8 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


have  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers.  The  resolution 
was  laid  on  the  table,  and  on  February  28th,  James  Little,  of 
Onondaga  County,  offered  a  resolution  providing  that  if  the 
committee  was  appointed,  it  should  be  instructed  to  inquire 
whether  the  Company  had  complied  with  the  requisition  of 
the  V  t  of  May  14.  1845  ;  whether  the  bonds  issued  to  the 
Company  by  the  State  were  not  sold  below  par,  in  violation 
of  that  act :  whether  the  Company  had  not  mortgaged  its 
road  and  the  proceeds  thereof,  and  if  so,  to  whom,  for  what 
amount,  and  by  what  authority  ;  whether  money  obtained  by 
the  Company  for  the  construction  of  the  road  had  not  been 
applied  to  the  payment  of  interest :  whether  the  bonds  of  the 
Company  had  not  been  hypothecated  by  it  for  money  bor- 
rowed,  and  if  so,  to  whom  and  what  amount'of  bonds;  and 
if  sold  by  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  hypothecated,  at 
what  rate  each  bond  was  sold ;  whether  in  the  judgment  of 
the  committee  the  State  ought  not  to  resume  the  lien  con- 
ditionally released  by  the  Act  of  May  14,  1S45.  The  resolu- 
tion was  laid  upon  the  table. 

February  21st,  Senator  Johnson  introduced  a  bill  imposing 
tolls  upon  freight  transported  on  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad.  It  was  referred  to  the  Finance  Committee,  which 
reported  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  pass  such  a  bill  at  that 
time. 

These  and  similar  harassing  measures  were  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  a  bill  which  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  was  the  sponsor  for,  and  was  using  ail  its  endeavors 
to  carry  through  the  Legislature.  This  was  finally  accom- 
plished on  April  20th,  in  spite  of  the  filibustering  tactics  of 
its  opponents.  This  act  is  what  is  known  as  the  General 
Railroad  Law.  It  repealed  the  Act  of  March  27,  1S48.  It 
still  further  widened  the  scope  of  the  Erie  plans.  Sec.  51 
provided  that  nothing  in  the  act  should  authorize  or  permit 
the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  to  abandon  the 
use  of  its  road  in  the  county  of  Rockland,  east  of  Suffern 
depot.     (Chapter  140,  Laws  of  New  York,  1850.) 


1852. 

In  the  Senate,  February  6,  1852,  on  petition  of  citizens 
of  Rockland  County,  whether  the  Company  had  exceeded 
its  powers  in  certain  bonds,  on  motion  of  Abraham  B. 
Conger,  of  the  Seventh  District,  the  President  appointed  a 
select  committee  to  inquire  into  the  matter.  The  committee 
were:  Mr.  Conger:  Azor  Taber,  of  the  Eleventh  District, 
and  Ashley  Davenport,  of  the  Twenty-first  District. 

Another  petition  from  Rockland  County  for  a  committee 
to  inquire  whether  the  Company  had  not  exceeded  its  cor- 
porate powers,  was  presented.  It  was  referred  to  a  special 
committee.  March  1st,  the  matters  were  taken  from  the 
committee  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Railroads,  and 
they  were  not  heard  of  again  during  the  session. 

Efforts  were  made  by  the  enemies  of  the  Company  in  the 
Assembly  to  pass  an  act  compelling  it  to  pay  tolls  to  the  State 
on  its  traffic,  without  success. 


IN   THE   PENNSYLVANIA   LEGISLATURE. 

1 84 1. 

As  early  as  1841  the  people  of  northeastern  Pennsylvania 
foresaw  the  importance  of  the  railroad  to  them,  and  antici- 
pated the  change  in  the  route  from  the  roundabout  course  of 
the  Wright  survey,  from  the  Delaware  Valley  to  the  Susque- 
hanna Valley,  to  one  more  direct  and  feasible,  and  secured 
the  passage  of  an  act  (February  18,  1841)  by  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Legislature,  authorizing  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  "  to  construct  said  road  through  a  portion  of  Sus- 
quehanna County,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  because  it 
had  been  represented  that  in  the  county  of  Broome  the  Com- 
pany could  not  build  its  railroad  further,  except  by  tunnelling 
the  mountain  west  of  Deposit,  or  using  stationary  power." 
(No.  17,  Pamphlet  Laws  of  Pennsylvania,  1S41.) 


1851. 

In  the  Assembly  the  matter  of  the  petition  of  citizens  of 
Rockland  Count)',  to  prevent  the  Company  from  diverting 
traffic  by  way  of  the  New  Jersey  railroads,  and  the  remon- 
strances from  New  York  City  and  all  along  the  line  against 
the  passage  of  such  a  bill,  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Railroads,  March  12th.  The  committee  were:  Joseph  B. 
Yarnum,  Jr.,  of  New  York ;  John  Horton,  of  St.  Lawrence 
County;  George  Lesley,  of  Rensselaer  County,  and  Wolcott 
J.  Humphrey,  of  Wyoming  County.  The  committee  reported 
April  1st,  sustaining  the  remonstrances,  and  reported  a  bill 
simply  providing  against  the  running  of  freight  trains  over 
any  railroads  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  leaving  the  Com- 
pany at  liberty  to  transfer  goods  from  its  own  to  other  trains 
if  the  consignees  desired  it.  The  committee  learned  nothing 
to  justify  the  impression  that  the  Company  had  in  any  way 
violated  its  charter.  The  prayer  of  the  petitioners  was  not 
granted. 


1846. 

The  question  of  right  of  entry  into  Pennsylvania  by  the 
railroad  was  the  one  that  seriously  confronted  the  Company 
at  this  period  of  the  work,  and  great  opposition  to  it  was 
made  by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  and 
others  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Legislature  of  that  State,  how- 
ever, at  last  passed  an  act  (March  26,  1846),  amending  the 
Act  of  February  iS,  1841,  so  that  the  Company  was  author- 
ized to  extend  the  line  of  its  railroad  from  a  point  near  the 
village  of  Port  Jervis,  across  the  Delaware,  into  the  county  of 
Pike,  and  thence  up  the  valley  near  the  shore  of  the  river,  a. 
distance  not  to  exceed  thirty  miles,  to  a  point  not  exceeding 
ten  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Lackawaxen  River,  pro- 
vided that  the  road  cross  the  river  into  Sullivan  County  not 
less  than  three  nor  more  than  ten  miles  above  the  mouth  of 
the  Lackawaxen  River,  and  constructed  so  as  not  to  obstruct 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  in  the  building  of 
its  aqueduct  across  the  Delaware  at   Lackawaxen,  or  injure 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


309 


the  rafting  channel  of  the  river,  or  impede  the  business  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  the  railroad  to  cross  the  river 
at  some  point  between  Carpenter's  Point  and  the  Glass 
House,  and  permit  a  connection  at  or  near  Carpenter's  Point, 
in  Pike  County,  with  any  railroad  now  chartered  or  hereafter 
to  be  chartered  by  Pennsylvania ;  the  Company  to  keep  at 
least  one  manager,  toll-gatherer  or  other  officer,  a  resident  of 
Pike  County,  and  one  in  Susquehanna  County.  This  act  was 
not  to  take  effect  until  the  New  York  Legislature  should  au- 
thorize the  Company,  and  the  Company  should  consent,  to 
make  a  connection  with  the  Blossburg  and  Corning  Railroad,  at 
or  near  Corning,  and  with  the  Williamsport  and  Elmira  Rail- 
road at  or  near  the  village  of  Elmira.  Among  the  conditions 
of  the  act  was  one  compelling  the  Company  to  regulate  its  tolls 
so  that  the  charge  on  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal  should 
not  exceed  one  and  one-half  cents  per  ton  per  mile ;  the 
Company  to  pay  the  State,  after  the  completion  of  the  road 
to  Lake  Erie,  Si 0,000  a  year,  any  failure  to  do  so  to  forfeit 
all  the  rights  granted  in  the  act ;  the  Company  to  make  a 
sworn  statement  to  the  Auditor-General  of  the  cost  of  the 
work  in  the  State,  and  to  pay  a  tax  on  its  stock  to  an  equal 
amount  of  such  cost,  at  the  rate  similar  property  was  taxed ; 
the  Company  to  make  a  sworn  statement  to  the  Legislature, 
in  January  of  each  year,  of  its  business  for  the  previous  year ; 
a  scire  facias  to  issue  from  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  be  served  on  the  President  or  any  officer  or  agent 
of  the  Company,  on  complaint  that  any  of  the  provisions  of 
this  act  had  been  violated,  and  show  cause,  the  act  to  be  null 
and  void  if  such  were  the  case.  (No.  17,  Pamphlet  Laws  of 
Pennsylvania,  1846.) 

1848. 

The  interests  of  the  Company  were  all  centred  in  the 
Pennsylvania  Legislature  of  184S,  and  its  future  depended 
on  the  action  of  that  body  in  the  matter  of  a  necessary 
change  of  the  point  of  entry  of  the  railroad  into  that  State. 
(  '•Administration  of  Benjamin  Loder,"  pages  8S-90.)  Fa- 
vorable action  was  taken,  and  an  act  was  passed  amending 
the  Acts  of  1S46  and  1841  ;  giving  the  Company  author- 
ity to  change  the  place  of  crossing  the  Delaware  into 
Pike  County  from  "  some  point  between  Carpenter's  Point 
and  the  Glass  House"  to  "some  point  between  Carpen- 
ter's Point  and  Bolton  Basin,"  provided  that  the  Com- 
pany should  erect,  by  the  first  day  of  October,  1852,  a 
permanent  and  substantial  bridge  across  the  Delaware, 
between  Sim's  Clip  and  the  rope  ferry  at  Matamoras,  with  a 
double  track,  one  for  a  railroad,  the  bridge  to  be  kept  in 
good  order  and  repair  by  the  Company  "forever  thereafter," 
the  Company  to  receive  the  same  rate  of  tolls  as  was  charged 
at  the  Delaware  Bridge  at  Easton,  Pa. ;  the  Company  to  con- 
nect any  railroad  that  might  be  constructed  to  the  abutment 
of  the  bridge  with  its  railroad  by  a  branch  railroad  on  one  of 
the  tracks  of  the  bridge  to  the  main  line,  at  or  near  the  depot 
at  Port  Jervis ;  no  tolls  to  be  exacted  for  railroad  passengers 
or  freight  passing  over  the  bridge ;   the  Company  to  begin 


the  construction  of  the  bridge  and  branch  railroad  with  all 
proper  speed,  if  a  railroad  was  built  to  the  Delaware  River  at 
the  bridge  before  January  1,  1852  ;  the  Company  to  pay  all 
immediate  and  consequent  damages  to  the  proprietor  of  the 
rope  ferry  at  Matamoras  in  consequence  of  construction  of 
the  bridge,  the  last  item  not  to  exceed  $3,000 ;  the  penalty 
of  refusal  or  neglect  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  act 
to  be  the  assessment  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  Com- 
pany and  the  collection  of  a  tax  of  one  dollar  for  each  pas- 
senger carried  on  the  railroad  in  Pennsylvania,  until  a  sum 
sufficient  to  construct  the  bridge  and  pay  all  damages  to 
private  property ;  a  refusal  to  pay  the  tax  to  be  followed  by 
the  Canal  Commissioners  of  Pennsylvania  appointing  a  col- 
lector and  adopting  measures  to  enforce  the  payment ;  non- 
compliance with  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of  1841,  and  all  the  supple- 
ments thereto,  nothing  in  the  act  to  be  construed  as  exonerat- 
ing the  Company  from  the  payment  of  the  Si 0,000  annual 
bonus  to  the  State.  (No.  262,  Pamphlet  laws  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1848.) 

With  the  passage  of  the  General  Railroad  Law  by  the  New 
York  Legislature,  and  the  action  of  the  Company  under  it,  the 
Erie  won  its  way  from  the  Ocean  to  the  Lakes,  after  a  per- 
sistent fight  of  twenty  years. 

These  two  extracts  from  letters  of  Benjamin  Loder,  who 
was  President  of  Erie  at  the  time,  are  significant : 

Albany,  S  March,  1S50. 
Delavan  House. 
I  find  from  the  number  and  variety  of  subjects  requiring  attention 
here,  that  I  cannot  possibly  get  through  with  them  this  week.  .  .  . 
Our  road  is  so  large  and  its  interests  so  extended  and  com- 
plicated that  it  requires  some  one  on  the  watch,  to  guard  it  against 
secret  and  open  enemies,  or,  if  nothing  else,  against  injudicious  leg- 
islation. 

Albany,  5  April,  1S50. 
I  have  been  here  two  days,  anxiouslywatching  and  managing  in  be- 
half of  our  favorite  bill,  which  I  thought,  when  I  returned  to  the  city 
last  week,  could  not  fail  of  being  passed  without  much  trouble.  All 
assured  me  then  that  it  would  pass  almost  without  opposition,  and  I 
expected  every  day  to  hear  of  its  passage.  But  I  found  it  in  the  same 
condition  when  I  returned  as  when  I  left.  Immediately  on  my  arrival 
here  I  commenced  my  labors,  and  succeeded  in  getting  it  reported  to 
the  Senate,  and  referred  to  a  select  committee  to  report  complete.  In 
the  afternoon  it  was  unanimously  reported  by  the  committee  and  laid 
over  until  to-day,  when  it  was  called  up  and  very  unexpectedly  and 
seriously  opposed — and  finally  amended  and  passed  by  a  small  ma- 
jority, but  the  amendment  rendered  it  necessary  to  send  it  back  to 
the  House  for  concurrence.  ...  I  have  just  returned  from  the 
(  qiitol,  and  am  glad  to  say  that  the  amendment  was  concurred  in  by 
a  handsome  majority.  We  have  thus  succeeded  in  carrying  every  bill 
we  wished  passed,  and  defeating  every  bill  we  wanted  to  defeat. 

The  bills  referred  to  were  the  General  Railroad  Law,  by 
means  of  which  the  Company  was  to  be  enabled  to  extricate 
itself  from  the  narrow  provisions  of  the  charter,  then  nearly 
twenty  years  old,  and  bills  calculated  to  prevent  the  Company 
from  taking  advantage  of  that  law,  even  if  it  should  pass. 


THE   BUILDING   OF    IT. 

AS   IT    PROGRESSED,    STEP   BY   STEP,    FROM    1832    TO    185 1. 

Early  Talk  About  the  Best  Way  to  Build  It — rhilip  Church  Would  Build  It  Above  the  Ground,  on  the  Strickland  Plan  of  1S25 — Later 
Ideas  All  Queer — Work  Begun  in  1S35 — Suspended  in  1837 — The  Resumption  of  1S3S-40,  and  the  First  Contractor — Driving 
the  First  Spike  at  Piermont — Manipulating  the  Stock  to  Raise  Money — How  Contractors  Enforced  Settlements — How  the  First 
Rails  Were  Bought  in  England — Opening  of  the  First  Section  of  Railroad  in  1S41 — Bankruptcy — Work  Resumed  in  1846 — The 
Shin  Hollow  War — Pioneer  Trains  and  Incidents — Tragedy  and  Comedy — Getting  the  First  Train  Through  the  Delaware 
Valley  and  to  Binghamton — The  Cascade  Bridge  and  Starucca  Viaduct — How  They  Were  Built — On  to  the  Alleghany — Bloody 
and  Fatal  Riots — Driving  the  Last  Spike — To  Lake  Erie  at  Last — The  Newburgh   Branch — Additions  That   Came   Later. 


CRUDE    AND    HALTING     PRELIMINARIES. 

In  the  days  when  the  agitation  of  the  project  for  a  railroad 
from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie  began,  railroad  building 
was  but  a  budding  science  in  this  country,  and  the  ideas  that 
prevailed  as  to  the  best  means  of  constructing  such  thorough- 
fares were  extremely  crude.  In  1830,  two  years  before  the 
Erie  was  chartered,  Robert  L.  Stevens  had  designed  the  T 
rail,  the  first  specimen  of  which  was  rolled  in  1831 — the  rail 
that  is  now  in  universal  use  the  world  over — but  still  knowl- 
edge of  railroad  construction  came  to  our  engineers  slowly. 
J.  Elf reth  Watkins,  in  his  monograph  on  "  The  Development 
of  the  American  Rail  and  Track,"  published  by  the  National 
Museum  in  its  report  for  1888-89,  says:  "The  British  rail- 
way projectors  had  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  call  into 
their  service  a  trained  force  of  civil  engineers,  men  on  whose 
judgment  the  wealthy  capitalist  was  willing  to  supply  the 
money  for  the  proposed  improvement.  Many  of  the  civil 
engineers  who  were  first  called  into  the  service  of  the  Ameri- 
i  an  railroads  were  connected  with  the  Army  Engineer  Corps, 
having  obtained  their  training  at  West  Point,  the  only  institu- 
tion in  the  United  States  where  engineering  was  taught  dur- 
ing the  first  quarter  of  the  century.  In  some  cases,  however, 
these  surveys  were  made  by  canal  or  road  engineers,  who 
had  obtained  experience  in  canal  and  turnpike  construction." 
Of  the  latter  class  were  the  surveyors  for  the  original  route  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  in  1834. 

As  early  as  the  summer  of  1832  differences  had  come  be- 
tween the  friends  of  the  Erie  project  in  the  western  part  of 
New  York  State  and  those  in  the  eastern  part,  over  the  efforts 
of  the  latter  to  have  the  survey  for  the  route  made  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. Philip  Church  united  the  western  incorporators  of 
tl"  '  ompany  (as  he  termed  those  of  the  western  New  York 
counties  who  were  mentioned  in  the  charter)  into  opposition 
to  that  plan,  but  the  Government  survey  was  defeated  by 
other  causes.  (Chapter  III.,  pages  16  to  18.)  The  western 
incorporators,  failing  to  induce  the  Company  to  make  its  own 
survey,  united  in  pressing  the  importance  of  the  project  upon 
the  attention  of  the  New  York  Legislature,  with  the  purpose  of 


having  the  State  itself  survey  the  route  for  the  proposed  rail- 
road. One  of  the  chief  objections  those  unfavorable  to  the 
railroad  offered  to  its  further  recognition  by  the  State  was 
that  the  climate  of  the  region  through  which  much  of  it  was 
to  pass  was  such  that  in  winter  the  deep  snow  would  at  times 
entirely  put  a  stop  to  the  use  of  the  railroad,  and  the  ice 
forming  on  the  rails  in  the  late  fall,  the  winter,  and  the  early 
spring  months,  would  frequently  preclude  the  use  of  the  loco- 
motive, while  the  severe  frosts  would  weaken  the  foundations. 
How  little  had  ideas  of  the  practical  science  of  railroad 
construction  taken  possession  of  the  projectors  of  the  Erie  as 
late  as  1834  is  shown  by  the  plan  then  put  forward  as  the  one 
on  which  this  railroad  was  to  be  built,  as  stated  in  the  ar- 
gument of  the  western  incoqjorators  before  the  New  York 
Assembly  Committee  on  Railroads,  in  meeting  the  objections 
of  the  opponents  of  the  railroad.  "Very  smooth  ice,"  it  said, 
"  forming  on  the  rails  prevents  the  adhesion  of  the  locomotive 
engine.  Those  who  have  been  eye-witnesses  say  that  this  is 
obviated  on  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railroad  by  plac- 
ing one  of  the  cars  before  the  locomotive.  The  wheels  of  the 
car  easily  break  and  displace  the  ice.  It  is  understood,  snow 
is  removed  from  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  by  a  ma- 
chine preceding  the  locomotive,  supposed  to  be  in  the  shape 
of  a  double-moulded  plough,  and  is  perhaps  what  is  called 
the  Swedish  snow  plough.  The  use  of  a  snow  plough  ex- 
tending across  the  whole  width  of  a  railroad,  on  rails  within  a 
few  inches  of  the  ground,  would  produce  in  our  deep  snows 
very  considerable  retardation.  It  is  proposed  to  build  our 
rails  a  considerable  height  from  the  earth,  which,  in  our  great 
command  of  wood,  can  be  easily  accomplished,  in  some  such 
mode  as  the  following  : 

Ft.   In. 

The  top  of  the  cone  will  be  higher  than  the  ground o     6 

On  each  cone  place  a  block  of  wood   12  inches  square  and  14 

inches  in  height I     2 

Tying  the  bottom  of  the  blocks  together  by  transverse  beams, 
and  the  tops  of  the  blocks  together  by  longitudinal  beams, 
on  these  place  rails,  say  5  inches  by  12 1     o 

Top  of  rails  higher  than  the  ground 2     S 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


311 


"  Snow  very  seldom  lies  to  the  depth  of  two  feet  eight 
inches.  A  small  snow  plough  would  readily  clear  the  rails  of 
snow.  The  accumulation  of  snow  in  the  space  between  the 
rails  would  be  of  no  importance  where  horse-power  was  not 
made  use  of.  It  might  be  difficult  to  fasten  rails  of  the 
depth  of  1 2  inches  so  firmly  in  chairs  as  to  prevent  leverage. 
In  that  event  they  may  be  rendered  firm  by  transverse  beams, 
connecting  the  opposite  and  parallel  rails,  midway  between 
the  cones." 

This  plan,  on  which  it  appears  Philip  Church,  himself  an 
engineer  and  a  man  of  scientific  attainments,  proposed  that 
the  original  Erie  should  be  built,  was  based  on  the  report  of 
William  Strickland,  who  had  been  sent  abroad  in  1S25  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Internal  Improve- 
"ments,  to  study  the  subject  of  English  railroads.  Although 
his  report  was  made  in  1826,  before  a  foot  of  railroad  had 
been  put  down  in  America,  the  Erie  projectors,  eight  years 
later,  had  heard  of  no  better  or  newer  plans  of  railroad  build- 
ing. ''Where  blocks  of  stone  can  be  easily  and  cheaply 
obtained  of  various  lengths  on  the  line  of  the  road"  (thus 
the  Strickland  report),  "  they  ought  to  be  used  in  the  follow- 
ing manner,  viz.  :  Dig  out  shallow  holes  about  a  foot  or 
eighteen  inches  in  depth,  at  four  feet  apart  from  centre  to 
centre,  and  fill  them  in  with  small  broken  stone  or  gravel, 
flush  with  the  surface  of  the  road,  upon  which  the  foundation 
props  may  be  laid  and  bedded  securely  from  the  action  of 
the  frost.  Where  stone  is  not  to  be  had,  or  but  at  expensive 
rate,  I  would  recommend  the  use  of  scantling  pieces  of  oak 
or  locust,  six  inches  by  eight  inches,  cut  of  various  lengths, 
not  less  than  two  feet,  which  may  be  sawed  out  of  one  another 
lengthwise  in  the  shape  of  a  long  wedge.  These  should  be 
driven  into  the  bottom  of  a  square  or  round  pit,  dug  out 
about  two  feet  in  width,  and  from  two  to  three  feet  in  depth, 
and  the  pit  afterwards  filled  up  with  broken  stone,  rammed 
in  on  all  sides.  The  effect  of  the  stone  will  be  to  keep  the 
post  or  prop  firm  in  its  place,  and  to  prevent  its  rising  up  by 
action  of  the  frost,  which  can  have  no  power  to  move  it 
laterally.  When  the  posts  have  been  secured  in  this  manner, 
the  heads  of  them  throughout  any  section  of  the  line  may  be 
sawed  off  to  the  proper  level.  The  iron  chairs  or  standards 
must  in  this  case  be  cast  with  a  flange  on  the  bottom,  of  three 
inches  in  depth,  and  a  corresponding  mortise  cut  into  the 
head  of  the  post  to  receive  the  flange  of  the  chair,  which 
may  be  pinned  through  in  the  usual  manner  of  mortise  and 
tenon." 

In  the  severe  climate  of  the  region  through  which  the  pro- 
posed Southern  Tier  railroad  was  to  pass,  the  foundation 
stones  of  the  railroad,  it  was  agreed,  should  be  made  in  the 
form  of  an  upright  quadrilateral  cone,  about  twenty-four 
inches  square  at  bottom,  eight  inches  at  top,  and  thirty  inches 
high. 

The  New  York  Legislature  authorized  the  making  of  the 
survey  for  the  route  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  and  the 
work  was  completed  in  the  fall  of  1834.  (Chapter  IV., 
pages  24  to  31.)     The  survey  gave  a  choice  of   three  east- 


em  termini  for  the  route  :  Tappan,  Nyack,  and  Slaughter's 
Landing,  "  opposite  Sing  Sing,"  all  on  the  Hudson  River.  In 
putting  forward  the  possibilities  of  Slaughter's  Landing  as  the 
terminus  of  the  Erie  at  the  Hudson,  Engineer  Seymour  re- 
ported that  the  point  was  "  about  seven  and  a  half  miles  above 
Tappan  Landing  (Piermont),  and  ascends  the  ridge  between 
the  Hudson  and  the  Hackensack  rivers,  through  a  gap  near 
Rockland  Pond,  which  discharges  into  the  Hackensack  River. 
In  passing  the  ridge,  a  stationary  power  will  be  required  on 
the  east  side  between  the  Hudson  and  the  summit.  The 
length  of  the  plane  proposed  is  1,200  feet,  the  vertical  height 
190  feet,  requiring  a  stationary  steam  engine  of  sixty  horse- 
power. It  may  be  well  here  to  remark  that  the  waters  of 
Rockland  Pond  may  be  turned  into  the  Hudson  River  by 
means  of  a  tunnel  between  eighty  and  ninety  feet  below  the 
summit,  and  the  water  used  to  operate  upon  the  machinery 
for  the  inclined  plane,  instead  of  the  stationary  steam  engine, 
and  still  afford  a  valuable  water  power  for  other  purposes." 

(From  Engineer  Elletfs  Report  of  I/is   Surrey,    1S34.) 

The  railroad  to  Ithaca,  which  is  already  open  to  the  public,  and 
designed  to  effect  a  communication  between  the  Susquehanna  and 
Cayuga  Lake,  and  the  great  country  traversed  by  the  Erie  Canal, 
cannot  but  be  regarded  as  a  valuable  accession  to  the  resources  of 
Owego,  even  supposing  the  improvement  to  terminate  here.  But  this 
will  not  be  permitted.  A  company  is  already  formed  and  the  con- 
struction of  a  steamboat  commenced,  which  is  intended  to  ply  be- 
tween this  village  and  the  termination  of  the  Pennsylvania  Canal,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Lackawanna  ;  which,  it  is  believed,  will  be  able  to 
bear  the  salt  and  plaster  of  the  North  to  a  Southern  market,  and  re- 
turn with  the  anthracite  coal  of  that  region,  thus  creating  an  impor- 
tant source  of  revenue  to  the  railroad,  and  supplying,  reciprocally, 
wide  districts  of  country  with  the  mineral  wealth  which  nature  has 
denied  them.  And,  from  my  personal  knowledge  of  the  character  of 
the  Susquehanna,  I  have  little  doubt  of  the  successful  result  of  the 
experiment. 

"The  railroad  to  Ithaca"  was  the  Ithaca  and  Owego  Rail- 
road, the  second  railroad  chartered  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
It  extended  from  Ithaca  to  Owego,  twenty-nine  miles,  and 
the  motive  power  was  horses  and  inclined  planes.  The 
steamboat  that  was  to  "  bear  the  salt  and  plaster  of  the  Xorth 
to  a  Southern  market,  and  return  with  the  anthracite  coal  of 
that  region,  thus  creating  an  important  source  of  revenue  to 
the  railroad,  and  supplying,  reciprocally,  wide  districts  of 
country  with  the  mineral  wealth  which  nature  has  denied 
them,"  must  have  exhausted,  before  the  boat  could  be  finished, 
the  capital  of  the  company  that  had  set  out  to  build  it,  for  it 
never  called  for  "  the  salt  and  plaster  of  the  Xorth,"  and 
consequently  never  returned  with  the  anthracite  coal  "  of  that 
region."  The  "salt  ami  plaster  of  the  Xorth,"  at  that  time, 
were  the  yield  of  the  Syracuse  salt  springs,  and  the  bed  of 
plaster  at  the  foot  ot  Cayuga  Lake,  long  since  exhausted. 
Plaster  is  no  longer  a  local  item  of  traffic,  but  the  "  salt  of  the 
North"  now  comes  chiefly  from  the  great  wells  of  Livingston 
and  Wyoming  counties,  X.  Y.,  ami  it  is  transported  largely  by 
the  Erie  Railroad,  as  the  principal  wells  are  along  the  line  of 
the  Buffalo  Division. 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


(From  Engineer  Ellett's  Report  Of  His  Survey,  1S34.) 

The  western  end  of  this  section  (between  Elmira  and  Painted  Post) 
has  also  its  local  improvement,  with  which  the  interest  of  the  citizens 
near  the  southern  line  of  this  State  and  the  northern  counties  of  Penn- 
sylvania is  cli  1  ted.  The  route  of  the  proposed  railroad  from 
the  iron  and  bituminous  coal  district,  near  the  headwaters  of  Tioga 
River,  was  surveyed  in  1S32,  and  pronounced  in  the  report  of  the  en- 
gineers to  be  perfectly  feasible.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  con- 
struction of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  would  accelerate  the  de- 
velopment of  the  mineral  wealth  of  that  region,  and  increase  to  a 
considerable  extent  the  revenue  of  the  Chemung  Canal,  through  which 
the  supplv  intended  for  the  northern  counties  of  the  State  would  nec- 
essarily 

This  "  local  improvement "  is  the  present  Fall  Brook  Rail- 
nil  the  prophecies  made  by  Engineer  Ellett  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  that  railroad  and  the  proposed  Erie  would 
develop  the  bituminous  coal  region  of  that  part  of  Northern 
Pennsylvania  long  ago  came  true.  Those  early  engineers 
were  very  solicitous  for  the  interests  of  the  canals  in  all  that 
they  did,  and  their  surveys  for  railroads  were  made  with  the 
idea  that  if  the  railroads  were  in  any  way  to  interfere  with 
the  canals,  the  railroads  should  seek  some  other  route.  The 
Chenango  Canal,  the  Chemung  Canal,  the  proposed  Genesee 
Canal,  were  all  taken  into  tender  consideration  when  the 
1  surveys  for  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  were 
made,  and  the  Company  was  admonished  by  its  engineers  not 
to  take  any  steps  that  might  result  in  the  drawing  of  business 
away  from  those  canals.  Where  is  the  Chenango  Canal  now? 
A  railroad  occupies  it.  Where  is  the  Chemung  Canal?  A 
railroad  runs  where  it  once  was.  Where  is  the  Genesee 
Canal?  A  railroad  occupies  the  greater  part  of  its  bed. 
Where  is  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  even,  which  the 
original  engineers  particularly  commended  to  the  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  Railroad  Company,  and  which  drove  the 
Erie  out  of  New  York  State  into  Pennsylvania,  and  then  tried 
to  prevent  the  railroad  from  going  through  that  State?  It  is 
abandoned  (1898),  and  a  railroad  will  eventually  follow  its 
bed  or  tow-path,  and  the  company  that  constructed  the  canal 
has  made  arrangements  to  have  its  coal  transported  to  mar- 
ket over  the  very  railroad  whose  building  it  so  strenuously 
contested. 

(From  Engineer  Filet fs  Report  of  His  Surrey,  1S34.) 

The  country  north  of  this  part  (Olean)  of  the  Alleghany  River  is  of 
rather  superior  cast,  and   the   numerous  valleys  formed   towards  the 
heads  of  the  streams  flowing  into  it  are  generally  in  a  good  state  of 
cultivation.       The  district  immediately  south  of  it,  between  the  Alle- 
ghany and  the  State  line,  is  yet  a  wilderness.      The  mills  on  the  river 
and  it-,  tributaries  cut  many  millions  of  feet  of  lumber  annually,  which 
is  rafted  down  the  Alleghany,  and  supplies  the  market   of   Pittsburg 
and  the  country  on  the  borders  of  the   Ohio  and   Mississippi.     Bitu- 
minous coal  is  said  to  be  found  about  forty  miles  from   Olean  Point, 
towards  the  head  of  the  Alleghany  River.      I   know  not  whether  the 
been  surveyed  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
;    the  quantity  or  quality  of    the    mineral,  or    the   facilities  the 
country  affords  for  the  construction  of  a  road  from  the  mines  into  the 
State  of  New  York.      It  is  probable  thai  this  has  never  been  done,  for 
it  is  the  prevail!  in    the   adjacent   counties    that  the 

supply  is  inexhaustible,  the  present  situation  of  the  country  through 


which  it  must  pass  before  it  could  be  delivered  in  the  populous  dis- 
tricts on  the  Erie  Canal,  is  such  as  topreclude  the  hope  that  the 
adventure  would  be  profitable,  until  more  effectual  means  can  be 
commanded  for  its  transportation. 

The  reported  existence  of  bituminous  coal  was  well  founded, 
and  the  Bradford  Division  of  the  Erie  now  penetrates  the 
district,  which  is  largely  owned  by  corporations,  that,  al- 
though collateral,  are  really  part  of  the  Erie  body. 

The  Wright  survey  of  1834  established  that  the  construe-' 
tion  of  a  railroad  through  the  Southern  Tier  and  western 
counties  was  feasible,  but  the  State  did  not  think  well  enough 
of  the  project  to  take  hold  and  complete  it  as  a  public  work, 
as  was  urged  upon  it,  and  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  at  last  began  the  task  itself,  Eleazar  Lord,  the  first 
President  of  the  Company,  having  been  succeeded  in  1835 
by  James  Gore  King.  ("  Administration  of  James  Gore 
King,"  page  32.) 

FIRST    CONTRACTS,  *AND    BREAKING    GROUND    FOR 
THE    YVORK. 

For  reasons  which  are  given  in  detail  in  the  "  General 
History"  (page  36),  the  Company  decided  to  begin  work  on 
the  construction  of  the  railroad  in  the  Delaware  Valley,  and 
advertised  as  follows  : 

NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAILROAD. 

To  Contractors  :  Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  office  of  this 
Company,  No.  12  Wall  Street,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  until  the 
5th  of  November  next,  for  the  grading  of  forty  miles  of  the  railroad, 
along  the  Delaware  River,  and  extending  from  the  mouth  of  Calli- 
coon  Creek  (about  sixty  miles  west  of  Newburgh)  to  the  village  of 
Deposit,  in  the  county  of  Delaware.  This  portion  of  the  work  is 
now  staked  out  in  convenient  sections,  generally  averaging  one  mile 
in  length.  Plans  and  profiles  of  the  line,  and  printed  forms  of  the 
contracts  (in  which  stipulations  will  be  inserted  prohibiting  the  use 
of  ardent  spirits)  will  be  ready  for  exhibition  on  and  after  the  20th 
of  September  instant,  at  the  office  of  the  Division  Engineer  of  the 
Eastern  Division  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  in  the  village 
of  Deposit.  The  Company  reserves  the  privilege  of  accepting  only 
such  proposals  as  they  may  deem  for  their  advantage. 

James  0.   King,  President. 

New  York,  Sept.  8,  1835. 

The  work  was  let  in  forty-four  sub-divisions  to  twenty-six 
different  contractors,  among  them  the  father  of  Charles 
Mygatt,  the  veteran  Erie  engineer.  The  total  amount  of 
contracts  was  5313,572,  or  $7,742  per  mile.  Ground  was 
broken  at  Deposit  at  sunrise,  November  7,  1S35.  ("Ad- 
ministration of  James  Gore  King,"  page  36.)  Actual  work 
on  the  contracts  began  November  15  th.  The  prospects 
seemed  to  be  such  in  April,  1836,  that  President  King  felt 
warranted  in  extending  the  work,  and  advertised  thus  : 

NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAILROAD. 

To  Contractors  :  Proposals  will  be  received  at  the  Engineer's 
office  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  in  the  village  of 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


3*3 


Binghamton,  on  and  until  the  30th  day  of  June  next,  for  grading  69 
miles  of  the  railroad  from  the  village  of  Owego,  in  Tioga  County, 
to  the  village  of  Deposit,  in  Delaware  County. 

Proposals  will  also  be  received  at  the  Engineer's  office,  in  Monti- 
cello,  on  and  until  the  nth  day  of  July  next,  for  grading  4S  miles 
of  the  railroad  through  the  county  of  Sullivan,  extending  from  the 
1  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  up  the  valley  of  the  Neversink,  ami 
thence  to  the  mouth  of  the  Callicoon  Creek,  on  the  Delaware  River. 

Plans  and  profiles  of  the  line  above  mentioned,  staked  out  in  con- 
venient sections,  will  be  ready  for  exhibition  at  the  said  offices  twenty 
days  before  the  days  of  letting  above  specified. 

The  Company  reserve  the  privilege  of  accepting  only  such  pro- 
posals as  they  deem  for  their  advantage. 

James  G.  King,  President. 

Ntw  York,  26th  April,  1836. 


A  month  later,  however,  the  following  official  announce- 
ment of  the  Company's  intentions  was  made  : 

NOTICE    OF     THE    NEW    YORK     AND    ERIE    RAILROAD 
COM  PAX  V. 

The  Company  hereby  withdraw  their  advertisement  of  26th  April, 
in  consequence  of  their  inability  to  prepare  in  time  the  portion  of  the 
line  proposed  to  be  let  on  the  30th  June  at  Binghamton,  and  on  the 
nth  of  July  at  Monticello.  Future  notice  shall  be  given  when  pro- 
posals will  be  received  at  the  above  places  for  the  same  portions  of  the 

road. 

James  G.   King,   President. 
May  j'i.  1836. 

"  Future  notice "  to  such  an  effect  was  never  made. 
Work  was  pushed  as  rapidly  as  possible  in  the  Delaware  Val- 
ley, and  renewed  efforts  were  made  in  the  Southern  Tier  and 
western  counties  of  New  York  State  to  obtain  such  encour- 
agement as  would  insure  the  beginning  of  active  operations 
there.  The  engineer  department  was  reorganized  in  the 
spring  of  1836  by  the  appointment  of  E.  F.  Johnson  and 
Capt.  Andrew  Talcott,  and  a  new  survey  of  the  route  was 
ordered.  Johnson  had  charge  of  the  division  between  the 
Hudson  River  and  Painted  Post,  in  Steuben  County,  and 
Talcott  the  rest  of  the  route  from  that  point  to  Lake  Erie. 
Benjamin  Wright  was  continued  as  consulting  engineer. 
Johnson,  in  his  examination  of  the  route  through  Sullivan 
County,  between  the  Shawangunk  Ridge  and  the  Delaware 
River  at  Callicoon,  discovered  its  difficulties  as  to  grades  and 
other  obstacles,  as  compared  with  a  route  through  the  Dela- 
ware Valley.  He  also  disagreed  with  the  original  engineer  as 
to  the  route  between  Deposit  and  the  Susquehanna  Valley, 
and  recommended  one  by  the  way  of  "  the  great  bend  of  the 
Susquehanna."  But  he  advised  the  Company  to  enlarge  its 
gauge,  which  was  then  six  feet !  He  reported  in  favor  of 
Tappan  Tic-rmont)  as  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  railroad. 
Captain  Talcott  examined  the  harbors  of  Lake  Erie,  and  chose 
Dunkirk  as  the  point  of  terminus  for  the  western  end  of  the 
railroad.  Communication  with  the  West  by  water  was  the 
end  they  were  seeking  in  those  pioneer  early  days.  The 
future  possibilities  of  railroads  beyond  the  western  terminus 
of  the  Erie  did  not  seem  to  concern  the  engineers  or  the 


Company's  management.  The  location  of  the  ends  of 
the  railroad  at  Tappan  and  Dunkirk  involved  the  necessity 
of  building  a  long  pier  into  the  river  at  Tappan  and  an- 
other into  Lake  Erie  at  Dunkirk.  The  importance  of 
the  terminus  at  Piermont  was  urged  by  the  Company  in  its 
second  annual  report  to  the  stockholders,  September  9,  1836, 
because  it  "was  but  twenty-two  miles  from  the  foot  of 
Twelfth  Street,  New  York,  where  it  was  proposed  to  build  a 
depot  for  merchandise  for  the  interior,  and  for  the  supplies 
of  provisions  and  other  agricultural  products  to  be  brought 
to  tidewater  upon  the  road." 

President  King  and  a  committee  from  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors, accompanied  by  Chief  Engineer  Benjamin  Wright, 
visited  Tappan  Slote  October,  19,  1836,  and  located  the  pier 
and  a  portion  of  the  line  from  the  river  westward.  The 
original  intention  was  to  carry  the  pier  out  to  a  point  where 
the  water  was  six  feet  deep,  but  it  was  extended  to  a  depth 
of  nine  feet  at  low  tide  "  to  accommodate  the  sloop  trade  in 
lime,  coal,  plaster,  and  lumber." 

From  the  tenor  of  the  report  of  1836,  no  other  inference 
could  have  been  drawn  than  that  the  prospects  of  the  Com- 
pany at  that  time  were  particularly  bright. 

"  The  Dunkirk  grant  to  the  Company,"  said  the  report,  "  is 
5,000  lots,  one-quarter  of  the  whole  town  plot."  Other 
donations  were  "  an  equal  one-quarter  of  the  town  plot  on 
the  Alleghany  River,  laid  out  at  the  point  of  embarkation  for 
the  early  spring  merchandise  destined  for  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi valleys,  yielding  the  equivalent  of  4,500  city  lots,  and 
an  equal  one-eighth  of  the  tract  of  400,000  acres  in  the  coun- 
ties of  Cattaraugus  and  Allegany,  recently  purchased  of  the 
Holland  Land  Company.  The  pecuniary  value  of  these 
donations  is  estimated  to  exceed  $2,000,000.  Hinsdale, 
Painted  Post,  Owego,  Binghamton,  Deposit,  and  other  towns, 
have  made  similar  donations.  That  at  Tappan  is  ninety  acres 
under  water,  but  can  be  easily  filled  in  and  profitably  em- 
ployed or  disposed  of." 

"  Confidence  is  not  only  undiminished,  but  vastly  in- 
creased," said  the  report.  "  Difficulties  are  diminishing, 
pecuniary  resources  steadily  increasing." 

This  was  in  September,  1836.  Two  months  from  that 
time  work  on  several  of  the  contracts  in  the  Delaware  Valley 
was  discontinued  because  the  Company  had  no  money  to  pay 
for  it.  In  March  and  April,  1S37,  all  work  was  suspended 
and  the  contractors  discharged.  The  engineers  and  surveyors 
all  along  the  line  were  also  discharged.  The  grading  in  the 
Delaware  Valley  had  cost  3192,837.63.  This  had  all  been 
paid  except  £13,000,  which  was  subsequently  settled.  Work 
was  not  resumed  in  the  Delaware  Valley  until  1S47,  and  the 
grading  done  in  1836-7  was  found  to  be  uninjured. 

In  May,  1838,  a  new  engineer  corps  was  organized  to  make 
a  final  location  of  the  route.  Major  Thompson  S.  Brown, 
of  the  United  States  Engineers,  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  Western  Division  ;  Edwin  F.  Johnson,  of  the  Susque- 
hanna Division  :  Celim  L.  Seymour  was  Resident  Engineer 
of  the  Delaware  Division,  and  Hezekiah  C.  Seymour  Chief 


3  '4 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Engineer  of  the  Eastern  Division.  Silas  Seymour  was  Major 
Browi  at.     A.  C.  Morton,  who  had  been  Resident 

Engineer  in  charge  of  the  surveys  in  Rockland  and  Or- 
ange counties  in  1836,  was  appointed  Resident  Engineer, 
in  chief  charge  of  work  in  Orange  County  in  September, 

Major  Thompson  S.  Brown  entered  West  Point  Academy 
as  a  cadet  in  1821,  and  graduated  in  the  military  corps  of 
engineers  in  1S25.  For  eleven  years  he  was  engaged  on 
many  important  Government  works,  among  them  the  forti- 
fications at  Mobile  Point,  Ala.:  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  where 
he  was  five  years  under  Colonel  Herr,  subsequently  Chief  of 
the  Engineer  Corps,  and  in  the  coast  surveys  and  survey  for 
improvement  on  the  Western  rivers.  He  was  detailed  to  in- 
spect and  report  on  the  operations  of  the  now  historic  old 
Cumberland  road  on  the  sections  in  Indiana  and  Illinois.  He 
had  the  superintendence  of  the  fortifications  in  Charleston 
Harbor,  S.  C,  and  the  general  superintendence  of  the  United 
States  harbor  improvements  on  Lake  Erie  from  Buffalo  to 
Cleveland,  inclusive.  In  1836  he  left  the  Government  ser- 
vice and  became  employed  on  public  works.  In  May,  1838, 
he  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Western  Division 
of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  had  that  title  until 
November  25,  1S40,  when  he  was  made  Associate  Engineer 
in  charge  of  the  Western  Division,  and  Commissioner  of 
that  division.  In  1S41  he  was  detailed  to  accompany  Henry 
L.  Pierson  to  Europe,  to  contract  for  the  iron  rails  first  used 
on  the  Erie  between  Piermont  and  Goshen.  He  was  ap- 
pointed Chief  Engineer  of  the  Erie  in  1845,  resigning  in 
1849  to  go  to  Russia  to  take  charge  of  the  great  railroad 
work  there  in  course  of  construction  by  that  government, 
succeeding  Major  Whistler,  who  had  died  there. 

Silas  Seymour  was  born  at  Springwater,  Saratoga  County, 
N.  V.,  June  20,  181  7.  He  began  his  career  in  1S35  on  the 
Delaware  Division  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  as 
rodman,  and  continued  there  until  work  was  suspended  in 
1837.  He  was  made  Assistant  Engineer  in  May,  1838,  on  the 
Western  Division,  and  was  Resident  Engineer  from  June  1, 
1840,  to  June.  1841.  He  had  charge  of  the  surveys  from  Dun- 
kirk to  Cuba  Summit,  ninety-six  miles,  and  from  Dunkirk  to 
Cold  Spring  Summit,  forty  miles.  He  had  entire  charge 
when  Chief  Engineer  Brown  was  in  Europe  with  Henry  L. 
Pierson,  contracting  for  Erie's  first  railroad  iron.  He  lo- 
cated the  line  for  the  ten  miles  east  from  Dunkirk.  In  lulv, 
184:,  he  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  Construction  on  the 
western  end  of  the  railroad.  He  was  Chief  Engineer  of  Con- 
struction from  1846  until  1S51,  when  he  resigned,  having 
been  appointed  Chief  I  ngineer  of  the  Buffalo  and  New  York 
City  Railroad,  extending  from  Hornellsville  to  Buffalo,  after 
the  completion  of  which  he  became  its  General  Superintendent. 
Mr.  Seymour  laid  the  last  rail  upon  the  Western  Division  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  at  Cuba,  on  the  17th  of  April, 
1851,  and  assisted  at  the  great  celebration  of  the  opening  ol 
the  road  for  business,  on  the  15th  of  May  following.  He 
designed  and  constructed  the  famous  Portage  Bridge  across 
the  Genesee  River,  a  structure  234  feet  high  and  800  feet  in 


length.  Soon  afterward  he  became  a  contractor,  and  aided 
in  the  construction  and  equipment  of  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi, the  Louisville  and  Nashville,  the  Maysville  and  Lexing- 
ton, the  Scioto  and  Hocking  Valley,  the  New  York  and  Bos- 
ton Air  Line,  the  Ontario,  Simcoe  and  Huron  of  Canada,  the 
Western  North  Carolina,  and  Sacramento  Valley  railroads. 
In  1855  he  was  elected  State  Engineer  and  Surveyor-Gen- 
eral of  New  York,  which  responsible  office  he  held  during 
1S56— 7 .  In  1S62  he  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  Washington  and  Alexandria  Railroad,  with  a  view  to  con- 
struct a  railroad  bridge  across  the  Potomac,  which  important 
work  was  successfully  completed  in  1864.  In  1863  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Interior  designated  him  as  Consulting  Engineer, 
and  afterward  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Washington  Aqueduct. 
In  1864  he  was  appointed  Consulting  Engineer  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Road,  and  remained  in  that  service  until  the  comple- 
tion of  that  great  work.  The  last  rail  was  laid  on  the  10th 
day  of  May,  rS6o,  with  Mr.  Seymour  present  as  one  of  the 
principal  participants  in  the  ceremonies,  thus  having  been 
identified  with  the  construction  of  both  the  initial  (the  Erie) 
and  terminal  links  of  the  great  chain  of  railways,  more  than 
three  thousand  miles  in  length,  which  had  at  last  come  to 
span  the  American  continent  from  ocean  to  ocean.  After 
the  completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Mr.  Seymour 
became  Consulting  Engineer  of  the  Adirondack  Company's 
Railroad,  and  of  the  North  Shore  Railway  of  Canada,  extend- 
ing from  Montreal  to  Quebec.  The  latter  part  of  his  life 
was  passed  in  pleasant  retirement  at  Dansville,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  died  in  rSg6. 

Hezekiah  C.  Seymour  was  bom  in  Oneida  County,  N.  Y., 
and  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Eleazar  Lord.  He  was 
one  of  the  early  prominent  civil  engineers  of  this  country. 
His  ideas  dominated  the  policy  of  the  Erie  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  railroad  up  to  the  time  it  was  opened  to  Goshen 
in  i84r,  and  later.  He  was  the  first  Superintendent  of  the 
Erie,  and  was  also  its  Engineer  until  1845,  when  Major 
Thompson  S.  Brown  was  appointed  to  the  place.  Mr.  Sey- 
mour was  Superintendent  until  1849,  in  which  year  he  was 
elected  State  Engineer  and  Surveyor  of  New  York  State.  At 
the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  in  1852,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Chief  Engineer  of  the  Ontario,  Huron  and  Lake 
Simcoe  Railroad,  from  Toronto  to  Lake  Huron.  He  left 
that  place  in  the  spring  of  1852  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
contracts  for  building  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville,  the  Maysville  and  Lexington,  and  other 
railroads  in  the  West.  These  contracts  were  the  most  stu- 
pendous in  amount  ever  taken  for  the  construction  of  rail- 
roads in  this  country  by  one  firm,  the  aggregate  being  more 
than  $35,000,000.  Mr.  Seymour  did  not  live  to  see  the 
completion  of  the  great  work,  he  having  died  July  24,  1853, 
at  Piermont,  N.  Y.  While  Superintendent  of  the  Erie  he 
was  known  among  the  employees  as  "  The  Oneida  Chief," 
and  by  railroad  men  at  large  he  was  called  "  The  Father  of 
the  Erie  Broad-Gauge."  He  left  a  widow,  one  son,  and  five 
daughters.  The  son,  Augustus  S.  Seymour,  became  United 
States  District  Judge  in  North  Carolina. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


15 


Alvin  C.  Morton  began  as  an  Engineer  in  1827,  on  the 
Lehigh  Canal  as  Assistant  Engineer.  He  was  subsequently 
on  the  Delaware  Division  of  the  Pennsylvania  Canal,  then 
on  the  Raritan  Canal.  From  1832  to  1835  he  was  in  charge 
of  the  Harrisburg  and  Lancaster  Railroad.  From  there  he 
went  to  the  Sunbury  and  Erie  Railroad  Company.  He  was 
employed  by  New  York  State  to  make  the  surveys  of  the 
branches  of  the  Hudson  River,  which  he  completed  a  short 
time  before  going  with  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company.  He  left  the  Erie  service  about  1844,  and  in  1845 
he  was  made  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Atlantic  railways,  afterward  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railway  of  Canada.  He  subsequently  joined 
the  firm  of  Morton,  Seymour  &  Co.,  railroad  contractors, 
and  also  the  firm  of  Robinson,  Seymour  &  Co.,  who  con- 
structed the  Sacramento  Valley  Railroad,  the  first  railroad 
built  in  California.  He  was  one  of  the  early  men  in  the 
construction  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad,  now 
part  of  the  Erie  system  as  the  Nypano.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  President  of  the  International  Coal  and  Rail- 
way Company,  of  Nova  Scotia,  with  headquarters  in  New 
York.  Some  of  the  most  prominent  engineers  in  the  coun- 
try were  pupils  of  Mr.  Morton.  He  died  February  25,  187 1, 
aged  sixty-six  years. 

Celim  L.  Seymour  had  been  in  the  work  of  surveying  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  Mount  Carbon  Railroad,  Penn- 
sylvania Canal,  Great  Western  Mail  Route  from  Yincennes, 
Ind.,  to  St.  Louis,  in  1835,  1836,  1837.  As  Resident  Engi- 
neer of  the  Delaware  Division,  he  was  in  favor  of  the  interior 
route  through  Sullivan  County,  ami  denounced,  for  years,  the 
taking  of  the  railroad  to  the  Delaware  Yalley. 

The  members  of  the  Eastern  Division  engineer  corps  of 
1838,  under  H.  C.  Seymour,  were  :  Alexander  Main,  John  R. 
Garland,  David  P.  De  Witt,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  Newbold 
Edgar,  Augustus  S.  Whiton,  Norman  Seymour,  and  Peter  Bo- 
gart.  Some  of  them  became  distinguished  engineers,  nota- 
bly Thomas  Addis  Emmet.  Alexander  Main  was  the  Erie's 
first  cashier  and  auditor.  A.  S.  Whiton  became  superinten- 
dent of  the  Eastern  Division. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  July  15,  1838, 
authority  was  given  to  publish  the  following  : 

NOTICE   TO   CONTRACTORS. 

Sealed  proposals  will  be  received  by  the  subscriber  until  Wednesday, 
15th  of  August  next,  at  g  o'clock  p.m.,  at  the  office  of  the  Company, 
at  Tappan  Slote,  Rockland  County,  New  York,  for  the  grading, 
bridging,  and  masonry  of  ten  miles  at  the  eastern  termination  of  the 
New  V,.rk  and  Erie  Railroad.  The  maps  and  profiles,  together  with 
the  specifications  and  plans  of  the  materials,  and  the  manner  of  con- 
struction, will  be  ready  for  examination  at  any  time  after  the  20th  of 
August  next,  at  the  office  at  Tappan,  where  all  requisite  information 
relative  to  the  work  will  be  given,  and  blank  proposals  furnished. 
Some  of  the  sections  will  be  heavy,  and  will  require  a  considerable 
quantity  of  rock  excavation. 

Security  will  be  required  for  the  performance  of  contracts.  Persons 
who  are  unknown  to  the  subscriber,  or  to  the  Engineer,  will  be  ex- 
pected to  furnish  satisfactory  testimonials.     No  transfer  of  contracts 


will  be  recognized.      Individuals  proposing  for  more  work  than  they 
wish  to  contract  for  must  specify  the  quantity  they  wish  to  take. 

The  undersigned  reserves  the  right  of  rejecting  all  propositions 
which  appear  incompatible  with  the  interests  of  the  Company. 

For  further  particulars  apply  to  H.  C.  Seymour,  Civil  Engineer, 
Tappan,  Rockland  County,  X.  V. 

Samuel  P.  Lyman, 
Commissioner  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 

Railroad  Company, 
July  :5,  1838. 

A  similar  notice  was  published  relating  to  the  grading  of 
ten  miles  from  Dunkirk,  eastward.  The  work  on  these  two 
ten-mile  sections  had  been  made  a  first  provision  of  the  act 
granting  the  Company  State  aid  in  1838.  The  contracts  were 
let  in  August,  1838,  and  during  the  year  seven  miles  of  the 
grading  at  the  western  end  of  the  route  were  completed,,  and 
five  miles  of  the  Piermont  ten-mile  section,  including  several 
arched  culverts  on  the  latter.  Work  on  the  pier  was  pro- 
gressing. Contracts  were  also  closed  in  August,  1838,  for 
grading  the  road  from  the  eastern  end  of  the  Piermont  ten- 
mile  section  to  Goshen,  thirty-five  miles,  except  two  miles  for 
piles,  and  a  contract  for  grading  one  mile  extending  east 
from  the  village  of  South  Middletown  (Middletown),  Orange 
County.  Surveying  operations  were  also  progressing  between 
Binghamton  and  the  Genesee  River,  in  Allegany  County,  and 
from  the  west  end  of  Allegany  County  to  the  east  end  of 
the  ten  miles  under  contract  in  Chautauqua  County. 

The  ten-mile  section  at  the  Piermont  end  of  the  route  was 
located  with  no  little  ceremony,  August  15,  1838.  President 
King  and  members  of  the  Board  were  present.  The  begin- 
ning of  the  line  that  was  to  stretch  westward  nearly  500  miles, 
the  entire  width  of  the  greatest  State  in  the  Union,  and  unite 
the  ocean  with  the  lakes,  was  in  a  swampy  marsh,  which 
must  have  seemed  to  the  distinguished  men  assembled  on 
that  historic  occasion  a  most  unpromising  and  discouraging 
starting  point  for  so  stupendous  an  undertaking,  especially  as 
its  chief  intent  was  to  give  New  York  City  communication 
by  rail  with  then  secluded  regions,  that  they  might  be  settled 
and  their  resources  developed.  The  men  who  had  insisted 
on  such  a  beginning,  and  succeeded  in  securing  it,  were  the 
ones  who  had  denounced  the  original  plan  of  constructing 
the  first  section  of  the  railroad  in  the  Delaware  Yalley,  three 
years  before.  It  is  a  question  which  was  the  wiser  start  of 
the  two.  The  Company  had  the  privilege  of  beginning  its 
railroad  at  New  York  until  the  Rockland  County  influence 
obtained  the  legislation  compelling  the  locating  and  con- 
tracting for  the  ten  miles  at  Piermont  before  anything  else 
could  be  done.  But  for  that  unfortunate  circumstance,  and 
the  one  compelling  the  western  terminus  to  be  at  Dunkirk, 
the  railroad  would  have  been  in  operation  between  the  Hud- 
son and  Lake  Erie  years  before  it  was.  and  with  no  lasting 
burden  of  mortgage  debt  upon  it. 

In  the  contracts  for  work  made  in  1S3S,  the  terms  were 
that  payments  should  be  made  from  funds  obtained  by  col- 
lections on  the  stock  subscriptions  in  the  counties  or  on  the 
divisions  of  the  railroad  where  the  work  was  to  be  done,  and 
from  the  avails  of  the  State  stock  collectible  on  such  sub- 


3i6 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


ons.  This  facilitated  the  work  by  distributing  it.  The 
contracts  made  after  1838  contained  the  provision,  originating 
with  Eleazar  Lord,  that  contractors  invest  a  certain  portion  of 
the  avails  of  their  contracts  in  the  stock  of  the  Company,  the 
investments  to  be  made  from  time  to  time  as  they  received 
payments  from  the  Company.    This  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Lord, 

nber  10,  1838,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Hoard.  It  was  put 
into  practical  force  on  the  Eastern  Division  in  1839,  while 
Ixird  was  President  and  Commissioner,  and  subsequently  be- 
came the  policy  of  the  Company  all  along  the  line,  and  un- 
doubtedly -ready  advanced  the  work  then  on  hand,  but,  as 
it  subsequently  appeared,  by  no  means  to  the  future  benefit 
of  the  work  or  welfare  of  the  Company. 

The  first  contract  for  grading  was  taken  August  15,  1838, 
by  Doubleday  &  Ward  for  section  No.  1.  There  were  forty- 
eight  contracts  let  from  between  that  time  and  August  13, 
1839,  to  thirty-eight  contractors.  These  were  for  grading 
culverts  and  bridges.  These  early  Erie  contractors  were  as 
follow  S  : 

Rockland  County,  N.  V.,  1838.— Doubleday  &  Ward, 
Thornton  &  Briggs,  Levi  Walden,  Medler  &  Sutherland,  Briggs 
&  Thomas,  B.  Thornton,  Wood  &  Homer,  C.  Midler,  J.  &  C. 
Collins,  Blair  &  Mills.  1839— Thomas  Midler  &  Co.,  J.  & 
C.  Collins,  Blair  and  Stickney,  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson,  Wilson 
&  Phillips,  Ward,  Wilkes  cSi  Co. 

Orange  County,  1S39. — Ward,  Wilkes  &  Co.,  H.  Jenkins  & 
Co.,  Hudson  Macfarland,  John  Coffey,  T.  Selleck  (for  piles), 
M.  Brainard  (driving  piles),  Nelson  Phillips  &  Co.,  John 
Wood,  Taylor  &  Crary,  Carmichael  &  King,  George  Clark, 
Taylor  &  Stevenson,  Mills,  Riddle  &  Co.,  David  Spencer  & 
Co.,  John  Seaman. 

These  contractors  took  from  one-third  to  three-eighths 
of  the  amount  of  their  contracts  in  the  Company's  stock. 
Twenty-three  of  the  contracts  were  cancelled  in  the  winter  of 
1839-40,  the  Company's  finances  preventing  further  prose- 
cution of  the  work  for  the  time. 


A    ROSY    FORECAST. 

To  what  a  promising  situation  the  railroad  work  had  been 
brought  by  past  operations,  and  what  its  prospects  and  inten- 
tions for  the  future  were  at  this  interesting  period  in  the 
history  of  the  Erie,  is  entertainingly  told  in  the  following 
extracts  from  a  letter  from  Samuel  P.  Lyman,  General 
Commissioner  of  the  Company,  to  Assemblyman  Scoles,  at 
Albany,  January  14,  1839  : 

The  Company,  in  August,  1835,  caused  a  thorough  reexamination 
of  the  difficult  portions  of  the  line  to  be  made,  under  the  direction  of 
a  Board  of  Engineers,  composed  of  Moncure  Robinson  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Jonathan  Knighl  of  Maryland,  consulting  with  Benjamin 
Wright,  anil  the  result  of  their  labors  induced  the  Directors  to  adopt  a 
plan  more  permanent  and  expensive.  The  estimates  made  upon  the 
plan  as  enlarged,  on  the  united  opinions  of  these  engineers,  were  as 
follows: 


Graduation,  the  expenses  of  the  engineer  department,  and 

the  contingent  expenses  of  the  Company $3,117,518 

Superstructure 1,857,000 

Cost  of  vehicles   and    other  necessary  apparatus  for  the 

business  of  the   road,  in  the  first  instance 500,000 

$5. 474. 5i8 
To  which   the   Board   of    Directors,    for   more   abundant 

caution,  added,  for  contingencies 525,482 

Total $6,000,000 

The  first  work  was  the  obtaining  of  right  of  way.  Voluntary  re- 
leases were  obtained  for  more  than  three-quarters  of  the  line.  If 
the  Company  had  had  to  pay  for  its  right  of  way  entire,  at  the  rates 
charged  other  roads  in  neighboring  States,  the  work  would  have  never 
begun.  The  cost  would  have  been  $1,000,000,  at  least.  The  liber- 
ality of  the  farmers  and  land-holders  not  only  helped  the  Company, 
but  showed  the  deep  interest  they  had  in  the  success  of  the  work. 

The  next  thing  was  the  procuring  of  subscriptions  to  the  balance  of 
the  stock.  The  financial  embarrassments  of  the  city  and  the  apparent 
solvency  of  the  country  induced  the  Company  to  confine  its  efforts  to 
the  southern  tier  of  counties.  The  balance  needed  was  $500,000. 
After  the  proposition  to  take  the  stock  was  made  to  each  county,  and 
the  probable  result  estimated,  the  following  distribution  was  made: 

To  Rockland  County $20,000 

Orange  County 100,000 

Sullivan  County 20,000 

Delaware  County 40,000 

Broome  County 25,000 

Tioga  County . .    .  50,000 

Chemung  County 50,000 

Steuben  County 100,000 

Allegany  County 50,000 

Cattaraugus  County 25,000 

Chautauqua  County 20,000 

Total 8500,000 

The  distribution  was  made  not  so  much  with  reference  to  the  abil- 
ity of  each  county  to  take  and  hold  the  stock,  as  to  the  amount  previ- 
ously taken,  and  the  zeal  manifested  in  promoting  the  work.  Of  this 
amount  $300,000  were  subscribed.  The  whole  of  the  grading  can  be 
completed  in  three  years.  While  the  grading  is  in  progress,  the  Com- 
pany will  purchase  timber  for  the  superstructure,  in  order  to  have  it 
seasoned  and  prepared  for  laying  down  as  soon  as  the  graduation  is 
ready  for  it,  and  will  contract  for  iron  and  cause  it  to  be  imported 
and  distributed  along  the  line  for  use  the  moment  the  road-bed  is 
ready.  The  work  is  divided  in  five  sections,  so  it  will  be  finished 
simultaneously  all  along  the  line.  Four  years  is  all  the  time  the 
Company  requires  to  complete  the  work,  if  they  have  the  money  to 
carry  out  their  plans.  It  can  be  done  in  three  years,  but  there  is  no 
telling  how  long  it  will  take  if  the  Company  does  not  get  aid  from 
the  State. 


Samuel  P.  Lyman  was  appointed  General  Commissioner  of 
the  Company  April  27,  1838.  During  the  session  of  the 
Legislature  of  1S39,  Mr.  Lyman  was  in  Albany,  having  in 
charge  the  application  of  the  Company  for  a  modification  of 
the  law  authorizing  the  loan  of  $3,000,000  of  State  stock  to 
the  Company.  While  Mr.  Lyman  was  there  a  controversy 
arose  between  him  and  President  King,  who  was  supported 
by  some  of  the  Directors,  in  which  Mr.  Lyman  was  charged 
with  misrepresenting  the  views  and  wishes  of  the  Company, 
and  with  disregarding  his  instructions.  In  consequence  of 
this  controversy,  and  having  made  to  the  Board  of  Directors 
a  full  report  in  justification  of  his  motives  and  proceedings, 
he  resigned. 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


o1  / 


President  King  was  striving  to  have  the  State  take  charge 
of  the  work  and  finish  it,  but  as  the  policy  outlined  by  Ly- 
man was  supported  by  a  strong  following  in  the  Board,  led 
by  Eleazar  Lord,  President  King  resigned  from  the  manage- 
ment September  25,  1S39,  and  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
railroad  ceased.  He  had  served  without  salary,  and  had 
sacrificed  largely  his  own  private  interests  in  behalf  of  the 
work  during  the  four  years  and  more  of  his  connection  with 
the  project.     Eleazar  Lord  became  President  again. 

THE    WORK    UNDER    ELEAZAR    LORD. 

In  May,  1S39,  Eleazar  Lord  had  been  appointed  Commis- 
sioner of  the  Eastern  Division  of  the  road,  and  continued  such 
until  the  middle  of  March,  1S41,  at  a  salary  of  $2,400  per 
annum.  From  September  25,  1839,  until  after  the  expira- 
tion of  his  duties  as  Commissioner,  Mr.  Lord  also  held  the 
office  of  President  of  the  Company,  at  a  salary  of  S3, 600  per 
year.  For  about  eighteen  months,  therefore,  Mr.  Lord  re- 
ceived pay  at  the  rate  of  $2,400  a  year  as  Commissioner,  and 
$3,600  a  year  as  President,  an  aggregate  salary  of  $6,000  per 
annum.  Upon  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Lord  as  Commissioner 
of  the  Eastern  Division,  the  duties  of  the  office  were  placed 
in  charge  of  H.  C.  Seymour,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  division. 
A.  C.  Morton,  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Delaware  Division, 
performed  the  duties  of  Commissioner  of  that  division. 

October  14,  1S39,  President  Lord  took  ex-Commissioner 
Lyman  back  into  the  sen-ice,  appointing  him  Agent  of  the 
Western  Division  to  obtain  subscriptions  to  the  stock  of  the 
Company,  and  cessions  of  land.  He  was  at  the  same  time 
appointed  "  Agent  of  the  Company,  with  special  reference  to 
sen-ices  on  the  Susquehanna  and  Western  divisions  of  the 
roads."  January  22,  1S40,  he  was  appointed  Commissioner  of 
the  Susquehanna  Division.  August  1,  1S41,  he  was  made 
General  Commissioner  of  the  Company. 

August  1,  1840,  Francis  Bloodgood,  who  had  been  Ly- 
man's assistant,  was  appointed  Commissioner  of  the  Central 
Division,  at  a  salary  of  $2,500  per  annum.  On  the  same 
day,  Thomas  A.  Johnson  became  Commissioner  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna Division,  at  the  same  salary.  Thompson  S.  Brown, 
the  Associate  Engineer  of  the  Company,  in  charge  of  the 
Western  Division  as  Chief  Engineer,  was  made  also  Com- 
missioner of  that  division,  November  25,  1840. 

Gen.  C.  B.  Stuart  was  appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the 
Susquehanna  Division  in  February,  1840.  General  Stuart,  in 
1833,  was  engaged  on  the  construction  of  the  Saratoga  and 
Schenectady  Railroad  and  Saratoga  and  Washington  Rail- 
road. From  September,  1833,  to  September,  1836,  he  was 
Assistant  Engineer  of  the  Utica  and  Schenectady  Rail- 
road. He  became  Resident  Engineer,  in  the  latter  month, 
of  the  Syracuse  and  LTtica  Railroad,  and  continued  as 
such  until  the  completion  of  that  road  in  September,  1S39. 
He  then  made  preliminary  suneys  of  the  Oswego  and 
Syracuse  Railroad.  From  February  10,  1840,  to  February 
10,  1S41,  his  staff  on  the  Susquehanna  Division,  between 
Binghamton    and    Hornellsville,  was    as    follows  :     T.    G. 


Pomeroy,  principal  assistant  engineer  from  Elmira  to 
Hornellsville  ;  Ira  Spaulding,  principal  assistant  engineer 
from  Elmira  to  Binghamton  :  Franklin  Hathaway,  book- 
keeper and  draughtsman,  Owego  office  ;  D.  W.  Linn, 
leveller,  Elmira  to  Binghamton  ;  Ephraim  Leach,  agent  to 
purchase  timber,  in  Tioga  County  ;  Minos  McGowan,  timber 
agent  for  Chemung  and  Steuben  counties  ;  E.  S.  Thompson, 
inspector  of  pile  timber,  Binghamton  to  Elmira  ;  E.  S. 
Dean,  inspector  of  pile  timber,  Elmira  to  Hornellsville  ; 
Stephen  Dexter,  suneyor,  Tioga  and  Chemung  counties  ;  E. 
J.  Famum,  engineer,  Steuben  County;  Benjamin  B.  Griswold, 
chainman  and  rodman,  Elmira  to  Hornellsville  ;  Robert  S. 
Wright,  clerk,  Owego  office. 

The  attorneys  to  investigate  land  titles  and  obtain  releases 
for  the  roadway  on  the  Eastern  Division  were  Thomas  E. 
Blanch,  Charles  (1.  King,  William  F.  Sharp,  John  E.  Phillips, 
and  Henry  C.  Wisner.  Rathbone  ,V  Marsh,  of  Utica — the 
junior  member  of  the  firm  being  Luther  R.  Marsh,  who 
subsequently  became  a  lawyer  of  national  reputation — had 
charge  of  such  matters  on  the  Susquehanna  Division,  and 
George  A.  French  and  Hanson  A.  Risley  on  the  western  por- 
tion of  the  line.  Mr.  Marsh  was  also  a  partner  of  Samuel  P. 
Lyman.  He  spent  two  winters  at  Dunkirk,  Bath,  Elmira,  and 
Owego,  making  abstracts  of  the  titles  of  the  land  required  to 
be  taken  for  the  road-bed  and  depots,  from  Binghamton  to 
Lake  Erie,  and  trying  the  causes  for  the  appraisement  of 
property  where  parties  could  not  agree.  Mr.  Marsh  is  still 
living  at  Middletown,  X.  V.,  hale  and  hearty  at  the  age  of 
eighty  years. 

As  early  as  November,  1839,  the  Company  solicited  bids 
for  furnishing  ties,  wooden  rails,  sills,  and  piles  for  the  rail- 
road. The  cross-ties  were  to  be  of  durable  oak,  chestnut,  or 
butternut,  9  feet  in  length,  7  '  i  to  9  inches  in  diameter  at  the 
small  end.  The  rails  were  to  be  of  white,  pin,  or  rock  oak, 
6  x  S  inches,  and  15,  20,  or  25  feet  long.  The  sills  were  to 
be  of  oak,  chestnut,  pine,  or  hemlock,  5  x  10  to  12  inches 
thick,  15,  20,  or  25  feet  long.  Piles  were  to  be  20  feet  long, 
and  over  7  to  8  inches  in  diameter  at  the  small  end.  There 
were  also  some  called  for  at  less  than  20  feet. 

The  contractors  whose  bids  to  furnish  this  original 
material  for  Erie  track-laying  were  accepted  were  as  fol- 
lows : 

November  21,  1839,  Stacy  Beakes,  "and  others."  They 
furnished  $10,000  worth  of  ties,  and  took  the  entire  amount 
in  the  Company's  stock. 

November  22,  1839,  John  Coffey:  November  23,  J.  H. 
Pierson  ;  November  25,  Jacob  M.  Ryerson  :  November  26, 
John  Kelley,  Jonah  Brooks;  November  29,  Cornelius  J. 
Blauvelt. 

The  price  paid  for  cross-ties  was  20  to  25  cents  apiece ; 
for  rails,  $20  to  $25  per  1,000;  for  sills,  $T7.5o  to  $22  per 
r,ooo;  piles,  20  feet  and  over,  5  cents  per  lineal  foot;  less 
than  20  feet,  4  '  &  cents  per  lineal  foot. 

July  25,  1S40,  Miss  Mary  Rutherford  sold  the  Companyfor 
$3,000  a  tract  of  300  acres  of  land  in  the  Ramapo  hills,  which 


3'S 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


was  wanted  for  the  timber  it  contained.  She  took  $1,000  in 
the  Company's  stock. 

T.  Selleck  and  M.  Brainard  took  the  contract,  July  27, 
1839,  for  the  piling  of  the  meadows,  at  5^  cents  per  foot 
lor  piles,  and  5 1,1 00  a  mile  for  driving.  This  included  the 
piling  of  the  Chester  meadows,  then  an  almost  bottomless 
morass,  now  the  broad  and  fertile  onion  meadows,  famous 
the  country  over.  The  condition  of  this  area  at  the  time 
the  railroad  found  its  way  across  it  fifty-seven  years  ago, 
and  the  work  that  had  to  be  done  to  get  a  foundation  for  the 
railroad  in  the  then  treacherous  spread  of  morass,  was  de- 
scribed at  the  time  in  the  New  York  Railroad  Journal ': 
"  Immediately  in  the  line  of  the  route,"  said  the  article,  "is 
found  a  very  extensive  peat  swamp,  which  must  be  crossed  at 
a  level  of  twenty  or  thirty  feet  above  the  surface.  This 
swamp  has  every  appearance  of  having  been  the  bed  of  a 
lake.  The  difficulties  of  building  the  road  across  it  have  been 
met  in  the  following  manner :  Four  piles  are  placed  trans- 
versely to  the  road  and  upon  them  is  founded  a  trestlework, 
having  a  space  of  twenty  feet  between  the  piles.  1'he  piles 
are  generally  fifty  feet  long,  and  are  driven  through  the  peat 
into  the  solid  substratum,  and  the  level  of  the  road  is  from 
twenty  to  thirty  feet  above  the  surface." 

That  "  open "  work  was  years  ago  made  solid,  and  the 
traveller  on  the  Erie,  passing  over  that  mile  of  railroad  be- 
tween Greycourt  and  Chester,  N.  Y.,  would  little  suppose  that 
its  foundation  was  builded  on  cordons  of  timber,  with  bases 
driven  nearly  seventy  feet  into  the  yielding  earth  before  they 
touched  stable  bottom. 

Another  locality  that  was  a  source  of  much  labor,  disap- 
pointment, and  expense  to  the  contractors  was  in  the  vicinity 
of  what  is  now  Arden  station,  east  of  Turner's,  N.  Y.  Here 
long  stretches  of  quagmire  of  great  depth  were  encountered, 
and  piles  as  large  as  telegraph  poles  had  to  be  driven  down 
through  the  treacherous  deposit  to  find  a  solid  foundation. 
These  piles  in  some  places  were  driven  on  top  of  one  another 
to  a  depth  of  nearly  140  feet  before  such  foundation  could 
be  struck.  Then  between  the  rows  of  piling  thousands  of 
loads  of  rock  and  gravel  and  earth,  mingled  with  countless 
untrimmed  trees  of  large  size,  were  dumped,  to  sink  to  the 
solid  ground  or  rock  beneath,  and  gradually  build  up  a  foun- 
dation for  the  road-bed.  Nor  were  the  original  trouble  and 
cost  of  this  unstable  spot  the  end  of  it.  To  this  day  im- 
mense quantities  of  broken  stone  are  dumped  there  to  re- 
place the  fictitious  bottom  as  it  in  time  sinks  away. 


irregular  elevation  or  depression  of  either  stick  can  take  place  at  a 
joint.  They  will  break  joints  with  each  other,  and  with  the  iron  rails, 
and  will  be  bound  together,  at  ever)'  six  feet  on  curves,  and  at  every 
eight  feet  on  tangents,  by  cross  ties  of  plank,  seven  and  a  half  feet 
long,  three  inches  thick,  and  seven  inches  wide,  fitted  accurately  into 
notches  two  and  a  half  inches  deep,  on  the  upper  side  of  the  longi- 
tudinal timbers,  and  secured  by  a  treenail  of  pin  oak,  two  inches  in 
diameter.  The  position  of  the  base  of  the  rail  having  been  accurately 
marked  out  on  the  cross  ties,  notches  half  an  inch  deep  and  four 
inches  wide  will  be  cut  into  them,  so  as  to  let  the  rail  rest  continuously 
on  the  longitudinal  timbers,  the  edges  of  which  must  be  addiced  down 
to  shed  the  rain. 

The  rails  are  secured  from  any  motion,  except  that  due  to  the  ex- 
pansion and  contraction  of  the  metal,  by  appropriate  chairs  of  cast 
iron  at  the  joints,  and  are  fastened  to  the  timbers  by  brad-headed 
spikes,  half  an  inch  square  and  five  and  a  half  inches  long,  one  of 
which  is  required  for  every  eighteen  inches. 

Where  timber  of  suitable  quality  is  found  on  the  line  of  the  road,  it 
may  be  hewn  on  two  sides  instead  of  being  sawed  square.  In  such 
cases  it  must  be  got  out  nine  inches  thick,  and  the  counter  hewn  on 
the  upper  surface  before  being  laid. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  by  this  plan  of  road,  each  bearing  timber  rests 
continuously  on  the  ground,  and  at  the  same  time  supports  continu- 
ously the  iron  rail.  The  cross  ties,  too,  have  a  double  action,  binding 
together  the  longitudinal  bearers,  and  also  connecting  the  rails,  by  the 
notches  into  which  their  bases  are  fitted.  By  placing  the  ties  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  bearers  instead  of  the  lower,  the  connexion  is  made 
at  the  point  where  its  efficiency  is  greatest  and  most  necessary,  and 
as  no  part  of  the  vertical  support  is  derived  from  the  ties,  the  dimen- 
sions proposed  for  them  will  be  found  sufficient. 

The  drainage  of  the  track  will  be  effected  by  a  ditch  between  the 
longitudinal  timbers,  for  which  the  width  between  the  rails  affords 
ample  room,  and  cross  drains  at  suitable  distances  will  carry  off  the 
water.  The  centre  drain  will  be  sunk  lower  than  the  cross  ties,  so  as 
not  to  interfere  with  them. 

Where  a  pile  road  is  adopted  (which  will  be  the  case  on  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  of  the  Susquehanna  and  Western  divisions),  a 
similar  superstructure  is  proposed,  with  the  necessary  modifications 
for  connecting  it  firmly  and  securely  to  the  heads  of  the  piles. 

The  width  of  the  track  on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  is  six 
feet,  and  the  distance  between  the  tracks  (where  two  lines  are  laid)  is 
seven  feet.  These  dimensions  admit  of  wider  and  more  commodious 
cars  being  used  with  safety,  than  can  be  adopted  for  roads  of  the 
ordinary  width.  The  first-class  passenger  cars  already  built  for  this 
road  are  believed  to  be  equal  to  any  hitherto  constructed  in  the  United 
States,  with  regard  ,to  beauty  and  finish,  and  superior  in  all  the 
arrangements  and  appliances  requisite  for  comfort  and  ease.  They 
are  eleven  feet  wide,  and  thirty-six  feet  long,  and  are  mounted  on 
eight  wheels.  Those  intended  for  gentlemen  will  accommodate  com- 
fortably seventy-eight  persons.  The  ladies'  cars  have  drawing  and 
retiring  rooms  of  ample  dimensions. 

The  second-class  cars,  intended  for  the  use  of  emigrants,  and  others 
desirous  of  travelling  at  a  low  rate,  and  willing  to  accept  of  cheaper 
accommodations,  will  be  capable  of  carrying  one  hundred  persons. 


THE    ORIGINAL    ERIE    RAILROAD. 

(From  an  Official  Statement  made  in  1S40  for  Public  Information.') 

The  iron  rails  are  to  be  of  the  II  form,  with  heavy  heads.  They 
are  three  and  one-half  inches  high,  four  inches  wide  on  the  base,  and 
weigh  fifty-six  lbs.  per  lineal  yard.  Both  sides  are  alike,  in  order  to 
admit  of  reversion,  if  symptoms  of  failure  are  perceived  in  those  parts 
exposed  to  the  action  of  the  wheels. 

The  rails  are  to  be  supported  on  continuous  bearings  of  timber, 
twelve  inches  broad,  1  ight  inches  thick,  and  as  long  as  can  be  con- 
veniently obtained.     They  must  be  scraphed  at  the  ends,  so  that  no 


STATE    STOCK    AND    EARLY    CONTRACTORS. 

By  the  acts  of  the  New  York  Legislature  of  1S3S  and  1840 
that  State  issued  conditionally  certificates  of  stock  to  the 
Company  in  aid  of  the  construction  of  the  railroad.  The 
first  installment  of  State  stock,  amounting  to  ?ioo,ooo,  was 
issued  to  the  Company  December  3,  1838,  by  State  Comp- 
troller Bates  Cook.  January  2,  1839,  it  was  nominally  sold 
to  Nevius,  Townsend  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  at  89  per  cent. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


3i9 


The  interest  on  this  stock  was  4^  per  cent.,  and  the  Com- 
pany hail  in  expectation  that  the  Legislature  would  author- 
ize an  exchange  of  stock  for  a  5   per  cent,  issue,  and  the 
ostensible  sale  was  simply  an  agreement  by  which   Nevius, 
Thompson  &  Co.  held  the  stock  in  trust  until  such  time  as 
the  exchange  might  be  made  for  the  Company's  own  benefit, 
the  Company  thus  having  control  of  it  in  procuring  means  to 
continue  the  work  of  the  road.     Prime,  Ward  &  King,  the 
banking  house  in  which  President  James  Gore  King  was  a 
partner,  had  advanced  funds  to  the  Company  to  the  amount 
of  560,500,  and  this  stock  was  deposited  with  them  as  secu- 
rity for  the  loan.     It  thus  remained  until  September  1,  1839, 
when  it  was  sold  bona  fide  at  82^  per  cent.     In  the  mean- 
time the  Company  had  been  able  to  fulfil  the  conditions  by 
which  they  became  entitled  to  two  further  installments  of 
$100,000  each.     The  second  installment  was  sold  June  29th 
at  85.     The  third  was  sold  August  31,  1839,  at  an  average 
rate   of   7S.     The    fourth    installment   was    issued   from   the 
Comptroller's  office  December  4,  1839.     It  was  sold  Decem- 
ber 6th  to  Robert  White  at  90,  no  other  person  appearing 
disposed  to  purchase  it.     He  purchased  it  at  the  request  and 
for  the  account  of  the  Company.     This  installment  was  held 
to  abide  the  result  of  a  change  of  interest  by  the  Legislature, 
but  a  part  of  it  was  hypothecated  for  money  which  had  been 
disbursed  in  construction,  and,  with  the  amount  of  the  Com- 
pany's other  liabilities  to  contractors  and  others,  amounted  to 
as  much  as  the  probable  proceeds  of  the  stock.     This  change 
in  interest  was  made  by  the  Act  of  April  29,  1840,  and  the 
$100,000  in  stock  was  returned   to  the  Comptroller  of  the 
State  in  exchange  for  an  equal  amount  of  stock  bearing  in- 
terest not  to  exceed  6  per  cent,  per  annum.     This  exchange 
was  made  for  a  5  x/z  per  cent,  stock.     The  Company  sold  this 
by  auction  at  different  times  and  rates,  the  aggregate  amount 
received  for  it  being  §95,451. 17,  less  $485  brokerage. 

The  subsequent  issue  of  State  stock  bore  interest  at  5  '  J 
and  6  per  cent.,  and  was  bid  in  at  its  auction  sales  by  or  for 
the  Company,  nominally  at  par.  The  Company  then  either 
sold  or  hypothecated  it  at  the  highest  price  it  would  command 
in  the  market.  The  discount  was  on  the  average  about  15 
per  cent.  Under  the  law,  the  State  stock  could  not  be  sold 
at  less  than  par,  but  the  stock  did  not  command  par,  and  the 
Company  itself  was  obliged  to  buy  if  in  at  par  and  then  raise 
what  money  it  could  by  subsequent  sale  or  hypothecation. 

Under  the  Act  of  the  New  York  Legislature  of  1S40  by 
which  money  was  being  raised  for  construction  of  the  rail- 
road, the  State  issued  to  the  Company  $100,000  in  certificates 
of  stock,  guaranteed  by  the  State,  for  every  $50,000  the 
Company  should  actually  expend  in  such  construction.  The 
law  prescribed  that  the  Company  should  produce  to  the 
Comptroller  evidence  of  the  expenditure  of  the  whole  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sales  of  previous  issues  of  State  stock  in  actual 
construction  of  the  road  before  any  further  installment  would 
issue  by  the  State  to  the  Company.  It  became  a  question  in  the 
various  discussions  of  the  affairs  and  management  of  the  Com- 
pany whether  the  Company  was  not  offering  as  evidence  in  ob- 
taining new  issues  of  State  stock  the  amount  by  which  the  stock 


was  bid  in  by  it  instead  of  the  amount  received  for  it  when  sold 
or  hypothecated.    Then  it  was  charged  that  in  transactions  with 
contractors  the  Company  stipulated  that  its  time  drafts,  given 
in  payment  for  work  or  materials,  should  be  accepted  as  cash, 
and  that  the  receipts  or  vouchers  given  by  contractors  for 
these  drafts  as  cash  payments  were  used  as  evidences  of 
money  expended   in  construction   in  obtaining   further  ad- 
vances from  the  State.     In  making  contracts  for  the  purchase 
and  delivery  of  materials  on  the  Susquehanna  Division,  the 
Commissioner  and  Engineer  took  in  advance  a  conveyance 
of  the  title  to  all  the  standing  timber  to  be  used  according  to 
the  contract,  and  to  all  the  timber  which  the  contractor  was 
to  procure  for  that  purpose,  and  then  advanced  to  him  the 
amount  which  he  agreed  to  invest  on  the  Company's  stock. 
Then  he  would  give  the  Company  a  voucher  for  such  ad- 
vances, and  hypothecate  the  stock  with  the  Company.     This 
would  be  held  by  the  Commissioner  of  that  division  as  secu- 
rity for  the  performance  of  the  contract.     It  was  charged  that 
these  vouchers  were  used  by  the  Company  in  evidence  as 
money  actually  expended  in  construction  of  the  road  to  secure 
further  State  stock.     It  frequently  happened  that  after  de- 
livering timber  to  a  large  amount  a  contractor  would  default 
in  his  contract,  when,  according  to  its  terms,  the  Company 
kept  the  timber  and  sold  the  hypothecated  stock,  thus  making 
quite  a  snug  thing  out  of  the  transaction.     In  negotiating  for 
right  of  way  where  it  was  not  gratuitously  offered,  the  build- 
ing of  the  necessary  fences  and  farm  crossings  was  contracted 
for  in  the  same  agreement,  the  crossings  and  one-half  of  the 
fencing  to  be  built  by  the  land-owner  and  maintained  by  him 
during  the  life  of  the  Company's  charter.     The  amount  nec- 
essary for  this  purpose,  although  the  fences  were  not  to  be 
built  until  the  railroad  was  completed  through  the  property, 
was  advanced  by  the  Company,  and  the  contractor  invested 
it   in    stock.     This    the   Company  regarded    as   a   purchase 
of   stock,  and  put   the  vouchers  in  as  evidence  of    money 
expended    in    construction,    which    the    railroad    inspectors 
allowed. 

Special  Stock. — The  special  stock  was  that  issued  to 
subscribers  under  the  Ixird  plan  of  raising  money  by  counties 
and  divisions,  and  which  pledged  the  income  of  the  road  to 
the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the  State  stock  expended  in 
construction  of  the  division  where  the  avails  of  such  stock 
were  used  ;  to  the  payment  of  6  per  cent,  per  annum  on  all 
shares  of  full  stock  the  installments  of  which  were  expended 
on  that  part  of  the  road ;  and  the  payment  of  interest  on  the 
installments  collected  from  time  to  time,  except  the  first  10 
per  cent,  on  all  other  shares  expended  on  that  part  of  the 
road,  until  the  whole  road  was  completed  from  the  Hudson 
River  to  I,ake  Erie.  On  the  Western  Division  the  avails  of 
all  the  lands  on  that  division  given  in  aid  of  the  road  were 
also  pledged  to  the  subscribers  on  that  division  for  the  same 
purpose. 

First  Manipulation  of  Erie  Stock. — February  4, 
1835,  the  first  installment  ($50,000)  paid  on  subscriptions  to 


!20 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


the  stock  of  the  Company  after  the  organization,  was  de- 
posited with  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Com- 
pany at  41-  per  cent,  interest.  This  stock  was  called 
"general   stock."     Between    April    15th   and   September  1, 

[3,621     shares    of  stock   were   subscribed   for,  and    5 

per    cent.    ($62,105)   was    paid    on   them.     Then  a  call  was 

made  for  another  5  per  cent,  payment,  November   2d.     To 

I  21,131  shares  responded,  the  installment  amounting 

105,655. 

During  the  year  1837,  particularly  during  February,  2,200 
new  shares  were  subscribed  for,  on  1,355  of  which  cash  in- 
stallments were  paid  to  the  amount  of  520,137.50.  On  old 
subscriptions  S50.NX7.50  were  paid  during  the  year. 

No  assessments  were  made  on  the  stock  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  since  President  King's  call  in 
[837,  until  March,  [841.  In  the  aggregate,  r  5  per  cent,  of  the 
subscriptions  had  been  called  for  and  a  total  of  $325,907.50 
paid. 

The  call  made  on  the  subscribers  in  March,  1S41,  was  for 
an  installment  of  5  per  cent,  more  on  their  stock.  It  met 
with  no  response.  It  was  only  too  evident  that  to  depend  on 
the  subscribers  to  this  original  stock  for  further  voluntary  aid 
would  be  futile,  and  as  the  law's  authority  to  compel  payment 
seemed  to  the  management  to  be  too  harsh,  some  plan  must 
be  devised  by  which  money  might  be  raised.  Such  a  plan 
was  adopted  March  27,  1841,  by  a  resolution  of  the  Board 
of  Directors,  which  was  known  among  the  investors  and 
financiers  of  that  day  as  the  "  Consolidated  Resolution."  It 
was  as  follows  : 

Each  original  stockholder  of  the  Company,  or  holder  of  the  stock 
subscribed  in  this  city  in  1S35  or  1836,  who  shall  agree  to  pay  on  his 
stock  the  further  sum  of  five  dollars  per  share  on  or  before  the  10th  day 
of  April  next,  or  two  and  a  half  dollars  per  share  subsequently  as  called 
!"i  >r,  shall  be  and  is  hereby  entitled  to  transfer  the  whole  number  of 
shares  so  subscribed  as  held  by  him,  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Com- 
pany. Those  who  shall  have  paid  the  five  dollars  per  share  aforesaid 
shall  be  entitled  to  receive  certificates  of  so  many  shares  of  full 
stock  as  shall  be  equal  to  Sioo  per  share  to  the  whole  amount  which 
shall  have  been  paid  on  all  the  shares  transferred  by  him  aforesaid. 
Those  who  shall  have  paid  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  or  any  further 
sum  less  than  live  dollars  per  share  on  all  the  shares  so  transferred  to 
the  Treasurer,  shall  receive  certificates  of  stock  in  like  proportion, 
which  shall  specify  the  balance  of  the  said  five  dollars  to  be  paid  on 
each  share  to  make  it  full  stock. 

I  li.it  transfers  pursuant  to  the  foregoing  arrangement, 
be  and  hereby  are  authorized,  as  soon  as  it  shall  appear  that  the  holders 
of  one-half  or  more  of  the  original  stock  aforesaid  shall  have  specified 
their  concurrence  in  the  said  arrangement,  and  that  the  Executive 
Committee,  with  the  Commissioner,  Mr.  Lyman,  be  authorized  to 
carry  the  same  into  effect. 

The  reason  for  this  measure  was  the  unfavorable  manner 
in  which  the  call  for  the  5  per  cent,  was  received  by  the 
stockholders.  Many  of  these  were  insolvent  and  unable  to 
pay,  and  those  who  were  able  to  pay  would  not  do  so  unless 
the  others  paid  as  well.  The  gentle  view  was  held  of  these 
lattei  by  the  Hoard  of  Directors  that  as  they  had  subscribed 
originally  for  the  stock  merely  to  help  the  Company  along, 


and  not  for  any  desire  or  expectation  of  individual  profit,  it 
would  be  cruel  to  hold  them  to  the  terms  of  the  subscription 
and  the  Company's  charter,  and  force  them  by  legal  stress  to 
pay  their  assessments  or  forfeit  their  stock.  The  considerate 
Board  did  not  seem  to  think  it  anything  paradoxical  in  the 
claim  of  these  stockholders  as  to  how  they  were  helping  the 
Company  by  subscribing,  if  they  did  not  intend  to  pay  their 
subscriptions.  And  among  the  subscribers  who  would  be 
made  to  suffer  by  such  a  cruel  course  on  the  part  of  the 
Company  were  William  B.  Astor,  John  Jacob  Astor,  Brown 
Brothers  &  Company,  Francis  B.  Cutting,  John  G.  Coster, 
Charles  Hoyt,  Goold  Hoyt,  James  G.  King,  Nevius,  Town- 
send  &  Co.,  Gouverneur  Morris,  Frederick  de  Peyster, 
Archibald  Gracie,  Gardiner  G.  Howland,  James  Boorman, 
Stephen  Whitney,  and  scores  of  other  merchant  princes  and 
millionaires  of  that  day.  William  B.  Astor  held  seventy-five 
shares,  of  which  he  had  fifteen  made  full  stock  by  paying  the 
five  dollars  per  share  asked  for  by  the  resolution  ;  the  re- 
maining sixty  shares  he  delivered  to  the  Company,  and  was 
relieved  of  all  future  liability  for  them.  John  Jacob  Astor 
paid  Si 50,  and  received  certificates  that  he  was  the  owner  of 
thirty  full  paid-up  shares  of  stock,  and  the  120  remaining 
shares  of  his  holding  he  transferred  to  the  Company  and  was 
thus  relieved  of  all  suspense  as  to  further  demands  on  him 
on  account  of  that  stock,  for  which  he  had  promised  to  pay 
Sioo  per  share.  The  others  of  this  body  of  generous  aiders 
of  a  much  desired  and  needed  public  improvement  relieved 
themselves  of  their  responsibility  for  their  original  subscrip- 
tions, every  dollar  of  which  could  have  been  collected,  in 
about  the  same  proportion. 

The  largest  stockholder  in  the  Company  was  Eleazar  Lord. 
He  held  4,020  shares,  of  which  he  paid  the  assessment  on 
804  shares.  The  263  stockholders,  most  of  them  solvent, 
paid  or  agreed  to  pay  five  dollars  each  on  3,420  of  their  en- 
tire holding  of  17,041  shares,  for  the  privilege  of  being  ab- 
solved from  all  future  liability,  and  surrendered  the  balance, 
13,261  shares,  to  the  Company.  This  bit  of  financial  genius 
on  the  part  of  the  Directors  netted  the  Company  Si 7,000 
in  cash,  and  left  them  the  balance  of  the  stock  to  retransfer 
to  contractors  in  part  payment  for  work  and  material,  or  to 
sell  to  possible  new  purchasers.  The  Company  declared  that 
by  this  transaction  it  was  enabled  to  raise  more  money  than 
could  possibly  have  been  obtained  in  any  other  way,  taking 
into  account  the  possibility  of  future  subscriptions  from  many 
of  the  stockholders  released  from  the  obligations  of  their  old 
stock,  and  the  general  effect  harsh  measures  to  collect  assess- 
ments would  have  had  on  the  condition  of  the  Company's 
affairs  at  that  time.  This  was  the  opinion  of  President  King 
and  Treasurer  Bowen,  and  the  plan  was  adopted  on  the  ad- 
vice of  the  Company's  counsel,  William  Kent. 

A    SHOW     OF     PROGRESS. 

The  operations  of  the  contractors  who  were  continued  at 
their  work  in  1S39  did  not  go  with  much  push,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  early  spring  of  1S40  that  healthy  activity  on  the 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


321 


line  began.  The  Lord  plan  of  raising  money  ("  Administration 
of  Eleazar  Lord,"  page  44)  was  meeting  with  success,  and  J.  S. 
T.  Stranahan,  with  Daniel  Carmichael  as  his  partner,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Carmichael  &  Stranahan,  took  contracts  to  the 
amount  of  $700,000  on  the  road,  mainly  in  rock  and  bank 
excavation  and  embankment  wall.  This  firm  accepted  one- 
third  of  the  contract  price  in  stock.  About  the  same  time 
the  Company  advertised  forbids  for  laying  the  superstructure 
of  the  railroad,  separate  bids  to  be  made  for  the  section  be- 
tween Piermont  and  Coffeys  (the  Rockland  County  line), 
twenty-six  miles,  and  the  section  from  that  point  to  Goshen, 
twenty  miles.  There  were  twenty-three  applicants  for  the 
contracts.  To  George  C.  and  Sidney  G.  .Miller  was  awarded 
the  contract  from  Coffey's  to  Goshen,  June  12,  1840.  The 
contract  price  was  ten  and  one-half  cents  per  lineal  foot  of 
timber,  twenty-five  cents  apiece  for  cross  ties,  and  two 
dollars  per  rod  for  mechanical  work,  including  laying  the 
iron.  The  superstructure  for  this  part  of  the  road  cost 
5,59,376,  or  $1,968.80  per  mile.  June  13,  1S40,  the  contract 
from  Piermont  to  Coffey's,  twenty-six  miles,  was  awarded  to 
William  E.  (amp  .NzCo.,  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  at  twelve  and  one- 
quarter  cents  per  lineal  foot  of  timber,  twenty-five  cents  apiece 
for  cross  ties,  and  two  dollars  per  rod  for  mechanical  work,  in- 
cluding laying  of  the  iron,  making  the  cost  of  the  superstruc- 
ture for  that  part  of  the  road  §55,993.60,  or  §2,153.60  per 
mile. 

J.  S.  T.  Stranahan,  mentioned  above,  was  the  first  successful 
contractor  on  the  Erie,  ami  did  much  toward  getting  the  work 
started  towards  completion.  He  was  one  of  those  who,  nine 
vears  later,  made  the  extension  of  the  Erie  west  from  Bing- 
hamton  possible  at  that  time.  He  became  one  of  the  distin- 
-hed  men  of  this  country,  and  died  in  1S98,  aged  nearly 
ninety  years,  known  all  over  the  land  as  "The  First  Citizen 
of  Brooklyn,"  in  which  city  a  splendid  bronze  monument 
perpetuates  his  memory. 

TROUBLE  ABOUT  A  CHANCE  OF  ROUTE. 

As  early  as  1836  the  people  of  interior  Sullivan  County 
became  disturbed  by  the  fear  that  the  route  selected  through 
that  county  by  the  original  survey  of  1S34  would  eventually 
be  abandoned,  and  they  began  to  use  all  the  influence  they 
could  bring  to  bear  to  prevent  the  choice  of  a  route  other 
than  through  the  interior,  although  the  original  survey  should 
be  rejected.  They  requested  the  Company  to  make  a  new 
survey  of  routes  through  the  interior,  and  insisted  that  one 
could  be  found  better  and  cheaper  than  one  through  the 
Delaware  Valley.  Such  surveys  were  made  in  1S40,  under 
the  supervision  of  A.  C.  Morton,  routes  through  the  Delaware 
Valley  being  run  out  at  the  same  time. 

Two  routes  were  surveyed  through  Sullivan  County, 
known  as  the  Thompsonville  route  and  the  Bronson  route. 
They  were  both  the  same  from  the  Deerpark  Gap  at  Shawan- 
gunk  Summit  to  Barber's  Eddy,  on  the  Xeversink,  fourteen  and 
one-half  miles.  There  the  former  route  took  a  direction  that 
brought  it  near  the  village  of  Monticello,  and  the  latter  ran 


through  Thompsonville,  several  miles  further  north.  They 
met  in  the  valley  of  the  Mongaup  and  were  identical  from 
there  to  the  mouth  of  the  Callicoon  Creek,  twenty  miles. 
Both  routes  were  crooked  and  of  heavy  grades,  three-fifths  of 
the  Bronson  route  being  sixty  feet  to  the  mile.  The  road 
built  on  this  route,  twenty-three  and  one-half  miles,  was  es- 
timated to  cost  §491,833.  The  Callicoon  Creek  would  have 
hail  to  be  crossed  nine  times  in  a  distance  of  twenty  miles, 
and  along  tunnel  made  through  a  rocky  point  near  the  mouth 
of  the  creek.  The  entire  cost  of  the  road  by  the  Thompson- 
ville route,  which  was  the  preferable  one,  from  the  Shawan- 
gunk  Summit  to  the  mouth  of  Callicoon  Creek,  fifty-nine 
miles,  it  was  estimated,  would  be  §987,930. 

The  other  routes  sun  eyed  were  known  as  the  Delaware 
and  the  Pennsylvania.  On  the  latter  only  a  reconnoissance 
was  made,  "  but  one  sufficiently  accurate  to  determine  its  ad- 
vantages." The  interior  routes  were  not  approved  by  En- 
gineer Morton,  who  reported  to  the  Company  in  favor  of  the 
Delaware  route.  If  the  railroad  had  been  constructed  as 
]  imposed  on  this  route,  some  idea  may  be  had  of  how  pleasant 
and  profitable  its  building  would  have  been  to  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  and  of  what  sort  of  a  "  freak  " 
highway  the  Erie  would  have  been  in  the  valley  to-day,  when 
it  is  known  that  it  would  have  been  built  partially  in  the  chan- 
nel of  the  Delaware  River,  would  have  crossed  the  canal 
seven  times  within  twenty  miles,  and  required  at  least  two 
tunnels.  The  historic  survey  through  Sullivan  County  was  made 
by  Allen  A.  Goodliffe,  in  the  fall  of  1839  and  winter  of  r840,  as 
Eirst  Assistant  under  A.  C.  Morton.  He  is  still  living,  aged 
eightv-seven  years,  the  last  survivor  of  the  pioneer  civil  engi- 
neers of  this  country.  He  began  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  on 
the  Newcastle  and  Frenchtown  Railroad,  in  Delaware.  In 
1831  he  helped  survey  the  Ithaca  and  Owego  Railroad  route, 
and  in  1S34  was  an  engineer  on  the  Chenango  Canal.  In 
1836  he  went  to  the  Long  Island  Railroad,  under  James  P. 
Kirkwood,  Engineer  of  that  work  and  some  years  later  Super- 
intendent of  the  Erie.  In  1837  he  became  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  Norwich  and  Worcester  Railroad,  and  a  year  later  helped 
locate  a  route  for  the  proposed  New  York  and  Albany  Rail- 
road. Then  he  made  the  Sullivan  County  survey  of  the  Erie 
route.  December,  1.S40,  he  completed  the  survey  of  the 
New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad,  and  ran  the  line  for  the  de- 
sired eight-mile  extension  of  that  railroad  to  the  Hudson 
River,  to  connect  with  the  Erie,  which  great  opportunity  the 
Erie  rejected.  It  is  to  Mr.  Goodliffe  that  the  author  is  in- 
debted for  the  records  on  which  that  chapter  of  Erie  is 
written.  From  1S41  to  1847  Mr.  Goodliffe  followed  his 
profession  on  the  Boston  and  Albany,  the  West  Stockbridge, 
and  the  Long  Island  railroads.  He  rode  on  the  first  loco- 
motive that  pulled  a  train  of  passenger  cars  on  the  latter 
railroad,  October  8,  [844.  In  1.S47  he  was  appointed  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Vermont  Central  Railroad,  but  declined  it 
at  the  solicitation  of  his  family,  and  went  into  mercantile 
business.  He  removed  to  Wellsville.  N.  Y.,  on  the  Erie,  in 
July,  1 85 1,  where  he  is  still  living,  a  remarkable  relic  of  the 
pioneer  days  of  railroads,  the  possibilities  of  which  he  foresaw 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


and  advocated,  a  generation  ahead  of  his  time.  Engineer 
o's  report  on  the  route  was  accompanied  by  a  strong 
recommendation  in  favor  of  it,  and  the  Company  seems  to 
have  thought  so  well  of  it  that,  without  waiting  for  the  san<  - 
tion  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York  for  the  change,  it  let 
contrai  ts,  in  I  >ei  ember,  1S40,  for  the  grading  of  the  road-bed 
west  of  Middletown,  and  over  the  new  route,  as  follows  : 

Carmichael  &  King,  Sections  1,  2,  and  3;  Haggerty  & 
Dimon,  Section  4  ;  Reeve  &  King,  Sections  5  and  6;  J.  C. 
Collins,  Summit  Section ;  Bernard  Flynn  &  Co.,  Summit  to 
Teakettle  Brook;  James  O'Brien,  Teakettle  Brook  to  Neve  r- 
sink  River;  O.  H.Taylor  &  Co.,  Neversink  River  half-way 
to  Butler's  on  the  Delaware  River  :  Roberts  &  Sloat,  the  re- 
maining  half;  Ives,  N'elson,  Downer  &  Co.,  twenty  miles, 
from  Butler's  to  Lackawaxen ;  Black,  Malone  &  Co.,  Lacka- 
waxen  to  Cochecton  :  Wood,  Wilkes  &  Co.,  Cochecton  to 
Callicoon.  This  let  the  road  in  the  Delaware  Valley  up  to 
the  point  where  the  contract  of  1835,  under  President  King, 
ended.  These  contractors  took  from  one-third  to  three- 
eighths  of  the  amount  of  their  contracts  in  stock.  The  clear- 
ing and  grubbing  on  this  section  were  to  cost  $50  to  $800  per 
mile  ;  but  the  Delaware  Valley  contracts  were  not  begun  with 
the  other  work,  for,  notwithstanding  the  appeals  of  the  Com- 
pany,  the  Legislature  did  not  sanction  the  change  of  route. 

Apprehensive  that  legislative  consent  would  eventually  be 
obtained  by  the  Company  to  run  its  railroad  over  the  pro- 
posed route  through  the  Delaware  Valley,  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal  Company  filed  a  bill  in  the  Court  of  Chancery 
asking  for  an  injunction  preventing  the  railroad  from  going 
there.  This  was  the  Erie's  first  injunction  suit,  although  such 
proceedings  were  destined  to  become  a  large  part  of  the 
Company's  subsequent  history.  The  answer  to  this  original 
action  against  the  Krie  was  drawn  by  William  Kent,  and  he 
argued  it  at  Saratoga.  He  received  $250  as  his  fee.  George 
Ward  was  his  associate  counsel,  and  received  the  same  fee. 
William  Samuel  Johnson  was  his  law  partner  in  New  York 
City.  William  Kent  succeeded  Charles  G.  King  as  Attorney 
of  the  Company,  King  having  been  such  from  the  fall  of 
1837  until  1X40.  King  succeeded  John  Duer,  who  was  the 
Company's  first  counsel.  The  first  business  Kent  had  to 
transact  was  to  call  on  stockholders  for  arrearages  of  stock, 
and  luing  suits  if  they  did  not  pay.  Kent  secured  title  to 
the  land  requested  for  the  road-bed  in  Rockland  County  in 
1838,  and  began  four  suits  before  the  Chancellor  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  Commissioners  to  appraise  damages.  He  re- 
ceived in  all  S4,ooo  for  his  services.  One  of  his  bills  was 
cut  clown  to  Si, 000  by  the  Company. 

I  he  courts  sustained  ail  the  Canal  Company's  contentions. 
The  injunction  against  the  Delaware  Valley  route  was  granted 
and  made  perpetual,  and  during  the  year  that  elapsed  before 
any  further  work  was  done  on  the  railroad,  circumstanc :es  had 
provided  a  route  through  the  valley  satisfactory  to  all. 

The  Railroad  Company  could  hardly  be  blamed  for  trying 
to  find  a  thoroughfare  in  the  Delaware  Valley,  even  by  such  a 
route  as  Morton's,  for  by  no  other  means  could  it  have  got 
down   off  the  Shawangunk  Summit  to  the  Neversink  Valley 


with  a  locomotive  road.  By  the  original  survey,  which  led 
the  route  through  central  Sullivan  County,  the  railroad  was  to 
be  run  from  the  Shawangunk  Summit  to  Cuddebackville,  by 
crossing  the  Basheskill  Creek.  The  distance  between  the 
summit  and  Cuddebackville  was  less  than  two  and  one-half 
miles,  and  between  the  summit  and  the  Basheskill  only  a 
little  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half.  The  Basheskill  was  454 
feet  lower  than  the  Deerpark  Gap,  and  seventy-one  feet 
higher  than  Cuddebackville,  so  that  the  railroad  would  have 
had  to  descend  454  feet  within  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a 
half,  and  then  climb  up  seventy-one  feet  the  next  mile  to 
get  to  Cuddebackville  !  "  This  was  originally  deemed  the 
point  of  greatest  difficulty  on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road," said  Engineer  Morton  in  his  teport.  "  The  first  sur- 
vey contemplated  grades  of  100  feet  per  mile,  and  a  summit 
cut  of  fifty  feet.  A  commission  of  eminent  engineers  (Mon- 
cure  Robinson  and  Jonathan  Knight)  afterwards  recom 
mended  a  formidable  tunnel  at  the  gap  with  grades  of  roo 
feet,  inclined  planes  with  stationary  power,  and  switch  lines 
with  culminating  points  reversing  the  position  of  the  trains." 

It  was  with  the  laudable  purpose  of  solving  this  vexing 
Shawangunk  Summit  problem  that  Engineer  Morton  sought 
the  route  to  and  through  the  Delaware  Valley  which  would 
necessitate  the  abandoning  of  Sullivan  County  by  the  railroad. 
But  the  future  was  to  deal  with  that  problem. 

In  the  summer  of  1841,  James  Seymour,  who  was  one  of 
Benjamin  Wright's  assistants  in  the  original  Erie  survey  of 
1834,  examined  the  Erie  route  at  the  request  of  the  Legis- 
lative Committee  that  was  investigating  the  Company's  af- 
fairs. Seymour  made  a  report  August  20,  1841.  This  was 
before  the  railroad  had  been  opened  to  Goshen.  "  An  im- 
portant circumstance  connected  with  the  selection  of  the 
Delaware  route,  and  the  ulterior  views  of  the  Company,"  said 
he,  "  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  anthracite  coal  fields 
of  Pennsylvania  may  be  advantageously  reached  by  the  con- 
struction of  a  branch  road,  a  distance  of  about  forty  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Lackawaxen,  by  following  up  the  val- 
ley of  the  Wallenpaupack  (a  tributary  of  the  Lackawaxen) 
through  Cobb's  Gap  to  the  coal  fields,  which  may  be  deemed 
inexhaustible  for  many  centuries  to  come.  From  informa- 
tion derived  from  sources  I  have  every  reason  to  consider 
authentic,  I  am  enabled  to  state  that  a  company  with  resources 
under  their  control  are  prepared  to  commence  the  construc- 
tion of  a  road  for  that  purpose  as  soon  as  it  is  positively 
ascertained  the  Delaware  route  has  been  adopted.  It  is 
within  the  sphere  of  judicious  calculation  to  estimate  that 
100,000  tons  of  coal  may  be  delivered  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Lackawaxen  during  the  first  year  the  two  roads  are  in  opera- 
tion. The  distance  from  that  point  to  Piermont  is  ninety- 
five  miles,  and  the  cost  of  delivering  that  amount  of  coal  will 
not  probably  exceed  $100,000,  as  ten  cars  carrying  ten  tons 
each  will  deliver  100  tons  by  means  of  a  single  train;  but 
say  $150,000,  and  the  Company  should  charge  but  $3,  they 
could  realize  the  first  year,  over  and  above  expenses,  $150,- 
000  by  this  single  operation." 

More  than  a  score  of  years  passed  before  this  remarkable 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


323 


prophecy  was  fulfilled,  but  fulfilled  it  was.  The  Hawley 
Branch  of  the  Erie  and  the  Erie  and  Wyoming  Railroad 
cover  almost  exactly  the  route  Seymour  mentioned  in  1841, 
and  carry  to  market  twenty  times  more  coal  than  he  calculated 
would  be  the  traffic. 

Engineer  Seymour  described  the  manner  in  which  the  rail- 
road was  being  constructed  on  the  Eastern  Division.  "  A 
small  portion  of  the  road  is  constructed  on  piles,  another  por- 
tion upon  trestles,  but  by  far  the  largest  portion  is  graded. 
A  longitudinal  sill  placed  lengthwise  of  the  road,  flattened 
upon  two  sides,  about  eight  inches  thick  and  twelve  wide, 
with  cross-ties  transversely  across  the  road,  let  into  the  sills 
sufficiently  near  to  bind  them  firmly  together.  The  cross- 
ties  are  set  into  the  sills  from  the  top,  thereby  giving  the  sill 
an  equal  bearing  from  end  to  end,  in  order  that  the  frost 
when  acting  may  act  equally,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve 
as  uniform  a  surface  as  possible.  Upon  the  centre  of  the 
wooden  rail  superstructure  is  a  heavy  iron  H-rail  weighing  fifty- 
six  pounds  to  the  yard,  firmly  secured  by  means  of  spikes. 
This  rail  costs,  including  chain,  centre  plates  and  spikes, 
about  S;,ooo  per  mile  for  a  single  track." 

This  observing  engineer  examined  also  into  the  manner  in 
which  stock  was  agreed  to  be  taken  by  the  contractors. 
After  it  was  ascertained  by  the  Company  who  were  the  lowest 
responsible  bidders,  the  bidders  were  invited  to  a  private 
consultation  with  the  Company's  representatives  and  re- 
quested to  take  a  certain  amount  of  stock,  before  they  were 
informed  they  were  entitled  to  the  work.  This  proposal  be- 
ing assented  to  on  the  part  of  the  gentlemen  concerned,  the 
work  was  promptly  declared  off  to  them,  "  a  perfectly  fair 
and  honorable  business  transaction,  in  which  the  interests  of 
the  Company  were  faithfully  consulted,"  declared  Mr.  Sey- 
mour—something, however,  about  which  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  different  opinion  held  by  others  in  that  day  and  gen- 
eration. 


THE     UNFORTUNATE    ROADWAY    OF    PILES. 

There  are  traditions  to-day  connecting  the  Erie's  early 
construction  vaguely  with  a  causeway  of  piles,  one  being  that 
rails  of  the  Erie  were  originally  laid  on  piling  for  hundreds  of 
miles,  until  their  decaying  compelled  the  substitution  of  a 
solid  road-bed  by  filling  in  the  space  between  the  ground  and 
the  rails  with  rock  and  earth,  which  is  now  the  bed  the  road 
lies  on  in  the  Susquehanna  and  Alleghany  valleys.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  many  sections  of  the  old  piled  road-bed  have  no 
connection  with  the  present  Erie  route  in  those  localities, 
an  1  no  rails  were  ever  placed  upon  it.  The  story  of  it  was 
a  melancholy  one  in  its  day.  It  may  well  serve  only  to 
amuse  in  these  days  of  advanced  railroad  science. 

A  piled  roadway  instead  of  a  graded  road-bed  was  decided 
on  by  the  Company  upon  the  representations  and  recom- 
mendations of  Gen.  Charles  B.  Stuart,  made  to  the  Com- 
panv  through  General  Commissioner  Samuel  P.  Lyman,  who 
had    asked   Stewart's   opinion,   in  January,    1840.     General 


Stewart  had  constructed  the  Syracuse  and  Utica  Railroad  in 
1839,  much  of  which  was  built  on  piles.  He  wrote  to  Ly- 
man that  "  piled  road  was  an  improvement  destined  to  facili- 
tate the  completion  of  those  vast  links  in  the  chain  of  in- 
ternal improvements  which  have  been  projected  throughout 
our  State  and  the  Lnion."  He  recommended  its  adoption  not 
only  in  low  and  marshy  lands,  but  in  ever)'  instance  wherein 
there  was  an  abundant  supply  of  piling  timber,  and  where 
the  ground  would  admit  of  its  construction.  "  But  it  is  not 
alone  in  the  economy  of  construction  that  the  advantages  of 
the  piling  system  consists  in  this  Northern  clime,"  wrote  Gen- 
eral Stewart.  "  It  is  not  liable  to  derangement  by  frost ;  it  is 
not  liable  to  be  obstructed  by  snow ;  it  is  free  from  the  dan- 
gers of  a  graded  road  in  consequence  of  the  washing  of  the 
banks  by  flood  and  rains,  and  settling  when  set  up  in  soft 
bottoms,  thereby  requiring  constant  expense  to  adjust  the 
road  and  replace  the  earth  materials.  The  interest  on  the 
money  saved  by  building  a  pile  road  instead  of  a  graded 
road  will  renew  the  piles,  if  necessary,  every  five  years." 
The  piles  and  superstructure  were  to  be  saturated  with  salt,  a 
quantity  being  put  into  the  head  of  each  pile.  Eight  men, 
he  said,  could  grade  a  mile  of  such  road  in  a  month. 

Other  recommendations  for  the  piled  road-bed  were  that 
there  would  be  no  expense  for  ties  and  repairs,  and  it  would 
offer  no  inducements  to  pedestrians  or  cattle  to  walk  on  the 
track,  thus  saving  human  life  from  peril,  and  the  Company 
from  responsibility  for  damages.  The  strongest  argument 
in  favor  of  piles  was  that  delay  in  constructing  the  railroad 
would  imperil  the  Company's  franchise,  prompt  the  repeal  of 
the  loan  bill,  or  involve  the  work  in  some  other  legislative  en- 
tanglement ;  and  that  piles,  besides  being  much  cheaper, 
could  be  set  in  one-half  the  time  it  would  take  to  make  a 
graded  road-bed,  thus  saving  time  and  money  to  the  Com- 
pany, both  of  which  were  of  vital  importance.  Moreover, 
this  road-bed  would  make  a  demand  for  timber  along  the 
route  and  for  local  labor,  thus  arousing  sectional  sympathy 
and  influence  in  behalf  of  the  railroad,  which  had  come  to  be 
none  too  popular. 

The  piled  roadway  was  adopted.  Instead  of  an  extent  of 
marsh  land  in  which  piles  were  necessary,  the  ground  was  so 
solid  that  the  patent  portable  pile-drivers,  eight  of  which  the 
Company  employed  to  do  the  work,  drove  the  timbers  with 
difficulty,  and  in  some  places  beds  of  gravel  had  to  be  ex- 
cavated before  the  piles  could  be  forced  down.  They  were 
driven  below  the  frost  line,  with  a  space  of  five  feet  between 
them,  and  projected  on  the  level  four  inches  above  the 
ground.  Where  there  were  hollow  places  on  the  line,  or 
spots  where  they  were  liable  to  be  overflown  by  water,  the 
projection  of  the  piles  above  ground  was  greater,  according 
to  circumstances.  Such  places  were  to  be  filled  in  with 
gravel.  These  piles,  it  was  estimated,  would  continue  sound 
and  serviceable  from  ten  to  fifteen  years,  and  would  be  uni- 
formly secure  and  steady.  A  full  description  of  them,  and 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  to  be  driven,  and  the  frame- 
work for  the  rails  and  cross-ties  formed,  is  contained  in  the 
contract  specifications,  as  follows  : 


3^4 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


The  contract  was  made  February  to.  1840,  by  Samuel 
P.  Lyman,  as  Commissioner  of  the  Company,  with  John  }'. 
Manrow,  oi  Rome,  Oneida  County,  and  Niles  Higinbotham, 
mi  I  enox,  Madison  County,  by  which  they  were  to  grade  the 
mad  between  Binghamton  and  Hornellsville,  and  have  the 
road-bed  ready  for  a  single  tra<  k  by  July  1,  1S42.  for  £800 
per  mile  "for  clearing  and  grubbing  for  a  graded  road, 
through  any  wilderness  that  may  occur,  and  the  sum  of  S425 
per  mile  for  grubbing  for  the  pile  road  through  any  wilder- 
ness that  may  01  cur  on  the  said  road,  and  the  sum  of  $1  for 
grubbing  each  stump,  where  the  diameter  is  one  foot  or  more 
at  the  base,  and  for  smaller  stumps  a  price  proportioned  to 
the  size  and  expense  of  removal;  also  for  butting,  sharpen- 
ing, turning,  driving,  and  sawing  off,  boring  and  fitting  the 
piles  for  the  superstructure,  according  to  the  specifications  of 
a  pile  road,  taking  the  piles  where  they  are  to  be  delivered 
by  the  terms  of  the  contracts  for  delivery.  In  all  cases 
where  the  length  of  the  pile  does  not  exceed  fifteen  feet,  and 
where  the  same  are  sawed  off  at  a  distance  of  three  feet  and 
a  half  from  the  surface  of  the  road-bed.  at  the  rate  of  $1,150 
per  mile.  In  cases  where  the  length  of  the  pile  is  more  than 
fifteen  feet  and  less  than  eighteen,  the  additional  sum  of  $50 
per  mile  ;  and  for  every  additional  three  feet,  over  eighteen 
feet,  the  further  sum  of  $25  per  mile  :  and  in  cases  where 
the  piles  are  sawed  off  at  a  distance  of  more  than  three  and 
one-half  feet,  and  less  than  five  feet  from  the  surface  of  the 
road,  the  additional  sum  of  S50  per  mile;  and  for  every  ad- 
ditional five  feet  over  the  above-mentioned  five  feet  from 
the  ground,  the  further  sum  of  Sioo  per  mile."  They  were 
also  to  frame  the  sills,  and  lay  the  superstructure  readv  for 
the  iron  for  S750  per  mile.  The  contract  called  for  the  sink- 
ing of  the  sills  in  trenches  six  inches  deep  and  wide  enough 
to  bed  the  timber  evenly  and  firmly.  At  the  joint  of  the 
sills,  a  plank  two  inches  thick,  one  foot  wide,  and  two  feet 
long  was  to  be  laid  on  the  bottom  of  the  trench,  and  the 
ends  of  the  sills  on  this  bearing  plank,  which  was  to  be  sunk 
in  the  trench  so  that  its  top  was  even  with  the  bottom  of  the 
trench,  the  plank  and  sills  being  pounded  down  by  heavy 
mauls.  The  earth  removed  from  the  trenches  was  to  be 
rammed  around  the  sills  to  prevent  water  from  settling  under 
them  ;  the  cross-ties  hewn  flat  on  their  bottom  their  whole 
length,  so  as  to  give  a  full  and  true  bearing  of  nine  inches 
longitudinally  on  the  sills,  and  framed  the  same  as  the  piled 
road.  The  remainder  of  the  superstructure  was  to  be  con- 
structed just  like  superstructure  for  piled  road. 

The  contractors  were  to  receive  Sioo  for  each  and  every 
time  they  had  to  move  a  pile-driving  machine  from  one  part 
of  the  road  to  another.  They  were  to  put  on  the  work  six  of 
Crane's  patent  steam  pile-driving  machines,  and  if  they 
needed  two  more  the  Company  was  to  pay  half  the  cost  of 
the  additional  machines,  in  stated  advances  of  certain  sums 
of  money,  and  was  to  have  a  lien  on  the  machines  for  these 
advances,  the  amount  to  be  deducted  from  money  due  the 
<  on  tractors  on  final  settlement.  The  contractors  took  5  per 
cent,  of  the  amount  of  their  contract  in  stock  at  par,  under 
their  contract,  but  it  was  modified  July  10,  1841,  and  they  ac- 


cepted one-third  in  stock.  The  payments  and  advances  agreed 
to  bv  the  Company  were  to  depend  entirely  on  its  ability  to 
raise  funds  from  the  subscribers  and  stockholders  along  the 
line  of  the  Susquehanna  Division,  and  from  the  avails  of  the 
stock  of  the  State,  and  not  on  the  stockholders  in  the  city  of 
New  York  or  elsewhere,  the  Company  to  notify  the  contract- 
ors a  month  in  advance  as  to  the  probable  amount  of  money 
to  be  realized  in  that  way  each  ensuing  month,  to  enable  the 
contractors  to  determine  the  amount  of  labor  they  might  do. 
If  they  did  more  work  than  there  was  money  raised  to  pay 
for,  interest  was  to  be  paid  the  contractors  until  the  excess 
was  paid  from  the  avails  of  the  stock,  the  contractors  to  use 
their  own  option  about  going  on  with  their  contract  after  a 
failure  to  receive  all  that  was  due  thereon  every  month.  If 
from  lack  of  funds  the  contractors  were  unable  to  complete 
their  contract  by  the  time  agreed,  the  time  should  be  ex- 
tended long  enough  to  make  up  for  the  delay,  and  in  case  the 
cost  of  labor,  provisions,  and  materials  had  increased  in  the 
meantime,  the  difference  should  be  added  to  the  sum  agreed 
to  be  paid  by  the  Company  for  the  work. 

The  piles  were  to  be  straight  and  sound  white  oak,  not  less 
than  eight  feet  long,  and  not  less  than  ten  or  more  than  six- 
teen inches  in  diameter  at  the  butt,  at  least  one-half  to  meas- 
ure one  foot  at  the  butt.  The  cross-ties  were  to  be  white 
oak  or  chestnut,  perfectly  sound,  not  less  than  nine  or  more 
than  thirteen  inches  at  the  small  end,  sawed  in  lengths  of  nine 
and  one-half  feet.  They  were  to  be  delivered  along  the  line 
in  piles  of  from  ten  to  twenty- five.  The  rail  timber  was 
to  be  sound,  square-edged  white  oak,  sawed  on  four  sides, 
7x8  inches,  and  to  be  16,  20,  24,  28,  or  32  feet  long,  exclu- 
sive of  stub-shot.  The  sills  were  to  be  sound  white  oak,  pine, 
or  hemlock,  sawed  on  two  sides  to  make  a  stick  six  inches 
thick,  and  not  less  than  twelve  inches  wide,  exclusive  of  wane 
on  the  bottom  or  wide  side,  no  sill  to  be  less  than  ten  inches, 
exclusive  of  wane,  on  the  narrow  side,  and  to  be  16,  20,  24,  or 
28  feet  long. 

The  piles  were  to  be  driven  four  feet  apart  longitudinally, 
and  six  feet  apart  transversely,  from  centre  to  centre,  and  at 
least  five  feet  below  the  surface,  and  until  they  reached  solid 
bottom,  or  a  point  where,  owing  to  the  firmness  of  the  earth, 
the  piles  could  not  be  driven  more  than  two  inches  at  a  blow 
of  the  hammers  of  the  driving  machine.  If  a  pile  was  not 
long  enough  to  reach  solid  bottom,  it  was  to  be  sawed  off,  and 
another  pile  connected  with  it  bv  a  pin  placed  in  the  cen- 
tre of  each  at  the  point,  and  the  two  driven  until  bottom 
was  reached.  After  reaching  bottom,  each  pile  was  to  be 
sawed  off  on  a  line  corresponding  with  the  grade  of  the  road. 
On  the  top  or  upper  side  of  each  pile  a  tenon  was  to  be 
framed  for  the  notch  in  the  cross-tie,  the  tenon  being  two 
inches  high  and  nine  inches  thick,  and  of  the  same  width  as 
the  cross-tie,  and  so  made  that  the  tie  sheltered  the  pile  from 
rain  and  snow  ;  the  lower  side  of  each  tie  to  be  framed  to  the 
top  of  the  piles  by  a  notch  cut  across  it  nine  inches  wide,  and 
of  a  depth  sufficient  for  the  tenon  on  top  of  the  pile,  and  so 
adjusted  that  it  had  a  bearing  on  the  tenon  of  nine  inches. 
In  the  upper  side  of  the  tie  notches  were  to  be  cut  of  suffi- 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


325 


cient  width  for  a  longitudinal  rail  7x8  inches  to  fit  in  and 
be  fastened  by  a  wedge  eighteen  inches  in  length,  four  inches 
wide,  and  one  and  one-half  inches  thick  at  the  large  end,  the 
notch  to  be  as  deep  as  the  thickness  of  the  tie  would  permit. 
Every  alternate  wedge  was  to  be  driven  in  a  direction  oppo- 
site to  the  other,  and  the  rails  chamfered  off  one  inch  from 
the  inside  line  on  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees  from  the  top. 
The  iron  rails — or  bars,  as  they  were  called — were  to  be 
three  inches  wide  and  three-quarters  of  an  inch  thick,  and 
spiked  to  the  wooden  rail  on  a  line  with  the  chamfered  edge, 
and  laid  to  a  gauge  precisely  six  feet,  one-quarter  of  an  inch 
space  to  be  left  between  the  ends  of  the  bars  for  expansion. 
The  centre  of  the  tie  was  to  be  on  a  line  with  the  centre  of 
the  track,  and  the  distance  to  the  outside  shoulder  of  the  tie 
three  feet  six  inches  from  the  centre  of  the  tie,  the  outside 
shoulder  parallel  with  the  wooden  rail,  and  the  inside  shoulder 
framed  on  an  angle  to  correspond  with  the  shape  of  the 
wedge  when  driven  to  its  place,  so  that  the  middle  of  the 
ledge  would  be  on  a  line  with  the  centre  of  the  tie  and  notch  ; 
the  ties  to  be  framed  and  fitted  to  the  tops  of  the  piles  and 
firmly  pinned  to  them  by  a  white  elm  tree-rail  one  foot  long 
and  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  eight-square.  A  space  of 
twelve  feet  was  to  be  cleared  of  timber  on  each  side  of  the 
piled  road-bed. 

There  were  eight  steam  pile-drivers  at  work  in  1841,  each 
manned  with  thirteen  men,  and  a  horse  and  cart  for  drawing 
water.  The  hammers  weighed  from  1,000  to  1,400  pounds, 
the  fall  of  which  was  thirty  feet  by  the  last  blow.  The  ma- 
chines averaged  a  distance  of  one  mile  a  month  each.  There 
were  also  four  hand  pile  machines,  with  2,500-pound  ham- 
mers, driving  foundations  for  bridges.  The  steam  machines 
combined  the  action  of  a  pile-driver,  locomotive,  and  saw- 
mill. They  moved  on  wheels,  and  each  machine  drove  two 
piles  at  a  time,  after  which  it  sawed  them  off  at  a  given  level. 


RUINS   OF  THE   OLD   PILED    ROAD-BED,    FROM    A    DRAWING   M 


is  commenced,  and  is  to  be  finished  so  that  the  cars  will  run 
the  whole  distance  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1842.  At  3 
o'clock  p.m.,  the  hour  designated  for  the  commencement  of 
the  work,  the  ground  on  which  the  pile-driver  had  been 
erected,  about  one  mile  east  of  the  village,  was  thronged  with 
an  anxious  multitude,  from  the  gray-headed  veteran  of  the 
Revolution  to  the  stripling  schoolboy  of  six  or  seven.  All 
were  eager  to  witness  the  operations  of  the  locomotive  mon- 
ster, which  before  now  was  so  much  sneered  at  and  abused, 
and  well  did  the  machine  vindicate  its  majesty  and  power  ! 
The  first  pile  which  was  driven  on  this  occasion  was  also  the 
first  one  which  was  cut,  on  the  20th  of  February  last,  by  the 
agent  of  the  Company,  D.  O.  McComber. 

"  In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  the  presentation  of  a  flag 
by  the  ladies  took  place.  The  ladies  marched  to  the  ground 
in  procession,  preceded  by  the  Nichols  Band  in  a  splendid 
wagon,  drawn  by  six  horses.  On  reaching  the  designated 
spot,  the  ladies  were  ranged  in  semi-circular  form,  the  gen- 
tlemen in  a  like  manner  opposite,  forming  a  circle,  with  the 
band  and  a  platform  for  the  speaker  in  the  centre.  On 
behalf  of  the  ladies,  Mr.  I.  B.  Headley  then  addressed  Mr. 
McComber,  the  agent  of  the  Company,  closing  by  presenting 
him  the  flag;  and  Mr.  McComber  returned  appropriate 
thanks,  on  behalf  of  the  Company.  The  flag  exhibited  on 
one  side  our  national  symbol,  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  with  an 
inscription  on  the  lower  edge,  '  Ocular  Demonstration.'  On 
the  reverse,  the  comer  usually  devoted  to  the  stars  was  occu- 
pied by  the  figure  of  a  locomotive  on  a  pile  road,  on  a  blue 
ground.  On  the  lower  stripe  was  inscribed  'July  4,  1842.' 
"  It  was  hoisted  to  the  peak  of  the  first  pile-driver  that  began 
operations.  The  company  then  returned  to  the  village,  the 
citizens  retiring  to  their  respective  homes,  while  the  opera- 
tives attended  the  machine.  Capt.  Thomas  Sharp,  with  his 
men,  Albert  Savory,  Peleg  Briggs,  George  W.  Parkhurst,  Ben- 
jamin Wood,  Elias  Phelps,  and  William 
Robinson,  and  the  contractor,  chief  engi- 
neer and  assistants,  agents,  and  a  few 
guests,  repaired  to  the  hotel  of  Mr.  Man- 
ning, and  sat  down  to  a  sumptuous  repast. 
After  the  repast  several  toasts  were  drunk, 
appropriate  to  the  occasion.  The  company 
dispersed  at  an  early  hour,  in  good  spirits, 
and  high  hopes  for  the  future." 


THE    FIRST    1'ILE    DRIVEN. 

First  ground  for  the  Erie  had  been  broken  at  Deposit, 
N.  Y.,  in  1835.  Ground  had  again  been  broken  at  Piermont 
and  Dunkirk  in  1838.  But  these  events,  important  as  they 
were,  had  but  little  significance,  according  to  the  account  of 
an  Owego  newspaper  of  the  day,  in  comparison  with  the 
"  driving  of  the  first  pile  "  at  Owego,  on  Wednesday.  May  13, 
1S40.  The  newspaper's  account  bore  the  comprehensive 
heading,  "New  York  ami  /•//<■  Roil  road  Commenced"  Then 
it  went  on  to  say  :  "The  Susquehanna  Division  of  this  great 
work,  extending  from  Bingham  ton  to  Hornellsville,  117  miles, 


Manrow  &  Higinbotham  had  four  hundred  and  fifty  men 
and  sixty  teams  at  work  in  1841,  on  the  Susquehanna  Divis- 
ion. Piatt,  Smith  &  Co.,  of  Albany,  had  a  contract  for 
thirty-six  miles.  The  contracts  were  let  in  long  sections  to 
few  contractors,  which  led  to  much  complaint  against  the 
monopolizing  character  of  the  Company  in  this  respect. 

The  following  donations  of  land  for  depots  and  water-sta- 
tions were  made  along  the  Susquehanna  Division  :  John  Ffol- 
lenback,  near  East  Owego,  6j,i  acres;  John  R.  Drake,  at 
Owego,  9-j^j-  acres;  Charles  F.  Johnson,  at  Owego,  15  acres; 
Harmon  Pumpelly,  at  Owego,  4^  acres;  R.  C.  Johnson,  at 


32  I 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


■■4 '4  acres;  James  Pumpelly  and  wife,  at  Owego,  9 
acies ;  John  Lorimer.  at  Elmira  (east  side  of  river),  g% 
acres;  Dunn  cv  Baldwin,  at  Elmira  (west  side  of  river),  $% 
acies;  George  Gardener,  at  Big  Flats,  8 J^  acres;  Corning 
Company,  at  Corning,  34  '2  acres;  F.  E.  Erwin,  at  Erwin 
(fainted  I'ost),  10  acres;  \\".  B.  Jones,  at  Addison,  5  acres. 
Jeremiah  Rogers,  as  agent  of  the  Company,  wanted  to 
raise  $20,000  in  subscriptions  to  Erie  stock,  at  and  about 
Binghamton.  Hassard  Lewis  was  one  of  the  wealthy  citi- 
zens, but  would  not  subscribe.  If  he  could  get  Lewis,  Rogers 
believed  he  might  get  others.  He  made  an  arrangement  by 
which  Lewis  subscribed  $1,000,  but  was  only  to  pay  $500. 
["hen  Rogers  got  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  Levi  Dimmick,  Chris- 
topher Kldridge,  George  Pratt  &  Co.,  Frank  Whitney,  and 
nearly  one  hundred  others.  Thomas  G.  Waterman  headed 
the  list  of  these  with  Si, 000. 


meeting  of  June  26th  was  Charles  F.  Johnson  and  George  J. 
Pumpelly  to  go  to  New  York  and  present  the  resolutions  to 
Mr.  Lord.     The  resolutions  adopted  were  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road should  be  located  as  near  the  centre  of  business  in  this  village  as 
possible  ;  that  the  northern  route  upon  which  the  work  is  progressing 
will  be,  if  adopted,  exceedingly  injurious,  if  not  destructive  to  the 
business  interests  of  the  village  ;  that  the  adoption  of  the  southern 
route,  so  called,  will  not  only  be  essential  to  the  permanent  business 
interests  of  the  village,  but,  as  we  confidently  believe,  will,  on  exami- 
nation, be  found  equally  advantageous  to  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company,  and  we  pledge  ourselves  to  use  our  efforts  to  make 
it  so  ;  that  a  petition  be  drawn  up*  and  signed  by  the  citizens,  asking 
a  change  of  the  location  of  said  railroad,  and  that  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  present  the  same  to  the  Company  ;  and  that  the  Com- 
missioner be  respectfully  requested  to  stop  the  work  on  the  northern 
line  until  an  answer  can  be  obtained  to  said  petition. 


THE    OWEGO    STATION-SITE    COXTEXTIOX. 

The  Pumpellys  of  Owego  were  early  advocates  of  the  pro- 
ject of  a  railroad  between  the  Hudson  River  and  Lake  Erie. 
When,  in  1S40,  the  railroad  at  last  seemed  to  be  in  close  prox- 
imity to  Owego,  a  bitter  strife  began  there  over  the  location  of 
the  depot,  although  there  was  not  yet  a  mile  of  track  laid  on 
the  entire  line.  James  Pumpelly  wanted  the  railroad  to  run 
through  the  village,  either  by  Temple  or  Fox  Street.  Robert 
C.  Johnson  proposed  to  give  the  Company,  on  condition  that 
it  would  spend  on  the  property  $20,000  a  year  for  three  suc- 
cessive years,  a  30-horse  water-power  and  three  acres  of  land 
connected  with  it,  and  James  Pumpelly  and  Charles  F.  John- 
son were  to  give  additional  land,  amounting  to  twenty-five 
acres.  The  conveyance  was  made  by  Robert  C.  Johnson  on 
condition  that  the  Company  should  use  the  water-power  for 
the  purpose  of  machine  shops,  furnace  and  engine  station,  and 
for  building  and  repairing  cars  and  locomotives  for  the  Com- 
1 1  my.  The  grant  did  not  depend  on  any  particular  line  of  road 
through  Owego.  This  offer  was  made  in  the  spring  of  1840, 
and  the  Company  engaged  to  begin  work  on  the  improve- 
ments on  the  land  in  the  fall  of  1840,  but  the  work  was  soon 
discontinued  by  Engineer  C.  B.  Stuart,  on  the  plea  that  the 
building  laid  out  was  larger  and  involved  a  greater  expense 
than  was  contemplated.  The  surveys  for  a  route  through 
Owego  were  made  by  William  Wentz.  A  meeting  of  citizens 
was  held  at  the  court-house  on  the  evening  of  June  26,  1840, 
at  which  friends  of  the  different  routes  were  present.  George 
Pumpelly  was  the  leader  of  the  advocates  of  the  southern 
route,  and  John  R.  Drake  led  the  advocates  of  the  northern 
route,  or,  more  properly,  what  was  understood  to  be  the 
wishes  of  the  Company,  which  had  accepted  the  proposition 
of  Judge  Drake  to  take  the  northern  route  over  land  which 
he  donated.  The  fight  was  very  bitter  between  the  factions. 
The  Pumpelly  and  Johnson  interests  charged  corruption  on 
the  part  of  Commissioner  Lyman  in  locating  the  route 
through  the  Drake  property,  and  bad  faith  on  the  part  of 
President  Lord,  who,  they  asserted,  had  agreed  to  run  the 
road   through  the  village.     A  committee  appointed  by  the 


The  Commissioner  refused  to  stop  work,  although,  accord- 
ing to  the  committee,  he  said  that  route  would  ruin  the 
business  interests  of  the  town.  The  committee  then  went  to 
New  York  and  saw  Mr.  Lord,  July  8,  1840.  The  resolutions 
of  the  meeting  and  the  citizens'  petition  were  submitted  to 
him  and  the  Directors.  The  committee  tendered  the  Com- 
pany donations  of  land  and  right  of  way  through  Temple  or 
Fox  Street.  President  Lord  said  it  was  too  late.  The  north- 
ern route  had  been  decided  upon,  Mr.  Drake  having  donated 
the  Company  land  for  a  depot,  and  guaranteed  obtaining  the 
right  of  way  through  the  Talcott  farm,  to  which  point  the 
route  had  been  excavated  and  piled.  This  is  the  route  now 
occupied  by  the  Erie,  and  the  feeling  of  bitterness  the  con- 
tention gave  rise  to  among  Owego  families  outlasted  its 
generation. 

The  following  letter  will  be  of  interest : 

127  Xortii  Avenue,  Owego,  July  15,  1896. 
Edward  H.  Mott. 

Dear  Sir  :  Mr.  Leroy  Kingman  handed  me  your  letter  of  June 
16th,  thinking  my  mother,  Mrs.  Harriet  G.  Tinkham,  was  better 
informed  about  the  early  history  of  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
than  any  other  person  in 'Owego,  being  the  eldest  daughter  of  Judge 
John  R.  Drake,  who  gave  nine  and  six-tenths  acres  of  land  for  Erie 
buildings  and  road,  besides  being  an  advocate  and  untiring  worker  for 
the  project  until  his  stroke  of  paralysis,  from  the  time  it  was  incorpo- 
rated, April  24,  1S32.  The  project  was  called  visionary,  impracticable; 
and  at  a  public  meeting  one  man  said  with  oaths  :   "  What  would  the 

old  fool  be  at  next?"     When  the  first  passenger  train   made  its 

appearance,  this  man  stood  by  the  side  of  his  carriage  on  the  hillside 
where  Judge  Drake  had  been  driven,  helpless  from  paralysis,  but  re- 
joicing in  the  realization  of  his  long  hoped-for  enterprise.  Main- 
persons  wished  the  station  located  in  their  part  of  the  town,  but  Judge 
Drake's  offer  was  considered  best,  and  was  accepted.  It  was  this  nine 
and  six-tenths  acres  that  were  given  "  for  the  road,  machine  shops, 
road-houses,  water-tanks,  or  for  ground  for  buildings  for  the  deposit  of 
cars,  lumber,  and  wood  for  the  trade  of  the  road,  only,  however,  for 
purposes  connected  with  the  legitimate  business  of  the  Xew  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  ;  that  it  shall  be  used  only  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a 
building  or  buildings  connected  with  the  legitimate  running  or  making 
of  the  road."  All  this  has  been  forfeited  by  renting  to  private  indi- 
viduals land  for  buildings  for  the  retail  of  wagons,  sash  and  doors, 
salt,  paint,  hardware,  grain,  cement,  bricks,  boards,  etc. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


327 


After  the  station  (Erie)  was  in  order,  the  Ithaca  and  Owego  Rail- 
road discontinued  running  to  the  river  and  turned  to  the  Erie  station. 
The  land  occupied  by  their  track,  which  is  now  Central  Avenue,  from 
Fox  Street  to  the  boundary  of  land  purchased  of  Judge  Drake,  with 
land  on  both  sides  of  what  had  been  the  track  belonging  to  G,  I. 
Pumpelly,  was  covered  with  a  large  building  for  building  bridges  for 
the  New  Vork  and  Erie  Railroad.  After  awhile  the  Company  wished 
to  purchase  this  land  at  their  own  price.  Mr.  Pumpelly  thought  it 
less  than  the  value,  and  no  bargain  was  made.  Then  began  a  gradual 
removal  of  anything  beneficial  to  Owego  from  the  conveyance  of  the 
land  from  Judge  Drake — tracks  taken  up  and  switches  removed,  round- 
house taken  down,  shops  taken  away,  men  ordered  to  live  in  other 
places  (I  believe  it  is  called  changing  the  run  of  the  men),  until  we 
cannot  help  asking  why  this  should  be. 

The  only  remuneration  received  by  Judge  Drake  was  about  fifteen 
hundred  dollars,  which  was  for  a  house  and  lot  that  had  been  con- 
tracted to  a  man,  and  had  to  be  removed  and  another  lot  substituted. 
Not  a  pass  for  himself  or  family,  not  even  honorable  mention  for  his 
generosity.  At  one  time  the  country  was  filled  with  a  pile-driving 
craze,  and  for  miles  a  long  line  of  sticks  in  the  mud  looked  like  sen- 
tinels. Parties  of  engineers  enlivened  the  towns,  and  that  was  all, 
until  the  Xew  Vork  and  Erie  Railroad  came,  and  that,  as  if  by  magic, 
turned  the  attention  of  people  in  this  direction,  and  instead  of  a  jour- 
ney of  three  days  to  Xew  Vork  we  go  in  a  few  hours,  and  the  horses 
drawing  wagons  of  merchandise  are  things  of  the  past,  thanks  to  the 
efforts  of  the  projectors  of  the  New  Vork  and  Erie. 

Respectfully, 

Sakah  Tikkham  Gibson. 


PROGRESS    ON    THE    WESTERN    DIVISION. 

The  cost  for  clearing  and  grubbing  on  the  original  ten 
miles  from  Dunkirk  was  from  S50  to  So,  10  per  mile,  the 
total  cost  of  that  being  §4,151. 

The  contracts  for  building  the  road  between  Hornellsville 
and  Mud  Lake  Summit,  in  Chautauqua  County,  fourteen  miles 
east  of  Lake  Erie,  were  let  in  January,  February,  and  March, 
[841.  The  road  was  piled  for  more  than  100  miles,  on  the 
same  plan  as  the  work  on  the  Susquehanna  Division.  Clear- 
ing and  grubbing  for  graded  road-bed  through  the  woods 
cost  SSoo  per  mile,  and  for  piled  road  S400.  Stumps  pulled 
in  fields  cost  the  Company  Si. 25  apiece.  Putting  in  the 
piles  cost  S900  a  mile  where  the  piles  did  not  exceed  ten 
feet  in  length.  Putting  in  sixteen-foot  piles  cost  $1,300  a 
mile  on  this  section,  the  piles  delivered  costing  three  and 
three-quarters  cents  per  lineal  foot.  To  lay  the  super- 
structure, including  wood  and  iron  (a  heavy  H-rail),  on  a 
continuous  timber  bearing,  was  to  cost  SSoo  per  mile.  The 
(  ontract  for  the  four  miles  between  the  terminus  of  the  orig- 
inal ten  miles  east  of  Dunkirk  and  Mud  Like  Summit  was  let 
in  the  fall  of  [840.  It  was  a  difficult  and  costly  section. 
I  tie  ten  miles  from  Dunkirk  were  graded  and  finished  for 
a  double  track  in  1838.  Rails  were  put  down  on  this  section 
in  1 84 1. 

Magee  &  Cook  had  the  contracts  from  Hornellsville  to 
Friendship,  forty  miles.  Horace  R.  Riddle  sub-contracted 
for  twelve  miles  of  this.  Beyond  Friendship,  and  to  Nine- 
Mile  Run,  on  the  Allegany  River,  thirty-four  miles,  P.  & 
H.  A.  Smith  &  Co.  were  the  contractors.  From  Nine-Mile 
Run    to    Mud    Lake   Summit,   the  grading   and    the  super- 


structure from  the  Run  to  I^ike  Erie,  were  contracted  by 
Cheesebrough,  Hassard  &  Co.  These  contracts  were  let  at 
New  York  in  December,  1840,  but  were  not  closed  until 
midwinter,  1841.  The  contractors  took  from  one-third  to 
three-eighths  of  the  contract  price  in  stock.  The  ten-mile 
section  east  of  Dunkirk,  which  was  graded  in  1838,  was  con- 
tracted for  without  taking  any  stock,  the  contracts  not  yet 
having  been  in  that  form. 

T.S.Brown  was  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Western  Division 
from  July  1,  1839,  until  November,  1S40.  From  the  former 
date  until  May,  1840,  he  had  charge  of  the  work  on  the  ten- 
mile  contract  from  Dunkirk  eastward,  at  S5  a  day.  Novem- 
ber, 1840,  he  was  appointed  Associate  Engineer,  at  a  salary 
of  §2,500,  and  Commissioner  of  the  Western  Division,  at 
Si, 000  a  year.  John  H.  Allen  was  appointed  Resident  Engi- 
neer, May,  1840.  He  had  held  the  same  place  from  March 
to  July,  1838.  His  pay  was  >4-5o  a  day  while  actually  em- 
ployed, "excluding  Sundays."  Silas  Seymour  was  chief  of 
surveying  party,  from  1839  to  May,  1840,  when  he  was 
appointed  Resident  Engineer,  at  S4.50  a  day.  L.  I.  Stan- 
cliff,  William  Ingalls,  and  W.  E.  Hodgeman  were  chiefs  of 
parties  in  1840,  at  $3  a  day.  H.  P.  Benton  was  a  surveyor 
at  S2. 50  a  day.  Agents  for  right  of  way,  adjusting  land 
damages,  obtaining  subscriptions  to  stock,  arranging  for 
fencing,  supplying  timber,  etc.,  in  Allegany,  Cattaraugus,  and 
Chautauqua  counties,  were  G.  A.  French,  Walter  Chester, 
and  John  Griffin. 

The  following  donations  for  land  for  depots,  water-stations, 
and  other  purposes,  were  made  along  this  division  of  the 
railroad  : 

Village  of  Dunkirk,  425  acres ;  Cattaraugus  County,  50,- 
000  acres ;  Randolph  village,  100  acres;  Allegany  Reserva- 
tion, for  depots  at  stopping  places ;  Allegany  City,  one- 
quarter  part ;  Hinsdale,  5  acres  ;  Cuba,  3  to  5  acres  :  Wells- 
ville,  3  to  5  acres. 

The  Dunkirk  donation  was  one-fourth  of  1,700  acres  of 
land  owned  by  a  company  controlled  by  Walter  Smith,  which 
expected  that  the  coming  of  the  railroad  would  compel  a 
town  to  rise  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  at  that  spot,  which 
would  be  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  greatest,  on  the  lakes. 
If  the  railroad  had  got  to  Dunkirk  in  time,  the  hopes  of  the 
land  company  might  have  had  some  chance  of  realization. 
In  fact,  the  far-seeing  men  of  that  part  of  the  State  knew 
that  all  depended  on  the  Erie  Railroad  connecting  Lake  Erie 
with  the  Hudson  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  and  it  was 
to  prompt  and  urge  the  men  controlling  the  Railroad  Com- 
pany to  every  effort  to  hasten  the  completion  of  the  railroad 
that  the  Land  Company  offered  the  handsome  bonus  of  250 
acres  of  land  in  the  heart  of  the  coming  city.  That  land  was 
to  be  conveyed  to  the  Railroad  Company  in  fee  by  the  land 
c  ompany  that  owned  it,  on  the  completion  of  the  grading  for 
a  single  track  of  rails  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  west  line  of 
Cattaraugus  County  by  July  1,  1842.  But  it  was  nearly  ten 
vears  after  1842  before  the  railroad  was  completed  to  Dun- 
kirk. Then  Dunkirk's  opportunity  was  gone,  and  the  Rail- 
road Company  did  not  get  the  land. 


!28 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


(From  Emory  /•'.   Warren's  "Sketches  of  Chautauqua"  1S46.) 

The  speculations  in  real  estate,  which  were  at  their  height  during 
affected  the  village  of  Dunkirk  more  seriously  than  any 
other  point  in  the  county.  The  termination  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  at  this  place  pointed  it  out  to  those  most  deeply  affected 
with  the  contagion  as  a  spot  on  which  operations  of  the  kind  might 
be  carried  on  for  awhile  at  least  with  success.  The  rage  for  corner 
lots  and  eligible  sites  was  rife,  and  ran  to  so  high  a  pitch  that  men 
of  all  pursuits  —  farmers,  mechanics,  merchants,  lawyers,  and  even 
ministers  of  the  gospel  embarked  upon  the  wild  sea,  without  rudder 
or  ballast,  with  nothing  to  propel  them  but  a  whirlwind  that  soon 
scattered  them  in  broken  fragments  upon  a  lee  shore.  The  result 
was  a  stagnation  of  trade,  depreciation  in  the  price  of  all  kinds  of 
property,  the  ruin  and  entire  prostration  of  many  families  who  had 
been  in  prosperous  circumstances  and  on  the  high  road  to  competence, 
and  the  hopeless  bankruptcy  of  thousands  of  others. 

The  donation  of  one-quarter  part  of  Allegany  City  to  the 
Railroad  Company  was  also  prompted  by  the  great  hopes  an- 
other sanguine  city  builder  had  of  the  advent  of  the  railroad 
among  the  hills  of  Cattaraugus  County.  In  1837,  Nicholas 
Devereux,  of  Utica,  a  large  landholder  by  purchase  from  the 
Holland  Land  Company,  believing  that  the  spot  would  be 
an  important  point  on  the  line  of  the  Erie  Railroad,  selected 
300  acres  on  the  north  side  of  the  Allegany  River,  a  mile 
southeast  1  if  the-  village  of  Allegany.  The  original  survey  of 
the  railroad  passed  through  the  land.  Devereux  laid  it  out 
in  streets  and  lots,  and  named  the  site  Allegany  City.  The 
city  was  plotted  in  1842.  Then  came  the  Company's  failure 
and  suspension  of  work  on  the  railroad.  When  work  was 
resumed  the  new  survey  was  made,  leaving  the  proposed  city 
far  off  the  line,  and  the  city  came  to  an  end.  Several  large 
buildings  had  been  erected,  one  of  the  largest  being  a 
hotel. 

The  Holland  Land  Company  also  had  50,000  acres  of  its 
best  land  ready  to  hand  over  to  the  Company,  on  condition. 
The  condition,  originally,  of  the  50,000-acre  donation  was 
that  the  railroad  should  be  built  from  Dunkirk  to  the  Gene- 
see River,  within  seven  years  from  July  9,  1835,  and  the  time 
was  subsequently  extended  sixteen  months.  If  the  Com- 
pany could  have  complied  with  all  the  conditions  of  these 
grants,  Si, 000,000  at  least  would  have  been  added  to  its 
treasury. 

In  September,  1841,  on  recommendation  of  Major  T.  S. 
Brown,  Engineer  in  charge  of  that  division,  a  change  was 
made  in  the  piled-road  construction,  and  the  distance  of  that 
kind  of  road  was  cut  down  to  sixty  miles  on  the  Western 
Division.  Major  Brown  did  not  approve  of  piled  road-bed, 
except  where  the  ground  was  swampy.  This  changed  forty 
miles  on  the  Western  Division  to  grading. 

FIRST    RAILS    FOR    THE    ERIE. 

In  many  accounts  that  have  appeared  in  newspapers  and 
other  publications  from  time  to  time,  purporting  to  tell  the 
story  of  early  railroad  building  in  this  country,  the  statement 
has  been  persistently  made  that  the  first  track  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  was  put  down  with  what  was  known 


as  the  "  strap-rail,"  a  rail  of  flat  iron  spiked  to  the  surface  of 
timber  fashioned  to  receive  it.  This  is  an  erroneous  state- 
ment. On  the  first  railroads  constructed  the  strap-rail  was 
used,  because  inventive  genius  had  been  but  recently  called 
to  the  consideration  and  development  of  railroad  appliances 
and  equipment,  and  experience  had  not  yet  demonstrated 
what  was  best  needed  for  facility,  safety,  and  economy  in 
railroad  operation.  The  inefficiency  of  the  strap-rail  soon 
became  apparent,  and  engineering  skill  long  busied  itself  in 
the  finding  of  a  substitute  for  it  that  would  not  only  do  away 
with  its  many  defects,  but  would  combine  other  character- 
istics to  the  great  advancement  of  railroad  science.  This 
end  was  accomplished  by  the  designing  of  what  is  known  as 
the  T-rail,  an  invention  of  Robert  L.  Stevens,  but  never 
patented,  the  nomenclature  being  due  to  the  resemblance  the 
rail  has,  as  seen  in  cross-section,  to  the  letter  T.  This  is 
the  rail,  in  modified  and  improved  patterns  —  for  there  are 
scores  of  them  —  which  is  in  universal  use  on  railroads  to-day. 
In  early  days  a  variation  of  it  was  called  the  H-rail. 

If  the  building  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  had 
proceeded  without  cessation  from  the  time  ground  was 
broken  at  Deposit,  N.  Y.,  in  November,  1835,  the  super- 
structure of  the  road  would  have  been  strap-iron  spiked  fast 
to  timbers,  but  this  work  was  abandoned,  and  no  part  of  the 
road-bed  was  ready  for  the  rails  until  the  fall  of  1840,  and  the 
necessity  for  strap-rail  was  gone.  Although  the  T-rail  was  to 
be  used,  the  science  of  railroad  building  had  not  advanced 
far  enough  to  discover  that  these  rails  could  be  put  down 
properly  without  the  intervention  of  longitudinal  wooden  sills 
between  them  and  the  ground  as  a  resting  place  to  give 
them  firmness  and  to  insure  greater  smoothness  in  the  run- 
ning of  trains.  These  sills  were  sixteen  feet  long,  ten  inches 
wide,  and  eight  inches  deep.  Cross-pieces  were  fitted  from 
sill  to  sill,  about  four  feet  apart,  making  a  solid  frame  of  each 
section  of  timber  put  down.  The  rails  were  fastened  on  top 
of  the  sills  by  spikes  which  were  driven  into  the  timber  close 
to  the  rail,  the  one-sided  projecting  heads  binding  on  the 
lower  flanges  of  the  rail,  just  as  rails  are  secured  to  ties  to- 
day, the  ends  of  the  rails  resting  in  "  chairs,"  a  heavy  iron 
platform  with  a  groove  into  which  the  end  of  each  rail  fitted, 
and  which  clasped  the  flange  with  sufficient  purchase  to  sus- 
tain somewhat  of  solidity  and  firmness  at  the  joint,  the  chair 
itself  being  spiked  to  the  tie.  There  were  no  "  fish-plates  " 
then  —  those  stiff  straps  of  iron  which  in  these  days  of  rail- 
road building  are  bolted  across  the  joints  of  rails,  between 
the  flanges,  thus  making  of  each  side  of  a  track  practically 
one  continuous  rail. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1S40,  Major  Thompson  S.  Brown, 
who  was  then  Engineer  of  the  Western  Division,  was  notified 
by  the  Company  to  go  to  England  with  Henry  L.  Pierson, 
of  the  Board  of  Directors,  and  assist  him  in  contracting  for 
the  first  rails  to  be  used  on  the  railroad.  The  following 
copies  of  the  "  documents  in  the  case  "  tell  the  story  of  this 
mission,  and  should  settle  forever  the  persistent  statement  in 
the  periodicals  of  this  day  that  the  original  rails  on  the  Erie 
were  strap-rails  : 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


329 


New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company, 

London,  August  y,  1S40. 
Memorandum  : 

3,600  tons  must  be  shipped  by  5th  October. 

1,400  tons  as  soon  after  as  convenient,  400  of  this  quantity  to  be  de- 
livered by  1st  November,  the  other  1,000  any  time  before  April  ;  more 
convenient  to  be  shipped  to  Liverpool  than  Newport. 

Price  at  Newport £9  05s 

Ditto      Liverpool,   from    Ruabon 1  [5s 

50  lbs.  to  the  yard  ;  to  be  made  by  pattern.  If  the  pattern  proves 
to  be  less  than  50  pounds  to  the  yard,  to  be  made  50  pounds  by  adding 
to  the  lower  part  of  the  stem  ;  if  more  than  50  pounds,  to  stick  to  the 
pattern. 

Staffordshire  iron  out  of  the  question. 

It  will  be  necessary  that  450  tons  be  made  each  week  for  eight  weeks 
to  come,  say  : 

Abersychi  >n 2S0  per  week 

Ruabon 1 70       do. 

The  quality  to  be  similar  to  that  of  other  rails,  and  the  rails  to  be 
equal  to  any  we  have  ever  made. 


(Signed) 


A.  Wilson. 

II.   I..  PlERSON. 

T.  S.  Brown. 


(Specification  for  the  Rails.) 

loth  August,  1S40. 

Rails  for  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railway  Company. 

The  rails  to  be  of  the  form  and  dimensions  exhibited  by  the  draw- 
ing supplied,  to  be  manufactured  as  follows  :  Good  pigs  to  be  selected 
and  well  refined  ;  the  refined  iron  to  be  well  puddled,  anil  the  puddled 
ball  to  be  taken  to  the  hammer  and  hammered,  and  then  rolled  into 
bars,  say  No.  1,  or  puddled  bar,  the  bill,  say,  in  about  the  propor- 
tion of  at  least  two-fifths  No.  2  bar  and  three-fifths  No.  1.  Puddled 
bar  to  be  heated  and  then  rolled  into  rails  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  lamina  of  the  pile  be  horizontal  throughout.  The  length  of  each 
rail  to  be  iS  feet,  except  that  10  per  cent,  of  the  whole  quantity  may 
be  made  in  lengths  of  12  and  15  feet,  the  depth  of  3';  inches,  and 
the  width  of  the  top  to  be  1 -!4  inches,  the  base  3^  inches,  and  the 
thickness  of  the  middle  of  the  stem  0.625  of  an  inch,  as  per  drawing 
— the  weight  of  the  rails  being  in  proportion  say  about  51^  lbs. 
per  lineal  yard.  Each  bar  must  be  entirely  free  from  warping, 
perfectly  straight,  and  free  from  flaws  and  imperfections,  presenting  a 
uniform  unbroken  surface  in  every  part  (or  so  much  as  they  are  made 
in  all  these  respects  at  the  other  first-rate  manufactories  in  South 
Wales)  The  ends  must  be  cut  square.  An  inspector  may  be 
appointed  by  the  purchasers,  who  shall  possess  the  right  of,  and  the 
manufacturer  shall  at  all  times  give  every  facility  for,  inspecting  the 
iron  or  rail  during  the  process  of  making,  and  the  said  inspector  shall 
have  full  power  to  reject  such  rails  as  do  not  conform  to  the  drawing, 
or  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  this  specification,  but  it  is  hereby 
expressly  stipulated  that  the  said  inspection  and  rejection  shall  be 
made  at  the  manufactories  and  nowhere  else. 

Signed  for  the  Managing  Directors  by 

J.  II.  Havenshaw. 

London,  221/  August,    1S40. 
To  tlio  Ma it '..•.    ig  /directors  of  the  British  Iron  Company: 

GENTLEMEN:  With  reference  to  a  memorandum  of  agreement  for 
5,000  tons  of  rails  to  be  made  by  you  for  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railwaj  1  ompany,  dated  7th  inst.,  and  signed  by  Major  Brown,  Mr. 
Alex.  Wilson  and  myself,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  400  tons  of 
rails  (in  addition  to  3,600  tons   to   be   previously  supplied  I.  were  to  be 


delivered  by  1st  November  next,  I  have  now  to  request  that  in  lieu  of 
this  400  tons  you  will  supply  400  tons  from  your  Staffordshire  works, 
to  be  delivered  with  the  utmost  possible  despatch  in  Liverpool,  the 
pattern  of  which  rails  you  have  this  day  received  from  Buerly  Hill. 
For  these  rails  I  agree  on  the  part  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
to  pay  £\o  per  ton,  delivered  in  Liverpool  ;  terms  of  payment  as  al- 
ready agreed  for  the  remaining  part  of  this  order,  the  iron  expected  to 
be  delivered  the  1st  day  of  September. 

Very  respectfully, 

II.   L.    I'll  Ks.  IN. 

Mr.  Pierson  had  evidently  received  information  from  the 
Railroad  Company  that  made  haste  in  the  delivery  of  the 
iron  of  importance.     The  matter  was  closed  finally  as  follows  : 

ement  made  August  31,  1S40,  with  Messrs.  Palmer,  McKillup, 
Dent  &  Company,  and  Fletcher,  Alexander  C~  Company,  Ion- 
don,  for  the  delivery  of  5,000  tons  of  iron  rails  at  Liverpool  and 
Newport,  England. 

LENGTH     OF    RAILS. 

From  Staffordshire  Works  So  per  cent iS  feet. 

10    "     "     16 

10    "     "     12  to  15     " 

"      Ruabon  "      90    "     "     ..  16 

"  "  "      10    "     "     12  to  15     " 

Depth,  31;  inches  ;  width  of  the  top,  ■}%  inches  ;  of  the  base.  3  \, 
inches  ;  depth  of  the  top.  1  -;4  inches  ;  thickness  of  the  middle  stem, 
S/i  of  an  inch.  Weight — 2,000  tons,  50  lbs.  to  the  yard  ;  3,000  tons, 
55  lbs.  to  the  yard. 

Price  per  ton,  from  Staffordshire  Works,  900  tons ^10 

goo    "    17  os.  6d. 

"     Ruabon                "       per  ton   9  15s. 

"                        "     Abersychon         il             "        90s.  5d. 

Commission  in  England,  2l2  per  cent.  ;  in  New  York  for  agency, 
1  per  cent.  ;  in  New  York  on  disbursements,  2yi  per  cent. 

Freight  per  ton  from  Liverpool,  10s.  to  17s.  6d.  sterling  ;  from 
Newport,  25s.  to  27s.  5d.  sterling  ;  from  Bristol,  27s.  6d.  sterling. 

All  American  H-rail,  laid  down  for  shipment  at  Newport,  South 
Wales. 

Investment  in  stock.  $75,000,  on  which  6  per  cent,  interest  is  to  be 
paid  by  the  Company,  until  the  completion  of  a  single  track  from  the 
Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie. 


The  first  rails  for  the  Erie  thus  cost  $231,250,  of  which 
amount  $75,000  was  paid  in  stock  of  the  Company.  The 
contract  was  made  with  the  British  Iron  Company,  repre- 
sented by  J.  H.  Havenshaw,  the  Managing  Director,  through 
Palmer,  McKillup,  Dent  &  Co.,  and  Fletcher,  Alexander  & 
Co.,  commission  men,  and  the  first  Erie  agents  abroad.  The 
stock  issued  was  for  ami  upon  the  Eastern  Division  of  the 
railroad,  between  Piermont  and  Goshen.  The  contract  was 
signed,  " in  presence  of  H.  A.  Lnce,  11  King's  Arms  Yard, 
London,  1.  Peachy,  8  Frederick's  Place,  Old  Jersey,  London," 
by  Henry  I..  Pierson,  T.  S.  Brown,  Edward  Haley  Palmer, 
Charles  D.  Bruce,  and  Christopher  Pearce. 

Mr.  Pierson  also  contracted  for  200  tons  of  rail  chairs, 
weighing  fifteen  pounds  each,  at  ^7  per  ton,  and  100  tons 
at  ^7  5s.  For  negotiating  this  first  transaction  for  the  pur- 
chase of  rails  for  the  Erie,  Henry  L.  Pierson  was  paid  by  the 
Company  £4,000.     It  was  an  unfortunate  transaction  for  the 


33° 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


iron  company,  which  accepted  so  large  a  part  of  its  price  in 
Erie  stock  at  par.  The  stock  was  then  held  at  about  five 
dollars  a  share  here.  The  iron  company  neglected  to  come 
in  and  take  advantage  of  the  reorganization  of  the  Railroad 
Company  in  1845,  and  lost  its  stock.  So  the  first  Erie  rails 
were  a  bargain,  and  the  English  began  early  to  have  their 
disquieting  experiences  with  Erie  shares. 

I  »i  1  ember  2,  1841,  Walter  Smith,  of  Dunkirk,  completed 
a  contract  on  part  of  the  Huron  Iron  Company  with  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  for  400  tons  of  cast- 
iron  rails  at  eighty  dollars  per  ton  of  2,340.  pounds.  One 
half  of  the  iron  was  to  be  delivered  at  Dunkirk,  and  the  other 
half  at  Owego  and  Elmira.  The  iron  company  agreed  to  take 
37  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  the  shares  in  stock. 


ical  importance,  young  Griffis,  "  just  to  see  how  it  would 
look,"  placed  one  of  the  rails  upon  a  sill  near  the  Pier,  and 
spiked  it  down,  thus  having  "driven  the  first  spike"  on  the 
railroad  that  was  eventually  not  only  to  unite  the  Ocean  with 
the  Lakes,  but  be  one  of  the  main  links  in  the  mighty  chain 
of  communication  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific.  In 
1846  Griffis  became  General  Wood  Agent  of  the  Company, 
a  place  of  much  importance,  as  at  that  time  wood  was  the 
sole  fuel  on  the  railroad,  and  the  purchasing  and  distribution 
of  it  was  entirely  in  Griffis's  hands  until  1848,  when  the  rail- 
road was  opened  to  Binghamton.  Then  a  second  agent  was 
appointed,  the  duties  being  more  than  one  man  could  attend 
to.  Griffis  remained  in  the  service  of  the  Company  until 
1S53.     He  died  in  Susquehanna  County,  Pa.,  in  1896. 


DROVE    THE    FIRST    SPIKE    ON    THE    ERIE. 

Abner  Griffis,  then  a  young  man,  and  having  been  two 
years  a  member  of  the  engineer  corps  on  the  North  Branch 
Canal,  a  part  of  the  public  works  of   Pennsylvania,  came  to 


George  E.  Hoffman  began  on  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  as  Superintending  Engineer  of  the  Eastern  Divi- 
sion in  1S40,  and  had  charge  of  the  superstructure,  of 
the  machine  shops,  and  of  the  purchase  of  locomotives 
and  cars.  August  20,  1841,  he  was  made  Division  Engineer 
of  the  Central  Division,  with  headquarters  at  Bingham- 
ton. While  he  was  in  charge  of  the  superstructure,  early 
in  1 84 1,  he  became  seized  of  a  brilliant  idea.  This  was  that 
the  wheels  of  the  cars  would  meet  with  less  resistance  from 
the  rails,  and  secure  a  better  "  bite  "  on  them,  if  the  rails 
were  laid  so  that  the  wheels  came  in  contact  with  only  a 
small  portion  of  their  surface.  He  was  so  much  convinced 
of  the  correctness  of  his  theory  that  Camp  &  Co.  were  di- 
rected to  lay  a  mile  or  two  of  the  sills  so  hewn  on  one  side 
that  when  the  rails  were  spiked  on  they  would  be  slanting, 
and  present  only  about  an  inch  of  one  edge  to  contact  with 
the  wheels.  It  required  the  passing  of  cars  over  that  section 
of  the  road  but  a  few  times  to  demonstrate  that  while  the 
wheels  might  be  escaping  more  resistance  from  the  rails,  the 
rails  were  getting  just  as  much  grinding  from  the  wheels  as 
ever,  and  getting  it  all  on  a  small  portion  of  their  surface,  so 
that  it  would  be  but  a  short  time  before  they  were  worn  out 
and  worthless,  without  having  been  of  any  corresponding  ad- 
vantage as  factors  in  the  economy  of  railroading.  Engineer 
Hoffman's  brilliant  idea  died  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  born, 
and  the  slanting  rails  were  quickly  set  square  on  the  sills. 


ABNER   GRIFFIS. 

the  Erie  in  July,  1840,  to  superintend  the  work  undertaken 
by  Camp  &  Co.,  between  Piermont  and  Coffey's.  "  It  was  a 
hard  time  for  money,"  wrote  Griffis  to  the  author  in  1895, 
"  and  we  had  a  serious  time  to  get  along.  The  Company 
had  exhausted  its  funds  on  the  grading,  and  the  completion 
of  the  grading  delayed  us  much.  Great  credit  is  due  to 
H.  C.  Seymour  and  S.  S.  Post,  civil  engineers,  for  their  mas- 
terly management.  I  have  always  said  that  they  were  the 
Fathers  of  the  Road."  No  iron  rails  had  been  received  yet, 
but  some  of  the  first  cargo,  it  having  come  over  from  England 
as  ballast  in  a  vessel,  was  received  at  Piermont  in  October, 
1840.     Unofficially,  and  without  much  thought  of  its  histor- 


The  engineer  corps  of  1840  was  organized  as  follows  : 
Chief  Engineer,  Edward  Miller.  Salary,  $4,000.  Head- 
quarters at  New  York.  He  hail  a  secretary  and  an  archi- 
tectural and  topographical  draughtsman.  Associate  Engineer, 
Major  T.  S.  Brown,  Dunkirk.  Resident  Engineers  :  Eastern 
Division,  H.C.Seymour,  Piermont;  Delaware  Division,  A. 
C.  Morton,  Goshen  ;  Central  Division,  G.  E.  Hoffman,  Bing- 
hamton ;  Western  Division,  T.  S.  Brown,  Dunkirk.  Salary  of 
each,  $2,500  and  expenses. 

Silas  Seymour  was  Major  Brown's  assistant.  S.  S.  Post  was 
assistant  to  H.  C.  Seymour.  Hoffman  had  three  assistants, 
Conover,  Starkey,  and  Morrell.  Starkey  is  now  the  Bishop 
of  the  Newark  diocese  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  T.  C. 
Ruggles  was  assistant  to  A.  C.  Morton. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


The  members  of  the  Construction   Department  in  1841, 
and  theii  salaries,  were  : 

Edward  Miller,  Chief  Engineer $3,000  per  annum 

Samuel  P.  Lyman,  <  ieneral  Commissioner.    3,000        " 

>.- 1 1    ■■,    on  tsii  in. 

II    C.  Seymour,  Division  Engineer  $2,500  per  annum 

V   Dallas  Green,  Resident  Engineer 4  per  day 

DELAWARE    DIVISION. 
A.  C.  Morton,  Division  Engineer  and  Acting  Com- 
missioner  Si, 5°o  per  annum 

CENTRAL   DIVISION. 
George  E.  Hoffman,  Division  Engineer  and  Acting 

Commissioner §1,500  per  annum 

A     U.    Conover,    Resident    Engineer   and    Acting 

Commissioner 3.50  per  day 

T.  A.  Starkey,  Resident  Engineer 3.00       " 

Jeremiah  Rogers,  General  Agent 3.00       " 

SUSQUEHANNA    DIVISION. 

Thomas  A.  Johnson,  Commissioner $1,500  per  annum 

C.  B.  Stuart,  Division  Engineer  1,500 

I '.  G.  Pomeroy,  Assistant  Engineer 3  per  day 

J.  Sprinkling,  Assistant  Engineer     3 

WESTERN    DIVISION. 

T.  S.  Brown,  Associate  Engineer  and  Commissioner.$2,Soo  per  annum 
Silas  Seymour,  Resident   Engineer  and  Commis'ner  3.50  per  day 
C.  R.  Paxton,  Resident   Engineer  and  Commis'ner  3.50        " 
I.    S.  Stancliff,  Resident  Engineer  and  Commis'ner  3.50        " 
L,  I>.  Hodgman,  Principal  Assistant  and   Superin- 
tendent of  <  'instruction 3.50 

G.  A.  French,  Land  Agent 4.00        " 

Walter  Chester,  Land  Agent 3.50        " 

Eai  h  of  the  five  members  of  the  Western  Division  staff 
last  named  was  allowed  50  cents  a  day  for  horse  hire  ''while 
in  use,"  and  Si  a  day  for  travelling  expenses  "  while  em- 
ployed." 

The  Commissioners  of  the  several  divisions  had  each  under 
his  charge  and  superintendence  such  agents  as  were  neces- 
sary for  the  proper  care  and  management  of  the  works,  for 
the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the  Company  dependent 
upon  the  performance  of  contracts,  and  for  the  security  of 
property  of  the  Company  distributed  along  the  lines. 

Hut  notwithstanding  the  show  of  great  activity  all  along 
the  line,  it  was  in  the  air  that  the  actual  foundation  for  it  was 
not  as  substantial  as  it  might  be,  and  minors  that  there  was 
irregularity  in  the  management  of  the  work  by  the  Company's 
agents,  engineers,  and  officers  grew  into  positive  charges, 
to  which  the  New  York  Legislature  at  last  turned  its  atten- 
tion, and  an  investigation  was  ordered  to  be  made  of  the 
Company's  affairs  by  a  committee  of  the  Assembly.  This 
\\  is  the  first  probing  of  an  Krie  management  by  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  much  capital  was  made  of  it  by  the  enemies  of  the 
Conipanv,  who  were  many  and  vindictive.  In  May,  1841, 
Eleazai  Lord  resigned  as  President,  although  the  railroad  had 
so  far  advanced  in  building  that  it  was  on  the  eve  of  being 


opened  half  way  between  Piermont  and  Goshen.  The  inves- 
tigation did  not  uncover  any  serious  wrong-doing ;  in  fact, 
the  reports  upon  it  vindicated  the  management.  Mr.  I,ord 
was  succeeded  by  James  Bowen. 

Till'.    CARS    BEGIN    TO    RUN. 

"The  building  of  It"  had  progressed  so  well  since  the 
spring  of  1840  that  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  the 
coming  of  the  locomotive  had  become  a  thing  expected  daily. 
The  rails  were  laid  as  far  as  Ramapo  June  17,  1841,  and  a 
locomotive,  the  "  Eleazar  Lord,"  was  run  from  Piermont  to 
Ramapo  on  that  day.  June  30,  1841,  was  the  day  on  which 
the  first  train-load  of  passengers  that  ever  travelled  on  the  New 
York  and  Krie  Railroad  was  carried.  This  was  from  1'ier- 
mont  to  the  heart  of  the  Hudson  Highlands.  Among  these 
passengers  was  President  James  Bowen,  Vice-President  Henry 
L.  Pierson;  Chief  Commissioner  Samuel  P.  Lyman,  who  had 
succeeded  Eleazar  Lord  in  that  office  in  1839  ;  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  Company;  Chief  Engineer  Edward  Miller; 
a  number  of  guests  from  New  York  City,  among  them  James 
Watson  Webb,  and  citizens  who  were  taken  up  at  Piermont 
and  other  stations  along  the  line. 

The  New  York  guests  left  that  city  at  10  a.m.  of  June  30th, 
on  the  steamboat  "South  America,"  and  arrived  at  Piermont 
at  11.30,  where  the  pioneer  jjassenger  train  was  in  readiness. 
The  trip  through  the  historic  region  between  Piermont  and 
Ramapo  was  made  in  sixty-five  minutes.  In  his  very  meagre 
account  of  this  memorable  excursion,  General  Webb,  in  the 
New  York  Courier  ami  Enquirer,  had  this  to  say  :  "  It  is  a 
well-ascertained  fact  that  heavy  trains  can  only  be  propelled 
by  very  heavy  locomotive  engines,  and,  of  course,  to  sustain 
them,  the  most  durable  road  is  required.  The  heaviest  loco- 
motive ever  built,  as  we  are  informed,  is  that  which  was  used 
on  Wednesday,  and  with  which  we  passed  up  a  grade  of  60 
feet  to  the  mile,  the  distance  of  four  miles,  at  the  rate  of  ten 
miles  an  hour.  This  locomotive  was  the  '  Rockland,'  one  of 
the  three  original  locomotives  that'  were  received  by  the 
Company,  in  December,  1S40.  It  weighed  38,000  pounds. 
At  Ramapo  the  distinguished  party  was  entertained  at  his 
mansion  by  the  venerable  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson,  who  had 
been  a  steadfast  and  unceasing  friend  of  the  Erie  project 
from  the  start,  and  was  one  of  the  Directors.  Men  of  all 
parties  united  in  an  interchange  of  congratulation  on  this 
truly  auspicious  occasion,  and  the  day  was  one  of  pleasure 
without  alloy.  To  this  city  it  was  a  day  which  will  long  be 
remembered  when  even  the  names  of  those  who  proposed 
this  great  work  shall  have  been  forgotten." 

The  section  of  railroad  thus  opened  was  not  put  regularly 
in  operation  for  business,  and  a  delay  that  seemed  unaccount- 
able to  the  impatient  public  ensued  in  finishing  the  work  to 
Goshen.  The  truth  was  that  although  the  management  had 
had  the  use  of  a  great  deal  of  money,  the  Company  was  in 
debt  to  contractors  and  the  treasury  was  low.  It  had  been 
semi-officially  announced  that  the  railroad  would  be  opened 
to  Goshen  in  July,  but  the  rails  on  a  large  part  of  the  section 


332 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


between  Ramapoand  Goshen  were  not  down  yel  when  August 
came,  and  in  that  month  James  Seymour,  one  of  the  assistant 
original  survey  of  1834,  was  employed  by 
1  make  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  entire  route 
and  report  upon  it.  This  was  to  prepare  a  way  for  an  appli- 
cation to  the  Legislature  of  1842  for  more  aid,  the  State 
having  already  granted  assistance  to  the  amount  of  £3,000,- 
000.  Sevmour's  report  was  most  favorable  as  to  the  work 
the  Company  had  done  and  as  to  prospects  of  the  railroad. 

THE  RAILROAD  OPENED  TO  GOSHEN. 

At  last,  early  in  September,  the  Company  was  able  to  make 
the  announcement  that  the  Eastern  Division  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  would  "  be  opened  for  freight  and  pas- 
rs  on  Thursday,  the  23d  of  September."  This  long- 
expe<  ted  event  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  demonstration 
commensurate  with  its  importance.  Invitations  had  been 
issued  to  national,  State,  and  municipal  officials,  judges  of 
the  Courts  and  members  of  the  Bar,  the  clergy,  financiers,  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Hoard  of  Trade  of  New  York 
City,  the  press,  and  many  distinguished  private  citizens. 

The  steamboat  "  Utica,"  commanded  by  Captain  Alexander 
H.  Schultz,  left  New  York  City  at  8  a.m.  on  the  day  of  the 
opening.  Among  the  passengers  on  board  were  Governor 
Seward  and  his  civil  and  military  staff;  United  States  Sena- 
tor Phelps,  of  Vermont ;  Congressman  T.  Butler  King,  of 
Georgia  ;  Hugh  Maxwell,  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York  ; 
the  Mayor  and  Common  Council  of  the  city,  and  members 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade ;  promi- 
nent judges  and  lawyers  ;  several  eminent  clergymen,  Bishop 
Onderdonk  of  their  number;  and  numerous  persons  con- 
spicuous in  business,  society,  politics,  and  journalism.  Messrs. 
Chatfield,  McKay,  and  Graham,  of  the  legislative  committee 
appointed  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the  Company,  were 
guests  on  the  occasion.  The  boat  arrived  at  Piermont  at 
10.30  a.m.,  where  the  party  was  joined  by  Washington  Irving, 
who  had  come  over  from  his  Sunnyside  home. 

The  Railroad  Company  was  represented  by  the  presence 
of  President  Bowen,  Vice-President  H.  L.  Pierson,  Chief 
Commissioner  Lyman,  Eastern  Division  Commissioner  H. 
C.  Seymour,  Chief  Engineer  Edward  Miller,  and  the  Board 
of  Directors,  the  members  of  which  present  were  Charles  (). 
Davis,  Richard  M.  Blatchford,  Simeon  Draper,  Jr.,  George 
Griswold,  Aaron  Clark,  Charles  Hoyt,  Elihu  Townsend,  Goold 
Hoyt,  W.  C.  Redfield  (the  original  suggester  of  a  railroad 
over  the  Krie  route),  S.  W.  Roberts,  A.  L.  Sykes,  and  Jere- 
miah 1L  Pierson.  Ex-President  Eleazar  Lord  was  also  one 
of  the  pain. 

Two  trains  of  four  cars  each  were  in  waiting  at  Piermont 
to  receive  the  guests,  and  the  number  filled  them  more  than 
comfortably.  Only  two  of  these  were  passenger  cars,  all  the 
Company  had  as  yet,  the  rest  being  platform  cars.  The 
locomotive  of  the  first  train  was  the  "  Orange."  The  "  Ram- 
apo"  drew  the  second  train.  The  cars  sat  so  low  down  on 
their  frames,   burdened  as   they  were  with   human   beings,  as 


topress  the  wood- work  down  upon  the  wheels,  the  flanges 
of  which  ground  into  it  at  every  revolution.  But  in  spite 
of  this,  which  would  be  more  than  enough  to  start  a  panic 
among  a  railway  excursion  party  to-day,  the  excursionists 
seemed  to  have  had  a  most  enjoyable  trip  from  the  waters 
of  the  Hudson  to  the  meadows  of  Orange  County,  and  they 
arrived  at  Goshen  three  hours  after  leaving  Piermont,  or 
about  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  townspeople,  the 
people  from  the  hills  and  farms  and  towns  for  miles  around, 
were  there  to  welcome  them  with  music,  flags,  and  guns,  and 
tremendous  cheers.  The  gathering  at  the  station  and  about 
it  numbered  thousands  of  enthusiastic  and  wonder-stricken 
people.  The  guests  were  welcomed  in  a  speech  by  Gen. 
George  D.  Wickham,  of  Goshen,  an  early  and  constant  friend 
of  the  Erie,  and  there  were  hours  of  feasting  and  speech- 
making  and  toast-drinking.  President  Bowen  made  an 
address  in  which  he  said  : 

We  have  met  to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  first  division  of  this 
great  road.  It  is  an  event  that  well  deserved  this  public  celebration, 
for  it  insures  the  completion  of  the  whole  road,  and  thereby  secures  to 
this  State  and  its  commercial  capital  the  trade  of  the  great  West.  The 
advantages  to  result  from  this  road  are  appreciated  but  by  few  ;  in- 
deed, to  many  of  our  fellow  citizens  its  existence  is  unknown,  or  if 
known,  it  is  regarded  by  them  as  one  of  the  thousand  visionary  specu- 
lations that  had  their  rise  a  few  years  since,  and,  like  them,  it  has 
ceased  to  be  remembered  but  as  another  illustration  of  the  folly  and 
credulity  of  men.  You  who  are  here  this  day  can  testify  that  it  has 
not  been  abandoned,  and  you  can  form  some  estimate  of  its  ultimate 
benefits  when  you  reflect  that  you  have  been  transported  from  the 
bank  of  the  Hudson  through  the  counties  of  Rockland  and  Orange  to 
the  border  of  Sullivan  in  less  than  three  hours. 

In  a  fesv  short  years,  if  this  road  is  completed,  the  fertile  hills  and 
valleys  of  Steuben  and  Allegany,  of  Cattaraugus  and  Chautauqua, 
now  comparatively  unsettled,  will  be  covered  with  a  dense  population, 
and  amidst  these  vast  solitudes  will  soon  be  heard  the  hum  of  cities, 
the  abode  of  prosperous,  intelligent,  and  happy  souls.  The  great 
Appian  Way  will  become  the  highway  of  nations,  and  their  boundless 
products  will  be  poured  through  this  channel  into  the  lap  of  our  State, 
enriching  it  and  adding  to  its  power  and  greatness. 

Speeches  were  made  by  Governor  Seward,  James  Watson 
Webb,  Hugh  Maxwell,  Eleazar  Lord,  Senator  Phelps,  and 
others.  Governor  Seward's  speech  was  in  straight-out  advo- 
cacy of  State  ownership  of  internal  improvements,  including 
railroads,  and  a  declaration  that  railroad  fares  should  not  be 
greater  than  one  and  a  half  cents  per  mile.  A  grand  feast 
was  served  to  the  distinguished  guests  at  Major  Edsall's  hotel 
near  the  depot,  the  hotel  now  known  as  the  Occidental. 
The  trains  left  Goshen  at  sundown  on  their  return  trip  to 
Piermont,  and  the  steamboat  "  LTtica,"  on  which  a  collation 
was  served,  arrived  at  New  York  at  10.30. 

the  company's  rolling  stock  in  pawn. 

While  officially  the  survey  of  the  Western  Division  of  the 
route  was  in  charge  of  Ellet,  the  work  was  done  by  George  C. 
Miller,  a  young  engineer,  but  a  year  or  two  past  his  majority, 
who  ran  the  line  from  Binghamton  to  Dunkirk,  and  drew  all 
the  maps  and  profiles  of  the  rugged  country  through  which 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


JJO 


it  passed.  He  completed  the  work  early  in  the  fall  of  1834, 
and  returning  to  Owego,  accompanied  a  delegation  of  promi- 
nent citizens  of  that  place,  among  them  the  Pumpellys,  to 
Auburn  for  an  interview  with  William  H.  Seward,  then  a 
coming  man  in  State  politics,  and  who,  as  State  Senator,  had 
persistently  opposed  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad  pro- 
ject. Mr.  Miller  explained  the  result  of  his  engineering 
work  to  Mr.  Seward,  and  spoke  so  encouragingly,  from  a 
practical  standpoint,  of  the  enterprise,  that  the  future  great 
statesman  became  interested  in  it,  and  ever  afterward  used 
his  influence  in  its  behalf.  Mr.  Miller  served  his  apprentice- 
ship in  civil  engineering  on  the  Morris  Canal,  in  Xew  Jersey, 
long  before  railroads  were  occupying  the  attention  of  the 
profession.  He  afterward  entered  the  service  of  the  Mohawk 
and  Hudson  Railroad  Company,  the  first  railroad  chartered 
in  the  State  of  Xew  York.  He  worked  on  the  drafting  of  the 
plans  for  the  now  historic  locomotive,  the  "  De  Witt  Clinton," 
which  hauled  the  first  train-load  of  passengers  on  that  pioneer 
railroad,  in  November,  1831.  From  the  Mohawk  and  Hud- 
son Railroad  Mr.  Miller  went  to  the  Camden  and  Amboy 
Railroad,  then  building  between  those  two  places.  In  1834 
he  joined  the  engineer  corps  that  was  to  make  the  survey  of 
the  Erie  route,  under  Judge  Wright. 

When  the  letting  of  the  contracts  for  the  superstructure  of  the 
railroad  were  advertised  in  1S40,  Mr.  Miller  was  in  Xew  York. 
He  and  his  brother  bid  on  the  section  mentioned,  and  secured 
the  contract.  The  work  was  delayed  by  the  slow  progress  of 
grading,  and  they  could  not  get  it  done.  George  E.  Hoffman, 
the  Company's  Engineer  of  Construction,  requested  them  to 
relinquish  it.  It  was  taken  by  other  contractors.  Soon  after 
the  railroad  was  opened  to  Goshen,  the  Millers,  in  1841,  put 
in  a  claim  against  the  Company  for  Si 7, 000,  which  the  Com- 
pany refused  to  pay.  The  contractors  threatened  to  sue,  and 
as  there  was  no  doubt  but  that  they  would  obtain  judgment, 
which  was  something  the  Company  could  not  well  afford  to 
have  known  just  then,  a  curious  compromise  was  made  by 
the  Company  with  George  C.  Miller,  who  had  taken  an 
assignment  of  his  brother's  interest  in  the  claim.  The  Com- 
pany could  not  pay  the  cash,  so,  in  consideration  of  Miller 
taking  §1,500  of  the  claim  in  stock — which  would  insure  the 
Company  S3, 000  in  State  stock,  Company  stock  being  worth 
almost  nothing,  and  State  stock  par — the  Company  agreed  to 
give  Miller  a  bill  of  sale  for  its  rolling  stock,  the  railroad 
having  in  the  meantime  been  opened  between  Piermont  and 
Goshen,  as  security  for  the  payment  to  him  of  S500  a  month 
until  his  claim  was  cancelled;  also  agreeing  to  the  selection 
of  Talman  J.  Waters,  a  former  Secretary  of  the  Company, 
as  receiver  of  certain  of  the  Company's  moneys,  to  apply  on 
the  Miller  claim.  This  was,  perhaps,  the  most  singular  busi- 
ness transaction  in  the  history  of  railroads,  for  through  it  the 
Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  had  actually  assigned 
its  rolling  stock  to  a  creditor,  and  placed  itself  in  the  hands 
of  a  receiver,  without  a  single  process  of  law  or  court.  The 
rolling  stock  was  redeemed  and  the  receiver  discharged, 
however,  after  a  few  months  of  this  paying  of  the  Company's 
debt  on  the  installment  plan. 


Mi.  Miller  became  a  citizen  of  Goshen,  and  married  a 
daughter  of  Henry  G.  Wisner.  Although  engaged  in  business 
in  Xew  York,  he  continued  his  residence  in  Goshen,  where  he 
died  in  1896,  aged  86. 

In  1S41  the  following  donations  of  land  for  depots  and 
water-stations  were  made  on  the  Eastern  Division  : 

Cornelius  J.  Blauvelt,  at  Piermont,  99  acres;  Eleazar 
Lord,  at  Pascac,  1  acre ;  Ramapo  Manufacturing  Company, 
at  Ramapo,  2V3  acres;  Hudson  MacFarland,  at  Monroe 
Works,  1  acre;  Messrs.  Townsend,  at  Chester,  2)4,  acres; 
Gen.  G.  D.  Wickham,  at  (loshen,  2)2  acres. 

HOW    THE    ERIE    PAID    CAMP    &    CO.'s    CLAIM. 

Camp  &  Co.,  so  the  record  shows,  accepted  S8,ioo  of  the 
amount  of  their  contract  in  the  Company's  stock,  but  the 
record  does  not  tell  why  they  did  so.  Their  reason  for  tak- 
ing the  stock  makes  another  entertaining  story  of  those 
pioneer  Erie  days. 

By  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  Company  was  to  have  the 
grading  done  as  Camp  &  Co.'s  work  progressed,  so  that  the 
timbers  and  rails  could  be  laid  and  the  material  carried  on  a 
construction  train  from  Piermont,  as  the  line  of  work  was  ex- 
tended. The  contractors  found,  however,  that  the  grading  of 
the  road  had  not  been  completed  even  the  ten  miles  west  of 
Piermont.  The  Company  could  not  keep  its  part  of  the 
contract,  and  the  contractors  were  obliged  to  hire  teams  to 
haul  and  deliver  their  timber  along  the  line  of  the  work. 
The  timber  was  hemlock,  sawed  S  x  10.  It  was  purchased  at 
Honesdale,  Pa.,  150  miles  distant,  and  brought  to  the  work 
by  the  only  available  means  of  transportation,  which  was  by 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  from  Honesdale  to  Ron- 
dout,  and  thence  by  the  Hudson  River  to  Piermont.  The 
sills  were  sunk  in  trenches  dug  for  them,  and  the  cross  pieces 
mortised  down  upon  them. 

By  the  time  the  first  ten  miles  of  the  road  were  finished  by 
Camp  &  Co.,  the  grading  was  advancing  westward,  but  the 
progress  was  slow.  The  Company's  funds  were  low,  and  the 
prospects  looked  dark.  All  payments  for  labor  were  made 
in  scrip  issued  by  the  Company,  and  holders  of  it  had  to 
submit  to  a  heavy  discount  to  have  it  cashed.  The  Com- 
pany was  in  arrears  to  its  contractors,  and  Camp  &  Co.  were 
heavily  in  debt  to  local  merchants  for  supplies  furnished  their 
men.  At  last,  the  Company  having  broken  it  in  various 
ways,  they  threw  up  the  contract,  and  demanded  a  settle- 
ment. The  Company's  affairs  were  then  virtually  in  control 
of  the  Chief  Engineer  Hezekiah  C.  Seymour  and  his  assist- 
ant, S.  S.  Post.  It  was  the  common  saying  of  the  day  that 
"Seymour  ran  the  Directors,  and  Post  ran  the  road."  The 
contractors  claimed  that  they  had  been  compelled  to  do  a 
large  amount  of  work  not  called  for  in  their  agreement,  and 
the  Company  disputed  the  claim.  Seymour  sent  Engineer 
Hoffman  to  make  an  inspection  of  the  work  done  by  Camp 
&  Co.  all  along  the  line.  The  contractors  instructed  Abner 
Griffis  to  go  over  the  work  and  report  an  estimate  of  what  it 
showed  as  being  due  them. 


^  3  1 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Contractor  Camp  and  Aimer  Griffis  subsequently  met  Sey- 
mour and  Post  at  the  Merchant's  Hotel,  in  Cortlandt  Street, 
N.  Y.,  to  discuss  the  claim.  Griffis's  estimate  was  that  there 
was  due  Camp  &  (  >>.  from  the  Railroad  Company  ^24,300. 
Engineei  Hoffman's  estimate  was  several  thousand  dollars 
than  that.  The  Company's  representatives  refused  to 
pay  the  claim  as  Griffis  mad.-  it  out  to  he.  Camp  was  in 
need  ol  money,  and  anxious  to  get  away  to  carry  out  other 
plans  he  had  formed.  He  said  he  would  leave  to  Griffis  the 
dei  ision  as  to  what  amount  he  ought  to  receive. 

••  ["hen,"  snd  (  ,1  litis.  ••  if  yon  take  a  dollar  less  than  1  have 
made  out  your  claim  to  be,  you  will  lose  money." 

This  determined  Camp  to  insist  on  every  dollar  of  the 
claim.  He  declared  to  Seymour  and  Post  that  unless  his 
claim  was  paid  forthwith  he  would  have  recourse  to  the  law 
to  aid  him  in  recovering  it.  A  lawsuit  was  just  the  thing  that 
the  Railroad  Company  least  desired  in  the  situation  it  was 
then  in.  If  Camp  should  sue,  others  would  do  the  same,  and 
it  was  more  than  likely  that  all  would  obtain  judgments.  A 
judgment  against  the  Company  at  that  time  meant  a  sale  of 
the  road  to  satisfy  it.  The  projectors  of  the  great  enterprise, 
the  Western  Railroad  (now  the  Boston  and  Albany),  which 
Boston  capitalists  were  then  pushing  from  that  city  as  its 
eastern,  to  Albany  as  its  western,  terminus,  to  connect  with 
the  Erie  Canal  and  the  railroads  soon  to  connect  Albany  with 
Buffalo,  were  watching  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  with 
a  jealous  eye,  and  leaving  no  means  untried  to  cripple  and  de- 
lay it.  The  financial  straits  of  the  Erie  gave  the  Boston  peo- 
ple hope  that  they  would  at  no  very  distant  day  have  an 
opportunity  to  purchase  that  road  and  its  franchises  and  put 
an  end  to  it  then  and  there.  The  New  York  and  Erie  peo- 
ple knew  this,  and  they  knew  that  in  the  event  of  Camp  or 
m\  one  else  securing  a  judgment  for  so  large  a  sum  against 
the  Company,  the  Boston  Company's  opportunity  might 
come.  So  Seymour  and  Post  did  not  dare  to  risk  the  out- 
come of  a  lawsuit,  and  they  agreed  to  Camp's  terms. 

"Griffis's  estimate  is  a  robbery  of  the  Company,"  said 
Seymour,  "but  we  will  pay  it  to  save  trouble.  You  will  have 
to  raise  the  money  for  us,  though,  Mr.  Camp.  We  haven't 
got  a  dollar." 

This  was  a  novel  and  startling  declaration.  The  idea  of  a 
man  being  expected  to  raise  money  himself  to  enable  his 
debtors  to  pay  him  what  they  owed  him  might  well  have  sur- 
I  ii      1  Contractor  Camp  or  any  other  man  in  his  situation. 

"  Well,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  isn't  this  rather  a  new  prin- 
ciple in  finance?  " 

'•  Perhaps,"  replied  Seymour,  "but  it  is  an  easy  one.  All 
you  have  to  do  is  to  subscribe  for  $10,000  worth  of  Erie 
stoc  k.  That  will  entitle  us  to  receive  $20,000  from  the 
State.  Then  we  will  pay  you  814,000  in  cash  out  of  that 
#20,000,  and  the  $10,000  of  stock  will  stand  for  the  balance 
of  your  claim.  More  than  that,  we  will  have  $6,000  in  cash 
left  for  tin-  Company's  use,  and  we  need  it." 

Camp  at  last  agreed  to  take  one-third  of  the  claim  in  stock, 
and  thus  "raised  the  money  to  pay  his  own  claim."  And 
thus,    also,   did    the   State  of   New   York   settle   many   other 


claims  against  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  in 
those  early  days,  to  leave  a  snug  balance  in  cash  each  time  in 
the  hands  of  the  Company's  managers. 

After  settling  his  affairs  on  the  line  of  his  late  contract, 
Contractor  Camp  left  New  York  State  to  go  to  Michigan, 
where  he  believed  there  was  a  great  future  for  men  in  his 
business.  But  he  never  reached  his  destination.  He  left 
Buffalo  on  the  steamboat  "  Erie,"  which  went  down  in  a  tem- 
pest on  Lake  Erie,  August  9,  1S42,  with  nearly  every  soul  on 
board.  Camp  was  among  the  victims  of  the  ill-fated 
vessel. 

WHY    THE    RAILROAD    WENT    TO    MIDDLETOYVX. 

The  Western  terminus  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
was  at  Goshen  not  quite  two  years,  but  if  the  Company  had 
adopted  what  was  known  as  the  "  Slate  Hill  route "  from 
that  place,  Goshen  would  have  continued  to  be  the  end  of  the 
road  at  least  six  years,  and  the  distance  between  the  Hud- 
son and  the  Delaware  would  have  been  shortened  ten  miles, 
and  the  Company  would  have  saved  more  than  $325,000; 
but  Middletown  and  Otisville  would  have  been  left  off  the  line. 
The  Slate  Hill  route  extended  from  Goshen,  in  a  south- 
westerly course,  through  the  towns  of  Wawayanda,  Minisink, 
and  Greenville,  and  along  the  eastern  base  of  the  Shawan- 
gunk  Mountains.  It  was  run  by  the  engineers  in  one  of  the 
surveys  supplemental  to  the  original  survey  of  1834.  As  has 
been  stated,  the  Shawangunk  Range  was  one  of  the  great  ob- 
stacles to  the  thoroughfare  for  the  railroad  that  had  been 
found  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware,  and  no  feasi- 
ble pass  was  discovered  through  the  range  except  along  its 
western  face,  beginning  a  mile  beyond  Otisville.  This  route 
required  miles  of  deep  rock  cutting  and  earth  excavation  be- 
fore a  bed  could  be  made  for  the  railroad.  The  Slate  Hill 
route  would  have  carried  the  road  around  and  away  from  all 
those  great  difficulties,  but  there  were  several  reasons  why  the 
Company  did  not  adopt  it.  One  of  these  reasons  was  that 
the  prospect  of  financial  aid,  which  was  greatly  needed,  was 
more  promising  at  Middletown  than  it  was  along  the  Slate 
Hill  way.  The  great  obstacle  to  the  southwestern  route  to  the 
Delaware  Yalley  was,  however,  that  to  escape  the  Shawan- 
gunk Mountain  difficulties  of  construction  the  railroad  would 
have  to  be  carried  over  the  State  line  into  New  Jersey,  and 
pass  for  a  mile  or  more  through  that  State  to  the  valley  at 
Carpenter's  Point.  The  Company's  charter  especially  pro- 
vided that  the  railroad  must  be  confined  to  New  York  State 
territory.  To  take  advantage  of  the  Slate  Hill  route,  the 
Company  would  have  been  obliged  to  secure  a  change  in  its 
charter  by  consent  of  the  Legislature,  and  the  Company  was 
an  anxious  applicant  just  at  that  time  for  legislation  of  far 
greater  importance  to  its  future  than  was  the  privilege  of 
building  its  road  through  a  corner  of  New  Jersey.  So  the 
present  course  from  Goshen  west,  with  its  capricious  wind- 
ings and  turnings,  and  big  cuts  and  heavy  grades,  was  the 
only  one  that  could  be  chosen ;  and  it  was  the  only  practical 
one,  at  any  rate. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


335 


THE    HEAVY    HAND    OF    MISFORTUNE. 

Work  along  the  line,  under  the  contracts  of  [840-41,  was 
kept  going  after  the  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Goshen,  but 
it  was  evident  that  the  affairs  of  the  Company  were  passing 
beneath  a  shadow.  The  story  of  the  efforts  the  management 
wis  making  to  dispel  the  shadows,  and  prevent  an  impending 
crisis,  is  told  in  detail  in  the  chapter  on  James  Bowen's  ad- 
ministration in  the  "  General  History."  The  colossal  error 
that  was  fatal  to  the  future  of  Erie  was  made  before  the  open- 
ing of  the  railroad  to  Goshen  :  the  refusal  of  the  management 
to  unite  the  Erie  with  the  Harlem  Railroad,  by  constructing 
a  brain  h  to  that  railroad  from  a  point  opposite  Piermont,  by 
which  the  Erie  would  have  gained  entrance  to  New  York 
City,  and  secured  its  terminus  there  at  what  is  now  the  Grand 
Central  Depot  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad.  ("Ad- 
ministration of  James  Bowen,"  pages  52-56.)  The  people 
of  Middletown,  X.  Y..  viewed  with  keener  apprehension  the 
faltering  state  of  the  Company's  operations,  perhaps,  than 
those  of  any  other  locality  on  the  route,  for  the  railroad's 
western  terminus  was  then  but  nine  miles  distant  from  that 
place,  and  at  a  rival  village.  The  grading  between  Goshen 
and  Middletown  was  partially  done,  but  its  progress  to  com- 
pletion was  slow  and  uncertain.  It  was  still  in  that  condition 
when  the  contractors  all  along  the  line  were  notified  in  No- 
vember, 1841,  that  the  financial  status  of  the  Company  was 
such  that  if  thev  continued  with  their  work  it  would  be 
greatly  to  their  risk.  The  contractors,  however,  had  faith 
that  the  Legislature  of  New  York  would  come  to  the  aid  of 
the  Company  at  the  session  of  1842,  and  many  of  them  kept 
at  work,  accepting  the  Company's  obligations  for  future 
payment. 

The  situation  of  the  work  along  the  line  at  the  close  of 
1841  was  this  :  410  miles  of  the  road  were  under  contract. 
The  grading  between  Goshen  and  Middletown  was  nearly 
finished.  Forty  miles  from  Callicoon  to  Deposit,  the  Com- 
pany  announced,  could  be  ready  for  the  rails  in  thirty  days, 
although  not  a  stroke  of  work  had  been  done  on  that  section 
sin  e  1  S3 7  :  The  Susquehanna  Division,  117  miles,  was  two- 
thirds  constructed  (on  piles),  exclusive  of  iron  rails.  Sixteen 
miles  of  the  road  from  Dunkirk,  ea>t.  was  being  prepared  for 
superstructure,  and  rails  were  on  some  part  of  it.  Super- 
structure was  being  laid  between  Olean  and  Cuba.  Half  of 
the  rest  of  the  Western  Division  was  graded.  $4,500,000 
had  been  spent  so  far  in  the  work,  ami  $200,000  worth  of 
roadway  had  been  ceded  gratuitouslv. 

Hut  the  Legislature  did  not  come  to  the  Company's  succor. 
There  was  barely  a  dollar  in  the  treasury,  and  default  was 
made  to  the  State  on  interest  due  April  1,  1842,  and  the 
Company  placed  itself  in  the  hands  of  assignees.  There  was 
due  to  contractors  and  for  material  $600,000.  Work  on 
the  construction  of  the  road  ceased  the  entire  length  of  the 
line,  and  for  four  years  all  was  silent  and  abandoned  on  the 
great  work  in  which  so  many  millions  had  been  sunk.  The 
propcrtv  of  the  Company  was  advertised  by  the  State  Comp- 
troller to  be  sold  under  foreclosure  December  30,  1842.     At 


a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  in  August,  1842,  friends 
of  the  Erie  succeeded  in  having  the  sale  postponed  six 
months. 

At  the  time  the  assignment  was  made,  there  was  not  a 
dollar  of  the  State  stock  in  the  hands  of  the  Company  un- 
sold, ami  $439,000  of  it  was  pledged  to  banks,  contractors, 
and  others  for  $385,908.  And  the  funds  of  the  Company  on 
band,  according  to  the  report  of  Treasurer  Pierson,  March  1 1, 
1842,  were  : 

In  the  Mercantile  Bank  (New  York) $73  46 

In  the  Bank  of  Commerce 40  74 

Cash  on  hand  with  the  Treasurer S7   13 

Total $201   33 

An  encouraging  prospect,  indeed,  for  the  completion  of 
the  railroad  to  Lake  Erie  ! 

During  1840,  1S41,  and  1842,  the  following  amounts  had 
been  paid  to  the  leading  contractors  :  Manrow  &  Higin- 
botham,  Susquehanna  Division,  $383,473.16;  Cheesebrough, 
Hassard  &  Co.,  Western  Division,  $166,400;  John  A.  Tracy 
&  Co.,  Western  Division,  $66,350  ;  P.  &  H.  A.  Smith,  West- 
ern Division,  $103,900;  Magee  iV'  Cook,  Western  Division. 
$273,300;  Tracy  iS:  Cartright,  $24,290.43;  Carmichael  & 
Stranahan,  Eastern  Division,  $82,744.44  —  a  total  of  $1,100,- 
458.03. 

THE    RAILROAD    FINISHED    TO    MIDDLETc  i\VX. 

Pending  the  proceedings  in  the  proposed  sale  of  the  rail- 
road, renewed  efforts  were  made  to  resuscitate  and  rehabil- 
itate the  Company  and  prevent  the  foreclosure.  James 
Bowen  retired  from  the  management,  and  was  succeeded  by 
William  Maxwell,  of  Elmira,  and  an  entirely  new  Director)'. 
The  Middletown  Association  was  formed  through  the  efforts  of 
Samuel  Denton,  Thomas  King,  William  Robinson,  and  others, 
and  twenty-five  citizens  of  that  village  made  an  agreement  with 
the  Company  to  complete  the  nine  miles  of  railroad  between 
Goshen  and  Middletown,  paying  for  the  work  themselves,  the 
amount  to  be  reimbursed  to  the  subscribers  to  the  fund  from 
the  earnings  of  the  railroad  on  that  section.  This  work  was 
done  accordingly.  The  iron  necessary  for  laying  the  track 
was  taken  from  the  original  ten  miles  laid  east  from  Dun- 
kirk, as  that  part  of  the  road  was  to  be  abandoned.  This 
iron  was  transported  from  Dunkirk,  via  Lake  Erie  to  Buffalo, 
thence  over  the  Erie  Canal  and  the  Hudson  River  to  Pier- 
mont, and  thence  by  the  railroad  to  Goshen.  This  iron  was 
part  of  a  lot  purchased  from  the  Huron  Iron  Company  in 
1S40.  The  extension  to  Middletown  was  completed  by  the 
end  of  May.  1843,  ami  opened  for  business  June  7th.  Then 
Middletown  became  the  Western  terminus  of  the  railroad, 
and  remained  such  three  years  and  a  half. 

"  The  condition  of  the  road  in  use  at  that  time,"  the  re- 
port of  the  Company  for  rS49  declared  (the  first  report  that 
had  been  made  in  four  years),  "  was  such  as  hardly  to  permit 
a  train  of  cars  to  pass  over  it  with  safety.  *  *  *  Miles  of 
road  standing  on  piles,  and  high  trestle-work  in  a  decayed 


;36 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


state,  which  had  to  be  filled  up,  requiring  in  many  cases  very 
expensive  culverts,  with  long  and  heavy  embankments.  The 
locomotives,  cars,  buildings,  and  machinery  in  shops  were 
entirely  inadequate  to  the  business.  The  road  between 
n  and  Middletown,  seven  miles  in  length,  brought  into 
use  in  a  partly  finished  state,  and  belonging  to  an  associa- 
tion of  gentlemen  of  the  latter  place,  was  held  by  the  Com- 
panv  under  an  agreement  to  ran  it.  This  had  to  be  pur- 
chased and  put  in  order,  like  other  portions  of  the  road. 
There  had  been  expended  for  these  objects,  and  deemed 
absolutely  necessary,  the  sum  of  ^695,421.  The  Company  at 
that  time  (and  for  some  time  thereafter)  were  entirely  de- 
pendent upon  chartering  such  steamboats  and  barges  as  they 
could  procure  to  do  the  business  connected  with  their  ferry." 
During  William  Maxwell's  administration,  legislation  was 
ud  postponing  the  sale  of  the  railroad  two  years— to 
April  1,  1845.  Horatio  Allen  succeeded  Maxwell  as  President, 
in  the  fall  of  184,5,  and  made  strenuous  but  futile  efforts  to 
lift  the  Company  out  of  its  troubles  and  resume  the  work  of 
construction.  ("  Administration  of  Horatio  Allen,"  pages  67 
to  73.)  In  the  fall  of  1844  Eleazar  Lord  was  for  the  third 
time  called  to  the  Presidency  of  Erie. 

ONE    WAY    TO    COLLECT    A    DEBT. 

The  route  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was  located 
through  several  of  the  finest  of  Orange  County's  farms  be- 
tween Goshen  and  Middletown.  With  the  exception  of 
Adrian  Holbert,  the  owners  of  those  farms  gave  right  of  way 
for  the  road,  some  of  them  also  being  among  the  contributors 
of  money  toward  insuring  the  extension  of  the  line  to  Middle- 
town.  Part  of  the  Holbert  farm  was  a  wide  stretch  of  low- 
lying  meadows,  a  mile  or  so  west  of  Goshen.  There  was  no 
other  course  for  the  railroad  to  follow,  and  it  was  obliged  to 
pass  across  the  Holbert  meadows  or  have  its  western  termi- 
nus indefinitely  at  Goshen.  The  Company,  therefore,  came 
to  Farmer  Holbert's  terms,  and  agreed  to  pay  him  his  price 
for  right  of  way  through  his  property. 

The  meadows  were  fertile,  and  on  the  surface  fair  to  view, 
but  when  the  contractors  came  to  the  making  of  a  road-bed 
upon  them,  they  found  that  the  fair  surface  was  but  a  marsh, 
concealing  alarming  instability  of  foundation.  The  land  was 
so  low  that  to  equalize  the  grade  the  railroad  was  to  be  car- 
ried over  it  on  piles  driven  in  the  ground.  A  contract  was 
made  with  Farmer  Holbert  to  furnish  the  piling  necessary  to 
establish  the  grade  across  his  meadows.  The  pile-driving 
proceeded  satisfactorily  until  the  workmen  were  well  afield, 
when  suddenly  the  bottom  seemed  to  drop  out  of  the  land, 
and  the  road-building  became  a  repetition,  on  a  small  scale, 
of  the  experience  the  contractors  had  had  on  the  Chester 
meadows.  For  a  time  it  appeared  as  if  Adrian  Holbert 
would  be  unable  to  fulfil  his  contract  for  supplying  the  piles, 
but  he  was  of  the  pushing  and  determined  sort,  and  hired 
farmers  in  all  the  surrounding  towns  to  cut  and  deliver  to  him 
the  necessary  timbers.  The  result  was  that  he  put  them  on 
the  ground  within  the  required  time,  and  the  road  was  built 


across  his  meadows.  This  piece  of  road-bed  is  to-day  a  solid, 
high  embankment,  apparently  as  ancient  as  the  hills  that  rise 
on  the  right  of  it ;  but  when  the  rails  were  placed  upon  it,  in 
1843,  they  rode  across  the  meadows  on  the  tops  of  piling  in 
some  places  several  feet  above  the  surface.  These  piles  are 
still  there,  but  were  long  ago  hidden  by  the  present  solid 
road-bed,  which  is  the  artificial  filling  in  of  the  space  between 
the  piles  and  the  surface  of  the  meadow. 

The  railroad  was  completed  to  Middletown  in  June,  1843. 
Preliminary  to  opening  it  for  business  between  that  place  and 
Goshen,  June  7  th,  one  of  the  four  locomotives  then  in  the 
service  was  attached  to  a  flat  car  and  started  from  ( ioshen  as 
an  inspection  train.  Conductor  W.  H.  Stewart  had  charge 
of  the  train.  John  Brandt,  Jr.,  was  the  engineer.  Super- 
intendent H.  C.  Seymour,  Gen.  G.  D.  Wickham,  and  others 
were  on  the  car.  When  they  reached  the  Adrian  Holbert 
place  they  were  surprised  to  see  a  rail  fence,  four  rails  high 
and  three  lengths  long,  built  across  the  track  there,  and 
Farmer  Holbert  himself  lying  on  a  cross  tie,  with  his  arms  and 
legs  tightly  clasped  about  it.  The  engine  stopped,  and  the 
railroad  men  went  forward  and  demanded  an  explanation  of 
this  placing  of  an  embargo  on  pioneer  travel  over  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad.  Farmer  Holbert,  who  is  remem- 
bered as  a  man  in  whom  stubbornness  predominated,  ex- 
plained matters  in  decided  terms. 

"This  railroad  can't  run  cars  through  my  farm,"  said  he, 
"  until  the  Company  settles  with  me  !  " 

The  Railroad  Company,  it  seems,  had  not  paid  for  the 
right  of  way  across  the  Holbert  fields,  and  there  was  an  un- 
settled claim  for  timber  Holbert  had  furnished.  Having 
failed  to  get  any  satisfactory  arrangement  with  the  Company, 
Farmer  Holbert  resolved  to  take  heroic  measures  as  the  best 
means  to  bring  it  to  terms.  So  he  had  built  the  fence  across 
the  track  as  a  signal  that  there  was  no  thoroughfare  there, 
and,  rightly  surmising  that  it  would  be  no  obstacle  to  the 
progress  of  the  locomotive,  had  thrown  himself  in  the  way  of 
it,  feeling  certain  that  the  engineer  would  not  proceed  over 
his  dead  body. 

Remonstrance,  appeal,  threats,  had  no  effect  on  Farmer 
Holbert,  as  he  lay  stubbornly  clutching  the  railroad  tie  ahead 
of  the  locomotive. 

"Tell  the  Company  to  come  here  and  settle  !  "  he  cried. 
"  Then  I'll  let  business  start  up  again." 

The  engineer  ran  his  engine  to  within  a  foot  or  two  of 
Farmer  Holbert,  and  set  it  to  blowing  off  steam  to  the 
full  extent  of  its  power,  with  the  expectation  that  this  would 
frighten  him  away.  "  But,"  as  the  late  W.  H.  Stewart  re- 
called the  incident  for  the  writer,  "  he  didn't  scare  worth  a 
cent."  Then  the  railroad  men  laid  hands  on  him  and  essayed 
to  remove  him  by  force,  but  it  required  three  of  them  to  do 
it,  and  then  only  after  a  severe  struggle.  "  A  madder  man 
you  never  saw,"  Mr.  Stewart  said,  "  when  at  last  we  got  him 
loose  from  the  tie,  put  him  on  board  the  car,  and  took  him 
on  to  Middletown  with  us." 

It  is  scarcely  probable  that  the  Erie  of  to-day  would  recog- 
nize as  effective  methods  of  the  kind  Farmer  Holbert  adopted 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


>37 


to  enforce  the  settlement  of  a  claim  against  it,  but  the  Erie 
of  that  day  recognized  them,  and  without  delay.  Before 
Farmer  Holbert  had  perfected  his  arrangements  to  proceed 
again  with  his  barricading  of  the  track,  an  agent  of  the  Com- 
pany called  at  his  farm  and  settled  with  him  in  full. 

Such  is  the  account  of  the  Holbert  incident  as  the  late 
W.  H.  Stewart  recalled  it,  in  conversation  with  the  author, 
and  as  Jesse  A.  Holbert,  a  son  of  the  stubborn  farmer,  says 
he  remembers  his  father  telling  it.  Wilmot  M.  Vail,  of  Port 
Jervis,  who  was  a  boy  at  Goshen  then,  and  remembers  being 
present  on  the  occasion,  says  that  the  incident  occurred  after 
the  railroad  was  opened  to  Middletown,  and  that  the  cars 
that  Holbert  attempted  to  blockade  were  freight  cars  that 
were  being  taken  to  Middletown.  Holbert,  Mr.  Vail  says, 
had  simply  thrown  a  few  rails  across  the  track,  but  did  not 
prostrate  himself  before  the  cars,  which  knocked  the  rails  off 
the  track,  and  went  on  their  way  without  further  molestation. 

It  was  Adrian  Holbert's  fate  to  meet  a  frightful  death  on 
the  rail,  almost  in  sight  of  the  spot  where  this  incident  oc- 
curred. One  day,  in  1S84,  he  was  driving  across  the  track  of 
the  Pine  Island  Branch  of  the  Erie  Railway,  near  Goshen, 
his  wife  being  in  the  carriage  with  him.  The  crossing  was  a 
dangerous  one,  and  before  the  carriage  cleared  the  track  it 
was  struck  by  the  locomotive  of  a  train  that  came  along  just 
then.  Mr.  Holbert  was  so  badly  hurt  that  he  lived  but  a 
short  time.     His  wife  escaped  with  slight  injuries. 

AFTER    THE    COLLAI'SE. 

After  the  collapse  of  the  Company  in  1842,  there  was  left 
along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  especially  in  the  western  part 
of  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Canisteo  valleys,  thousands  of 
dollars'  worth  of  timber  which  had  been  furnished  by  people 
living  along  the  road  for  the  purposes  of  its  construction. 
Chjef  among  these  were  white  oak,  chestnut,  and  pine,  which 
had  been  cut  and  manufactured  for  piling,  cross-ties,  rails, 
and  sills.  The  failure  of  the  Company  had  left  nearly  every 
farmer  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  within  ten  miles  of 
the  railroad,  a  creditor  to  a  greater  or  less  amount,  of  the 
payment  of  whose  claims  there  seemed  to  be  no  prospect  or 
hope.  The  value  of  the  piling  alone  which  had  been  deliv- 
ered along  the  railroad  between  Binghamton  and  Hornells- 
ville  amounted  to  a  loss  of  $500,000.  Work  was  not  re- 
sumed on  this  part  of  the  road  for  six  years  after  it  was 
abandoned,  during  which  time  reorganization  had  been 
effected,  the  Company  placed  upon  a  substantial  financial 
footing,  and  the  railroad  completed  and  in  operation  between 
Piermont  and  Binghamton.  During  this  time,  also,  the  fal- 
lacy of  building  a  railroad  on  piles  had  been  demonstrated, 
and  all  the  money  expended  upon  it,  amounting  to  nearlv 
Si. 000,000,  was  entirely  wasted.  However,  if  the  plan 
had  been  practicable,  and  if,  when  work  was  resumed,  it  was 
the  intention  to  use  the  piling  thus  left  uncared  fur  along 
the  road,  such  a  thing  would  have  been  impossible,  for  of 
all  the  pieces  of  timber  originally  placed  along  the  Com- 
pany's grounds,  at  such   expense  and  labor,  but  very  few 


sticks  remained.  They  had  been  used  for  firewood,  for 
fence-posts,  and  for  building  purposes,  and  put  to  whatever 
other  uses  they  could  be  adapted  by  the  people  living  con- 
venient to  the  storage  places.  Thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of 
dressed  stone,  which  the  Company  had  provided  for  various 
purposes  in  the  construction  of  the  road,  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  feel  of  dressed  lumber  which  were  left  in  a 
similar  state  of  confusion  and  neglect,  had  also  disappeared 
in  the  interval,  and  to  this  day  evidences  of  this  material  may 
be  seen  in  the  dwellings  of  people  of  more  or  less  conse- 
quence in  that  part  of  the  State. 


RESUMPTION     OF    WORK    UNDER     ELEAZAR    LORD. 

The  property  of  the  Company  was  to  be  sold  under  fore- 
closure April  1,  1845.  Nothing  but  resumption  of  work 
somewhere  on  the  line  could  prevent  the  sale.  President 
Lord  announced  that  $6,000,000  would  be  required  to  finish 
the  work.  In  December,  1S44,  the  Company,  presuming  on 
favorable  legislation  at  the  session  of  the  Xew  York  Legisla- 
ture of  1845,  revived  a  contract  made  in  1841,  for  fifteen 
miles  of  grading  and  mason-work  on  Section  1  of  the  road, 
between  Middletown  and  the  Shawangunk  Summit,  and  put 
men  to  work  upon  it. 

The  situation  of  the  work  at  this  critical  period  in  the 
Company's  affairs  may  be  seen  from  the  following  extract 
from  a  statement  issued  by  the  Company  November  1,  1S44  : 

The  actual  outlay  upon  this  work,  including  the  value  of  dona- 
tions for  roadway  and  other  purposes,  may  be  reasonably  estimated 
at  five  millions  of  dollars  ;  consisting  of  stock  of  the  1  ompa'ny  some- 
what less  than  one  and  a  half  millions  ;  debts,  chiefly  settled  by  obli- 
gations at  five  years,  about  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and  three 
millions  furnished  by  the  State.  The  donations  of  land  furnished  for 
the  roadway,  depots,  stations,  and  other  purposes  are  deemed  to  ex- 
ceed in  value  the  loss  incurred  on  the  sale  of  State  -tuck,  and  the 
damages  to  unfinished  work,  consequent  on  suspension  and  delay. 
Those  best  acquainted  with  the  subject,  with  the  amount  ■  f  labor  and 
materials  employed,  and   the  prices  paid,  deem   the  v  well 

worth  all  that  it  has  cost  ;  and  are  of  opinion  that  were  it  now  to  be 
commenced,  taking  into  view  the  unavoidable  loss  of  time  required  in 
such  a  case,  a  greater  amount  or  value  of  results  could  not  be  accom- 
plished for  a  less  sum.  Much  more  than  half  of  the  w  -  ary  to 
prepare  the  entire  line  of  the  road  for  the  rails  has  been  performed. 
The  work  is  well  done.  No  part  of  it  requires  to  be  altered,  and  it  is 
believed  to  be  susceptible  of  no  material  improvement.  Fifty-three 
miles  of  the  road  on  the  Eastern  Division  are  in  prosperous  and 
profitable  operation.  On  the  Delaware,  east  of  Di  -veen 
30  and  40  miles  are  graded.  Between  Binghamton  and  the  Lake,  150 
miles  are  prepared  for  the  superstructure,  some  of  which  is  laid.  The 
timber  for  the  superstructure  is  provided  for  about  250  miles.  At  the 
Western  termination  the  rails  are  laid  on  about  10  miles. 

The  statement,  in  its  declaration  that  "  no  part  of  the  work 
required  to  be  altered,''  demonstrated  that  President  Lord 
had  not  changed  his  mind  in  regard  to  the  use  of  piles  as  a 
roadway,  no  miles  of  which  had  been  driven  along  the  Sus- 
quehanna and  Western  Divisions,  although  Chief  Engineer 
Thompson  S.  Brown   had  condemned   such   roadway,  and  it 


338 


BETWEEN    THE   OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


»  be  entirety   abandoned  when  work  on  those  divisions 
was  resumed. 

But  the  tenure  of  operations,  even  on  the  small  beginning 
of  1844,  depended  on  future  legislation,  and,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, on  the  outcome  of  the  agitation  Eor  a  change  of  the 
itral  Sullivan  County  to  the  Delaware  Valley — 
which  now.  if  occupied  at  all  b)  the  railroad,  would  have  to 
be  occupied  on  the  Pennsylvania  side  of  the  river — and  of 
between  Deposit  and  Binghamton.  This  question 
of  change  of  route  brought  about  such  serious  differences  of 
opinion  between  a  majority  of  the  Board  of  Directors  and 
President  Lord,  who  opposed  the  proposed  change,  that  he 
ied  in  the  spring  of  1845.  Legislation  that  placed  the 
Company  on  a  sound  financial  basis,  by  cancelling  the  debt 
it  owed  the  State  (£3,000,000),  authorizing  it  to  reorganize — 
the  assignment  having  been  lifted  in  1844,  it  having  been  de- 
clared irregular  by  the  New  York  courts — and  to  issue  bonds, 
and  postponing  all  foreclosure  proceedings  six  years,  had 
been  secured,  however,  during  this  third  term  of  Eleazar  Lord 
as  President. 


REAL  WORK,   AT    LAST,    UNDER    BENJAMIN    LODER. 

Eleazar  Lord  was  succeeded  by  Benjamin  Loder,  one  of 
whose  first  acts  was  to  appoint  Major  Thompson  S.  Brown 
Chief  Engineer. 

(From  Eleazar  Lord' 1  " Historical  Review  of the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad"  published  in  1S55.) 

Before  any  new  track  was  laid  west  of  Middletown,  he  (Major 
Brown)  set  himself  to  the  task  of  bringing  about  a  change  of  gauge, 
so  as  to  reduce  the  width  from  six  feet  to  four  feet  eight  and  one-half 
inches.  Such  a  change  would  involve  the  expense  of  relaying  the 
track  on  the  Eastern  Division,  and  furnishing  new  cars  and  engines 
to  suit,  but  the  " benefit "  would  be  realized  in  the  remaining  400 
miles  of  road.  All  the  civil  engineers  in  this  country,  except  H.  C. 
Seymour,  those  associated  with  him,  and  perhaps  three  or  four  others, 
and  nearly  all  of  those  in  Europe,  were  in  favor  of  four  feet  eight  and 
a-half   inches  as  the  width  of  gauge.     That    was   the   reigning  and 

1  theory,  and,  therefore,  it  would  be  wise  to  change  back  to 
that.     The  six-feet  gauge  was  a  feature  in  the  system  of  management 

in  order  to  meet  speedy  and  complete  success,  must  be  promptly 
and  wholly  abandoned  and  condemned.  The  Directors,  of  course,  sym- 
pathized with  the  Major  in  his  views,  in  opposition  to  -Mr.  Seymour, 
then  Superintendent  of  the  Eastern  Division       A    formal  controversy 

,  and  iv, is  persevered  in,  at  no  inconsiderable  expense  of  time 
and  money,  for  some  two  years,  and  ceased  only  when  the  resistless, 
experimental  and  practical  demonstration,  established  by  Mr.  Sey- 
years  of  experience  and  observation  as  Engineer  and 
Superintendent,  convinced  and  controlled  the  minds  of  a  majority  of 
the    Direi  standing   that   they  were  violently  prejudiced 

I  him,  and  prejudiced   in   favor  of   the  pretensions 

and  supposed  competency  of  the  Major." 

Lending  the  resumption  of  work  on  the  construction  of  the 
railroad  beyond  Middletown,  the  science  of  railroad  building 
had  made  great  steps  forward,  and  far-seeing  engineers  had 
begun  to  question  the  wisdom  of  a  gauge  of  track  six  feet 


wide  on  a  railroad  that  was  destined  to  be  the  common 
rei  eptacle  of  traffic  from  numerous  railroads  then  building, 
whose  gauge  was  to  be  a  uniform  one  of  four  feet  eight  and 
one-half  inches,  and  it  came  up  for  serious  consideration  by 
the  Erie  Board  of  Directors.  Hezekiah  C.  Seymour,  who  had 
come  to  the  service  of  the  Company  in  1838,  and  who  was 
the  personal  friend  of  Eleazar  Lord,  had  advocated  and  in- 
sisted on  the  six-foot  gauge  when  the  subject  came  up  for 
ilis.  ussion  and  settlement  in  that  year,  and  he  had  been 
warmly  seconded  by  S.  S.  Post,  his  assistant.  Eleazar  Lord 
had  also  reasons  of  his  own  for  desiring  the  adoption  of  that 
gauge  ("Second  Administration  of  Eleazar  Lord,"  pages 
39-40),  and  it  was  adopted.  Chief  Engineer  Brown  having 
been  in  England,  where  the  subject  of  narrowing  all  railroads 
to  the  four  feet  eight  and  a-half  inch  gauge  was  the  all-absorb- 
ing one  among  constructing  engineers,  and  where  the  change 
was  meeting  with  favor,  advocated  the  change  of  the  Erie's 
gauge  on  the  section  of  railroad  already  finished,  and  the 
laying  of  the  remainder  of  the  track  to  correspond.  As  above 
stated  by  Mr.  Lord,  the  discussion  of  the  important  question 
occupied  much  of  the  time  of  the  management,  and,  although 
a  great  majority  of  the  ablest  civil  engineers  of  the  country 
decided  that  the  new  departure  would  be  one  of  undoubted 
wisdom  (a  fact  that  Mr.  Lord  cynically  quotes  as  being 
something  to  condemn  it,  so  long  as  H.  C.  Seymour  did  not 
approve  of  it),  the  Board  voted  at  last  to  retain  the  broad 
gauge,  a  short-sighted  decision,  and  one  that  cost  the  Com- 
pany more  than  S 2 5, 000,000  before  it  was  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  Major  Brown's  contention  was  right,  and  the 
track  was  narrowed  to  the  gauge  he  had  advocated  nearly 
forty  years  before. 

The  question  of  the  changes  in  the  route  of  the  railroad 
was  still  unsettled  when  President  Loder  became  the  head  of 
the  Company,  and  active  operations  were  confined  to  .the 
short  section  of  the  road  between  Middletown  and  the  Shaw- 
angunk  Summit.  The  decision  of  the  Commissioners  in 
favor  of  the  changes  in  the  route  was  made  August  25,  1S46, 
and  that  may  be  set  down  as  the  date  on  which  actual  oper- 
ations on  the  line  were  resumed  after  the  dismal  collapse  of 
1 841-2. 

The  work  on  the  Otisville  section  was  vigorously  prose- 
cuted, and  the  railroad  was  opened  to  that  place,  sixty-two 
milesfrom  Piermont,  November  1,  1846.  Construction  from 
Otisville  to  the  Delaware  River  was  immediately  begun,  and 
proposals  for  grading  130  miles  between  Port  Jervis  and 
Binghamton  were  advertised  for.  This  work  was  let  to 
twenty-two  contractors,  and  they  were  compelled  to  take  one- 
third  of  the  amount  of  their  contracts  in  stock.  They  be- 
gan work  at  numerous  points  in  New  York  State  and  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  soon  an  army  of  7,000  men  and  3,000 
teams  was  engaged  on  the  construction  of  the  road  between 
the  Shawangunk  Mountains  and  Binghamton.  Contracts  were 
also  made  for  all  the  iron  rails  required  for  the  road  as  far 
as  Binghamton.  The  grading  of  the  branch  from  Newburgh 
to  Chester  was  begun  in  the  spring  of   1846. 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


339 


IMPROVING    A    WATER    SUPPLY. 

"  During  the  interval  of  leisure,  before  they  (the  Company) 
were  at  liberty  to  commence  their  improvement  on  the  Shaw- 
angunk  Ridge,"  wrote  ex-President  Eleazar  Lord  in  1855, 
in  his  "  Historical  Review,"  "  their  attention  was  called  to  an 
important  improvement  in  respect  to  the  arrangement  for 
supplying  water  to  their  engines  at  Middletown,  near  Goshen. 
The  story  as  currently  told,  comprised  the  following  par- 
ticulars :  When  the  road  was  opened  to  that  place  some  years 
before,  a  convenient  and  ample  supply  of  water  was  furnished 
by  means  of  a  pump  at  the  side  of  the  track.  About  that 
time  some  unfortunate  speculations  in  land  took  place.  One 
of  the  purchasers  of  an  elevated  piece  of  land  nearby  gave 
a  mortgage  on  his  purchase  for  an  amount  greater  than  could 
afterward  be  obtained  for  the  premises.  Being  threatened 
with  a  foreclosure,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  forming  an  arti- 
ficial pond  on  the  side  hill  at  an  elevation  somewhat  above 
that  of  the  top  of  an  engine,  filling  it  with  rain  water 
from  the  surface  of  the  higher  grounds,  and  selling  it  at  a 
round  price  to  the  Railroad  Company  for  a  living  spring, 
whence  the  water  required  for  the  engines  might  be  conveyed 
in  pipes,  and  a  saving  made  of  the  expense  of  pumping. 
He  formed  his  plan  and  carried  it  into  effect.  Having  ex- 
cavated a  basin  of  considerable  capacity,  and  lined  it  with 
clay  to  prevent  a  loss  of  surface  water  conducted  into  it,  and 
having  by  means  of  slight  ditches  filled  it  to  the  brim  with 
water,  he  hurried  off  to  the  city  to  have  an  interview  with  the 
officers  of  the  Company.  Xo  sooner  had  he  explained  the 
economical  advantages  to  be  gained  by  purchasing  his  spring, 
and  announced  that  if  paid  immediately  he  would  take  the 
moderate  price  of  $2,500  for  it,  than  it  was  perceived  that 
the  purchase  would  be  a  great  improvement,  as  it  would  be  a 
change  from  the  use  of  a  pump,  and  therefore  an  improve- 
ment on  what  had  been  done  before.  The  subject  was  of 
the  greatest  importance,  since,  without  water,  the  engines 
could  not  move,  and  if  they  stood  still  the  road  would  not  be 
worth  the  1  ost  of  construction.  The  Major  (Chief  Engineer 
Brown),  the  President  (Mr.  l.oder),  and  others  repaired  to 
Middletown  to  examine  the  spring,  which  was  about  200  rods 
from  the  railroad.  They  were  satisfied  by  the  inspection  of 
the  spring.  The  bargain  was  closed,  anil  a  deed  of  the  spring 
was  taken.  The  52,500  was  paid  ;  iron  pipes,  at  the  expense 
of  about  the  same  amount,  were  laid  from  the  spring  to  the 
railway  ;  an  elevated  tank  was  prepared  ;  the  valves  were 
opened.  The  contents  of  the  basin  were  exhausted  in  a  few 
minutes.  No  further  supply  appeared,  and  the  use  of  the 
original  wooden  pump  was  necessarily  resumed.  But  the  end 
was  not  yet.  Some  good-natured  citizen  shortly  after  in- 
formed the  Company  that  the  land  they  had  bought  with  the 
dry  spring  was  covered  by  a  mortgage  on  the  whole  lot; 
that  the  part  which  they  had  bought  for  $2,500  had  not  been 
released,  and  would  soon  be  sold,  together  with  the  kon 
pipes,  in  case  the  latter  were  not  instantly  removed.  The 
responsible  officers  of  the  Company,  having  relied  on  the 
friendly  feelings  and  good  faith  of  the  mortgagor,  and  having 


forgotten  to  inquire  whether  or  not  any  incumbrance  existed 
on  the  premises,  and  the  affair  having  become  somewhat 
notorious,  sent  up  a  competent  force  and  had  the  pipes  ex- 
humed and  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  the  sheriff." 


RAILROAD    BUILDING    IX    THE    SHAWANGUNK 
MOUNTAINS. 

In  building  the  railroad  as  far  as  Otisville,  the  original 
plan  of  superstructure  was  adhered  to — the  laying  of  rails 
on  longitudinal  sills,  supported  by  countersunk  cross-pieces. 
The  new  era  of  railroad  building  began  with  the  work  from 
Otisville  westward.  It  had  been  demonstrated  to  railroad 
engineers  that  the  placing  of  sills  between  the  rails  and  the 
ground  was  foolish;  unnecessary,  and  detrimental,  as  well  as 
costly.  No  sills  were  used  beyond  Otisville,  and  rails  were 
placed  upon  cross-ties  as  at  the  present  day,  except  that  at 
the  joints  they  rested  in  chairs  instead  of  being  firmly  held 
by  the  continuous  joints  of  to-day.  This  abandonment 
of  primitive  methods  in  railroad  building  developed  a  new 
industry  along  the  line  of  the  railroad :  the  getting  out 
and  supplying  the  Company  with  ties.  These  were  cut 
in  the  woods  contiguous  to  the  railroad,  and  delivered  to  the 
Company's  agents  at  stated  points.  The  railroad  between 
Otisville  and  Port  Jen-is  passed  down  the  west  side  of 
the  Shawangunk  Mountains,  through  a  country  where,  up  to 
that  time,  the  land  had  been  considered  barely  worth  the 
taxes  paid  upon  it.  This  applied  particularly  to  the  territory 
on  either  side  of  the  railroad,  covering  an  area  of  perhaps  a 
mile  wide  and  twelve  miles  in  length.  It  was  a  thick  growth 
of  chestnut  and  oak,  of  small  size.  Wood  was  the  fuel  usei  1 
then  by  the  Company  for  its  locomotives,  and  this  stretch  of 
Shawangunk  country  was  particularly  desirable  as  a  posses- 
sion. Its  timber  furnished  the  best  of  firewood,  and  its  con- 
venience to  the  railroad  rendered  the  obtaining  of  it  easy  and 
economical.  When  the  agent  of  the  Company,  however, 
attempted  to  purchase  this  hitherto  worthless  land,  it  had  as- 
sumed a  sudden  value.  Tracts  that  could  have  been  pur- 
chased for  three  dollars  an  acre  were  held  at  fifty  dollars, 
and  land  that  the  tax-assessor  had  in  vain  sought  an  owner 
for,  was  claimed  by  some  of  the  most  prominent  fanners  in 
the  Neversink  Valley.  Instead  of  purchasing  to  any  large 
extent  of  the  Shawangunk  land,  the  Company  bought  the 
cordwood  of  its  owners,  to  be  cut  by  them  and  piled  along 
the  road.  East  and  west  of  this  stretch  of  woodland  were 
some  of  the  rii  hesl  farmers  in  Orange  County.  During  this 
time  the  laborers  employed  by  the  contractors  on  this  sec- 
tion of  the  road  were  Irish.  On  Sunday  hundreds  of 
them  swarmed  through  the  adjacent  country,  despoiling  the 
orchards  of  apples,  digging  the  farmers'  potatoes,  stripping 
the  fields  of  their  crops,  and  helping  themselves  to  even- 
thing  which  struck  their  fancy.  Resistance  on  the  part  of 
the  fanners  was  useless,  and  during  the  year  the  railroad  was 
built  down  the  Shawangunk  Mountains,  the  farms  of  that 
part  of  the  country  adjacent  to  the  work  were  almost  as  bar- 


34Q 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


ren  of  good  to  their  owners  as  if  the  land  had  been  stricken 
with  famine. 

One  feature  of  the  road  on  the  Shawangunk  Section  was  a 
rock  cut  three  miles  east  of  Port  Jervis,  and  a  wall  of  solid 
rock,  of  which  the  mountain  was  entirely  composed,  was 
necessarv  to  be  cut  through  before  the  road  could  reach  the 
•  ink  Valley.  The  rock  was  on  the  farm  of  a  wealthy 
old  Dutch  farmer  named  Van  Fleet,  who  lived  nearby. 

The    Company  had   already   paid  him  well  for  right  of 

icross  his   property,  the  whole  extent  of  ground  over 

which  the  railroad  passed   not  being  worth  fifty  dollars,  and 

did  not  suppose  that  he  would  charge  them 

much  for  cutting  a  way  through  the  solid  rock  on  the  edge  of 

his  farm  ;  but  he  w:as  asked  how  much  it  would  be.     His 

was : 

••  Veil,  the  rock  is  not  vort  much.  I  von't  sharge  you  much 
for  dat." 

The  workmen  reached  the  point  where  the  excavation  of 
the  rock  was  to  be  made,  and  the  contractors  put  their  men 
upon  it.  They  were  soon  waited  upon  by  the  farmer,  who 
told  them  they  would  have  to  settle  before  they  went  on  with 
the  work.  After  much  argument  with  the  contractors  he 
was  finally  induced  to  set  his  price. 

"Veil,  dan,"  he  said,  "it  is  vort  one  hundred  dollars  an 
acre." 

1 1  « as  too  late  to  have  appraisers  appointed  to  condemn 
the  property,  for  the  railroad  must  be  completed  to  Port 
Jervis  by  a  certain  time,  and  the  old  farmer  stubbornly  in- 
sisting upon  his  price,  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  pay  him 
for  it.  Of  the  area  of  rock  necessary  the  least  he  would 
sell  was  two  aires,  the  price  of  which  was  more  than  he  could 
have  received  for  his  best  meadow  land. 

The  making  of  this  cut  through  the  rock  was  not  only  ex- 
pensive in  itself,  but  the  consequential  damages  were  con- 
siderable. The  flats,  one  hundred  feet  below  the  cut,  were 
occupied  by  residences  and  buildings  of  farmers.  In  blast- 
ing, large  pieces  of  rock  frequently  were  hurled  on  and  among 
them,  sometimes  crashing  through  the  roofs  of  houses  and 
buildings,  and  now  and  then  alighting  in  the  fields  among  the 
cattle  with  disastrous  results.  All  these  had  to  be  paid  for, 
and  the  farmers'  bills  were  never  light. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Netu  York  Herald,  December  18, 
1847,  wrote  as  follows  of  the  Erie  work  at  that  interesting 
period  :  "  Only  to  think  of  a  force  fully  as  large  as  our  army 
that  stormed  and  took  the  Mexican  capital,  and  still  holds  it, 
battling  away  here  among  the  rocks,  with  picks,  spades,  hoes, 
hammers,  axes,  and  all  manner  of  instruments,  not  excepting 
even  the  celebrated  '  excavating  machine,'  patented  by  Otis 
F.  Carmichael." 


THE    SHIN    HOLLOW    WAR. 

President  Loder  being  extremely  anxious  to  have  the  road 
through  to  Port  Jervis  by  January  1,  1X48,  the  contractors 
were  offered   handsome  bonuses  to  hasten  the  work.     The 


laborers,  newly  arrived  in  this  country,  were  mostly  of 
that  class  known  as  "  Wild  Irishmen,"  and  all  of  them 
had  the  factional  hatreds  and  belligerent  traditions  of  their 
native  land  still  as  alive  in  their  breasts,  and  as  ready  to 
prompt  them  to  action,  as  they  were  among  the  bogs  and  on 
the  green  turf  of  Erin.  It  happened  that  those  two  bitterly 
opposed  factions,  the  Far-downers  and  the  Corkonians,  were 
largely  represented  among  these  laborers.  This  was  particu- 
larly the  situation  on  the  section  of  the  work  of  which  Shin 
Hollow  was  the  centre. 

Shin  Hollow  was,  and  is,  a  considerable  stretch  of  flat  land 
lying  between  the  western  face  of  the  mountain  range  and 
the  foothills,  four  miles  east  of  Port  Jervis.  The  old  Kingston 
and  Milford  turnpike,  which  crossed  the  mountain  from 
Finchville,  passed  through  Shin  Hollow,  and  the  course  of 
that  long-forgotten  highway  is  yet  visible  there. 

The  locality  has  been  known  as  Shin  Hollow  longer  than 
the  oldest  inhabitant  can  remember,  but  what  the  origin  of 
that  name  was  no  one  can  tell.  The  grading  for  the  railroad 
required  the  making  of  a  cut  a  mile  or  more  long  through  the 
western  side  of  Shin  Hollow,  and  the  cut  had  necessarily  to 
be  made  so  deep  that  when  the  railroad  was  done  and  the 
cars  were  running,  the  surface  of  the  Hollow  was  so  far  above 
the  tops  of  the  cars  that,  although  the  count v  maps  showed 
Shin  Hollow  as  on  the  line  of  the  railroad,  passengers  in  the 
cars  who  might  be  on  the  watch  to  see  what  sort  of  a  place  it 
was,  could  see  nothing  but  a  forest-clad  mountain  front  on 
one  side,  and  a  blank  rise  of  earth  on  the  other  ;  and  that  is 
all  they  can  see  of  Shin  Hollow  from  the  cars  to-day.  Not 
that  there  is  much  to  see  of  Shin  Hollow,  even  if  one  should 
be  curious  enough  to  find  his  way  to  the  top  of  the  cut  and 
take  a  look  at  the  spot.  There  is  nothing  there  but  a  lonely 
opening  in  the  hills,  with  a  couple  of  melancholy  farms  occu- 
pying some  of  the  space,  and  a  discouraged-looking  house  or 
two  squatting  on  them,  seemingly  wondering  what  they  are 
there  for.  But  fifty  years  ago,  when  the  railroad  was  building 
through  that  way,  Shin  Hollow  was  a  lively  place.  It  was  the 
headquarters  of  Carmichael  &  Stranahan,  contractors  for 
making  a  big  section, of  that  costly  part  of  the  railroad.  They 
had  in  their  employ  about  two  hundred  men,  a  force  com- 
posed largely  of  the  Corkonian  element  of  the  Irish,  but 
comprising  also  a  small  contingent  of  quiet,  plodding,  unob- 
trusive Germans,  familiarly  and  derisively  known  to  the  Irish 
as  the  "  dom  Dootch."  The  contractors  had  a  big  store  at 
Shin  Hollow.  Wood  &  Shute  had  another  one,  anil  for 
awhile  Blizzard  &  Clark  ran  one.  Thomas  O'Brien  was  the 
sub-contractor  who  was  cutting  the  way  for  the  railroad 
through  the  great  wall  of  rock  a  mile  west  of  Shin  Hollow,  a 
passage  known  then  as  the  Blue  Rock  Cut,  but  which  modern 
nomenclature  has  transformed  into  Black  Rock  Cut.  He 
had  as  foreman  one  James  O'Brien,  who  labored  to  increase 
his  income  by  keeping  a  boarding-house  at  Shin  Hollow. 
Carmichael  &  Stranahan  also  kept  a  boarding-house.  So  did 
a  German  named  Yolmer.  All  those  buildings  were  rude  but 
commodious  shanties,  the  boarding-houses  having  lofts,  or 
galleries,  around  the  sides,  which  were  held  up  by  posts,  and 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


34i 


where  the  boarders  slept.  Besides  these  structures  there  were 
many  smaller  shanties  scattered  about  in  the  Hollow,  and  also 
on  the  side  of  the  mountain,  in  which  certain  laborers 
"boarded  themselves,"  or  where  buxom  "widdies"  sought 
to  turn  an  honest  penny  by  catering  to  the  railroaders  in  the 
ways  of  pork  and  "  peraties,"  or  a  kindly  "drop  of  the 
craythur."  Thus  the  Shin  Hollow  of  fifty  years  ago  might 
have  boasted  of  a  steady  population  of  at  least  200,  and,  on 
occasion,  of  a  floating  ] population  of  a  hundred  or  so  more. 

In  searching  for  the  impelling  cause  of  the  Shin  Hollow 
War.  fifty  years  after  it  occurred,  with  no  written  record  to 
guide  him,  the  historian  is  confronted  with  the  testimony  of 
tradition,  and  the  uncertain  memory  of  a  few  who  were 
among  those  living  in  the  locality  when  the  noisy  riot  oc- 
curred, and  who  live  there  still.  The  pay  of  railroad  laborers 
on  the  Shawangunk  Mountains  section  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  had  been  fixed  at  seventy-five  cents  a  day. 
One  story  is  that  the  Corkorian  sons  of  the  Green  Isle  came 
first  upon  the  work,  and  established  a  precedent  by  accepting 
that  pay  as  sufficient  and  satisfactory.  Later,  the  Sham- 
rocks, or  Far-downers,  began  to  respond  to  the  call  for  men, 
and  their  rich  and  hot  blood  soon  rebelled  at  seventy-five  cents 
a  day,  although  Jim  O'Brien  is  reported  to  have  declared,  in 
an  early  burst  of  confidence,  that  "  Divil  a  wan  o'  dthem  was 
afther  eamin'  dthe  likes  o'  dthat  in  six  days  on  dthe  ould 
sod,  bad  'cess  to  dthem  ! "  Another  version  is  that  the 
trouble  began  with  the  boarding-houses  at  Shin  Hollow 
"skimping"  the  men  in  their  rations,  and  with  the  con- 
tractors' clerks  cheating  them  in  settling,  and  overcharging 
them  at  the  stores  for  their  supplies.  Still  another  account 
fixes  the  responsibility  of  the  Shin  Hollow  War  on  the  hiring 
of  the  Germans  by  the  contractors,  and  putting  them  on  the 
work.  But  the  weight  of  evidence  is  that  the  number  of 
Far-downers  after  awhile  became  much  greater  along  the  line 
than  that  of  the  Corkonians,  and  that  at  last  the  Old  Adam 
got  the  better  of  them,  and  they  felt  that  they  would  not  be 
true  to  their  traditions  if  they  did  not  rise  up  anil  break  an 
sional  Corkonian  head. 

At  any  rate,  about  the  middle  of  January,  1847,  the  Far- 
downers  began  to  be  aggressive.  Fights  with  groups  of  the 
other  faction  of  their  countrymen  became  of  daily  and  nightly 
occurrence,  anywhere  between  Otisville  and  Shin  Hollow. 
Saturday,  January  30th,  a  large  body  of  Far-downers  formed 
near  the  top  of  the  mountain,  and  marching  to  a  section  of 
Carmichael  &  Shanahan's  contract,  attacked  the  Corko- 
nians there  with  clubs  and  stones,  wounding  several  severely, 
and  compelling  the  gang  to  throw  away  their  tools  and  take 
an  oath  that  they  would  leave  the  work.  The  following  Mon- 
day a  still  stronger  force  of  the  belligerent  Far-downers,  many 
of  them  armed  with  guns  which  they  had  in  some  manner  got 
possession  of,  proceeded  to  another  part  of  Carmichael  & 
Shanahan's  section,  surrounded  the  laborers,  fired  a  volley 
over  their  heads,  and  declared  that  they  would  riddle  them 
with  shot  if  they  did  not  quit  work.  The  Corkonians  threw 
down  their  tools.  Their  foes  then  drove  them  before  them 
to  Shin  Hollow,  where  they  forced  the  contractors'  agent  to 


pay  the  men  off  and  discharge  them.  In  this  assault  many 
of  the  assailed  were  knocked  down  and  badly  beaten,  and  it 
was  said,  and  is  still  believed  by  many,  that  one  man  was 
killed  in  the  melee. 

After  dealing  thus  with  that  gang  of  Corkonians,  the  tri- 
umphant Far-downers  marched,  with  fierce  yells  and  dire 
threats,  upon  that  part  of  the  work  where  the  Germans  were 
employed,  vowing  that  they  would  show  the  "  Dootch "  no 
mercy.  They  were  not  prepared  for  the  reception  that 
awaited  them.  The  Germans,  although  few  in  numbers,  had 
cool  heads  among  them,  and  they  received  the  confident 
Irish  with  such  vigor  and  determination  that  the  htter  were 
soon  flying  from  the  field,  bearing  with  them  two  or  three  of 
their  number  whose  ardor  was  not  proof  against  the  sturdy 
blows  of  the  resolute  Germans. 

These  raids  of  the  Far-downers  created  a  panic  among  the 
other  laborers,  and  work  was  almost  suspended  along  the 
mountain.  The  Germans  were  the  only  ones  that  did  not 
lose  a  day.  The  Irishmen  who  had  been  driven  from  their 
jobs  still  loitered  about  Shin  Hollow.  All  remained  quiet 
along  the  line  after  the  affray  until  the  evening  of  Wednes- 
day, February  3d.  The  rumor  had  spread  that  the  Corkonians 
had  resolved  to  return  to  work.  Early  on  the  evening  of 
February  3d,  firing  of  guns  was  heard  at  frequent  intervals 
in  the  woods  at  different  points  between  Shin  Hollow  and 
the  Hog-back,  as  the  summit  of  the  Deerpark  Pass  was 
called,  and  through  which  the  railroad  was  being  constructed. 
These  shots  seemed  in  the  nature  of  signals  of  some  kind, 
but  they  ceased  at  last,  and  even-thing  was  quiet.  The  Cork- 
onians at  Shin  Hollow  had  climbed  to  their  bunks  in  the 
boarding-house  lofts,  and  the  stores  and  shanties  were  closed 
for  the  night. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  Shin  Hollow  was  wrapped  in 
profound  slumber  when,  at  midnight,  the  Far-downers,  in  a 
body  one  hundred  strong,  and  armed,  marched  into  the 
place,  divided  their  forces,  and  proceeded  half  to  one  board- 
ing-house and  half  to  another.  The  inmates  of  the  houses 
were  ignorant  of  the  presence  of  their  enemies  until  they 
were  awakened  by  the  smashing  of  windows  and  doors,  the 
discharging  of  guns  and  pistols  through  the  breaches  thus 
made,  and  the  wild  yells  and  cries  of  the  assailing  party. 
The  Corkonians  seemed  to  have  been  but  poorly  armed,  for 
they  made  but  a  weak  resistance  to  the  attack.  At  O'Brien's 
boarding-house,  where  most  of  the  men  were  in  the  lofts, 
they  hastily  pulled  up  the  ladders  by  which  they  climbed  to 
their  bunks,  and  huddled  down,  as  they  supposed,  out  of 
harm's  way.  The  Far-downers  swarmed  into  the  place  and 
quickly  beat  into  subjection  such  of  the  inmates  as  were  to 
be  got  at.  The  men  in  the  lofts  refusing  to  come  down  and 
meet  with  similar  treatment,  the  attacking  party  hunted  up 
axes,  and  quickly  chopped  down  the  posts  that  supported 
the  lofts,  ami  brought  the  latter  and  their  frightened  occu- 
pants crashing  into  a  heap  on  the  floor.  After  hammering 
the  Corkonians  until  there  were  few  unbroken  heads,  or  noses 
that  were  not  bloody,  the  rioters  made  their  victims  swear,  at 
the  gun's  muzzle,  that  they  would  quit  that  locality  forthwith. 


342 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


A  similar  scene  was  enacted  at  the  other  boarding-house, 
although  there  it  was  not  necessary  for  the  rioters  to  chop 
down  the  posts  to  make  the  objects  of  their  wrath  " come 
down."  One  Corkonian,  who  was  especially  obnoxious  to 
ir-downers,  was  shoved  into  a  big  Dutch  oven,  and  im- 
prisoned and  left  there  by  his  captors  with  the  cheering  as- 
surance that  they  would  return  when  they  got  time,  build  a 
fire  under  the  oven,  and  bake  him.  This  gang  of  rioters 
i  ompelled  every  one  of  their  victims  to  get  on  his  knees  and 
swear  that  he  would  leave  the  place,  after  which  he  would  be 
helped  to  his  feet  by  a  vigorous  kick  from  the  heavy  brogan 
ot  some  lusty  Far-downer. 

Having  dealt  to  their  satisfaction  with  their  Irish  fellow- 
citizens,  some  one  of  their  number  raised  the  cry  : 

"To  hell  wid  dthe  Dootch  !  " 

This  was  a  signal  for  a  rush  to  the  German  quarter  of  Shin 
Hollow.  Race  hatred  was  augmented  by  the  recollection  of 
the  vii  tory  the  Germans  had  won  over  the  Irish  a  few  days 
before,  and  the  latter  dashed  forward  to  a  new  attack  upon 
the  ( Germans,  confident  this  time  of  inflicting  severe  punish- 
ment upon  them,  and  forcing  them  to  fly  from  the  Hollow. 
But  the  Germans,  being  more  calculating  and  methodical 
than  their  Irish  fellow-workmen,  had  suspected  the  possibility 
of  such  an  outbreak  as  this,  and  were  prepared  for  it.  They 
had  a  leader  named  YVisler.  He  had  quietly  obtained  guns 
and  ammunition  from  Port  Jervis,  Otisville,  and  Middletown. 
The  uproar  made  by  the  attack  on  the  Irish  quarter  had 
aroused  the  Germans,  and  they  were  drawn  up  in  line  in  the 
darkness,  under  orders  from  Wisler,  ready  for  action  when  the 
wild  Irish  detachment  came  whooping  and  yelling  to  the 
assault.  The  Irish  were  within  a  few  yards  of  the  German 
quarter,  when  just  ahead  of  them  a  streak  of  fire  punctured 
the  darkness,  and  they  felt  and  heard  shot  rattling  upon  and 
about  them.  They  halted  in  confusion.  Before  they  could 
recover  and  make  a  second  rush,  another  streak  of  fire 
showed  them  a  momentary  gleam  of  determined  Teuton  faces, 
and  the  Irish  forces  broke  and  fled  toward  the  woods.  The 
Germans  pursued  them,  and  captured  one  prisoner,  who  had 
been  filled  with  shot  from  his  neck  to  his  heels. 

The  most  intense  excitement  prevailed  at  Shin  Hollow  the 
rest  of  the  night.  The  Far-downers  bombarded  the  place 
from  the  woods,  whither  they  had  fled  from  the  Germans. 
The  contractors  now  concluded  that  it  was  time  to  take  some 
action  toward  putting  an  end  to  the  troubles,  for  their  work 
was  being  seriously  delayed  by  the  unsettled  condition  of  af- 
fairs. A  man  was  sent  to  Otisville  with  instructions  to  de- 
spatch a  message  to  Sheriff  Welling,  at  Goshen,  by  the  train 
that  left  Otisville  early  in  the  morning.  The  sheriff  with  a 
posse  arrived  at  Shin  Hollow  during  the  forenoon,  but  being 
unable  to  quell  the  riot  or  arrest  any  of  the  rioters,  he  called 
on  the  Deerpark  Militia  to  aid  him.  Every  town  main- 
tained a  company  of  militia  in  those  days,  and  Capt.  Peter 
Swartwout  summoned  his  company,  and  led  it  from  Port 
to  the  s.ene  of  the  Shin  Hollow  War.  In  responding 
to  this  call  to  duty,  the  Deerpark  Guards  made  their  rendez- 
it  Ililferty's  Hotel,  at  Carpenter's  Point,  and  man  lied 


up  the  old  Fin<  hville  road,  under  the  high  rocks,  and,  as 
High  Private  M.  C.  Kveritt  says,  "  If  there  had  been  three  or 
four  old  women,  with  their  aprons  full  of  stones,  on  top  of 
those  rocks,  and  had  bombarded  us  just  at  that  time,  I  think 
they  would  have  routed  us." 

There  were  twenty-five  or  thirty  men  in  the  company, 
most  of  them  subsequently  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  Port 
Jervis  and  the  surrounding  country,  but  only  two  or  three  of 
them  surviving.  Among  the  volunteers,  besides  Mr.  Everitt, 
were  Charles  St.  John,  afterwards  Congressman,  and  Charles 
S.  Ball,  son  of  Dr.  Ball,  a  man  of  more  than  local  celebrity. 
Young  Ball  was  one  of  the  engineer  corps  then  in  charge  of 
the  railroad  work  west  of  Port  Jervis.  As  the  company  ap- 
proached the  scene  of  the  disturbance  they  were  divided  into 
squads  by  Capt.  Swartwout,  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitring 
and  investigating  the  shanties  that  were  scattered  about  in 
the  woods.  About  this  time  a  man  came  out  of  one  of  the 
shanties  and  ran  for  the  better  security  of  the  woods.  As  he 
did  so,  Private  Ennis,  another  of  the  Erie  engineer  corps, 
stepped  forward  from  the  ranks,  and  bringing  his  gun  to  his 
shoulder,  cried  out  : 

"Shall  I  shoot?" 

Capt.  Swartwout,  true  to  the  dignity  of  his  office,  and  re- 
solved on  maintaining  discipline,  smote  Ennis  a  resounding 
blow  with  the  flat  of  his  sword  across  the  seat  of  his  trousers, 
and  shouted  : 

"  Fall  in  here  and  wait  for  orders,  or  I'll  shoot  you .'  " 

This  the  Captain  could  not  well  have  done  without  con- 
fiscating for  the  moment  some  comrade's  gun,  for  on  leaving 
Hilferty's  he  had  let  High  Private  Everitt  take  the  rifle  he 
himself  had  started  with,  Everitt  having  no  gun  of  his  own, 
the  Captain  being  content  to  march  with  his  sword  alone. 
Ennis  fell  back  into  the  ranks  without  shooting,  and  the  cam- 
paign was  resumed.  The  Shin  Hollow  combatants,  fright- 
ened at  the  advance  of  this  formidable  army  of  military, 
moving  as  it  did  with  such  amazing  tactics,  shut  themselves 
up  in  such  shanties  as  they  could  get  into,  or  fled  to  the 
woods.  The  Deeqiark  Volunteers,  nothing  daunted,  scoured 
the  locality,  and  took  many  prisoners.  These,  the  Company 
re-forming  in  double  line  for  the  purpose,  were  marched  to 
the  office  of  the  paymaster  of  the  contractors,  where  they 
were  paid  off  and  promptly  discharged,  and  warned  to  leave 
the  neighborhood.  For  fear  that  they  would  not  leave,  and 
that  more  trouble  would  ensue,  tw^o  of  the  Deerpark  com- 
pany, Samuel  Smith  and  "  Case  "  Caskey,  were  left  on  the 
grounds  with  a  cannon  to  maintain  the  peace,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  the  company  returned  home,  covered  with  some 
glory,  but  not  enough  to  suit  a  number  of  the  volunteers, 
among  them  Charles  S.  Ball.  He  was  "  spoiling  for  a  fight," 
and  actually  did  fire  at  one  man,  but  whether  disastrously  or 
not  was  never  known.  Smith,  his  comrade,  and  the  cannon 
remained  a  week  or  so  at  Shin  Hollow,  when,  it  being  appar- 
ent that  the  trouble  was  over,  thev  returned  home. 

"  If  the  rioters  had  only  known  it,  though,"  says  High 
Private  Everitt,  in  recalling  the  incidents  of  the  war  for  the 
writer  hereof,  "they  could  have  had  a  great  deal  of  fun  with 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


343 


that  battery  of  artillery,  for  neither  Smith  nor  Caskey  knew 
any  more  about  loading  or  firing  a  cannon  than  if  he  had 
never  seen  one." 

This  somewhat  Falstaftian  detachment  of  militia  was  at  - 
companied  by  Oliver  Young,  Esq.,  lawyer  and  influential 
citizen.  He  addressed  the  rioters  as  the  Deerpark  Guards 
advanced,  admonishing  them  that  they  were  in  serious  con- 
tempt of  the  law,  and  that  the  whole  power  of  the  State 
would  be  called  upon  to  suppress  and  punish  them  if  neces- 
sary. Some  of  the  prisoners  taken  were  turned  over  to  the 
Sheriff,  who  escorted  them  to  Goshen,  where  they  were  given 
a  hearing  and  heavily  fined.  They  were  then  taken  back  to 
Shin  Hollow,  and  the  contractors  settled  with  them  and  dis- 
charged them. 

This  did  not  entirely  quell  the  riotous  spirit  of  the  Irish. 
A  squad  of  militia  was  kept  on  the  grounds  for  nearly  a 
month,  by  which  time  the  ringleaders  were  found  out,  sum- 
marily discharged,  and  warned  out  of  the  region.  These 
guards  were  from  Middletown  or  Goshen.  Unlike  the  Port 
lervis  Militia,  they  had  sought  the  seat  of  war  clad  in  their 
dress  parade  uniforms,  which  included  white  trousers  and  fine 
boots.  They  were  transported  on  a  car  run  from  Otisville,  in 
charge  of  Conductor  W.  H.  Stewart.  He  stopped  the  car 
about  a  mile  from  the  scene  of  hostilities,  and  unloaded  the 
"  troops."  The  ground  was  covered  with  snow  and  slush  to 
the  depth  of  several  inches,  through  which  the  dapper  home 
guards  were  forced  to  march,  much  to  their  disgust  and 
discomfiture.  But  peace  was  gradually  restored,  and  the 
Shin  Hollow  War  passed  down  into  history  as  an  engagement 
in  which  much  blood  was  shed,  but  no  lives  were  positively 
known  to  have  been  lost,  although  legend  insists  that  the 
Germans  killed  three  of  the  Irish  in  that  night  attack,  ami 
buried  them  in  the  woods. 

THE    LOCOMOTIVE    CROSSES    THE    NEVERSINK. 

During  i  S4  7,  the  thirteen  miles  of  railroad  between  the 
Shawangunk  Summit  and  Port  Jervis  were  completed.  Pres- 
ident Loder  had  divided  the  road  into  sections,  for  the  com- 
pletion of  which  he  had  fixed  certain  dates,  the  finishing  of 
the  work  on  such  dates  being  provided  for  in  the  contracts, 
a  failure  being  attended  with  cost  to  the  contractor.  Thus, 
December  31,  [847,  was  the  day  on  which  the  locomotive 
was  to  enter  Port  Jervis.  The  extraordinary  character  of  the 
work  to  be  done  may  be  imagined  from  a  brief  description 
of  some  of  it.  At  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  near  Otisville, 
was  a  rock  cut  upwards  of  fifty  feet  deep  in  the  deepest 
place,  ami  extending  with  some  interruption  over  a  length 
2,500  feet.  The  contractor  for  this  work  was  Thomas  King. 
A  little  more  than  a  mile  beyond  was  a  heavy  embankment, 
to  be  supported  on  the  lower  side  by  a  retaining  wall  more 
than  fifty  feet  high,  and  several  hundred  feet  in  length. 
This  was  followed  immediately  by  a  heavy  thorough  cut  in 
the  rock,  1,000  feet  long  and  thirty  feet  deep.  Half  a  mile 
further  on  was  another  enormous  embankment,  to  be  sup- 
ported on  the  lower  side  by  a  wall  fifty  feet  high.     These 


sections  were  in  the  hands  of  Charles  Story.  At  Shin 
Hollow,  about  half  way  between  Otisville  and  Port  [en-is, 
was  a  cut  upwards  of  three-fourths  of  a  mile  long  and  more 
than  fort)'  feet  deep,  in  the  1  ontrai  t  of  Carmichael  &  Stran- 
alian.  Beyond  that  was  an  embankment  upwards  of  fifty 
feet  high,  and  1,500  feet  long.  Immediately  adjacent  to 
this  embankment  was  another  enormous  thorough  cut  in  rock 
upwards  of  fifty  feet  in  depth. 

In  those  early  days  of  railroad  building  such  an  undertak- 
ing as  this  cutting  of  a  roadway  along  the  rocky  side  of  that 
wild  mountain  pass  was  something  that  required  more  cour- 
age, endurance,  and  perseverance  than  a  work  many  times  as 
formidable  would  in  these  days  of  advanced  constructive 
science;  but  the  work  was  pushed  forward  with  all  possible 
facility  by  the  contractors,  under  the  persistent  spurring  of 
Silas  Seymour,  the  Constructing  Engineer. 

The  rails  that  were  to  be  put  down  from  Otisville  west 
were  the  first  American  T-rails  for  which  any  actual  order 
for  extensive  use  of  them  had  ever  been  given.  Up  to  that 
time  England  supplied  this  country  with  rails.  These  for 
the  Erie  were  rolled  at  Scranton,  Pa.,  and  were  delivered  to 
the  Company  by  means  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company's  gravity  railroad  and  canal.  ("  Administration  of 
Benjamin  Loder,"  pages  90-91.) 

The  31st  day  of  December,  1847,  came.  The  rails  were 
all  laid  between  Otisville  and  the  east  bank  of  the  Neversink 
River,  and  were  ready  on  the  Port  Jen-is  side  of  the  river. 
But  the  trestle  bridge  was  not  yet  completed  to  carry  the 
rails  across  and  make  connection  so  that  cars  could  be  run 
to  what  was  to  be  the  Port  Jen-is,  or  Delaware,  station. 
People  from  the  "  Port,"  and  from  all  about,  had  flocked  to 
the  aid  of  the  railroad  laborers  for  days,  helping  in  the  laying 
of  tails  and  the  construction  of  the  trestle.  Daniel  Hilfertv, 
who  kept  a  hotel  at  Carpenter's  Point,  threw  open  his  house 
to  the  workers,  and  refreshments  and  good  cheer  of  all  kinds 
were  free.  The  big-hearted  boniface  said  afterward  that  the 
demand  for  these  was  so  great  that  railroad  mud  from  the 
feet  of  thirsty  ami  hungry  helpers  covered  his  floors  three 
inches  deep  by  the  time  the  trestle  was  completed. 

A  locomotive  and  two  flat  cars,  loaded  with  railroad  men 
and  citizens,  left  Otisville  in  the  afternoon,  to  be  the  first 
train  to  run  into  Port  Jervis  on  the  stipulated  time.  Knowing 
the  situation,  bets  were  freely  made  at  Otisville  and  Port 
Jervis  that  the  train  could  not  get  to  its  destination  in  time. 
This  construction  train  arrived  at  the  east  end  of  the  un- 
finished trestle,  and  added  its  complement  of  men  to  the 
crowd  thatwas  already  straining  every  nene  to  get  the  bridge 
in  shape  to  carry  the  locomotive  and  flat  cars  over.  It  was 
late  at  night  when  the  woodwork  was  ready,  and  the  rails  had 
yet  to  be  put  down.  At  a  few  minutes  before  eleven  o'<  lock 
the  track  was  all  down  with  the  exception  of  a  gap  of  one 
rail,  and  that  rail  had  to  be  cut  to  fit  the  space.  Whether  it 
was  a  rail  of  extraordinary  toughness,  or  whether  the  excite- 
ment and  suspense  were  so  great  that  the  workmen  ami  the 
bosses  lost  their  heads,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  it  is  known 
that  it  took  them  one  hour  to  cut  the  rail  and  spike  it  to  its 


>44 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


place.  Then,  with  a  tremendous  shout,  all  of  the  crowd  that 
could  do  so  clambered  upon  the  flat  cars,  and  the  locomotive 
put  on  steam,  cr  -  Neversink,  and  ran  to  the  Port  Jervis 

ius  of  the  n>ad,  arriving  there  just  seventeen  minutes 
before  the  advent  of  January  i.  1848.  What  few  people 
there  were  in  the  hamlet  of  Port  Jervis  were  on  the  spot,  and 
were  wild  with  joy  and  ex<  itement.  Silas  Seymour  was 
among  those  who  rode  in  on  the  construction  train.  The 
uproarious  crowd  lifted  him  from  his  feet  and  carried  him  on 
its  shoulders  to  the  Union  House,  on  the  canal,  nearly  a  mile 
from  the  railroad,  and  there  tendered  him  all  the  honor  and 
homage  that  shouts  and  revelry,  continued  long  into  the 
night,  could  be  made  to  be  the  sponsor  for.  The  hotel  was 
kept  by  S.  O.  Dimmick.  It  is  there  yet,  and  has  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  the  scene  of  the  first  celebration  of  the  com- 
pletion of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  between  the 
Hudson  and  the  Delaware,  a  celebration  none  the  less  hearty 
and  historic  because  it  was  impromptu  and  informal,  and 
unofficial. 

The  late  William  H.  Stewart  had  charge  of  the  construction 
train  as  conductor,  and  the  engineer  was  "  Dutch  John " 
Zeigler,  who  had  been  Eleazar  Lord's  coachman,  but  who 
was  promoted  by  Mr.  Lord,  during  his  control  of  Erie  affairs, 
to  the  railroad  service,  where  he  culminated  as  a  locomotive 
engineer.     The  locomotive  was  the  "  Eleazar  Lord." 

The  official  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Port  Jervis  was  on 
Thursday,  January  6,  1S48.  The  Sullivan  County  Whig,  a 
newspaper  then  published  at  Bloomingburg,  near  Middletown, 
thus  described  the  features  of  the  occasion,  in  its  issue  of 
January  14,  1848  : 

"  On  Thursday  last  the  Directors  and  a  party  of  invited 
guests  took  an  excursion  upon  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road from  Piermont  to  the  limit  of  its  extension  on  the  Del- 
aware, a  distance  of  seventy-four  miles.  This  was  the  first 
train  of  cars  that  had  passed  over  the  road  from  Otisville  to 
Port  Jervis. 

"  On  arriving  at  the  latter  place  the  party,  numbering  over 
an  hundred,  sat  down  to  a  sumptuous  dinner  prepared  at  the 
hotel  of  Samuel  Truex,  after  which  the  President,  Benjamin 
Loder,  made  an  address,  in  which  he  congratulated  all  inter- 
ested in  the  successful  completion  of  that  portion  of  the  road, 
notwithstanding  the  great  obstacles  that  had  to  be  overcome. 
He  spoke  of  the  proximity  of  the  road  to  the  States  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  Jersey,  ami  invited  their  citizens  to  share  in 
its  advantages  and  benefits.  Mr.  Loder  then  proceeded  to 
give  a  brief  history  of  that  portion  of  the  road  just  com- 
pleted, which  he  considered  by  far  the  most  difficult  and 
expensive  portion  on  the  entire  route  to  Lake  Erie.  He  read 
from  a  memorandum  prepared  by  Mr.  Silas  Seymour,  Super- 
intending Engineer,  the  following  interesting  statistics:  In 
the  construction  of  the  road  from  Otisville  to  Port  Jervis,  a  dis- 
tance of  thirteen  miles,  317,000  pounds  of  powder  had  been 
consumed,  210,000  cubic  yards  of  solid  rock  and  730,000  of 
earth  excavated,  14,000  yards  of  sloping  wall  constructed, 
300,000  days'  labor  bestowed  upon  it  by  3,000  laborers,  and 


30,000  days'  labor  by  horses.  He  further  stated  that  from 
this  point  to  Binghamton,  a  distance  of  about  130  miles, 
nearlv  every  section  is  being  worked,  and  a  large  portion  will 
be  readvfor  the  superstructure  by  the  month  of  June  or  July; 
and  before  the  first  of  January  next,  unless  unexpected  diffi- 
culties shall  occur,  the  Directors  intend  to  have  the  cars 
running  to  Binghamton,  if  not  further. 

"  The  section  between  Otisville  and  Port  Jervis  has  been 
mainly  constructed  since  June  last.  The  President  having 
determined  to  complete  the  work  by  the  1st  of  January, 
3,000  laborers  were  sent  over  their  road  gratuitously. 

"The  contractors,  Carmichael  &  Stranahan,  C.  Story,  and 
Thomas  King,  deserve  credit  for  the  energy  and  enterprise 
with  which  they  have  fulfilled  their  contracts.  The  grading 
alone  between  Otisville  and  Port  Jervis  cost  about  $30,000  a 
mile.  The  rails  were  manufactured  at  the  Lackawanna  Iron 
Works,  m  the  Wyoming  Valley." 

The  progress  of  the  Erie  at  this  time  inspired  the  poet  of 
the  New  York  Herald,  in  a  "  carrier's  address  "  for  January, 
184S,  to  this  burst : 

Get  off  the  track  ;  —  five  hundred  pounds  of  steam 

To  each  square  inch  don't  make  a  trifling  team. 

Patent  greased  lightning  only  could  begin 

To  run  beside  this  iron  horse  and  win. 

Whizz  !    how  she  travels  !    coppers  hot,  each  one  ! 

We  may  get  "  busted,"  but  we'll  have  our  fun. 

Hands  off  the  brake  !  — Chain  down  this  valve  !  Hurra  ! 

We're  through  by  daylight  !    Yes,  Sir-ee  !    We  are  ! 

Get  off  the  track!    Whe-w-w!    Hear  that  whistle  scream! 
Hard  down  the  brake!    There,  quick!    Shut  off  the  steam! 
Jump!  Turn  that  switch!   Chuff!   Choof!   Ch-e-o-u-gh!  Hurra! 
We're  through  by  daylight!    Yes,  Sir-ee  !    We  are  ! 

Hundreds  of  people  from  the  surrounding  country  thronged 
the  village.  Cannon  boomed,  and  bunting  floated  in  the 
breeze.  The  hotel  mentioned  as  being  the  scene  of  the 
official  feast  was  called  the  New  York  and  Erie  Hotel,  and 
was  on  the  southwest  comer  of  Pike  and  Main  streets.  The 
Union  House,  on  the  corner  of  Main  street,  near  the  Dela- 
ware and  Hudson  Canal,  was  the  scene  of  another  jubilation 
in  honor  of  the  event.  This  hotel  was  kept  by  Samuel 
O.  Dimmick,  still  living  at  Port  Jervis.  Silas  Seymour,  the 
Constructing  Engineer  of  the  railroad,  gave  Mr.  Dimmick  an 
order  to  cater  to  all  who  might  participate  in  the  celebration 
at  his  house — gave  him  carte  blanche,  in  fact,  and  told  him 
to  send  his  bill  in  to  the  Company  and  it  would  be  paid. 
The  night  of  January  6th  there  was  a  great  "spread"  at  the 
Union  House.  Mr.  Dimmick  was  ill,  and  not  able  to  be 
present  during  the  evening.  Next  morning  it  was  reported 
to  him  that  his  wine  cellar  was  empty  :  that  there  was  not  a 
drop  of  anything  in  the  bar  to  begin  business  with  for 
the  day,  and  that  there  was  scarcely  a  whole  piece  of  crockery 
left  in  the  hotel.  The  opening  of  the  railroad  hail  been 
evidently  celebrated  by  the  opening  of  everything  openable 
in  the  house;  and  the  first  "  smash-up "  as  a  result  of  the 
railroad  was  the  smash-up  of  things  at  the  same  place.     The 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


545 


hotel  was  replenished,  and  when  Mr.  Dimmick  saw  Mr.  Sey- 
mour he  explained  matters,  and  said  he  thought  a  bill  for 
56oo  would  be  about  right,  "and  not  any  too  much  at  that." 
Seymour  said  he  guessed  that  would  be  about  right. 

"  Make  it  out  as  '  for  supplies  to  the  Railroad  Company,'  " 
said  he. 

Mr.  Dimmick  made  the  bill  out  in  that  way,  and  it  was 
paid. 

Sam  Truex,  at  the  New  York  and  Erie  House,  had  many 
guests,  also,  as  a  result  of  the  railroad  celebration,  besides 
his  official  ones,  and  they  enjoyed  themselves  with  the 
contents  of  his  house  in  about  the  same  manner  that  the 
Union  House's  guests  had  with  the  stores  of  that  hostelry. 
Tmex  asked  Dimmick  what  he  had  charged  the  Company. 
Dimmick  told  him,  and  Truex  put  in  a  bill  for  the  same 
amount,  independent  of  his  bill  for  the  official  entertainment. 
But  Tmex  had  had  no  order  from  the  Company  to  keep  open 
house  on  the  occasion,  and  his  bill  was  returned  unpaid. 
And  it  is  unpaid  to  this  day. 

When  the  Erie  was  thus  opened  to  Port  Jems,  it  had 
seventy-four  miles  of  railroad,  ten  locomotives,  nine  passen- 
ger cars,  seventy  eight-wheel  freight  cars,  seventy-seven  mail 
and  baggage  cars,  one  machine  shop  (at  Piermont),  and  em- 
ployed 182  men  in  its  transportation  department.  There 
are  now  forty-two  miles  of  track  in  the  Port  Jervis  yard  alone, 
and  a  single  freight  train  frequently  consists  of  sixty  cars. 
To  construct  the  road  to  Port  Jervis  from  Piermont  had  cost 
13,276,67s. 


THE    STORY    OF    A    LITTLE    RAILROAD    AND    A    BIG 
BRIDGE. 

On  preceding  pages  ("  Administration  of  Benjamin  Loder," 
pages  S9-90)  has  been  told  how  the  further  progress  of  the 
railroad  was  threatened  by  the  opposition  of  the  Milford  and 
Matamoras  Railroad  Company,  a  local  corporation  of  Pike 
County,  Pa.,  which  had  been  chartered  in  184S,  and  how 
that  opposition  was  removed  by  the  Erie  agreeing  to  construct 
and  maintain  forever  a  bridge  across  the  Delaware  at  Mata- 
moras, Pa.,  near  Port  Jervis,  arranged  for  a  railroad  and  a 
wagon  way.  and  to  build  a  track  across  the  bridge  and  from 
it  to  the  Erie  track  at  Port  Jervis,  to  give  the  local  railroad 
connection  there;  this  so  that  the  Erie  might  be  permitted 
l"  change  its  point  of  entrance  into  Pennsylvania,  as  fixed 
by  the  Legislature  in  1846,  to  one  more  suitable  and  economi- 
(  al.  three  miles  further  up  the  Delaware,  at  the  present  place 
of  crossing,  the  c  hange  being  vital  to  the  Company,  as  with- 
out it  the  railroad  could  not  have  been  progressed  sufficiently 
to  get  it  finished  in  time  (May  14,  1S51)  to  save  the  Com- 
pany's  charter  and  property  from  forfeiture  and  foreclosure. 

The  truth  of  history  compels  the  statement  that  if  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  was  moved  to  this 
compromise  in  a  spirit  of  good  faith,  that  spirit  soon  became 
weak,   for,    although,  according    to    the    provisions    of    the 


act  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  of  1848,  the  bridge 
at  Matamoras  was  to  have  been  completed  for  use  by 
1  ><  tober  1,  1S52,  ground  had  not  only  not  been  broken 
on  the  work  in  all  that  interval,  but  the  Railroad  Company 
hail  sought  the  intervention  of  the  courts,  and  exhausted 
all  its  persuasive  powers  before  the  Pennsylvania  Legis- 
lature, in  efforts  to  abrogate  its  agreement  for  building 
the  bridge,  but  had  failed  everywhere.  A  provision  of  the 
act  granting  the  change  of  route  was  that  if  the  Company 
neglected  to  build  the  bridge  according  to  the  provisions  of 
the  act,  it  should  pay  a  tax  of  one  dollar  on  each  passenger 
passing  over  the  road  into  Pennsylvania  until  enough  money 
was  raised  to  build  the  bridge  and  the  connecting  railroad. 
The  Railroad  Companv  having  at  last  exhausted  the  patience 
of  the  Pike  County  people,  measures  were  set  afoot  by  them 
to  enforce  the  act.  Then  the  Company  began  work  on  the 
bridge,  and  it  was  completed  in  1854.  It  cost  S8o,ooo. 
This  bridge  had  a  history  that  connects  it  closely  with  the 
career  of  the  Erie. 

The  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  Company  was  organ- 
ized in  January,  1 854,  but  no  work  was  done  toward  the  build- 
ing of  a  railroad  until  many  years  afterward.  The  project 
lay  dead  until  1870. 

The  Pennsylvania  Legislature  granted  a  charter  in  1868  for 
a  railroad  from  the  Lehigh  coal  regions  to  the  Delaware  River 
at  Matamoras.  This  charter  was  secured  by  individuals  who 
organized,  in  1S69,  the  Lehigh  and  Eastern  Railroad  Com- 
pany, for  the  purpose  of  building  such  a  railroad.  This 
alarmed  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  Company, 
whose  charter  was  on  the  eve  of  lapsing,  and  it  revived  itself, 
reorganized,  and  went  to  work  with  some  activity  toward 
making  its  long-neglected  railroad.  Contracts  for  grading 
the  road  were  about  making,  in  the  winter  of  1870,  when,  in 
March  of  that  year,  the  Erie  bridge  at  Matamoras,  which  had 
been  waiting  twenty  years  for  the  railroad  to  come  up  from 
Milford  and  cross  it,  was  destroyed  in  a  gale.  This  did  not 
disturb  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  Company, 
though,  for  under  the  act  of  Legislature  granting  the  Erie 
Company  the  right  to  enter  Pennsylvania  at  Sawmill  Rift,  that 
Company  was  bound  to  maintain  a  bridge  at  Matamoras  for- 
ever, under  penalty  of  forfeiture  of  all  its  rights  in  that  State, 
including  tight  of  way.  So  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Rail- 
road Company  notified  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  which 
was  then  under  the  management  of  Jay  Gould,  that  the 
Matamoras  bridge  was  down,  and  that  the  Erie  would  be  ex- 
pected to  put  a  new  one  there  without  delay.  The  Erie  Rail- 
way Company  made  no  move  to  rebuild  the  bridge,  and  after 
waiting  until  July,  a  committee  of  directors  of  the  Milford  and 
Matamoras  Railroad  Company  went  to  New  York  and  had 
audience  with  Gould.  Eisk  was  also  present.  The  visitors 
inquired  of  Gould  as  to  his  intentions  toward  the  bridge. 

"Bridge?"  said  Gould,  as  if  surprised.  "What  bridge, 
gentlemen?  " 

"Your  bridge  across  the  Delaware  at  Matamoras,"  the 
committee's  spokesman  replied. 

"Our  bridge  across  the  Delaware  at   Matamoras?"  said 


346 


BETWEEN   THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


Gould,  still  apparently  in  a  quandary.     "  Fisk,  have  we  a 
oss  the  I '  il  Matamoras?" 

•■  We  did  have  a  bridge  across  the  Delaware  at  Matamoras," 
replied  Fisk,  "but  it  tumbled  down  last  spring." 

■■  That's  the  one  ! "  the  committee's  spokesman  said. 
■•  You  know  the  Erie  is  bound  by  law  to  keep  a  bridge  there, 
and  we  came  to  tell  yon  that  if  you  do  not  replace  that 
bridge  forthwith  we  shall  have  recourse  to  the  law,  and  shut 
you  out  of  Pennsylvania." 

"Why,  that's  the  bridge  that  we  sold  all  our  right,  title, 
and  franchise  in  to  the  l.amonte  Mining  and  Railroad  Com- 
pany, a  few  weeks  ago.  isn't   it,  Fisk?"  said  Could. 

••  That's  the  bridge,"  replied  Fisk.  "  Yes,  gentlemen," 
said  Fisk  to  the  committee,  "we  have  no  rights  at  all  in  that 
bridge  any  more.  It  belongs  to  the  Lamonte  Mining  and 
Railroad  Company.  See  them.  They'll  talk  to  you  about 
it." 

The  surprised  committee  returned  home  and  began  a 
search  for  the  Lamonte  Mining  and  Railroad  Company,  of 
which  they  had  never  heard  before.  They  discovered  that 
such  a  company  had  been  chartered  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Legislature,  March  26th  of  that  year,  a  few  days  after  the 
Matamoras  bridge  blew  down.  By  that  charter  the  company 
was  empowered  to  purchase  all  the  right,  title,  and  franchises 
of  any  bridges  on  the  Delaware  that  wanted  to  sell.  Further 
than  that  no  sign  of  the  existence  of  the  Lamonte  corpora- 
tion could  be  discovered.  There  was  no  record  at  Harris- 
burgh  to  show  by  whom  the  bill  had  been  introduced  in  the 
Legislature.  It  was  learned  that  a  representative  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  had  been  some  time  at  Harrisburg, 
about  the  time  the  bill  was  passed,  and  that  he  had  said  to 
member  of  the  Legislature  Keene,  of  one  of  the  coal  counties, 
upon  bidding  him  good-by  on  leaving  Harrisburg  : 

"  I  had  $15,000  in  this  satchel  when  I  came  here.  I 
haven't  got  it  now." 

The  representative  from  the  Pike  and  Wayne  district  in 
the  lower  house  of  the  Legislature,  where  this  mysterious  bill 
originated,  was  William  II.  Dimmick,  a  young  Honesdale 
lawyer.  He  was  called  to  attend  a  meeting  of  indignant 
stockholders  of  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  Com- 
al  Milford,  and  explain  how  it  was  that  his  constituents 
stood  thus  betrayed.  He  attended  the  meeting,  and  his  ex- 
planations were  not  entirely  acceptable  to  the  people  until  he 
made  a  revelation  that  came  as  another  surprise  from  the 
Legislature. 

The  same  I  egislature  that  smuggled  the  mysterious  Lamonte 
Act  through  passed  another  bill  appropriating  from  the  State 
Treasury  to  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  Company 
for  ninety-nine  years  the  Si 0.000  annual  bonus  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  was  obliged  to  pay  the  State  for  right  of 
way  through  Pike  County,  and  authorizing  the  local  railroad 
>  ompany  to  issue  its  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $160,000,  thus 
virtually  giving  to  such  bonds  the  State's  guarantee.  The 
legislator  for  Pike  County  assured  his  constituents  that  the 
Lamonte  bill  was  unconstitutional,  and  would  be  so  declared 
as  soon  as  it  was  brought  before  the  Supreme  Court;  so  the 


Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  was  looked  upon  as  being 
as  good  as  built.  The  Company  was  reorganized,  the  bonds 
were  immediately  issued  and  placed,  and  the  first  installment 
of  the  Erie  State  annual  bonus  of  Sio,ooo  collected.  But 
in  the  reorganization  of  the  Company,  which  was  controlled 
by  W.  II.  Dimmick,  many  of  the  old  stockholders  were  left 
out,  and  the  result  was  that,  although  contracts  were  let  for 
grading  the  road-bed,  and  much  of  the  grading  was  done,  the 
opposition  of  the  old  stockholders  was  so  great  and  persist- 
ent that  it  resulted  in  the  repeal  of  the  act  appropriating  the 
Erie  $10,000  bonus  to  the  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad 
Company,  in  response  to  a  special  message  from  Governor 
Geary  to  the  Legislature,  early  in  the  session  of  1871.  Suit 
was  brought  against  the  Erie  Railway  Company  in  that  vear, 
through  the  Attorney-General  of  Pennsylvania,  to  have  the 
Lamonte  Mining  anil  Railroad  Company  legislation  declared 
unconstitutional,  and  to  compel  the  Erie  Railway  to  build  the 
Matamoras  Bridge,  but  pending  the  proceedings  a  private 
bridge  company  purchased  the  charter  of  the  Lamonte  Com- 
pany— which  was  a  company  only  in  the  minds  of  the  Erie 
managers — and  proceeded  with  the  building  of  a  bridge, 
known  as  the  Barret  Bridge,  across  the  Delaware  at  the  foot 
of  Pike  Street,  Port  Jervis.  Although  this  bridge  was  a  very 
long  way  below  the  original  bridge,  assurances  were  made  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  that  it  was  satisfactory, 
and,  much  to  the  surprise  of  the  people  of  Pike  County,  the 
Attorney-General  withdrew  the  proceedings  against  the  Erie. 
That  the  people  would  have  established  their  contention,  and 
the  Erie  Railway  Company  been  compelled  to  rebuild  the 
bridge  that  hail  given  them  the  right  to  change  its  route,  save 
it  half  a  million  of  money,  and  many  weeks  of  invaluable 
time,  the  best  lawyers  have  but  one  opinion. 

The  Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad  remains  still  unbuilt, 
although  a  corporation  known  as  the  Milford,  Matamoras  and 
New  York  Railroad  Company  constructed,  in  1S9S,  an  iron 
railroad  bridge  on  the  foundations  of  the  old  Erie  bridge, 
and  built  a  railroad  from  Port  Jervis  across  it  to  certain  slate 
gravel  beds  below  Matamoras,  the  avowed  intention  being  to 
some  time  extend  the  railroad  to  Milford. 

THROUGH  THE  DELAWARE  VALLEY. 

Pending  the  dispute  over  the  change  of  the  route  for  the 
railroad  from  Matamoras  to  Sawmill  Rift,  the  Company  was 
not  idle  in  the  Delaware  Valley.  The  herculean  task  of  hew- 
ing a  way  for  the  rails  along  the  rocky  edge  of  Pike  County 
was  in  the  hands  of  Ives,  Farrell  &  Co.,  a  member  of  which 
firm  was  j.  S.  T.  Stranahan.  In  constructing  the  road  on 
this  difficult  section,  between  what  is  now  Parker's  Glen  and 
Handsome  Eddy,  and  other  places,  where  the  rocks  rose 
almost  perpendicularly  from  the  river's  edge,  it  was  necessary 
to  suspend  the  laborers  from  the  brow  of  the  lofty  ledges  in 
baskets  at  the  end  of  stout  ropes,  while  they  drilled  holes  for 
blasting,  and  tamped  in  the  powder  and  fuse.  When  a  fuse 
was  lighted,  the  men  would  be  drawn  up  by  fellow-workmen 
to  the  summit.     Life  frequently  depended  on  the  security  of 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


347 


those  fastenings  as  the  workmen  dangled  high  in  midair,  and 
on  the  activity  of  the  men  operating  the  windlass  at  the  top. 
The  blasts  frequently  hurled  great  masses  of  rock  across 
the  Delaware  River  and  into  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal,  much  to  the  interruption  of  navigation  during  the  open 
season,  and  to  the  damage  of  the  canal  property.  Not  a  few 
boatmen  refused  to  run  on  the  canal  during  the  season  of 

1847,  and  numerous  suits  for  damages  were  brought  by  the 
Canal  Company  against  the  Railroad  Company.  Whenever 
"  railroader"  and  '' canaller  "  met,  anywhere  between  Lacka- 
waxen  and  Port  Jervis,  rich  Irish  blood  was  sure  to  flow. 
This  antagonism  between  the  employees  of  the  two  companies 
has  been  put  on  record  all  these  years  as  having  been  the 
cause  of  the  Callaghan-Kays  tragedy  at  Lackawaxen,  Pa.,  in 

1 848,  but  such  is  not  the  fact. 

THE    CALLAGHAN-KAYS    TRAGEDY. 

The  bridge  for  the  railroad  over  the  lackawaxen  River  at 
Lackawaxen,  a  structure  400  feet  in  length,  was  being  built 
in  December,  1848.  Henry  Dutcher  was  foreman  of  one 
side  of  the  bridge,  and  Jacob  Dunkle  of  the  other.  On  the 
east  side  of  the  river  was  a  heavy  embankment  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  under  contract  by  Clark  &  Carman,  who 
had  about  two  hundred  Irishmen  at  work  on  it.  When  the 
bridge  was  ready  to  be  raised,  the  chords  had  been  stretched, 
and  the  runways  laid  for  running  in  the  timber.  The  Irish 
railroad  laborers  gave  a  great  deal  of  trouble  by  insisting  in 
going  across  the  bridge  to  the  hotel  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
for  whiskey,  frequently  a  dozen  or  more  at  a  time.  They 
were  afraid  to  walk  the  single  plank  used  for  a  runway,  but 
would  get  down  on  their  hands  and  knees  and  creep  across. 
This  was  done  sometimes  twenty  times  a  day,  much  to  the 
annoyance  and  loss  of  time  of  the  bridge  men.  To  do  away 
with  it  a  substantial  foot  bridge  was  constructed  a  few  rods 
ive  the  railroad  bridge,  but  the  Irishmen  would  not  use  it. 
They  persisted  in  crossing  on  the  runways.  One  day,  when 
about  a  dozen  of  them  went  on  the  bridge,  Dunkle,  who  was 
an  impulsive,  quick-tempered  fellow,  took  up  an  iron  bolt 
three  feet  long,  and  swore  that  if  they  did  not  get  off  he  would 
break  their  heads.  They  got  off,  but  as  they  did  so  they  swore 
vengeance  on  Dunkle,  calling  him  "  a  damned  black  Dutch- 
man," and  declaring  that  they  would  get  even  with  him. 
Henry  Dutcher,  who  had  the  good  will  of  the  laborers, 
advised  them  to  use  the  foot  bridge,  and  they  took  his  advice, 
but  that  night,  out  of  revenge  toward  Dunkle,  they  invaded 
his  side  of  the  bridge  and  carried  off  one  of  the  main  braces, 
twentv-five  feet  long,  and  two  oak  keys,  three  feet  long.  The 
next  morning  Dunkle  missed  his  timber,  and  at  once  mis- 
trusted where  it  had  gone.  He  took  a  good  man  with  him 
and  went  over  among  the  Irish  shanties.  There  he  found  a 
man  cutting  up  the  brace  for  firewood.  Procuring  a  warrant 
from  Justice  Thomas  J.  Ridgway,  who  lived  close  by,  Dunkle 
had  the  fellow  arrested  and  taken  before  the  Justice.  The 
Irishmen  supposed  they  had  taken  him  to  Dutcher's  tavern, 
where  most  of  the  bridge  men  boarded.     Bent  on  revenge,  a 


dozen  or  more  of  them  went  over  the  river  to  the  tavern.  It 
was  then  about  half-past  eleven  in  the  forenoon.  They  were 
there  when  the  bridge  men  went  to  dinner,  had  been  drink- 
ing freely,  and  were  ready  for  a  fight.  The  men  had  to  pass 
through  the  bar-room  to  get  to  the  dining-room.  One  of 
them  began  to  talk  to  the  Irishmen,  calling  them  names. 
Henry  Dutcher  collared  him  and  shoved  him  into  the  dining- 
room.  Dutcher  was  the  first  to  finish  dinner.  "  I  went 
down  in  the  room  where  the  Irish  were,"  says  he  in  relating 
this.  "  talked  with  them  a  few  minutes,  passed  out,  and  went 
to  Joel  Shannon's  store,  about  two  hundred  yards  above  the 
tavern.  I  had  just  got  into  the  store  when  I  heard  some  one 
crying  : 

"  '  Catch  him  !     He  has  stabbed  a  man  ! ' 

"  I  rushed  to  the  door  in  time  to  see  a  man  running  by, 
with  James  Salmon  close  at  his  heels.  Salmon  got  near 
enough  to  strike  the  man  in  the  back  of  the  neck,  knocking 
him  several  feet  clear  off  the  ground.  As  he  struck  the 
ground  his  head  went  under  a  bunch  of  shingles.  We 
secured  him  and  took  him  back  to  the  tavern,  where  he  was 
held  until  a  warrant  could  be  procured.  The  rest  of  the 
Irishmen  had  fled  in  all  directions. 

"  I  found  the  man  who  had  been  stabbed  lying  dead  upon 
one  of  the  benches.  His  name  was  George  Kays.  He  was 
one  of  the  quietest  and  most  peaceable  men  on  the  bridge 
job.  The  name  of  the  man  that  stabbed  him  was  Patrick 
Callaghan.  It  was  a  deliberate  and  unprovoked  assault. 
Rays  had  not  spoken  a  word  to  Callaghan  or  to  any  one  else, 
but  was  in  the  act  of  pulling  off  his  pea-jacket  preparatory  to 
going  to  work,  when  Callaghan  plunged  a  knife  into  his  left 
breast,  just  below  the  nipple.  The  knife  must  have  struck 
the  heart,  for  Kays  was  dead  in  less  than  five  minutes.  The 
stabbing  had  been  preceded  by  an  altercation  and  loud 
words  between  some  of  our  men  and  the  Irishmen. 

"  We  took  the  body  of  Kays  into  an  upper  room  and  noti- 
fied the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  who  acted  as  Coroner.  He 
summoned  a  jury  anil  held  an  inquest.  The  jury  returned  a 
verdict  that  George  Rays  had  come  to  his  death  at  the  hands 
of  Patrick  Callaghan. 

"  The  funeral  of  the  murdered  man  had  to  be  arranged 
for.  There  was  no  coffin  to  be  had  except  at  Port  Jervis, 
X.  V.,  or  Honesdale,  Pa.,  either  place  twenty-five  miles  dis- 
tant. I  told  the  men  that  I  would  make  the  coffin  if  they 
would  find  the  lumber.  There  was  no  lumber  nearer  than 
Holbert's  mill,  three  miles  up  the  valley.  By  this  time  it  was 
dark,  and  the  men  were  afraid  to  go  after  the  lumber,  so  I 
started  up  the  track  alone,  went  to  the  mill,  selected  the 
lumber,  and  sent  a  team  after  it.  Returning,  I  went  over  the 
river  to  our  tool-house,  near  where  the  Irish  shanties  were, 
got  my  tools,  and  worked  until  2  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in 
an  open  shed  near  the  tavern,  and  could  not  get  a  man  to 
hold  a  light  for  me,  they  were  all  so  afraid  of  the  Irish. 
The  next  day  I  finished  the  coffin,  and  in  the  afternoon  we 
had  the  funeral,  I  reading  the  burial  service  over  the  grave. 

"  The  next  thing  to  do  was  to  take  the  prisoner  to  Milford 
jail.     To  do  this  we  selected  eight  men,  arming  them   with 


348 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


muskets  and  revolvers,  to  accompany  the  Sheriff,  for  they  had 
to  go  right  past  where  the  Irishmen  were  at  work,  and  they 
expected  that  the  Later  would  try  to  rescue  the  prisoner. 
This  was  not  an  ungrounded  (ear,  for  as  soon  as  the  posse  had 
driven  past  where  the  Irishmen  were  at  work,  the  laborers 
started  with  picksand  shovels  to  make  a  raid  on  the  wagon 
the  prisoner  was  in.  But  our  men  sprang  out,  made  a  mark 
across  the  road,  and  covering  the  advancing  body  of  men 
with  their  guns,  retreated  about  fifty  feet,  and  told  them  that 
the  first  man  who  put  his  foot  over  that  mark  would  be  a 
dead  one.  The  Irishmen  wavered,  halted,  held  a  short  con- 
sultation, and  turned  back.  It  was  well  for  them  that  they 
did.  Our  men  had  a  hundred  pounds  of  ammunition,  and 
were  in  dead  earnest." 

The  ]  irisonei  was  safely  lodged  in  Milford  jail,  was  indicted, 
tried,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged,  but  Governor 
Johnson,  of  Pennsylvania,  refused  to  sign  his  death  warrant, 
and  the  next  Governor,  William  Bigler,  held  that  it  was  the 
dutv  of  his  predecessor  to  sign  all  death  warrants  of  those 
convicted  of  murder  during  his  term  of  office,  and  he  re- 
fused to  sign  it ;  so  Callaghan  was  never  hanged,  but  lay  in 
Milford  jail  five  years,  and  was  then  pardoned  and  discharged. 
Callaghan  afterward  went  to  Port  Jervis,  and  worked  as  brake- 
man  on  the  Delaware  Division  of  the  Erie  for  twenty  years. 
He  was  killed  by  being  run  over  by  the  cars  not  many  miles 
from  the  spot  where  he  had  murdered  poor  George  Kays 
twenty-five  years  before. 

At  the  time  of  the  construction  of  the  Erie,  the  building  of 
railroad  bridges  was  in  its  infancy,  or  experimental  stage. 
The  bridges  were  all  of  wood.  The  design  first  in  use  was 
the  Bunn,  the  bridges  being  covered.  Later  the  Company 
adopted  the  Fowler  and  the  McCallum.  In  constructing  a 
bridge  of  either  of  the  two  latter  designs,  a  level  platform  as 
long  as  the  bridge,  and  at  least  twenty-five  feet  wide,  was 
erected,  on  which  the  whole  broadside  of  the  bridge  was 
drafted.  Then  the  outside  posts  of  the  bridge,  after  having 
been  framed  for  the  chords  and  arches,  were  put  in  place 
and  firmly  fastened ;  the  braces  were  framed  and  fitted  in 
position  ;  the  chords  and  arches  (there  was  an  arch  to  each 
span  of  the  bridge),  were  placed  in  position,  and  the  top 
posts  and  braces  were  framed  and  similarly  placed.  Thus  a 
whole  broadside  of  the  bridge  was  completed.  This  had  to  be 
all  taken  apart  and  piled  by  itself,  and  the  other  broadside 
constructed  in  the  same  way.  The  building  of  a  large  bridge 
of  this  kind  made  a  long,  heavy  job,  requiring  the  handling 
of  several  thousand  tons  of  timber  at  least  seven  times  over, 
besides  the  work  of  framing. 


TIIK    FIRST    SIGHT    OF    THE    ENGINE. 

The  first  locomotive  on  the  Delaware  Division  was  the 
"  Piermont."  It  was  dismantled  at  Piermont,  loaded  on  a 
canal  boat,  taken  up  the  I  [udson  River  to  Rondout,  and  thence 
by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  to  Lackawaxen.     There 


it  was  set  up,  and  used  to  distribute  iron  and  ties,  to  lay  the 
track  on  the  Delaware  Division.  This  was  in  the  summer  of 
1848.  The  engine  was  in  charge  of  William  Van  de  Graff, 
as  engineer.  Along  in  October  of  that  year  it  became  neces- 
sary to  go  to  Narrowsburg  with  the  engine.  The  news  got 
circulated  around,  and  the  result  was  that,  from  a  long  dis- 
tance about,  men,  women,  and  children  came  out  of  the 
backwoods  settlements,  two  or  three  hundred  strong,  to  see 
the  iron  horse.  The  locomotive  was  run  up  in  front  of  the 
station  and  stopped,  and  in  a  few  minutes  some  of  the  more 
courageous  ones  began  to  examine  the  "  critter,"  as  they 
called  it,  and  not  a  few  climbed  upon  the  engine.  Suddenly 
Engineer  Van  de  Graff,  full  of  mischief,  sounded  a  full  blast 
on  the  whistle.  The  effect  of  that  may  be  more  easily  imagined 
than  described.  It  was  a  "very  hurrying  time  of  year"  just 
about  then.  Those  on  the  engine  tumbled  off  like  a  lot  of 
mud-turtles  dropping  from  a  log.  Some  fell ;  others  yelled, 
and  tumbled  over  each  other  in  their  haste  to  get  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance. Van  de  Graff  was  so  convulsed  with  laughter  that  he 
rolled  on  the  footboard  to  ease  himself,  and  the  experience 
was  his  favorite  "  stove  committee  "  tale  for  many  a  long  day. 


HUNTERS    AND    THE    LOCOMOTIVE. 

The  region  through  which  the  Delaware  Division  ran,  fifty 
years  ago,  was  almost  a  wilderness,  and  there  were  few  who 
then  lived  in  the  region  who  were  not  in  profound  ignorance 
in  regard  to  the  locomotive ;  and  being  accustomed  to  the 
hunt  and  the  ways  of  the  forest,  it  was  but  natural  that  they 
should  associate  the  sound  of  the  steam  whistle  with  the  cry 
of  some  wild  animal,  especially  when  the  whistle  was  heard 
at  a  distance  of  a  mile  or  two.  To  not  immediately  set 
themselves  to  work  to  capture  the  animal  responsible  for  that 
noise  would  have  been  contrary  to  their  nature. 

A  short  time  after  the  locomotive  "Piermont"  created  the 
excitement  at  Narrowsburg  by  its  first  arrival,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  go  with  it  to  Callicoon.  The  track  being  new  and 
not  ballasted,  the  run  was  very  slow,  not  more  than  six  or 
eight  miles  an  hour.  The  whistle  was  blown  at  short  inter- 
vals. Some  of  the  famous  hunters  of  the  Pike  Pond  region, 
back  in  the  mountain,  hearing  the  whistle  and  taking  it  for 
the  scream  of  a  panther,  which  fierce  beast  still  lurked  in 
these  hills,  started  with  dogs  and  guns  in  hot  pursuit  toward 
Callicoon  in  an  effort  to  head  off  the  "varmint,"  and  if  pos- 
sible capture  it.  The  locomotive  beat  them  several  lengths, 
however,  but  had  been  standing  but  a  short  time  at  the  sta- 
tion when  three  or  four  men  rushed  out  from  the  bushes 
just  across  the  track,  their  clothing  all  in  tatters,  covered 
with  mud,  and  soaked  from  wading  streams  and  swamps. 
The  men  were  nearly  exhausted,  for  thev  had  run  miles 
through  the  woods  and  swamps  and  across  streams  to  inter- 
cept their  game.  Their  surprise  and  chagrin  to  find  that  the 
object  of  their  pursuit  was  not  a  wild  animal,  but  a  locomo- 
tive, standing  quietly  on  the  track  in  front  of  the  station, 
may  be  imagined. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


349 


TRAPPING    A    LOCOMOTIVE. 

Another  hunting  incident  occurred  in  connection  with  the 
early  locomotive,  in  which  John  Quick  was  the  chief  actor. 
He  lived  about  five  miles  from  Milford,  in  Pike  County,  Pa., 
at  a  place  called  Schocope,  and  about  as  far  from  Carr's 
Rock,  now  Parker's  Glen.  The  locomotive  had  been  in  use 
distributing  ties  and  rails  along  the  line  from  Shohola  toward 
Port  Jervis  for  some  time.  Quick,  hearing  the  shriek  of  the 
whistle  one  day,  thought  it  was  the  scream  of  some  wild 
animal.  He  was  a  great  trapper,  and  he  at  once  got  out  his 
bear  traps,  shouldered  as  many  as  he  could  conveniently 
carry,  and  started  for  the  woods.  After  travelling  four  or 
five  miles  to  the  head  of  the  glen  leading  down  to  Carr's 
Rock,  he  set  his  traps,  and  every  two  or  three  days  would  go 
to  look  them  over,  and  see  if  he  had  caught  the  beast  that 
yelled  so.  At  last,  while  visiting  his  traps  one  day,  he  heard 
the  scream  of  this  animal.  The  sound  came  from  toward 
the  river,  two  miles  away.  He  cautiously  started  in  that 
direction,  his  rifle  ready  to  send  a  bullet  into  the  beast 
the  moment  he  sighted  it.  Frequently  he  heard  the  same 
screech  repeated.  He  kept  on  until  he  came  in  sight  of  the 
railroad.  Then,  to  his  disgust,  he  found  that  for  a  month  or 
more  he  had  been  trapping  for  a  locomotive  ! 

Quick  was  a  famous  hunter  and  trapper,  and  for  years 
afterward  he  enjoyed  telling  this  story. 


GETTING    OVER    THE     RANDOLPH    HILLS. 

During  184S,  the  Company  completed  and  had  in  use  200 
miles  of  railroad,  and  was  vigorously  prosecuting  its  further 
extension.  Work  was  under  contract  from  Binghamton  to 
Corning,  a  distance  of  seventy-six  miles.  The  grading  be- 
tween Binghamton  and  Owego  was  finished,  and  the  railroad 
was  completed  between  Piermont  and  Binghamton.  The 
difficulty  of  getting  over  the  dividing  ridge  between  Deposit 
and  Binghamton  was  great.  The  original  route  of  1834,  via 
Nineveh  and  Bettsburgh,  was  forty-five  miles  long,  and  had 
two  summits,  905  and  1,200  feet  high,  with  grades  as  steep 
as  eighty-two  feet.  Another  route  was  reconnoitred,  via 
Windsor,  which  was  sixteen  miles  shorter,  with  two  rises  of 
728  feet.  Another  via  Windsor  had  grades  sixty-six  feet,  and 
required  three  tunnels,  700,  3,400,  and  2,600  feet  long. 
This  route  was  thirty-seven  miles  in  distance,  with  a  rise  of 
1,840  feet.  Benjamin  Wright,  James  Seymour,  Edwin  F. 
Johnson,  H.  C.  Seymour,  C.  B.  Stuart,  T.  S.  Brown,  nor 
George  E.  Hoffman  could  succeed  in  discovering  any  better 
route  than  either  of  these.  In  making  the  surveys  in  1840, 
the  remarkable  glen  at  Gulf  Summit,  between  the  waters  of 
Cascade  Brook,  going  to  the  Susquehanna,  and  McClure's 
Brook,  going  to  the  Delaware,  was  discovered.  Passing  be- 
tween the  towering  rocks,  just  wide  enough  for  the  road,  an 
engineer  named  John  Anderson  traced  a  line  from  Deposit  to 
Lanesboro  in  184 1.  It  was  continued  by  Hoffman  to  Great 
Bend  and  Binghamton,  thirty-nine  miles.  The  grade  of  this 
route  was  sixty-six  feet  on  the  Delaware   side  and  seventy 


feet  on  the  Susquehanna  side,  a  distance  of  sixteen  miles.  The 
original  line  of  1S34  ran  one  mile  and  a  half  from  Bingham- 
ton, and  was  unsatisfai  tory  to  the  people.  This  Anderson 
line  passed  directly  through  that  village,  and,  after  the  legis- 
lation authorizing  the  Company  to  go  into  Pennsylvania,  it 
was  the  route  chosen  between  Deposit  and  Binghamton — the 
route  of  the  present  day. 

THE    BIG    ROCK    CUT    AND    CASCADE    BRIDGE. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  and  expensive  tasks  in  the  mould- 
ing of  the  way  for  the  railroad  westward  was  at  the  summit 
of  the  Randolph  Hills,  beyond  Deposit.  This  was  the  cut- 
ting through  the  vast  wall  of  rock  that  barred  the  passage  of 
the  mountain  there — the  last  desperate  stand  that  obstructing 
Nature  made  against  the  persistent  and  plodding  engineer  in 
his  determined  fight  to  force  a  place  for  this  great  highway. 
This  formidable  barrier  was  half  a  mile  in  width,  the  left  wall 
being  200  feet  high  from  road-bed  to  summit.  To  carve  a 
road-bed  through  that  beetling  obstacle  cost  the  enormous 
sum  of  $200,000,  and  then  the  passage  was  onlv  wide  enough 
for  one  track.  Time  did  not  permit  of  building  the  railroad 
for  the  future  when  this  work  was  being  pushed  forward, 
fifty  years  ago.  Until  the  time  came,  years  afterward,  when 
this  cut  was  widened  to  make  room  for  a  second  track,  a 
strong  current  of  air  was  constantly  sweeping  through  its 
narrow  confines,  and  the  temperature  on  the  hottest  davs  of 
summer  was  uncomfortably  cool,  while  in  winter  old  Boreas 
howled  along  the  corridor  between  the  high  walls  of  the  arti- 
ficial canyon,  a  very  demon  of  frigidity.  In  the  early  davs  of 
railroading  on  the  Frie,  snow  blockades  were  sure  to  be  met 
with  in  that  cut  whenever  wintry  storms  swept  over  that  moun- 
tain's riven  pinnacle. 

Few  train-men  in  active  sen-ice  on  the  Erie  Railroad  to- 
day remember  the  Cascade  Bridge,  and  no  traveller  born  less 
than  a  generation  and  a  half  ago  ever  saw  that  remarkable 
structure.  Indeed,  no  traveller  over  the  Erie,  no  matter  how 
long  ago  he  may  have  travelled,  ever  did  see  the  Cascade  Bridge 
unless  he  alighted  from  his  train  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
a  view  of  it.  This  bridge,  in  its  day,  was  regarded  as  one  of 
the  engineering  wonders  of  the  world.  When  the  engineers 
finally  located  the  route  the  railroad  was  to  follow  over  the 
range  of  hills  that  divided  the  Delaware  Valley  from  that 
of  the  Susquehanna,  they  came  to  a  deep  ravine,  well  down 
the  western  escarpment  of  the  range.  Exact  measurements 
of  this  great  chasm  in  the  rocks  gave  its  depth  as  184  feet 
and  its  width  250  feet.  The  walls  were  of  solid  rock.  A 
small  creek  flowed  at  the  bottom  of  the  gulf,  on  which,  a 
short  distance  above  the  spot  where  the  railroad  must  cross  if 
it  were  to  proceed  on  its  way  farther,  the  water  tumbled  over 
a  broken  precipice  thirty  feet  high,  and,  just  below,  leaped 
sheer  down  the  face  of  a  lesser  cliff.  The  gloom  of  the 
ravine  was  deepened  by  a  dense  growth  of  hemlocks  that 
found  strange  tenure  on  its  sides  from  base  to  summit.  To 
fill  in  this  yawning  gulf  so  that  a  foundation  for  the  railroad 
might  be  made  was  deemed  a  task  too  stupendous  to  even 


JO1 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


spend  time  in  considering.  Eminent  bridge  engineers  and 
builders  of  that  day  were  consulted,  and  John  Fowler,  inventor 
of  the  Fowler  truss  bridge,  agreed  to  undertake  the  throwing 
of  a  bridge  across  the  Cascade  Gulf  that  would  successfully 
solve  the  serious  problem  that  confronted  the  Company  at 
the  brink  of  that  mighty  chasm. 

The  work  on  the  Cascade  Bridge  was  begun  in  the  spring 
of  1847,  and  was  a  year  and  a  half  in  building.  It  consisted 
of  a  solitary  arch  of  250  feet  span,  with  a  rise  of  fifty  feet. 
The  abutments  were  the  solid  rock  that  formed  the  sides  of 
the  ravine,  each  leg  of  the  great  arch  being  supported  on  a 
deep  shelf  hewn  into  the  rock.  The  arch  w:as  constructed  of 
eight  ribs  of  white  oak,  two  feet  square  in  the  centre,  and 
two  feet  by  four  at  the  abutments.  These  were  interlaced 
with  wood  and  iron  braces  so  as  to  combine  strength  and 
lightness  in  the  airy  structure.  The  width  of  the  bridge  was 
twentv-four  feet,  the  surface  of  its  material  being  protected 
In"  a  ( oating  of  cement  and  gravel.  This  bridge  became 
famous  as  the  longest  single-span  bridge  constructed  of  wood 
in  the  world.  In  spite  of  the  difficulty  and  risk  that  attended 
clambering  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  Cascade  Gulf,  from 
which  point  alone  a  satisfactory  view  of  the  bridge  could 
be  obtained,  this  really  remarkable  structure,  hanging  high 
in  the  air,  like  the  thread  of  some  huge  spider-web,  became 
such  an  attraction  that  scarcely  a  train  arrived  at  Sus- 
quehanna, during  the  years  the  bridge  was  a  part  of  the  rail- 
road, from  which  tourists  did  not  alight  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  the  ravine  and  the  bridge  that  spanned  its  dizzy  sum- 
mit—Susquehanna  being  the  nearest  stopping  place.  Once, 
in  those  early  days  of  Erie,  Gen.  Winfield  Scott  was  a  pas- 
senger on  a  train  that  was  stopped  at  Cascade  Bridge  to 
enable  the  passengers  to  view  the  bridge  from  this  chasm. 
General  Scott,  after  gazing  at  the  airy  structure  from  the 
depths  of  the  gulf,  exclaimed  : 

"  The  man  who  could  throw  a  cow-path  like  that  over  this 
gulf  deserves  a  crown  !  " 

The  bridge  cost  §72,000.  In  1854  there  were  rumors  that 
the  Cascade  Bridge  was  showing  signs  of  weakness,  and  the 
Railroad  Commissioners  of  New  York  State  sent  an  engineer 
mine  it.  He  reported  that  the  bridge  was  safe.  The 
1  if  Railroad  Commissioners  inspected  the  bridge  them- 
selves in  1S55,  and  they  were  satisfied  with  its  condition. 
But  the  Company  in  that  year  decided  that,  owing  to  the 
possibility  of  the  bridge  being  destroyed  by  fire,  which  would 
practically  stop  all  operations  on  the  railroad  until  a  substi- 
tute 1  ould  be  provided,  it  would  be  wise  to  cross  the  gulf  by 
changing  the  route,  filling  in  the  ravine,  and  making  a  cul- 
vert for  the  creek.  This  work  occupied  five  years,  being 
completed  during  the  receivership  of  Nathaniel  Marsh,  in 
i860,  and  the  wonderful  Cascade  Bridge  was  abandoned  and 
demolished,       i  is  now  only  a  memory. 

A  man  nai  I    .vis,  of  Canandaigua,  was  a  workman  on 

the  Cascade  Bridge.  One  day  he  fell  from  the  trestle  work 
to  the  bottom  of  the  ravine,  more  than  100  feet,  and  alighted 
in  such  a  way  that,  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  he  escaped 
with  so  little  injury  that  he  returned  to  his  work  the  same 


day.  In  1S54,  the  Fowler  bridge  across  the  Susquehanna 
River  west  of  Susquehanna  Station  was  ordered  replaced  by 
a  McCallum  bridge,  and  Lewis  was  one  of  the  men  employed 
on  the  work.  The  height  of  the  bridge  above  the  island  on 
which  one  of  its  piers  rested  was  not  more  than  fifteen  feet. 
Lewis  fell  from  the  bridge  one  day  and  was  killed. 


THE    STARUCCA    VIADUCT. 

The  valley  of  the  Starucca  Creek,  about  two  miles  beyond 
Cascade  Gulf,  was  the  next  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  rail- 
road— a  sudden,  deep,  and  wide  depression  in  the  hills,  a 
hundred  feet  or  more  below  the  lowest  elevation  the  road- 
bed could  find.  This  valley  was  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  wide,  and  there  was  no  way  around  it.  At  first  it  was 
proposed  that  this  broad  and  deep  stretch  should  be  graded 
up  to  the  level  of  the  road-bed  by  constructing  an  embank- 
ment across  it,  but  the  plan  was  abandoned  on  the  score  of 
cost  and  the  great  length  of  time  that  would  be  required  to 
raise  that  enormous  mound  of  earth.  The  crossing  of  the 
valley  by  a  viaduct  was  then  decided  upon.  The  great  work 
was  begun  about  the  time  the  Cascade  Bridge  was  begun,  but 
it  was  dragging,  and  threatened  to  defeat  the  efforts  of  the 
Company  to  get  the  road  through  to  Binghamton  by  the  end 
of  1848.  Three  different  contractors  had  failed  and  thrown 
up  the  work. 

James  P.  Kirkwood  was  a  Scotchman,  and  learned  civil 
engineering  on  the  Boston  and  Albany  Railroad,  an  early 
work  from  which  a  number  of  engineers  and  contractors  came 
to  the  Erie  when  it  was  building.  He  was  a  brother-in-law 
of  Julien  \V.  Adams,  who  was  a  leading  contractor  and  bridge- 
builder  on  the  Erie,  his  great  work  being  the  above  described 
wooden  bridge  over  Cascade  Gulf.  In  the  spring  of  1848, 
Contractor  Adams  was  appealed  to  by  the  Company's  repre- 
sentatives. 

"Who  can  build  that  viaduct?"  he  was  asked. 

"  I  know  of  no  one  who  can  do  it,"  he  replied,  "  unless  it 
is  Kirkwood." 

The  matter  was  presented  to  Kirkwood.  He  visited  the 
spot,  investigated  the  facilities  for  getting  stone  and  material, 
and  reported. 

"  I  can  build  that  viaduct  in  time,"  he  said,  "  provided  vou 
don't  care  how  much  it  may  cost." 

He  was  told  to  go  to  work  at  it  regardless  of  cost.  He 
did  so.  The  quarries  from  which  the  stone  for  the  work  was 
obtained  were  three  miles  up  the  Starucca  Creek.  Kirk- 
wood put  down  a  railroad  track  on  each  side  of  the  creek, 
from  the  quarries  to  the  work,  and  brought  the  stone  in  on 
cars.  The  labor  was  all  done  by  the  day,  and  every  available 
man  in  that  vicinity  was  employed.  In  May,  1S48,  at  the 
viaduct  and  quarries,  800  men  were  employed.  The  false 
work  was  in  thirteen  tiers,  and  extended  across  the  Starucca 
Valley.  Operations  on  this  remarkable  structure  were  pushed 
night  and  day,  and  with  such  system  and  method  that  the 
viaduct  was  ready  for  use  long  before  its  use  was  required. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


35i 


This  engineering  feat  gave  Kirkvvood  great  prestige  with  the 
Company,  and  resulted  in  his  being  selected  as  General 
Superintendent  to  succeed  H.  C.  Seymour  in  1849. 

James  P.  Kirkwood  was  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  and  came 
to  America  in  1834.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Edinburgh 
College,  and  a  civil  engineer.  In  1835  he  became  Assistant 
Engineer  of  the  Stonington  Railroad,  and  in  that  year  surveyed 
the  route  for  the  Long  Island  Railroad,  and  had  charge  of  the 
construction  of  that  road  until  operations  were  stopped  by  the 
panic  of  1837.  Kirkwood  later  was  engaged  on  the  Boston 
and  Albany  Railroad.  He  left  the  Erie  to  go  to  the  south- 
west to  construct  railroads,  and  he  made  the  first  survey  for 
the  Pacific  Railroad  west  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

The  Starucca  Viaduct  was  at  the  time  it  was  built  the 
greatest  work  of  railroad  bridge  masonry  in  the  United 
States,  and  is  to-day  a  conspicuous  example  of  that  branch  of 
engineering  science,  even  among  the  stupendous  feats  of 
modern  bridge  construction.  The  viaduct  is  1,200  feet  long, 
no  feet  high,  and  has  eighteen  arches  with  spans  of  fifty 
feet  each.  It  was  wisely  constructed  for  a  double  track,  and 
was  made  thirty  feet  wide  on  top.  The  cost  of  the  structure 
was  8320,000,  the  most  expensive  railroad  bridge  in  the 
world  at  that  time. 

The  views  of  Starucca  Viaduct  and  Cascade  Bridge,  between 
pages  94  and  95,  were  made  in  the  spring  of  1851. 


WHEN    THE    LOCOMOTIVE    FIRST    CAME    AMONG 
THEM. 

(From  the  Binghamion  Democrat,  November  17,  184S.) 

Great  numbers  of  our  citizens  have  been  attracted  to  the  railroad  to 
see  the  first  locomotive  on  the  track.  Some  who  have  often  seen  this 
spirited  animal  before,  and  been  conveyed  by  its  wonderful  speed, 
are  delighted  to  witness  his  antic  gambols  among  the  hills  of  Broome. 
Others  who  have  never  ventured  beyond  the  limits  of  the  "  sequestered 
counties  "  are  amazed  at  the  gigantic  power  of  the  steam  horse,  while 
he  sni  ■rts  and  snuffs  the  fresh  breeze  of  our  valleys,  and  vanishes  away 
to  the  morning  fogs  of  the  Susquehanna.  The  boys  throng  the  track 
to  1  which  way  the  /W/gine  is  coming.  All  are  exceedingly  grati- 
fied to  realize  the  beginning  of  the  long-waited-for  completion  of  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad. 

This  locomotive  was  the  "  Orange,"  and  it  was  taken  on  that 
section  of  the  railroad  to  aid  in  and  hasten  the  construction 
eastward.     ("The  Turning  of  Its  Wheels,"  pages  391-393.) 


FIRST    TRAIN    OVER    THE    DELAWARE    DIVISION. 

The  Company  had  announced  that  to  celebrate  the  com- 
pletion of  the  railroad  to  Binghamton  special  excursion  trains 
woulel  be  run  between  Piermont  and  that  place  Wednesday, 
December  27,  1848.  The  track  along  the  Upper  Delaware 
Valley  was  yet  in  an  unfinished  condition,  and  Major  T.  S. 
Brown,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  work,  decided  that  it  would  be 
wise  to  run  a  preliminary  train  over  that  part  of  the  track, 


from  Port  Jervis  to  Deposit,  a  few  days  before  the  regular 
excursion  trains  were  to  pass,  in  order  that  their  safety  might 
be  insured  and  all  cause  of  delay  removed.  The  Rev.  Henry 
Dutcher,  now  of  Warwick,  Orange  County,  N.  V.,  then  an 
employee  of  the  Company,  was  one  of  those  who  made  that 
initial  trip  over  the  Delaware  Division,  and  he  thus  relates 
his  reminiscences  of  it  to  the  compiler  of  this  history  : 

"The  train  consisted  of  an  engine,  one  passenger  car,  and 
two  flat  cars.  Among  those  aboard  were  Major  Brown;  H. 
C.  Seymour,  General  Superintendent:  Silas  Seymour,  Major 
Morrell,  W.  H.  Sidell,  of  the  engineer  corps  ;  H.  O.  Beckwith, 
William  A.  1  ditcher,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Rice,  myself,  and 
others,  making  fourteen  in  all,  besides  a  gang  of  laborers  with 
pails,  picks,  and  shovels.  We  started  from  Port  Jervis  at 
two  o'clock  p.m.  on  Friday,  December  22,  1S4.S.  At  I.acka- 
waxen  the  engine  '  Piermont '  was  attached  ahead  of  our  en- 
gine. We  proceeded  to  Narrowsburg,  arriving  about  seven 
o'clock.  After  supper  we  started  on.  It  had  been  snowing  all 
afternoon,  the  snow  being  from  six  to  eight  inches  deep.  It 
continued  to  snow  as  we  proceeded,  so  that  our  progress  was 
very  slow.  When  about  two  miles  above  Cochecton,  six 
miles  from  Narrowsburg,  our  locomotives  ran  out  of  water. 
We  stopped  at  a  creek,  the  embankment  being  some  thirty- 
feet  above  it,  and  forming  a  line,  passed  six  hundred  pails 
of  water  up  to  the  engines.  Some  of  the  men  froze  their 
fingers.  Proceeding  on  our  way,  at  daylight  next  morning 
we  found  ourselves  about  a  mile  above  Hankins  Station,  hav- 
ing travelled  about  twenty  miles  during  the  night.  At  this 
point  we  came  to  a  dead  stop.  We  found  a  mile  and  a  half 
of  track  not  laid,  and  no  iron  nearer  than  Narrowsburg  with 
which  to  lay  it.  The  snow  was  badly  drifted.  There  were 
from  two  to  three  feet  of  snow  on  the  road-bed.  We  got  the 
trackmen  out  and  set  them  to  shovelling,  and  sent  one  engine 
back  to  Narrowsburg  after  iron  to  fill  the  break.  Leaving 
orders  to  proceed  with  the  engines  as  soon  as  the  track 
could  be  laid,  fourteen  of  us,  without  any  breakfast,  started 
to  tramp  it  up  the  track  through  the  snow,  which  was  in 
many  places  to  our  hips.  At  about  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon we  arrived  at  Long  Eddv. 

" '  Now,'  said  Superintendent  Seymour,  '  we  will  have 
something  to  eat.' 

"  He  leading  the  way,  we  all  followed,  ravenous,  having 
eaten  nothing  since  seven  o'clock  the  night  before,  and  hav- 
ing toiled  incessantly  all  that  time.  The  house  he  took  us  to 
was  kept  by  John  Geer.  And  another  such  a  place  !  The 
bed-room,  kitchen,  sitting-room,  parlor,  up-stairs,  and  down- 
cellar  were  all  in  one  room,  and  not  a  very  large  one,  nor  a 
very  clean  one,  at  that.  Seymour  told  the  old  lady  of  the 
house  that  we  were  as  hungry  as  wolves  and  wanted  some 
dinner.  She  took  a  box  from  her  dress  pocket,  treated  her- 
self to  a  large  pinch  of  snuff  from  it,  wiped  her  fingers  on 
her  apron,  and  replied  that  she  did  not  know  how  it  would 
be,  but  she  would  do  the  best  she  could.  Lifting  a  trap-door 
in  the  floor,  she  descended  to  an  apology  for  a  cellar,  and 
brought  up  a  loaf  of  bread,  a  plate  of  butter,  and  a  dish  of 
honey.     The  honey  undoubtedly  was  clean,   but  the  butter 


03- 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


had  the  appearance  of  having  been  sprinkled  with  pepper 
and  salt.  The  bread,  while  it  looked  good  on  the  outside, 
showed  layers  of  dirt  through  it  when  cut,  as  though  it  had 
been  kneaded  on  the  floor.  In  addition  to  the  above,  she 
brought  from  a  cubby-hole  at  one  side  of  the  old-fashioned 
chimney  a  dish  of  potatoes  that  had  been  warmed  over  at 
some  time,  and  a  dish  of  beans,  both  frozen,  and  a  plate  of 
tried  pork,  and  another  of  mackerel,  each  of  which  looked  as 
though  it  had  been  picked  at  by  the  hens.  These  were  all 
put  upon  a  bare  tabic,  with  knives  and  forks,  but  no  plates — 
and  our  dinner  was  ready. 

•■  \\  e  mechanically  went  through  the  motions  of  eating,  but 
it  was  a  miserable  failure.  Our  dispositions  were  to  eat,  but 
our  stomachs  would  not  agree  with  our  dispositions,  and  we 
did  not  eat  a  sixpence  worth.  After  resting  ourselves  for  a 
few  minutes,  Major  Brown  asked  the  old  lady  how  much  we 
were  indebted  to  her.  After  taking  another  pinch  of  snuff, 
she  said  she  could  not  tell. 

"  '  It  wasn't  much  of  a  dinner,  anyway,'  she  said,  and  we 
thought  her  judgment  correct.  Major  Brown  handed  her  a 
twentv-five-cent  piece  for  himself,  and  asked  her  if  she 
thought  that  would  be  about  right.  She  thought  it  would ;  so 
we  each  handed  over  a  quarter,  thus  paying  three  dollars  and 
a  half  for  what  would  not  have  fed  a  chicken.  From  there 
we  went  to  the  Company's  shanty,  opposite  Big  Equinunk, 
where  we  got  our  supper  at  about  five  o'clock.  From  that 
point  we  proceeded  two  miles  farther  to  Jeremiah  Lord's, 
where  twelve  of  the  party  hired  Lord  to  take  them  to  Han- 
cock that  night.  It  being  Saturday  night,  Ray  Clark  and 
myself  concluded  to  stay  with  Lord  over  Sunday.  Monday 
morning  we  got  Lord  to  take  us  to  Hancock,  where  we  found 
the  others  waiting  for  the  engine.  This  did  not  make  its 
appearance  until  four  o'clock  Monday  afternoon.  We  found 
that  between  Hancock  and  Deposit  there  were  three  miles  of 
track  not  laid,  so  that  there  was  no  way  to  get  further  with 
the  cars  until  that  breach  was  filled,  and  the  iron  had  to  come 
from  the  other  direction — from  Susquehanna.  Major  Brown 
ed  that  he  must  go  through  to  Binghamton  at  all  haz- 
ards. The  rest  of  the  party  resolved  to  go  no  farther,  but  I 
told  the  Major  I  would  stick  to  him  as  long  as  there  was 
a  button  on  his  shirt.  The  trouble  was  to  get  to  Deposit. 
We  found  a  lumberman  who  was  going  there,  but  he  had  no 
better  accommodation  than  a  pair  of  bob  sleighs.  Turning 
one  up  over  the  other  to  make  a  seat,  we  rode  the  thirteen 
miles  without  buffalo  robe  or  blanket ;  and  what  a  bitter  cold 
night  it  was  !  When  we  reached  Deposit  we  found  Engineer 
Joshua  P.  Martin,  with  the  locomotive  '  Orange,'  with  which  he 
hai  1  1  >rought  the  iron  to  lay  the  three  miles  of  track,  and  was 
waiting  for  us  to  take  us  to  Binghamton,  forty  miles  distant. 
After  getting  our  supper  we  boarded  the  engine,  with  nothing 
to  shelter  us.  There  were  no  cabs  on  the  engines  yet. 
Facing  a  strong  northwest  wind,  with  the  mercury  at  zero,  we 
rode  over  that  bleak  country,  arriving  at  Binghamton  at  half- 
past  eleven  o'clock  Monday  night — three  days,  nine  hours 
and  a  half  getting  over  the  division.  But  we  succeeded  in 
getting  the  road  in  order  so  that  the  excursion  train  on  the 


following  Wednesday  passed  over  the  division  without  acci- 
dent or  delay." 

OPENING  OF  THE   RAILROAD  TO   BINGHAMTON. 

This  event  was  celebrated  by  the  running  of  two  excursion 
trains  from  Piermont  to  Binghamton,  filled  with  distinguished 
guests.  The  party  left  New  York  Tuesday  evening  Decem- 
ber 26,  1848,  on  the  steamboat  "Oregon,"  Captain  St.  John, 
engaged  for  the  occasion.  The  boat  arrived  at  Piermont  at 
ten  o'clock,  where  the  party  remained  all  night.  The  trains 
left  Piermont  at  five  o'clock  Wednesday  morning,  the  27th. 
The  trip,  owing  to  the  early  hour  and  the  darkness,  was  un- 
eventful until  the  excursion  approached  the  Delaware  Valley. 
When  near  the  bridge  where  the  line  crosses  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal,  the  engine  of  the  first  train  got  off  the 
track,  and  there  was  a  detention  of  nearly  an  hour  in  a  blind- 
ing snow  storm. 

Near  Lackawaxen  happened  the  only  unpleasant  event  of 
the  excursion.  Orders  had  been  given  to  keep  even-thing  off 
the  track  throughout  the  new  line  until  the  special  trains  had 
passed.  After  the  passage  of  the  first  train,  some  workmen, 
probably  ignorant  that  a  second  train  was  on  the  road,  had 
replaced  their  dirt  car,  and  were  leisurely  riding  upon  it,  in 
advance  of  the  second  train,  which,  in  spite  of  every  attempt 
to  avoid  such  a  catastrophe,  came  in  collision  with  it.  Most 
of  the  workmen  had  jumped  off  the  car,  but  of  those  who 
were  unable  to  do  so,  two  (John  Faust  and  George  Hines) 
were  seriously  hurt,  the  former  receiving  a  severe  fracture  of 
the  hip  joint,  which  it  was  feared  might  prove  fatal,  and  the 
latter  a  deep  flesh  wound  in  the  thigh  from  the  cow-catcher, 
and  a  fracture  on  one  or  more  of  his  ribs.  A  collection 
amounting  to  Si 96  was  made  for  them,  and  President  Loder, 
on  behalf  of  the  Directors,  promised  that  they  should  be 
well  cared  for  until  they  recovered. 

At  Narrowsburg  a  cold  collation  was  provided.  The  train 
again  pushed  on,  battling  with  the  storm  and  pushing  off  the 
accumulating  snow,  which  had  reached  a  considerable  depth. 
An  incident  of  the.  passing  of  this  pioneer  passenger  train 
over  the  Delaware  Division  occurred  at  Callicoon  and  is 
worthy  of  note.  A  large  number  of  people  had  gathered 
there  to  greet  the  train  on  its  arrival.  A  banner  presentation 
had  been  arranged  for,  but  the  train  did  not  stop.  It  ran  at 
a  very  slow  speed,  however,  and  as  the  last  car  came  along, 
Peter  Traynor  seized  the  banner  and  handed  it  up  to  the 
brakeman  on  the  rear  platform.  On  it  was  inscribed  the 
following  :  "  The  iron  horse  from  the  Hudson  is  welcome  to 
drink  of  the  waters  of  the  Callicoon." 

It  was  between  eight  and  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  before 
the  train  arrived  at  Deposit,  so  desperately  had  the  trains  to 
fight  their  way  over  the  almost  untried  road,  through  the  oppos- 
ing obstruction  of  the  drifting  snow.  A  large  concourse  had 
assembled  to  greet  the  arrival  of  the  party  at  Deposit.  Across 
the  railroad  was  thrown  a  large  and  beautiful  arch,  gaily  deco- 
rated, and  bearing  in  mammoth  letters  formed  of  evergreens 
the  welcome  word  "WELCOME";  on  the  top  of  the  arch 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


353 


stood  a  noble  deer,  which,  with  others,  was  presented  to  the 
Directors.  "  One  could  not  help  a  passing  thought  of  sad- 
ness," said  one  of  the  excursionists  afterward,  "  as  this  first  toll 
of  a  wild  and  sportive  race  to  the  stronger  power  of  man  sug- 
gested the  coming  destruction  which  henceforth  awaits  them 
in  their  native  woods.  Here,  too,  in  the  gorge  of  the  moun- 
tains, cannons  roared  and  bonfires  flashed  and  threw  their 
glare  upon  thousands  of  human  faces." 

While  this  courageous  excursion  party  was  struggling  on  its 
way  through  the  wild,  snow-swept  Delaware  Valley,  on  that 
memorable  27th  of  December,  this  was  what  was  transpiring 
at  Binghamton  : 

"  Early  in  the  morning,"  wrote  John  R.  Dickinson  in  the 
Binghamton  Democrat,  "  the  inhabitants  of  this  and  the  ad- 
joining counties  began  coming  into  the  village.  About  ten 
o'clock  a  snow  storm  came  on,  which  continued  all  day  and 
through  the  night.  Notwithstanding  the  severity  of  the  storm, 
thousands  continued  to  assemble.  About  four  o'clock  p.m., 
the  multitude,  men,  women,  and  children,  assembled  at  the 
depot,  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  first  train  of  cars  from 
New  Yurk  to  Binghamton.  Hundreds  were  promenading  the 
depot  grounds  through  the  mingled  storm.  Hundreds  more 
surrounded  a  large  and  powerful  locomotive,  that  had  come 
in  from  Fort  Jervis  with  a  train  of  freight  cars  in  the  early 
part  of  the  day,  and  were  expressing  their  admiration  of  its 
iron  muscle,  and  their  surprise  at  its  wonderful  power  and 
speed.  At  another  point  the  cannon  were  stationed,  about 
which  a  multitude  of  men  and  boys  were  congregated,  ready 
to  touch  off  the  guns  at  the  first  sound  of  the  whistle  of  the 
train. 

"  The  large  room  of  the  depot-house  was  filled  to  overflow- 
ing— the  adjoining  room  was  reserved  for  the  exclusive  occu- 
pancy of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  with  a  doorkeeper 
to  keep  out  the  common  people.  The  car-house,  which  was 
located  about  fifty  rods  east  of  the  depot-house,  was  well 
warmed  and  lighted,  two  tables  spread  there  extending  its 
entire  length  (150  feet),  with  the  best  the  Phenix  Hotel 
could  provide.  Near  the  middle  of  the  car-house  a  platform 
was  elevated,  upon  which    Littlewood's  band   was  stationed. 

"  From  four  o'clock,  hour  after  hour  passed  away.  Some 
becoming  impatient  left  for  their  homes.  The  clock  struck 
nine,  ten,  eleven.  A  large  portion  of  the  crowd  had  gone. 
Anxious  speculations  as  to  the  safety  of  the  first  train  from 
New  York  were  passing  among  the  remaining  crowd,  when,  a 
little  before  twelve,  midnight,  the  sound  of  a  distant  whistle 
came  booming  down  the  line.  Bang  !  bang  !  went  the  can- 
non, an  1  suddenly  all  was  excitement.  Many  who  had  gone 
home  and  retired  to  rest  arose  and  repaired  to  the  depot 
grounds.  The  cooks  and  waiters  set  themselves  to  the  final 
arrangements  at  the  long  tables.  The  firing  of  cannon  con- 
tinued. The  whistle  sounded  nearer  and  louder,  and  the 
long  pent-up  hurrahs  of  the  crowd  becoming  more  enthusi- 
astic, altogether  greatly  marred  the  usual  midnight  stillness 
of  our  quiet  village.  At  this  moment  the  stately  train,  drawn 
by  the  panting  locomotives,  approached  and  halted  at  the 
car-house,  where  the   refreshments  were   in   waiting.     From 


300  to  400  passengers  alighted  and  entered  the  car-house, 
and  began  at  once  the  discussion  of  the  merits  and  bounties 
of  the  table.  The  honorable  committee  in  the  meantime 
were  in  waiting  down  to  the  depot-house,  under  the  charge 
of  doorkeepers,  preparing  to  receive  the  distinguished  guests 
from  the  city.  It  was  evident  from  the  lofty  bearing  of  many 
of  them,  and  the  precautions  taken  by  the  doorkeepers  to 
prevent  a  contact  with  the  common  people,  that  they  had 
screwed  themselves  up  to  sufficient  dignity  to  receive  with  ap- 
propriate demonstration  the  Honorable  the  Mayor,  and  the 
Common  Council  of  the  City  of  N'ew  York,  the  President 
and  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railroad  Company,  and  other  dis- 
tinguished guests.  After  waiting  a  while  and  learning  that  the 
New  Yorkers  were  partaking  of  the  repast  at  the  car-house, 
the  committee,  evidently  disappointed  in  not  being  permitted 
to  take  that  conspicuous  part  in  the  reception  they  had  antici- 
pated, followed  up  to  the  car  house  and  joined  in  the  festivi- 
ties of  the  occasion. 

"After  the  cloth  was  removed,  Mr.  Loder,  the  President  of 
the  Railroad  Company,  w-as  called  for,  and  entertained  the 
assemblage  with  remarks  embracing  a  history  of  the  affairs  of 
the  Company  and  interesting  facts  and  statistics,  touching 
the  commencement,  progress  and  completion  of  the  road  to 
Binghamton,  and  its  future  prospects,  which  were  received 
with  great  applause.  Calvin  E.  Mather  then  arose  on  behalf 
of  the  committee,  and  addressed  the  assemblage  with  great 
spirit  and  animation.  Toasts  were  given,  after  which  William 
E.  Dodge  made  appropriate  remarks.  He  was  followed  by 
the  Hon.  Zadoc  Pratt,  Chief  Engineer  Brown,  and  others. 
The  guests  then  retired  to  lodgings  at  public  and  private 
houses  in  town  which  had  been  tendered  to  them. 

"  Al  otn  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  assembled  again  at 
the  depot  grounds  to  see  the  train  go  out,  and  tender  to  our 
guests  a  cordial  expression  of  our  thanks  for  their  visit  and  a 
wish  for  their  safe  return.  While  the  preparation  to  start  was 
going  on  the  crowd  assembled  in  the  car-house  and  were  ad- 
dressed by  Mr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Dodge,  Mr.  Davies.  Mr.  Fol- 
som,  Mr.  Diven  and  others,  in  spirited  and  interesting 
speeches,  which  were  received  with  enthusiastic  applause. 
The  best  of  feeling  prevailed,  and  the  citizens  of  New  Yoik 
and  Binghamton  greeted  each  other  as  friends  and  neighbors, 
separated  only  by  a  few  hours'  ride. 

"  At  twelve  o'clock,  M.,  the  two  trains  went  out,  amidst  the 
hurrahs  of  the  thousands  assembled  to  witness  their  depart- 


GETTING    THE    RAILROAD    BEVOXD     BIXGHAMTON. 

The  contract  for  building  the  railroad  from  Binghamton  to 
Corning  was  taken  by  John  Magee  and  Constant  Cook,  of 
Bath,  N.  Y.  ;  John  Arnott,  of  Elmira  :  Charles  S.  Cook,  of 
Havana,  N.  Y.,  and  John  H.  Cheddell,  of  Auburn.  N.  Y. 
("  Administration  of  Benjamin  Loder,"  page  92.)  This  was 
an  easy  portion  of  the  railroad  to  build,  lying  as  it  did  in 
and  along  the  fertile  flat  lands  and  in  the  thickly  settled  por- 
tions of  the  Susquehanna   and    Chemung   valleys,    and    each 


23 


354 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


contractor  made  a  large  fortune  out  of  the  arrangement  with 
any.  The  locomotive  "Orange"  did  duty  in  the 
work  of  construction  on  that  part  of  the  railroad.  J.  S.  T. 
Stranahan,  Joseph  White,  and  Horace  G.  Phelps  did  much 
of  the  work  as  sub-contractors  on  the  road  between  Elmira 
and  Corning. 

The  railroad  was  so  far  complete  between  Binghamton  and 
o  on  June  i.  1849,  that  an  excursion  train  from  New 
York,  bearing  distinguished  guests,  was  run  as  far  as  Bing- 
hamton on  May  31st.  and  on  to  Owego  the  next  morning. 
This  first  passenger  train  arrived  at  Owego  at  ten  o'clock 
a.m..  fune  1,  1S49.  Church  bells  were  rung  and  cannon 
were  fired.  Considerable  preparation  had  been  made  to 
celebrate  the  occasion  so  long  waited  for.  Hon.  Thomas 
Farrington  was  President  of  the  day;  Hon.  John  M.  Parker, 
E.  S.  Sweet,  Esq.,  Hon.  John  J.  Taylor,  and  Franklin  Slosson, 
Vice-Presidents;  Col.  X.  W.  Davis,  Marshal.  A  dinner  for 
the  invited  guests  was  spread  in  the  big  dining-room  of  the 
depot  (Ow-ego  having  been  designated  as  a  dining  station), 
and  a  public  feast  on  platforms  outside,  by  S.  B.  Dennis, 
proprietor  of  the  Tioga  House.  President  Farrington  de- 
livered a  speech  of  welcome  to  the  distinguished  guests  that 
arrived  on  the  train.  It  was  responded  to  by  William  E. 
Dodge,  President  Loder  not  being  present.  After  dinner, 
speeches  were  made  by  Shepherd  Knapp  ;  William  E.  Robin- 
son, of  the  New  York  Tribune ;  Hon.  James  Brooks,  of  the 
New  York  Express,  and  E.  S.  Sweet,  and  Hon.  S.  B.  Leonard, 
of  Owego. 

There  was  no  general  jollification  made  over  the  opening 
of  the  railroad  to  Elmira,  the  first  train  from  Xew  York  on 
which  occasion  arrived  at  Elmira  on  the  morning  of  October 
2,  1849.  ^  was  welcomed  suitably  and  joyously  by  the  El- 
mira people. 

A',  the  railroad  approached  Corning,  the  people  of  the 
Canisteo  Valley,  in  Steuben  County,  through  which  the  orig- 
inal route  of  the  railroad  was  surveyed,  became  greatly 
alarmed  over  rumors  that  the  people  of  the  Cohocton  Valley, 
especially  at  Bath,  where  the  influential  Magees  and  Cooks 
dwelt,  had  brought  such  arguments  to  bear  upon  the  Company 
that  it  was  considering  the  propriety  of  diverting  the  railroad 
between  Corning  and  Hornellsville  from  the  Canisteo  Valley 
to  a  route  that  would  follow  the  Cohocton  Valley  instead,  by 
the  way  of  Hath. 

To  protest  against  this,  and  to  show  the  Company  how 
unwise  it  would  be  to  make  such  a  change  as  that,  a  great 
uniting  of  all  that  excited  country  was  held  at  Mrs. 
Jones'  Tavern,  Cameron,  Steuben  County,  July  28,  1849. 
Jeremiah  linker  was  chairman ;  John  K.  Hale,  secretary. 
William  M.  Ilawley,  Nathaniel  Finch,  Thomas  J.Reynolds, 
William  R.  Smith,  and  F.  C.  Denninny  drafted,  as  the  sense 
of  the  meeting,  a  memorial,  which  was  printed  in  a  pamphlet. 
The  committee  reported  to  a  meeting  of  people  held  at 
Iluik's   Hotel,   Addison,  August  24th,  following.     Gen.  Ran- 


som Rathbone  was  chairman  of  the  meeting  and  Xathaniel 
Finch  read  the  memorial,  and  William  R.  Smith,  Gen.  Ran- 
som Rathbone,  and  James  Alley  were  appointed  a  committee 
"  to  go  to  Xew  York,  and  present  to  the  President  and  Chief 
Engineer,  and  each  of  the  Directors,  and  to  such  others  as 
they  may  deem  expedient,  a  copy  of  the  same."  Eloquent 
speakers,  representing  the  Company's  interest,  chief  among 
them  being  Asher  Tyler,  of  Elmira,  addressed  the  meeting, 
assuring  the  people  that  the  Company  would  take  its  railroad 
to  that  route  that  gave  it  the  most  encouragement,  and  thus 
secured  many  a  Canisteo  Valley  farmer's  hard-earned  dollars, 
grants  of  land,  and  rights  of  way  in  behalf  of  a  railroad  that 
was  bound  to  go  that  way,  anyhow,  for  the  light  of  subsequent 
events  showed  that  there  had  at  no  time  been  any  probability 
of  the  route  being  diverted  from  the  Canisteo  Valley. 

The  Hon.  Asher  Tyler  was  a  man  of  much  consequence 
in  the  Southern  Tier  of  Xew  York,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  in 
his  day.  He  was  born  at  Bridgewater,  Oneida  County, 
X.  Y.,  May  10,  1798,  and  was  graduated  from  Hamilton 
College,  in  that  county,  in  the  class  of  181 7.  He  studied 
law,  not  for  the  purpose  of  a  general  practice,  but  that  he 
might  apply  it  as  agent  of  the  Devereux  Land  Company,  that 
had  considerable  real  estate  in  Cattaraugus  and  Chautauqua 
counties.  He  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  Cattarau- 
gus district  in  1843-45,  and  was  contemporary  there  with 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  country.  He 
became  friends  with  them  and  retained  their  friendship  as 
long  as  he  lived,  corresponding  with  many,  and  being  visited 
by  them  at  his  Elmira  home.  He  conducted  the  purchase  of 
the  land  for  the  Erie  in  all  of  the  counties  east  of  Broome, 
examining  titles  and  getting  clear  rights.  His  judgment  was 
of  the  best,  and  there  is  no  record  of  its  ever  having  gone 
astray.  During  this  period  of  his  life  he  lived  at  Ellicott- 
ville,  Cattaraugus  County.  In  1848  he  went  to  Elmira  to 
live,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  there.  He  died  at 
the  age  of  more  than  eighty  years.  His  wife  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  John  Youle,  an  ironmaster  of  the  city  of  Xew  York. 
The  Youles  were  of  English  origin,  and  the  family,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century,  was  one  of  the  highest  in  social 
standing  in  the  city.  The  rare  Tyler  homestead  in  Elmira  is 
occupied  by  his  daughters,  ladies  of  high  culture  and  accom- 
plishment. 

Xathaniel  Finch,  of  Hornellsville,  succeeded  Asher  Tyler  as 
General  Land  Agent,  and  was  made  a  General  Attorney  of  the 
Company.  He  was  a  native  of  Greenwich,  Conn.,  and  settled 
at  Hornellsville  in  1S37.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  was  employed 
by  the  Erie  as  early  as  1841,  to  secure  right  of  way  for  the 
railroad  through  the  Canisteo  Valley  and  along  the  West- 
em  Division.  He  subsequently  became  the  Erie's  attorney 
and  claim  agent  for  that  section.  He  remained  in  that 
service  until  his  death  in  1866.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  John  M.  Finch,  who  had  been  his  father's  assistant  since 
the  age  of  eighteen,  and  who  held  the  place  until  1S69,  when 
he  retired. 

Much  of  the  route  of  the  old  piled  roadway  of  1841,  in  the 
Canisteo  Valley,  was  abandoned  for  a  more  feasible  one,  and 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


355 


as  late  as  1895  long  rows  of  piles  could  be  seen  on  the  fiats 
on  the  lower  side  of  the  Canisteo  River,  melancholy  remind- 
ers of  one  costly  folly  in  the  building  of  the  Erie. 

Among  the  contractors  on  the  work  between  Coming  and 
Homellsville  were  Benjamin  Folsom,  Wells  &  Dutcher,  Henry 
A.  Fonda,  Peter  C.  Ward,  and  M.  McMahon,  the  father  of 
the  present  Gen.  Martin  T.  McMahon,  of  New  York.  The 
civil  engineers  were  :  L.  D.  Hodgeman,  Thomas  A.  Emmet, 
and  Messrs.  Stancliff,  Pumpelly,  and  Stoddard. 

Under  date  of  Monday,  August  26,  1850,  President  Ben- 
jamin Loder  wrote  from  New  York  to  a  friend  :  "  I  want  to 
go  West  this  week  as  far  as  Homellsville,  as  we  hope  to  open 
to  that  place  Monday.  Shall  have  no  jollification  over  forty- 
one  miles  of  railroad." 

Miss  Susan  Kress,  a  young  woman  of  Dundee,  Yates 
County,  N,  Y.,  was  the  first  female  to  ride  over  the  Sus- 
quehanna Division  from  Corning  to  Homellsville,  which  she 
did  on  a  construction  train,  Saturday,  August  31,  1851. 
Miss  Kress  became  the  wife  of  H.  E.  Buvinger,  who  has  been 
for  more  than  forty  years  a  prominent  employee  of  the  Erie 
at  Homellsville. 

The  first  locomotive  crossed  the  Canisteo  River  into  Hor- 
nellsville  on  Sunday,  September  1,  1S51.  The  locomotive 
was  the  celebrated  "  Orange."  The  day  was  cold  and  rainy. 
When  the  "  Orange  "  and  its  pioneer  load  of  passengers  for 
Homellsville  arrived  at  the  Canisteo  Creek,  east  of  Homells- 
ville, it  was  found  that  the  bridge  was  not  yet  ready  for  the 
rails.  The  party  was  obliged  to  wait  several  hours  in  the 
drizzling  rain  for  the  bridge  to  be  finished,  and  the  last  rail 
laid.  It  was  dark  when  the  locomotive  at  last  was  permitted 
to  cross,  and  entered  Homellsville  whistling  shrill  responses 
to  the  loud  shouts  of  the  assembled  populace.  The  whistle 
of  the  locomotive  reached  the  ears  of  people  who  were  at 
church,  and  the  pastor  of  at  least  one  church  (Rev.  Horatio 
I'attengill,  of  the  Presbyterian  church)  praised  God  and  dis- 
missed his  congregation,  who  flocked  to  see  the  iron  horse, 
whose  coming  had  been  awaited  so  many  years.  President 
Loder  was  among  those  on  the  flat  car. 

lODY     AXD    FATAL    FACTION'     FIGHTS. 

\t  Alfred,  eighteen  miles  west  of  Homellsville,  where  the 
railroad  route  wound  round  the  hillside,  as  it  rose  to  the 
summit  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  there  were  heavy  cuts 
to  be  made  through  the  obstructing  banks,  and  deep  gullies 
to  be  filled  to  the  level — one  of  these  a  mile  or  more  long, 
the  longest  and  deepest  fill  on  the  entire  work.  The  con- 
struction on  that  section  was  in  charge  of  Contractor  Henry 
A.  Fonda,  who  had  a  small  army  of  Irish  laborers  in  his 
employ.  Three  factions  of  these  sons  of  the  Green  Isle  were 
represented  among  them  :  the  Far-downs,  the  Tipperaries,  and 
the  Corkonians.  Naturally,  as  had  been  the  case  elsewhere 
on  the  work,  the  ancient  feuds  of  these  factions  were  bound 
to  take  on  vim  and  vigor  whenever  the  only  thing  in  common 
with  these  diverse  fellow  countrymen,  love  of  the  insidious 
"  potteen,"  was    indulged  in  overmuch,  or  even  when  one 


faction  could  find  the  slightest  excuse  for  attacking  another, 
and  then  violent  "  ructions  "  were  sure  to  follow. 

In  June,  1850,  John  Pardon,  a  Far-down,  while  passing 
through  Alfred  with  his  family,  on  his  way  to  Andover, "was 
attacked  by  aggressive  members  of  both  the  Tipperary  and 
Corkonian  factions,  but  was  rescued  and  sheltered  by  Paris 
Green,  a  citizen.  This  enraged  the  attacking  Irishmen, 
and  they  collected  in  a  large  mob,  determined  to  prevent 
the  Pardon  family  from  proceeding  on  its  way.  The  out- 
break became  so  serious  that  the  militia  of  the  towns  of 
Alfred,  Andover,  and  Almond  were  called  out,  and  two  con- 
stables' posses,  one  from  Alfred  and  one  from  Andover,  were 
organized.  The  Andover  posse  escorted  the  Pardon  family 
on  their  journey,  while  the  Alfred  posse  arrested  a  number  of 
the  mob  leaders  and  took  them  to  Alfred  Centre,  two  miles 
distant,  for  trial.  While  the  trial  was  in  progress  the  Justice 
of  the  Peace  had  warning  that  the  mob  was  approaching  in 
force,  armed  with  all  manner  of  weapons,  to  rescue  their 
friends  from  the  officers  of  the  law.  The  militia  had  a  six- 
pound  brass  cannon  in  their  possession.  This  was  loaded  to 
the  muzzle  with  chains,  nails,  scraps  of  iron,  and  such  other 
missiles  as  could  be  obtained,  and  the  gun  placed  in  the  road 
where  it  could  be  trained  on  the  rioters  when  they  appeared 
around  the  curve,  just  below.  But  the  battery  was  not  called 
into  -action.  When  the  leaders  of  the  advancing  forces 
turned  the  curve  and  suddenly  faced  the  frowning  gun,  a 
retreat  began,  not  a  dignified  and  orderly  one,  but  such  a 
one  as  has  been  seldom  witnessed  in  the  ordinary  tactics  of 
war.  Xeither  fences  nor  other  obstacles  checked  the  fleeing 
mob,  as  it  scattered  in  even-  direction  leading  to  the  woods, 
leaving  hats  and  motley  weapons  behind.  Thus  this  riot  was 
quelled  without  bloodshed,  but  brawls  ending  in  murder  were 
of  frequent  occurrence. 

In  October,  1850,  during  a  row  in  a  shanty  one  night, 
Contractor  Fonda  and  his  foreman,  a  man  named  Kent,  were 
called  in  to  quiet  it.  As  they  entered  the  shanty  the  lights 
were  extinguished,  and  a  free  fight  followed.  When  it  was 
over,  two  young  Irishmen  were  dead,  shot  through  the  heart, 
and  Kent  was  unconscious  from  a  blow  on  the  head.  He 
did  not  regain  consciousness,  and  died  in  a  few  days.  It  was 
never  known  who  was  responsible  for  any  of  the  killing. 

The  next  day  after  this  broil  the  Company  hired  fifteen  of 
the  militia  to  act  as  guards.  It  was  their  duty  to  seize  all 
firearms  found  on  the  laborers,  and  to  confiscate  all  whiskey 
brought  into  the  village.  This  prevented  any  further  serious 
outbreaks,  but  occasionally  the  factions  would  come  together 
in  battle,  with  fatal  effects  on  one  another,  and  the  big  fill 
just  below  the  station  at  Alfred,  so  tradition  insists,  contains 
the  bodies  of  many  missing  natives  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  who 
fell  in  these  affrays,  and  were  secretly  buried  to  prevent  un- 
pleasant official  investigation. 

CHANGING    THE    ROUTE. 

In  1S3S  Maj.  Thompson  S.  Brown  had  located  the 
western  section  of  the  road,  surveying  east  from  Lake  Erie, 


o:r 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


placing  it  through  the  Conewango  Valley  to  Randolph, 
thence  over  Cold  Spring  Summit  to  the  Alleghany  River  south 
of  the  present  site  of  Salamanca,  thence  up  the  river  to 
Olean.  The  contracts  for  building  the  road  were  let  in 
[840-41  over  this  route,  as  we  have  seen,  and  piles  had 
been  driven  the  greater  part  of  this  distance,  when  the 
failure  of  the  Company  in  1X42  stopped  the  work.  In  1849, 
Silas  Seymour,  having  succeeded  Major  Brown  as  engineer  of 
that  part  of  the  work,  was  instructed  to  find  a  shorter  and 
better  route.  The  result  was  the  abandonment  of  the  route 
as  located  by  Brown,  and  the  present  route  through  the 
Alleghany  Valley  and  thence  to  Dunkirk  was  adopted,  and 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  that  had  been  expended 
in  railroad  building  over  the  old  route  were  added  to  the 
other  sums  similar  railroad  making  in  the  Susquehanna  and 
Canisteo  valleys  had  absorbed.  The  disappointed  people  of 
the  Conewango  Valley,  who  were  to  be  left  at  last  without  a 
railroad,  after  all  their  long  years  of  waiting  and  efforts  in 
behalf  of  the  Erie,  by  this  abandonment  of  the  route  of 
1839,  made  a  strong  endeavor  to  have  the  decision  of  the 
Company  reconsidered,  and  succeeded  so  far  that  another 
engineer  was  sent  to  examine  the  different  routes,  his  report 
to  be  final.  This  engineer  was  McRae  Swift,  and  if  ever  a 
m3n  was  wined  and  dined  and  treated  with  marked  consider- 
ation, Engineer  Swift  was,  during  the  time  he  was  studying 
the  merits  of  those  two  routes  from  the  Alleghany  Valley  to 
Lake  Erie.  He  at  last  confirmed  Silas  Seymour's  judgment, 
and  that  was  the  end  of  all  the  hopes  of  Conewango  Valley 
in  the  railroad  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Hudson  River. 


WHAT    THE    LAND    WAS    GOOD    FOR. 

The  right  of  way  for  the  railroad  was  obtained  at  different 
times,  as  work  on  the  road  progressed,  and  much  the  greater 
part  of  the  right  was  donated  by  the  land-owners.  One 
notable  exception  to  this  occurred  on  the  Seneca  Indian 
Reservation  in  Cattaraugus  County.  The  railroad  had  neces- 
sarily to  pass  for  several  miles  through  the  Indian  lands  in 
the  Alleghany  Valley.  The  land  needed  was  of  no  great  in- 
trinsic value,  and  the  Company's  representatives  in  the  secur- 
ing of  right  of  way  hoped  to  find  thoroughfare  through  the 
reservation  for  very  small  remuneration,  if  not  entirely  free 
highway.  They  were  much  taken  aback,  therefore,  when 
they  had  placed  the  matter  before  the  Indian  Council  at 
Bucktooth  (now  Salamanca),  to  be  informed  by  the  President, 
a  hard-headed  and  worldly-wise  Seneca,  that  the  Reserva- 
tion required  Sio.ooo  for  right  of  way  through  its  lands. 
The  spokesman  of  the  Right  of  Way  Committee  argued  long 
and  eloquently  with  the  Council,  explaining  the  great  benefit 
the  railroad  would  be  to  the  Reservation  and  its  occupants,  and 
how  they  could  well  afford  to  donate  right  of  way  for  the 
road  the  entire  distance  through  the  lands. 

'•  The  land  we  want,"  said  he,  "  is  of  no  actual  use  to  you. 
You  cannot  raise  corn  on  it :  you  cannot  raise  potatoes  on  it. 
What  is  it  good  for,  then?     It  isn't  good  for  anything." 


The  wily  and  long-headed  President  of  the  Indian  Coun- 
cil simply  grunted  and  said  : 

"  Him  pitty  good  land  for  railroad!" 

That  closed  the  argument.  The  Railroad  Company  had 
nothing  left  to  do  but  pay  the  $10,000  before  it  could  get 
title  to  right  of  way  through  the  Reservation.  This  money 
was  paid  in  cash,  and  the  President  of  the  Council  placed  it 
in  a  leather  bag  and  took  it  to  his  house.  The  next  day  he 
reported  to  the  Council  that  some  one  had  broken  into  his 
house  during  the  night  and  stolen  the  bag  and  its  valuable 
contents.  The  robber  was  never  found,  and  to  this  day  there 
are  Indians  on  the  Reservation  who  have  their  opinion  about 
the  loss  of  the  money. 


DRIVING    THE    LAST    SPIKE. 

The  work  was  pushed  forward,  in  both  directions,  on  the 
Western  Division,  and  by  February,  185 1,  the  rails  were  down 
as  far  west  from  Homellsville  as  Cuba  Old  Station,  a  mile 
east  of  the  present  station  at  that  place.  February  5  th, 
William  A.  Kimball,  the  second  engineer  to  run  regularly  on 
the  Western  Division,  ran  the  first  train  on  the  Erie  from 
Homellsville  west.  He  had  Hinkley  engine  No.  70,  and  a 
train  consisting  of  a  passenger  car,  a  baggage  car,  and 
thirteen  flat  cars  loaded  with  railroad  iron.  The  road  was  so 
new  and  unstable  that  the  clay  of  the  road-bed  was  forced  up 
by  the  weight  of  the  train — or,  rather,  the  rails  were  pressed 
down  so  in  the  clay  that  it  came  over  the  rails  and  stalled 
the  train.  One  of  the  brakemen  on  the  train  lay  on  the  foot- 
board of  the  engine  and  put  sand  on  the  track  out  of  a 
bucket,  there  being  no  sanding  attachment  to  the  locomotives 
then.  Kimball  was  nine  hours  getting  his  train  to  the  top  of 
the  grade  west  of  Homellsville,  thirteen  miles.  Trains  were 
run  as  far  as  Cuba,  principally  freight,  passenger  trains  beiijg 
merely  an  incident,  until  the  railroad  was  completed  to  Dun- 
kirk and  opened,  May  14,  1S5  r.  There  was  a  depot,  a  water- 
tank,  and  a  turn-table  at  Cuba.  Here,  April  19,  185  r,  eleven 
years  after  the  first  spike  was  driven  at  Piermont,  in  October, 
1840,  the  last  spike  was  driven  in  the  last  rail  that  made  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  a  continuous  track  between 
the  Hudson  and  Lake  Erie.  The  strokes  of  the  sledge 
hammer  that  sent  this  spike  home  were  delivered  by  Silas 
Seymour,  who  had  seen  the  first  shovelful  of  dirt  thrown  out 
at  the  breaking  of  ground  for  the  railroad  at  Deposit.  X.  Y., 
November  7,  1835,  and  who  had  followed  the  continuous 
construction  of  the  railroad  step  by  step  since  it  was  started 
down  the  Shawangunk  Mountains,  west  of  Otisville,  in  1S46 — 
having  located  the  western  end  years  before. 

April  19-20,  1851,  previous  to  the  grand  opening,  the 
officers  and  Directors  of  the  road,  with  a  few  invited  guests, 
made  a  trip  over  the  line  from  Piermont  to  Dunkirk,  remain- 
ing over  night  at  Elmira.  They  reached  Dunkirk  amid  the 
booming  of  cannon  and  the  wildest  enthusiasm  of  the 
people.     Soon  after  that,  Charles  W.  Tuffts,  who  came  from 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


JO/ 


Boston  to  Dunkirk  in  the  latter  part  of  1850,  to  help  set  up 
'•  No.  90,"  the  first  locomotive  on  the  western  end  of  the 
road,  and  who  subsequently  went  to  Hornellsville  to  ran 
Engine  No.  73  on  a  construction  train,  was  with  the  latter 
locomotive  at  Tip-top  Summit.  Suddenly,  without  a  moment's 
warning,  the  locomotive,  track  and  all  sank  in  the  swamp, 
an  1  were  almost  entirely  submerged.  A  track  was  built 
around  the  sink,  for  the  use  of  trains,  and  the  locomotive 
was  extricated  after  a  week's  hard  labor. 

The  grand  triumphant  completion  of  the  railroad  to  Dun- 
kirk and  the  monster  celebration  of  the  event  at  Dunkirk 
on  .May  15,  1851,  are  described  in  graphic  detail  on  pages 
94  to  109  ("Administration  of  Benjamin  Loder").  The 
ocean  was  indeed  at  last  united  with  the  lakes. 

OPENING    OF    THE    NEWBURGH    BRANCH. 

It  may  truly  be  said  that,  aside  from  its  value  and  impor- 
tance as  one  of  the  many  ramifications  of  the  present  Erie 
system,  the  Xewburgh  Branch  stands  as  a  perpetual  reminder 
of  a  great  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  Erie.  If  no  railroad  had 
been  assured  to  Newburgh  in  1845  ("Third  Administration  of 
Eleazai  Lord,"  pages  76  to  83),  the  Company  and  its  work 
would  have  gone  down  in  pitiful  collapse,  and  what  the  un- 
fortunate fate  of  Erie  might  have  been  no  one  may  now  con- 
jecture. For  that  reason  the  opening  of  this  branch  was  an 
event  of  much  moment  in  the  history  of  Erie. 

Ground  was  broken  for  the  Newburgh  Branch  July  4,  1846, 
on  land  donated  by  Captain  Robinson,  in  the  village  of  New- 
burgh. The  work  shared  in  and  suffered  from  all  the  subse- 
quent vicissitudes  that  made  of  the  construction  of  the  main 
line  such  a  desperate  struggle.  It  was  completed,  and  the 
branch  was  opened  January  8,  1850. 

(From  the  Newburgh  Gazette,  December  15,  1S49.) 

A  locomotive,  with  a  Passenger  Car  attached,  passed  over  the 
Newburgh  Branch  on  Wednesday,  December  15th.  They  arrived  in 
Newburgh  about  4  o'clock  and  remained  an  hour.  Mr.  Loder,  the 
President  of  the  Company,  and  several  other  gentlemen  came  as 
passengers.  The  appearance  of  the  Locomotive  excited  much  in- 
terest, and  its  entrance  into  the  village  was  welcomed  by  a  large  con- 
course of  citizens.  It  is  said  that  the  regular  passage  of  freight 
trains  will  be  put  on  the  road  early  in  January — perhaps  next  week. 

The  citizens  of  Newburgh  held  a  public  meeting  on  the 
evening  of  December  20,  1849,  and  made  arrangements  to 
celebrate  the  opening  of  the  branch  in  fitting  manner. 
Samuel  J.  Farnum  was  President  of  the  meeting.  A  com- 
mittee consisting  of  J.  J.  Monell,  Enoch  Carter,  C.  C.  Smith, 
Robert  A.  Forsyth,  David  Morse,  Richard  A.  Southwick, 
Samuel  J.  Farnum,  James  Belknap,  Hiram  Falls,  John  K. 
Dawson,  Charles  U.  Cushman,  Isaac  S.  Fowler,  and  W.  L. 
Warren,  was  appointed  to  arrange  the  programme  for  the 
celebration,  which  they  did. 

January  8th  was  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans, a  day  celebrated  with  much  enthusiasm,  especially  by 
the  Democratic  party,  half  a  century  ago,  and  as  that  division 
of  the  State  of  New  York  was  Democratic  then,  the  opening 


of  the  Newburgh  Branch  was  made  by  many  the  occasion  of 
a  double  celebration,  individually,  although  officially  only  the 
railroad  celebration  was  recognized. 

The  sleighing  was  fine,  which  brought  hundreds  of  people 
in  from  all  the  surrounding  country.  The  multitude  assem- 
bled at  the  Newburgh  depot  and  filled  all  the  neighboring 
approaches,  to  await  the  coming  of  the  train  bearing  the 
officers  and  Directors  of  the  Company  and  their  guests,  who 
were  to  be  the  guests  of  Newburgh. 

At  one  o'clock  p.m.  the  train  signalled  its  approach, 
and  it  was  greeted  with  the  booming  of  cannon  and  the 
vociferous  cheering  of  the  people.  President  Loder  was 
prevented  by  iljness  from  being  present.  The  officers  and 
Directors  and  their  guests  were  conducted  to  the  station 
platform,  where  F.  J.  Betts,  Esq.,  welcomed  them  in  a  long 
and  eloquent  address.  William  E.  Dodge,  who  seems  to 
have  been  the  Company's  spokesman  on  occasions  of  this 
kind,  on  behalf  of  the  officers  and  Directors  responded  in  a 
felicitous  speech. 

The  public  repast  was  spread  in  the  Company's  round- 
house. The  guests  of  honor  were  taken  to  the  United  States 
Hotel,  where  200  sat  down  to  dinner.  Toasts  were  dmnk, 
and  congratulatory  speeches  made.  The  prominent  speakers 
of  the  day  were  Gen.  Joseph  Hoxie,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Will- 
iam E.  Dodge,  and  others. 

The  public  feast  at  the  engine-house  lasted  during  the  en- 
tire day.  It  consisted  of  one  ox,  roasted  whole,  weight  761 
pounds;  tour  sheep,  roasted  whole  and  stuffed,  weight  500 
pounds;  600  pounds  of  pork  and  beans;  400  pounds  of 
ham  ;  256  pounds  of  a-h-mode  beef ;  231  pounds  of  corned 
beef;  160  pounds  of  beef  tongues;  400  pounds  of  head 
cheese  ;  1  hog,  roasted  whole,  weight  400  pounds  ;  1  deer, 
roasted  whole,  256  pounds;  300  loaves  of  bread,  besides 
two  loaves  that  weighed  150  pounds  apiece:  12  two-bushel 
baskets  of  sandwiches;  vegetables  and  fruit  by  the  barrel. 
No  intoxicating  drinks  were  permitted  to  be  served  at  the 
barbecue,  but  no  such  restriction  was  placed  upon  the  dis- 
tinguished guests  at  the  hotel. 

The  manner  in  which  this  barbecue  and  feast  was  served 
attracted  such  wide  and  favorable  comment  that  a  similar 
entertainment,  on  a  much  larger  scale,  was  decided  upon  by 
the  citizens  of  Dunkirk  to  be  one  of  the  features  of  the  cele- 
bration which  was  to  occur  at  that  place  the  following  spring, 
upon  the  opening  of  the  railroad  between  the  Hudson  River 
and  Lake  Erie,  and  the  caterers  who  had  prepared  the  New- 
burgh affair  were  engaged  to  take  charge  of  the  great  Dun- 
kirk barbecue.  Their  chief  was  Enoch  Carter.  The  engine- 
house  in  which  the  public  feast  was  given  was  a  structure 
1 50  x  75  feet,  with  a  dome,  or  arched  way,  covered  with 
heavy  plates  of  tin.  It  was  at  that  time  the  finest  railroad 
building  of  the  kind  in  the  country. 

EXPERIENCES    OF    PRESIDENT    LODER. 

The  following  extracts  from  private  letters  from  President 
Loder,  written  during  the  construction  of   the  railroad  from 


353 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


[ervis   toward    Dunkirk,  although   brief,    tell   more  elo-      of  Directors,  in  placing  the   whole  business  in  my   hands,  viz.  :  to 
tory  of  self-sacrifice  and  of  the  magnitude  of  the     car 
task  than  a  volume  of  detail  could  : 


law.    Here  I  find  a  week's  work  on  hand,  and  negotiations  with  other 
railroad  companies  of  the  most  important  character. 


BlNGHAMTON,  yl  May,  1847.— I  arrived  here  yesterday  (Sunday) 
g  at  three  o'clock,  having  travelled  nearly  all  night,  which,  to- 
gether with  a  severe  journey  on  horseback  over  an  almost  intolerable 
1    about  IOO  miles  up  the   Delaware   River,  and  a  bad  cold  and 
he,  confined  me  to  my  bed  nearly  all  day.      I  shall  leave  during 
the  day  for  Owego  and  Cayuga  Lake. 

NARROWSBURGH,  23</  Feb.,  184S.— I  have  just  arrived  at  this 
place  after  a  fatiguing  journey  on  horseback — on  foot — on  lumber 
wagon — &c.  Yesterday  all  day  on  horseback,  riding  through  snow, 
rain,  hail  and  slush — to-day  warmer  and  pleasant  overhead — snow 
about  three  inches  ;  muddy  and  disagreeable  under  foot.  I  feel  quite 
well,  though,  and  shall  continue  on  this  afternoon  on  horseback,  and 
reach  a  shanty  about  seventeen  miles  ahead  by  night.  I  will 
write  again  from  some  convenient  point  during  the  week. 

BlNGHAMTON,  2S//;  Feb.,  1S4S. — After  a  tedious  travel  on  horse- 
back and  on  foot  over  the  whole  line  of  our  road,  I  have  brought  up 
here,  where  I  remain  for  a  few  hours — shall  leave  in  a  few  moments 
on  a  similar  tour  of  some  fifty-eight  miles,  and  hope  to  be  home  on 
Saturday  next.  This  morning  is  cold  and  snowing  slightly,  with  ap- 
pearances of  a  regular  old-fashioned  storm. 

Hinsdale,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  6  a.  m.,  Nov.  2d,  1849. — After  three 
days'  heavy  dragging  through  deep  mud,  snow  and  ice,  and  cold, 
rain\-  atmosphere,  we  have  arrived  at  this  place.  We  have  now 
seventy-seven  miles  of  the  same  kind  of  travelling  to  reach  Lake  Erie, 
which  will  require  two  more  days  of  hard  travelling. 

DUNKIRK,  Monday,  6  a.   m.,  Nov.  5//',    1S49. — We  arrived   at  this 

place  on  Saturday  evening  after  six  days'   hard   travel   through  mud, 

snow  and  rain.     .     .     .     We  are  just  about   leaving  on  our  return  ; 

roads  bad  and  raining  hard.      From  appearances  we  shall  have  very 

ork  to  reach  Elmira  in  four  days. 

New  York,  26///  August,  1S50. — I  want  to  go  West  this  week 
as  far  as  Hornellsville,  as  we  hope  to  open  to  that  place  on  Monday 
— shall  have  no  jollification  over  forty-one  miles  of  railroad. 

NEW  York.  17//;  September,  1850. — I  intend  to  start  to-morrow 
morning  for  Hornellsville — from  thence,  by  carriage  across  the  coun- 
Utica.  A  railroad  is  about  being  built  between  these  two 
points,  and  I  have  been  written  to,  and  pressed  from  so  many  quar- 
ters to  come  up  and  go  over  the  line  that  I  must  go.  I  shall  go  on 
to  Buffalo. 


DUNKIRK,  ifttk  Oct.,  1S50. — I  have  just  arrived  here  this  evening, 
after  a  long  and  tedious  journey  over  the  road.  It  has  been  one  of 
the  most  important  visits  that  I  ha%'e  ever  made,  finding  a  vast 
amount  of  business  requiring  attention.  My  visits  have  heretofore 
been  in  reference  to  generals,  this  time  more  in  reference  to  details. 
I  have  walked  over  the  most  difficult  parts  of  the  line,  sometimes 
through  gulfs  of  great  depth— difficult  of  descent  and  more  difficult  of 
ascent — through  bushes,  briars,  over  logs,  stumps  and  brush — some- 
times almost  impassable,  and  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  per  day.  But 
we  have  arrived  lure  to-night  in  good  health,  making  six  days  from 
New  York,  besides  Sunday.  I  find  more  difficulties,  and  doubt  of 
getting  through  bj  M.u  next,  than  I  had  expected,  but  still  I  hope  to 
accomplish  it,  feeling  heavily  and  deeply  the  great  responsibility  1 
have  assumed,  or  rather  what  has   been  placed  upon  me  by  the  Board 


DUNKIRK,  ibth  Jan.,  1S51. — I  arrived  here  to-day  about  eleven 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  and  entered  Dunkirk  on  a  locomotive  which  came  out 
from  Dunkirk  to  meet  us.  ...  I  find  in  coming  over  the  line 
that  a  vast  amount  of  work  is  yet  to  be  done,  to  get  our  road  through 
by  the  14th  May  next.  Mr.  Allen  leaves  to-morrow  morning  on  his 
return  home,  and  will  be  the  bearer  of  this  letter.  I  found  on  my 
arrival  here,  several  letters,  and  one  from  Mr.  Marsh,  Secretary, 
urging  me  to  go  to  Albany  to  meet  difficulties  threatening  us  there. 
I  have  got  to  attend  to  business  of  much  importance  here  before  I 
leave.  Hope  to  get  through  to-morrow,  so  as  to  set  my  face  home- 
ward on  Saturday — and  to  get  to  Buffalo  that  night. 


HOW    IT    SECURED    THE    JERSEY    CITY     TERMINUS. 

The  act  of  the  New  Jersey  Legislature  incorporating  in 
perpetuity  "  The  President  and  Directors  of  the  Paterson  and 
Hudson  River  Railroad,"  was  passed  January  21,  1831.  The 
incorporators  named  were  John  Colt,  Robert  Carrick,  Abra- 
ham Godwin,  Jr.,  Richard  R.  Morris,  William  S.  Buckner, 
Elias  B.  D.  Ogden,  and  Andrew  P.  Hopper.  The  capital 
stock  was  fixed  at  §250,000,  the  railroad  to  be  built  from 
Paterson  to  Weehawken,  and  from  thence  to  any  other  suit- 
able place  on  the  Hudson  River,  opposite  the  city  of  New 
York,  within  fifty  feet  of  high-water  mark,  with  power  to  hold 
real  estate  at  each  terminus  not  to  exceed  two  acres  at  either 
place,  and  not  to  approach  either  of  the  ferries  at  Hoboken, 
Wreehawken,  or  Jersey  City  nearer  than  fifty  feet,  the  com- 
pany being  prohibited  from  establishing  any  ferry  for  the 
carrying  of  passengers  or  freight.  The  railroad  was  to  be  a 
public  highway,  free  for  the  passage  of  any  railroad  carriage 
thereon,  upon  payment  of  tolls,  which  were  six  cents  per 
mile  per  ton  for  "  property,"  and  six  cents  per  mile  for 
each  passenger,  in  the  company's  carriages,  and  half 
those  rates  for  property  or  passengers  carried  in  the  carriages 
of  others.  The  railroad  was  to  be  begun  one  year  from  July 
4,  1 83 1,  and  completed  within  five  years,  or  charter  forfeited. 
By  an  amendment  to  the  charter,  passed  November  18, 
1831,  the  company  was  authorized  to  "form  a  tunnel  under 
the  Weehawken  or  Bergen  Hill,"  and  as  that  "  would  add 
greatly  to  the  expenses  of  working  their  road,  and  be  of 
great  public  accommodation,"  the  company  was  empowered, 
in  case  the  tunnel  was  made,  to  charge  for  passing  through 
the  tunnel  twelve  and  a  half  cents  for  each  passenger  and 
for  every  ton  of  freight  ten  cents,  additional  to  the  tolls 
already  provided  for.  By  an  amendment  passed  February 
27>  1S35,  the  provision  compelling  the  completion  of  the 
railroad  within  five  years  from  July  4,  1S31,  was  repealed, 
and  provided  for  the  use  by  the  company  of  the  track  of  the 
New  Jersey  Railroad  and  Transportation  Company,  then 
building  through  Bergen  Hill  to  the  Hudson  River.  A 
supplement  to  the  charter,  passed  March  3,  1S37,  increased 
the  capital  stock  of  the  company  §250,000.  January  18, 
1844,  the  company  was   authorized   to  issue   bonds  to   the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


359 


amount  of  $100,000  to  purchase  iron  for  improving  the  rail- 
road. 

Ground  was  broken  for  the  railroad  July  4,  1831,  at  Pater- 
son.  November  4,  1832,  the  railroad  was  opened  to  the 
junction  of  the  Newark  turnpike,  at  the  Bergen  Hill.  The 
H  ickensack  River  was  crossed  by  a  drawbridge,  the  first 
railroad  drawbridge  ever  built.  Ex-Govemor  Philemon 
Dickerson  was  the  first  president  of  the  company.  The 
equipment  of  the  railroad  was  "  three  splendid  and  com- 
modious cars,  each  capable  of  accommodating  thirty  passen- 
gers, drawn  by  fleet  and  gentle  horses."  Connection  was 
made  with  the  New  Jersey  Railroad  at  "  West  End,"  which 
was  the  west  end  of  Bergen  Hill.  The  cars  were  drawn  by 
horses  until  1S34,  when  a  locomotive,  built  by  George 
Stephenson  in  England  in  1833,  was  put  on  the  railroad  and 
did  the  work  for  several  years. 

The  Paterson  and  Ramapo  Railroad  Company  was  incor- 
porated by  the  New  Jersey  Legislature  March  10,  1 841,  which 
named  as  incorporators  Elisha  B.  Clark,  Cornelius  (;. 
Garrison,  Abraham  Godwin,  David  Roe,  Jacob  M.  Ryerson, 
Cornelius  S.  Van  Wagoner,  John  S.  Van  Winkle,  John  ('.. 
Ackerson,  Charles  Kinsey,  Henry  B.  Hageman,  Frani  is 
Salmon,  Jacob  H.  Hopper,  Lauriston  Hall,  William  (1. 
Hopper,  John  Ward,  Christian  A.  Wanmaker,  to  construi  t 
a  railroad  from  "  a  suitable  place  in  or  near  the  town  of 
Paterson  to  some  suitable  point  or  points  in  or  near  the 
division  line  between  the  township  of  Franklin,  in  the 
county  of  Bergen,  and  the  State  of  New  York."  The  rail- 
road was  to  be  begun  within  two  years  and  completed  at  the 
expiration  of  six  years  after  July  4,  1843,  an<i  to  be  free 
for  the  passage  of  any  railroad  carriage  thereon,  on  pay- 
ment  of  the  prescribed  tolls,  five  cents  per  mile  for  each 
ton  of  freight  and  three  cents  per  mile  for  each  passenger, 
the  tolls  in  the  company's  cars  being  ten  cents  per  mile  per 
ton  and  six  cents  a  mile  for  passengers.  The  time  for  begin- 
ning the  railroad  was  extended  February  21,  1843.  The  stock 
sufficient  to  organize  a  company  not  having  been  subscribed, 
the  Legislature  authorized  organization  February  15,  1844. 
The  time  for  completing  the  railroad  was  extended  February 
5,  1847,  for  five  years  from  July  4th  of  that  year. 

The  railroad  was  completed  in  October,  1848,  and  the  first 
train  was  run  over  it  November  1st  of  that  year. 

September  1,  1S52,  the  L'nion  Railroad  Company  was  or- 
ganized under  the  General  Railroad  Law  of  New  York,  its 
purpose  being  to  build  a  railroad  from  the  terminus  of  the 
Paterson  and  Ramapo  Railroad,  at  the  State  line,  to  connect 
with  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  at  Suffern,  about  one 
mile. 

October  10,  1834,  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Rail- 
road Company  made  an  agreement  with  the  New  Jersey  Rail- 
road and  Transportation  Company  to  use  the  tracks  of  the 
latter  from  Bergen  Junction,  west  of  Bergen  Hill,  to  the 
terminus  at  Jersey  City,  paying  for  the  privilege  six  cents  per 


ienger  and  ten  cents  per  ton  of  merchandise  carried  over 
those  tracks.  September  9,  1852,  the  Union  Railroad  Com- 
pany leased  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad  and 
the  Paterson  ami  Ramapo  Railroad,  with  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  granted  by  their  charters  and  by  agreements  with 
the  New  Jersey  Railroad  and  Transportation  Company,  which 
leases  were  assigned  to  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
Company  September  10,  1852,  and  on  the  same  day  that 
Company  leased  the  Union  Railroad.  This  virtually  made  of 
the  New  Jersey  Railroad  and  the  Union  Railroad  a  part  of  the 
Erie  main  line.  The  leases  and  assignments  and  agreements, 
of  which  there  were  thirteen  in  all,  were  signed  by  Benja- 
min Loder  and  Nathaniel  Marsh,  President  and  Secretary  of 
the  Erie ;  Gouverneur  Morris  and  John  Hopper,  President 
and  Secretary  of  the  Paterson  and  Ramapo  Railroad  Com- 
pany; Robert  Bayard  and  John  J.  Zabriskie,  President  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Union  Railroad  Company  ;  John  Colt  and 
A.  S.  Pennington,  President  and  Treasurer  of  the  Paterson 
and  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company,  and  J.  Phillips 
Phoenix  and  W.  A.  Whitehead,  President  and  Secretary  of 
the  New  Jersey  Railroad  and  Transportation  Company. 

The  rolling  stock  obtained  by  the  Erie  by  the  lease  of  the 
Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad  was  as  follows  : 

2  S-wheeled  passenger  cars,  60  seats,  $Soo $r,6oo 

3  8-wheeled  passenger  cars,  56  seats,  $500 1,500 

'j  S-wheeled  old  cars,  $300 600 

2  4-wheeled  short  cars,  $200 400 

3  8-wheeled  baggage  cars  (good),  $525 1.575 

4  S-wheeled  platform,  $275 1,100 

27  4-wheeled  box  cars  (short),  $85 2,295 

21  4-wheeled  open  cars,  $70   1.470 

2  4-wheeled  short  gravel  cars,  $200  and  $170 370 

Paterson  engine 3,000 

Passaic  engine 3.500 

Whistler  engine r,20o 

McNeal  engine 900 

$19,510 

February  21,  1S56,  the  New  Jersey  Legislature  authorized 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  to  extend  the 
Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  and  to  make  a  railroad 
from  any  point  on  the  same  to  the  Hudson  River  at  some 
point  opposite  New  York,  and  purchase  and  hold  in  its  own 
name  land  necessary  for  the  use  of  its  terminal  business. 
The  Governor,  Chancellor,  Attorney-General,  Treasurer,  and 
Secretary  of  New  Jersey,  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Errors  of  the  State,  and  the 
Members  of  both  houses  of  the  Legislature  were  permitted  to 
travel  free  of  charge  over  the  railroad  included  in  the  New 
Jersey  leases. 

The  Long  Dock  Company  was  incorporated  by  the  New 
Jersey  Legislature  February  26,  1S56,  the  incorporators  be- 
ing Peter  Bentley,  Mary  Bell,  Abraham  O.  Zabriskie,  Charles 
G.  Sisson,  Homer  Ramsdell,  and  Stephen  D.  Harrison. 
The  capital  stock  was  8800,000.  Peter  Bentley,  Homer 
Ramsdell,  David  S.    Manners,  Abraham    O.   Zabriskie,  and 


360 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Charles  G.  Sisson  were  the  first  directors.  It  was  em- 
red  to  improve  the  Long  Dock  property,  south  of  the 
centre  line  of  Pavonia  Ferry,  in  the  Fourth  Ward  of  Jersey 
C'itv,  and  to  purchase  other  lands,  under  and  above  water, 
and  to  establish  a  ferry  at  or  near  Pavonia  Avenue,  to  be 
located  between  South  Second  and  Xorth  Fourth  Streets, 
fersey  City.  Work  had  to  be  begun  within  two  years,  and 
Si 00,000  expended  within  five  years  from  the  date  of  the 
act. 

The  contract  for  boring  the  great  tunnel  through  Bergen 
Hill,  so  that  the  completing  and  perfecting  of  the  scheme 
for  the  Erie  terminals  at  Jersey  City  might  be  accomplished, 
was  let  to  Stanton,  Mallory  &  Co.,  of  Newburgh,  X.  Y., 
and  the  work  was  begun  June  1,  1S56.  The  locomotive 
"  Eleazar  Lord,"  Henry  Shimer,  engineer,  hauled  away  the 
first  load  of  stones  and  earth,  on  the  track  built  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  dumped  them  in  the  Hudson  River,  where  all  the 
excavated  debris  from  the  Bergen  Hill  was  to  be  dumped,  to 
aid  in  making  the  water-front  now  owned  by  the  Erie  at  Jersey 
City,  particularly  at  Pavonia  Ferry. 

The  financial  troubles  of  the  Erie  hindered  the  progress  of 
the  work  on  the  tunnel  seriously,  and  in  October,  1857,  the 
contractors  were  forced  to  abandon  the  work  for  lack  of 
funds.  Operations  were  not  resumed  for  a  year  and  a  half. 
Work  was  rushed,  and  August  2,  1S59,  the  workmen  met  in 
the  two  ends  of  the  drift,  and  let  daylight  through  the  hill. 

The  contractors  were  again  in  financial  straits,  and  the 
two  semi-monthly  pay  days  having  been  passed  in  September, 
1859,  without  the  men  receiving  their  wages,  thev  quit  work 
September  16th,  to  the  number  of  500,  and  began  rioting. 
They  blockaded  the  Erie  west  of  the  tunnel  by  turning  gravel 
cars  upside  down  upon  the  tracks,  and  piling  the  road  high 
with  rocks  and  other  obstructions.  The  barricades  were 
guarded  by  scores  of  the  rioters,  and  all  efforts  of  the  Com- 
pany to  clear  the  tracks  prevented.  After  traffic  on  the  road 
had  been  suspended  for  a  day,  the  Company  was  compelled 
to  charter  a  steamboat  and  carry  passengers  to  Piermont, 
which  place  for  the  time  became  once  more  the  eastern 
terminus  of  the  railroad  for  all  through  trains.  On  the  third 
day  of  the  insurrection,  the  workmen  refusing  to  come  to 
terms,  the  Company  appealed  to  the  authorities  of  Jersey 
City.  They  were  unable  to  quell  the  riot  or  clear  the  tracks, 
and  the  Xew  Jersey  militia  was  called  out.  Sunday  morn- 
eptember  19th,  a  large  military  force,  under  Brigadier- 
General  Hatfield,  accompanied  by  hundreds  of  citizens, 
man  hed  to  the  scene  of  the  disturbance.  Two  large  field 
pieces,  mounted  on  a  Hat  car,  were  carried  to  the  spot,  but 
the  rioters  wel<  omed  the  soldiers  and  the  cannon  with  fierce 
derision.  They  hooted  the  efforts  of  a  priest  to  quiet  them. 
A  strong  force  of  police  first  man  hed  upon  them.  They 
beat  the  police  back  with  many  broken  heads.  General  Hat- 
field then  ordered  his  men  to  charge  the  crowd  with  fixed 
bayonets.  The  mob  gave-  way  before  the  soldiers,  and  was 
soon  flying  in  all  directions.  A  large  number  of  them  were 
captured,  many  of  them  ring-leaders.     They  were  taken  to 


Hudson  City  and  lodged  in  jail.  The  tracks  were  cleared, 
but  toward  evening  the  rioters  began  gathering  again.  Gen- 
eral Hatfield  again  marched  against  them,  and  captured  thirty 
more  of  the  mob.  After  that,  quiet  was  restored.  Work  in 
the  tunnel  was  not  resumed,  however,  for  a  long  time.  Then  A. 
B.  Seymour  assumed  the  contract,  and  operations  once  more 
began.  The  tunnel  was  completed  early  in  1861,  and  was 
formally  opened  to  traffic  February  6,  1861.  From  March, 
1S59,  until  June,  i860,  the  work  was  in  charge  of  John 
P.  Cumming,  contractor,  and  J.  P.  Kirkwood,  chief  engineer. 
It  was  completed  by  A.  B.  Seymour,  contractor,  under  the 
supervision  of  John  Houston,  engineer.  Eight  shafts  were 
sunk  eighty  feet  in  depth.  The  tunnel  was  cut  through  solid 
rock  4,300  feet  of  the  distance,  or  more  than  half  way:  Its 
height  was  twenty-three  feet,  width  twenty-eight  feet.  The 
average  number  of  men  employed  daily  on  the  work  was  700. 
Fifty-seven  persons  were  killed  during  the  tunnel  construc- 
tion. The  opening  of  the  tunnel  was  made  the  occasion  of 
a  great  celebration,  the  first  train  through  being  an  excursion 
train. 

MAKING    PAVONIA    FERRY. 

January  7,  1733,  George  II.  granted  to  Archibald  Ken- 
nedy, Esq.,  the  sole  right  to  run  ferry-boats  or  scows,  and  to 
erect  wharves  for  same,  between  "  a  place  called  Pavonia, 
alias  Ahasimus,"  on  the  New  Jersey  side  of  the  Hudson,  and 
the  New  York  side  of  the  river.  Kennedy  did  not  act  upon 
his  privileges,  and  forfeited  them.  March  23,  1753,  citizens 
petitioned  the  Common  Council  of  New  York  for  a  ferry 
from  "  the  west  end  of  Pearl  Street  to  Harsimus."  Nothing 
came  of  that.  May  3,  1  765,  Archibald  Kennedy  and  Will- 
iam McAdam  tried  to  get  the  exclusive  right  to  run  a  ferry 
from  New  York  to  the  New  Jersey  shore,  but  failed.  April 
13,  1 81 8,  another  petition  of  citizens  of  Xew  York  City  was 
made  for  a  ferry  between  Chambers  Street  and  Harsimus. 
Nothing  further  was  heard  of  it,  and  there  was  no  Pavonia 
Ferry  until  the  completion  of  the  Bergen  Tunnel  for  the 
Erie  by  the  Long  Dock  Company  in  1861,  although  a  Pa- 
vonia Ferry  Company  had  been  incorporated  February  28, 
1849.  The  Erie  Railway  Company  revived  and  established 
the  Pavonia  Ferry.  It  began  business  May  1,  1861,  with 
three  old  boats,  the  "  Niagara,"  "  Onalaska,"  and  "  Onala," 
which  were  obtained  from  the  Brooklyn  ferries.  The  early 
new  ferry-boats  of  the  Erie  were  the  "Pavonia,"  1861  ; 
"Susquehanna,"  1864;  "Delaware,"  1S65.  The  Twenty- 
third  Street  Ferry  was  established  in  May,  1868,  and  the 
Company  built  the  following  new  boats  :  the  "  Jay  Gould," 
1869;    "James  Fisk,  Jr.,"    1869;  "Erie,"  1873. 


HOW  IT  GOT  TO  BUFFALO  AND  ROCHESTER. 

The  steady  advance  of  the  Xew  York  and  F'.rie  Railroad 
into  Western  New  York  aroused  intensely  the  people  living 
to  the  north   and   south  of  it  who  were  without   any  railroad 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


361 


connection,  and  a  general  desire  for  the  building  of  railroads 
to  form  junctions  with  the  Erie  prevailed.  The  region  be- 
tween Corning  and  Buffalo  and  Avon  and  Rochester  were 
particularly  exercised,  because  they  had,  until  1849,  enter- 
tained strong  hope  that  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
would  be  permitted  to  follow  the  Cohocton  and  the  Gene- 
see valleys,  and  from  the  Genesee  proceed  directly  to  Buffalo, 
and  make  that  place  its  western  terminus,  a  route  having 
been  surveyed  over  that  course  and  found  feasible.  Roch- 
ester was  then  to  obtain  connection  with  such  a  road  by  the 
building  of  a  railroad  from  that  city  to  Avon.  But  the  Erie 
took  the  route  from  Painted  Post  through  the  Canisteo  Val- 
ley westward  to  Dunkirk,  the  chartered  terminus.  Then  the 
people  between  Buffalo  and  Hornellsville  took  steps  to  have 
an  independent  railroad  to  connect  with  the  Erie  at  Hor- 
nellsville. The  Attica  and  Hornellsville  Railroad  Company 
was  organized,  there  being  already  a  railroad  between  Attica 
and  Buffalo.  When  it  came  to  the  building  of  the  road, 
however,  the  Attica  and  Hornellsville  enterprise  languished, 
and  at  last  seemed  to  have  passed  into  a  state  of  total  col- 
lapse. Then  the  people  in  the  Genesee  and  Cohocton  val- 
leys resolved  to  have  a  railroad  that  would  connect  Buffalo 
with  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  for  their  sole  benefit. 
A  route  for  one  was  surveyed,  and  also  for  a  railroad  to  con- 
no  t  with  it  at  Avon  and  extend  to  Rochester.  The  engi- 
neer's report  being  favorable  (the  connection  with  the  Erie 
to  be  made  at  Painted  Post,  N.  Y.h  John  Magee,  of  Bath, 
with  others  interested,  consulted  with  the  directors  of  the 
Attica  and  Hornellsville  Railroad,  for  the  puqjose  of  learning 
whether  that  company  intended  to  proceed  with  its  road,  for 
it  was  not  possible  that  the  aid  of  Buffalo  could  be  obtained 
for  two  railroads  from  that  city  to  connect  with  the  Erie. 
The  result  was  that  it  was  agreed  to  abandon  the  Attica  and 
Hornellsville  Railroad  in  favor  of  one  by  way  of  Painted 
Post,  and  citizens  of  Buffalo  agreed  to  raise  one-third  of  the 
cost  of  a  railroad  over  that  route.  July  25,  1850,  the  Buffalo 
and  Cohocton  Valley  Railroad  Company  was  incorporated 
with  a  capita]  of  St, 400,000.  John  Magee  was  elected  Pres- 
ident :  Orson  Phelps,  Vice-President;  Edward  Howell,  Jr., 
tary  ;  A.  D.  Patchin,  Treasurer.  In  September  follow- 
ing, however,  the  project  of  the  Attica  and  Hornellsville 
Railroad  was  revived.  This  discouraged  some  of  the  prime 
movers  in  the  Cohocton  Valley  route,  but  citizens  of  Living- 
ston and  Genesee  counties  declared  at  public  meetings  that 
the  roid  from  Batavia  to  Painted  Post  could  be  built  inde- 
pendently of  Buffalo,  and  went  to  work  to  do  it.  Many  hum- 
ble citizens  along  the  route  mortgaged  their  homes  and 
farms  to  get  money  to  put  into  the  stock,  the  mortgagees 
being  in  some  cases  officers  or  directors  of  the  <  ompany. 

The  work  was  put  under  contract,  and  progressed  steadily. 
March  3,  1852,  the  name  of  the  company  was  changed  to 
that  of  the  Buffalo,  Corning  and  New  York  Railroad  Com- 
pany. The  total  cost  of  the  railroad  was  to  be  Si, 706,000 
without  equipment,  or  S.1,950,000  with  equipment.  The 
construction  cost  was  covered  by  the  stock  subscriptions,  of 
which   nearly  S5oo,ooo  had  been  paid  in.     Early  in  April, 


1 85 2,  for  the  declared  purpose  of  raising  funds  to  pay  for 
the  equipment  of  the  railroad,  the  directors  of  the  company 
mortgaged  its  property  and  franchises  for  Si, 000,000,  to  se- 
cure the  payment  of  bonds  for  that  amount  to  be  issued  by 
the  company.  The  railroad  was  opened  for  operations  be- 
tween Painted  Post  and  Kennedvville,  at  the  Livingston 
County  line,  April  13,  1852,  a  distance  of  forty-five  miles. 
The  issue  of  bonds  had  filled  many  of  the  stockholders  along 
the  line  with  apprehension.  This  feeling  was  made  stronger 
when,  in  March,  1853,  the  directors  executed  a  second  mort- 
gage upon  the  franchises  of  the  corporation  for  S6oo,ooo  to 
secure  an  issue  of  bonds  to  that  amount.  The  road  was 
completed  to  Batavia  in  1854,  when  work  ceased. 

October  1,  1855,  the  company  defaulted  in  the  interest  on 
its  first  mortgage  bonds,  and  December  1,  1S55,  on  the 
coupons  of  the  second  mortgage  bonds.  Proceedings  in 
foreclosure  were  begun.  Many  of  the  stockholders  .believed 
tint  this  default  was  utterly  uncalled  for,  and  the  result  of 
collusion,  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  the  company  into 
bankruptcy  and  giving  the  bondholders,  chief  among  whom 
were  directors  of  the  company,  an  opportunity  to  profit 
themselves  by  the  sale  of  the  road,  regardless  of  all  stoi  k- 
holders'  rights.  Charges  to  that  effect  were  made  against 
the  managers  and  directors,  and  the  Board  of  Railroad  Com- 
missioners was  petitioned  to  investigate  them.  An  investi- 
gation was  ordered,  and  was  begun  August  13,  1856.  A  gen- 
eral denial  was  entered  by  the  accused. 

No  report  wis  ever  made  by  the  Railroad  Commissioners 
as  to  their  finding  in  this  investigation.  The  reason  for  that 
was  this:  The  Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners,  which  had 
been  in  existence  for  two  or  three  years,  had  proved  to  be 
extremely  harassing  to  the  railroads  of  the  State,  especially 
to  the  Erie  and  the  Xew  York  Central.  The  Commissioners 
were  clothed  with  much  power,  and  were  authorized  to  make 
close  inquiries  into  all  the  details  of  railroad  management  in 
this  State,  and  report  to  the  Legislature  and  recommend 
legislation  which  seemed  to  them  necessary  to  correct  and 
improve  such  management.  This  was  at  times  very  incon- 
venient for  boards  of  directors  and  railway  officials,  as  it  had 
a  tendency  to  keep  the  public  too  well  informed  in  regard  to 
their  ways  and  means.  Dean  Richmond  was  then  the  power 
in  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  Company,  and  Alexander 
S.  Diven  was  a  potent  factor  in  the  affairs  of  the  Erie.  In 
the  fall  of  1S56,  Richmond,  in  an  interview  with  Diven,  sug- 
gested that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  do  away  with  the 
inquisitive  Railroad  Commission,  and  intimated  that  he  had 
a  plan  for  repealing  the  act  under  which  theywere  organized. 
The  Commissioners  were  paid  good  salaries  by  the  State,  and 
it  was  not  at  all  likely  that  they  would  sit  idly  by  while  they 
were  being  shorn  of  their  comfortable  perquisites.  Richmond 
suggested  to  Diven  that  the  latter  draft  a  bill  that  would  re- 
peal the  Railroad  Commission  Act,  have  it  presented  at  the 
coming  session  of  the  Legislature,  and  he  would  do  the  rest. 
The  bill  was  drafted,  and  during  the  ensuing  session  was  in- 
troduced in  the  Assembly.  No  one  appeared  in  opposition 
to  it,  much  to  the  surprise  of  the  legislators,  and  it  was  passed, 


y<- 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAX  AND  THE  LAKES 


was  signed  by  the  Governor,  and  the  Board  of  Railroad  Com- 
missioners passed  out  of  existence.  Dean  Richmond  had 
offered  the  Commissioners  §25,000  not  to  oppose  the  repeal. 
A  bird  in  the  hand  being  worth  two  in  the  hush,  theCommis- 
s  accepted  the  bribe  and  were  content.  The  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  refunded  to  the  Central  one- 
half  the  purse  of  consolation.  This  was  about  the  time  that 
Commissioner  Swain  was  taking  testimony  in  the  Buffalo, 
Corning  and  New  York  Railroad  investigation.  Before  the 
work  was  entirely  done  he  had  been  legislated  out  of  office, 
and  there  the  matter  rested.     And  there  it  rests  to  this  day. 

The  stockholders  of  the  Buffalo,  Coming  and  New  York 
Railroad  Company  sought  to  prevent  the  foreclosure  sale  of 
the  property  in  the  courts,  but  the  courts  sustained  the  con- 
tentions of  the  bondholders.  October  31,  1857,  the  railroad 
and  all  its  franchises  were  sold  for  $3,000,000  for  the  benefit 
of  the  bondholders.  Every  dollar  that  had  been  invested 
along  the  line  in  the  stock  of  the  Company  was  swept  away 
by  that  proceeding,  and  hosts  of  the  small  subscribers  to  the 
stock  were  mined — the  homes  of  not  a  few  being  sold  under 
mortgages  that  had  been  given  to  obtain  money  to  take  stock 
in  the  railroad — the  larger  stockholders  having  exchanged 
their  stock  for  bonds,  thus  not  only  saving  themselves  from 
loss  but  making  money  on  the  transaction. 

The  company  that  purchased  the  Buffalo,  Coming  and 
New  York  Railroad  was  the  Buffalo  and  New  York  City  Rail- 
road, the  original  Attica  and  Hornellsville,  which  was  reor- 
ganized October  29,  1857,  as  the  Buffalo,  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company.  October  1,  1858,  this  company  leased 
the  Rochester  and  Genesee  Valley  Railroad,  extending  from 
Avon  to  Rochester,  eighteen  miles,  and  which  had  been 
opened  in  1854,  connecting  with  the  Buffalo,  Corning  and 
New  York  Railroad. 

The  Attica  and  Hornellsville  Railroad  had  been  originally 
chartered  May  14,  1845,  to  build  a  railroad  from  Attica  to 
Hornellsville,  which  charter  was  extended  in  1S49,  with  a 
provision  that  other  railroad  companies  could  take  stock  in 
the  company.  As  stated  above,  work  was  begun  on  such  a 
railroad  in  the  fall  of  1850.  April  15, 185 1,  the  name  of  the 
company  was  changed  to  that  of  the  Buffalo  and  New  York 
City  Railroad  Company.  The  railroad  was  opened  between 
Hornellsville  and  Portage,  thirty  miles,  January  22,  1852,  and 
owing  to  want  of  locomotives  the  company  was  able  to  run 
but  one  train  a  d  ,_•  eai  h  way.     That  train  was  drawn  by  the 

1 notive    "  Orange,"  the  famous  Erie  locomotive,  which 

had  been  purchased  from  the  Erie  in  October,  1851,  for  the 
work  of  construction  on  the  new  railroad.  Anew  locomotive 
was  received  Man  h  22(1,  and  then  the  "Orange"  was  put  to 
work  hauling  iron  for  the  rest  of  the  road.  July  26th  the 
railroad  was  finished  to  Attica,  ninety  miles.  Trains  had  be- 
gun running  in  connection  with  the  Erie  at  Hornellsville,  May 
3.  lS52- 

A  brilliant  feat  of  engineering  was  performed  in  carrying 
this  railroad  over  the  great  chasm  through  which  the  Genesee 
River  passes  at  Portage,  a  chasm  250  feet  deep  and  900 
feet  wide.     How  to  bridge  it  was  a  puzzle  to  the  engineering 


science  of  that  day,  and  not  until  a  congress  of  engineers 
was  called  was  the  definite  plan  of  building  this  one-time 
wonder  of  the  world  in  bridge  architecture  decided.  It  was 
built  entirely  of  wood,  in  fifty-foot  spans,  with  a  height  of 
230  feet  above  the  river.  The  bridge  was  nearly  two  years 
in  building,  and  took  the  product  of  over  300  acres  of  closely 
grown  pine  lands,  amounting  to  1,600,000  feet  of  timber, 
106,280  pounds  of  iron,  and  cost  $175,000.  The  bridge 
was  completed  August  9,  1852.  The  locomotive  "Orange," 
which  had  been  used  in  the  construction  of  the  railroad,  drew 
the  first  train  across — four  cars  filled  with  people.  Among 
them  were  Governor  Hunt  and  Lieut. -Governor  Patterson, 
of  New  York  ;  Benjamin  Loder,  President  of  the  Erie  ;  ami 
President  Heywood,  of  the  Buffalo  and  New  York  City  Rail- 
road. The  event  was  made  a  great  celebration.  This  bridge 
was  used  until  the  spring  of  1875,  when  it  was  destroyed  by 
fire.  In  forty-seven  days  from  the  burning  of  the  old  bridge 
trains  were  passing  over  the  present  spider-like  iron  structure. 
This  bridge,  850  feet  in  length,  is  broken  up  into  spans 
varying  from  113  feet  to  50  feet.  The  Portage  Bridge  is  one 
of  the  famous  attractions  to  the  tourist  over  the  Erie,  and 
to  the  local  pleasure  excursionists. 

The  Buffalo  and  New  York  City  Railroad  had  a  hard  time 
to  exist.  Early  in  1854  the  financial  condition  of  the  com- 
pany was  such  that  a  committee  representing  the  bond  and 
stockholders  and  creditors  of  the  company  was  appointed 
to  investigate  its  affairs  and  report  some  plan  by  which  it 
might  be  placed  on  a  substantial  footing.  Pending  the 
result  of  this  investigation,  the  committee  learned  that  Aaron 
D.  Patchin,  president  of  the  company,  had  been  made  the 
lessee  of  the  railroad  and  its  property  by  the  board  of  direct- 
ors, May  20,  1854,  he  having  purchased,  March  21st  pre- 
viously, the  rolling  stock,  which  was  sold  under  foreclosure 
of  a  chattel  mortgage,  and  which  had  cost  $275,000,  for 
$10,000,  and  held  it  in  his  own  name.  The  Erie  had  been 
operating  the  road,  and  improved  it  greatly.  By  the  terms 
of  Patchin's  lease  he  was  to  pay  to  the  company  monthly 
what  was  left  of  the  gross  receipts  of  the  railroad  after  he 
had  paid  himself  10  per  cent,  from  them,  and  all  the  ex- 
penses of  the  railroad.  This  arrangement  discouraged  the 
investigating  committee,  and  December  n,  1854,  the  rail- 
road was  sold  under  foreclosure,  and  the  property  was  pur- 
chased by  Patchin,  who  continued  to  run  the  railroad  during 
1855.  In  1856  the  Erie  operated  the  road  again,  and  spent 
$75,000  in  repairs.  January  1,  1S57,  the  railroad  was  sold 
under  foreclosure,  and  was  purchased  by  Patchin  again.  At 
the  last  reorganization,  when  the  company  became  the  Buf- 
falo, New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  in  October, 
1857,  and  purchased  the  Buffalo,  Corning  and  New  York 
Railroad,  it  seemed  to  have  a  future.  It  finished  that  rail- 
road from  Batavia  to  Buffalo,  and  ran  it  as  a  connection  of 
the  Erie,  in  a  haphazard,  unsatisfactory  manner,  until  1863, 
when  the  Erie  Railway  Company  leased  it  for  450  years,  at 
a  rental  guarantee  of  the  interest  on  its  bonds  at  7  per  cent. 
per  annum,  the  leasing  Company  to  stock,  operate  and  main- 
tain the  road  at  its  own  expense.     The  Erie  also  leased  the 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


36; 


Rochester  and  Genesee  Valley  Railroad,  and  thus  the  new 
acquisition  became  known  as  the  Rochester  Branch  of  the 
Erie,  and  until  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Rail- 
road Company  extended  its  line  through  that  country  to 
Buffalo  and  Rochester,  in  1880,  and  became  a  competitor  of 
the  Krie  for  tne  traffic  of  that  region,  the  Erie  conducted  the 
Rochester  Branch  in  a  manner  better  calculated  to  di 
patronage  away  from  it  than  to  attract  business  to  it.  The 
railroad  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Eric  by  the  reor- 
ganization plan  of  1895,  and  is  now  part  of  the  property  of 
the  Erie  system,  with  the  official  designation  of  the  Rochester 
Division. 

In  1S61,  however,  the  Buffalo,  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road, between  Hornellsville  and  Attica,  had  become  perma- 
nently a  part  of  the  Erie  system  ("  Administration  of  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  Receiver,"  page  134),  and  the  Erie,  by  its  lease  of 
the  railroad  between  Painted  Post  and  Buffalo,  secured  a  ter- 
minus at  Buffalo  for  all  time,  and  any  hope  that  Dunkirk 
might  have  had  of  being  eventually  made  great  by  the  Erie 
disappeared  forever. 

The  first  superintendent  of  the  Buffalo,  Corning  and  New 
York  Railroad  was  Jared  A.  Redfield ;  of  the  Buffalo  and 
New  York  City  Railroad,  Silas  Seymour. 


THE    NYPANO. 

In  1836,  in  anticipation  that  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road would  be  constructed,  and  that  it  would  pass  through 
the  valley  of  Casadaga  Creek,  in  Western  New  York,  citizens 
of  Chautauqua  County  obtained  a  charter  for  a  company  to 
build  a  railroad  from  a  point  near  the  junction  of  the  Casa- 
daga Creek  and  the  Chautauqua  Lake  outlet,  upon  the  line 
of  the  New  York  and  Erie  (which  had  been  surveyed  to  run 
near  the  village  of  Jamestown),  to  the  western  boundary  of 
the  State,  in  the  direction  of  Erie,  Pa.,  a  railroad  being  then 
in  contemplation  from  the  State  line  through  Pennsylvania  to 
Erie  Harbor.  But  the  troubles  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company  at  that  early  stage  of  its  existence  dashed 
the  Weste  n  New  York  people's  hopes  of  the  coming  of  the 
railroad  from  the  Last,  and  that  pioneer  project  for  a  rail- 
id  to  give  the  Erie  a  link  toward  connection  with  the  West 
was  abandoned. 

The  opening  of  the  Erie  to  Dunkirk  in  1S51,  how 
aroused  interest  anew  for  railroad  communication,  the  later 
surveys  of  the  Erie  route  having  left  Jamestown  thirty-four 
miles  distant  from  that  railroad,  although  the  first  meeting  to 
the  building  of  a  railroad  between  the  Hudson  River 
and  Dike  Erie  was  held  at  Jamestown  in  1831,  and  the  first 
notice  of  application  for  a  charter  for  sin  h  a  railroad 
adopted  at  thai  meeting  and  published.  The  result  was  the 
anizing  of  the  Erie  and  New  York  City  Railroad  at  James- 
town, June  30,  1S51,  to  build  a  railroad  from  what  is  now 
West  Salamanca,  through  Randolph  and  Jamestown,  to  the 
Pennsylvania  State  line.  The  work  was  not  begun  until  May  1 0, 
1853.     It  was  abandoned  January  5,  1855,  for  lack  of  funds. 


Before  this  project  of  the  Erie  and  New  York  City  Rail- 
road had  developed,  however,  Marvin  Kent  of  Franklin, 
Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  conceived  the  idea  of  connecting 
the  then  nearly  or  quite  constructed  Erie  with  the  embryo 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Railroad,  by  one  direct  six-foot  road. 
He  was  proprietor  of  a  glass  works,  a  woollen  factory,  a  flour- 
ing fai  tory,  et  .,  at  Franklin,  ami  was  then  constructing  a  cot- 
ton factory.  He  wanted  railroad  connections,  and  March 
io,  1851,  procured  a  charter  from  the  Ohio  Legislature  for  a 
railroad  he  had  in  mind.  When  the  charter  was  introdui  ed 
in  the  legislature,  the  title  of  the  proposed  railroad  was  given 
as  "The  Coal  Hill  Railroad,"  a  ruse  to  repel  the  lobby 
sharks,  whom  a  revelation  of  the  real  nature  and  extent  of 
the  enterprise  might  have  summoned  to  impede  or  blackmail 
the  undertaking.  Nobody  cared  about  or  thought  of  "  The 
Coal  Hill  Road,"  but  on  its  third  reading,  and  just  before 
its  passage,  the  name  was  quietly  changed  to  "The  Franklin 
and  Warren  Railroad  Company."  This  was  one  of  the  very 
last  charters  granted  under  the  old  Constitution  of  Ohio  and 
it  gave  authority  to  build  a  railroad  from  Franklin  to  Warren, 
in  that  State,  and  to  extend  it  eastward  to  the  State  line,  and 
southwesterly  to  Dayton.  Under  this  charter  the  Franklin 
and  Warren  Railroad  Company  was  organized.  Work  on 
the  railroad  was  begun  in  July,  1S53.  Henry  Doolittle  and 
W.  S.  Streater  were  the  contractors.  In  September  the  Com- 
pany, under  authority  of  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Ohio  (January  12,  1853),  changed  its  name  to  The  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company.  Marvin  Kent  was 
the  first  president. 

The  ultimate  object  of  the  projection  of  this  work  was 
communication  with  New  York  and  Eastern  markets  by  con- 
nection with  some  through  line  in  that  State.  The  Erie  was 
open  between  Dunkirk  and  New  York,  and  the  New  York 
Central  had  come  into  existence  on  the  consolidation  of  the 
five  local  railroads  between  Albany  and  Buffalo.  But  to 
form  any  connection  with  either  of  those  trunk  lines  it 
was  necessary  that  the  Ohio  interests  should  have  a  rail- 
road through  Pennsylvania,  and  that  was  not  an  easy  thing 
for  a  foreign  corporation  to  secure  in  those  days.  The 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  was  completed  from  Philadelphia  to 
Pittsburg,  and  work  was  in  progress  from  Pittsburg  to 
Cleveland.  The  Sunbury  and  Erie  Railroad  was  projected 
from  Sunbury  to  Erie  Harbor,  and  the  Pittsburg  and 
Erie  Railroad  from  Pittsburg  to  Erie.  Neither  of  these 
lines  was  yet  built.     There  was  no  railroad  acr<  -tate 

of  Pennsylvania  between  Ohio  and  New  York,  and  such 
transit  was  jealously  guarded  against  by  the  selfish  interests 
of  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  and  Erie.  Railroad  charters  in 
Pennsylvania  could  only  lie  granted  by  legislative  enactn 
and  all  legislation  was  controlled  by  the  united  interests  of 
those  cities.  Many  attempts  had  been  made  to  pass  the 
barrier  by  open  and  covert  attempts  in  the  legislature,  without 
avail.  The  decision  had  gone  out  that  all  land  commerce 
to  and  from  the  East,  through  Pennsylvania,  must  pass  by  way 
of  Pittsburg  and  Philadelphia. 

This  was  the  embarrassing  dilemma  the  projectors  of  the 


364 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


Atlantic  and  Great  Western  undertaking  were  in,  when  it  was 

found  that  under  the  liberal  privileges  of   the   Pittsburg  and 

Railroad  Company's  charter  as  to  the  construction  of 

brandies  of  the  main  line,  a  branch  could  be  constructed 
from  the  Ohio  line,  near  Kinsman,  across  Pennsylvania  to 
point  in  Warren  County  at  the  New  York  State  line.  To 
further  the  interests  of  its  own  railroad  project,  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Erie  Company  was  willing  to  permit  the  building 
of  such  a  branch  by  Meadville  interests  under  its  charter. 

i  ),  i.ibcr.S,  [852,  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  various 
railroad  interests  was  held  at  the  American  Hotel,  Cleveland, 
["he  Mahoning  Railroad  Company  was  represented  by  Jacob 
Perkins,  president ;  the  Clinton  Line  Railroad  by  Prof.  H.  N. 
Day,  president ;  the  Franklin  and  Warren  Railroad  Company 
by  Judge  Kinsman,  Marvin  Kent,  Dr.  Earle,  and  Mr.  Boyer; 
the  Cleveland  and  Ashtabula  by  Judge  Humphreys  ;  the 
Erie  and  New  York  City  by  Judge  Benjamin  Chamberlain ; 
the  Pittsburg  and  Erie  by  Dr.  William  Gibson,  David 
Garver,  and  E.  Sankey;  and  the  Meadville  interests  by 
William  Reynolds  and  D.  A.  Finney.  The  object  of  the 
meeting  was  the  consideration  of  the  proposition  of  the 
Philadelphia  and  Erie  as  to  the  branch  through  Pennsylvania. 
As  the  New  York  connection  naturally  was  to  be  by  way  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  a  committee  consisting  of 
Prof.  H.  N.  Day,  E.  Sankey,  Henry  Doolittle,  Judge  Church, 
and  William  Reynolds  of  Meadville,  was  appointed  to  confer 
with  President  Loder  of  the  Erie.  The  conference  took 
place  October  26th.  As  a  result,  the  Erie  made,  at  its  own 
expense,  a  preliminary  survey  in  Pennsylvania  to  ascertain 
the  character  of  the  route  of  the  proposed  branch,  which  was 
so  vital  to  the  interests  involved.  Thus  it  was  that  the  Erie's 
association  with  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  began  even 
before  that  railroad  itself  had  a  beginning.  The  report  on 
the  route  was  satisfactory.  On  August  19,  1853,  ground 
was  broken  with  much  ceremony  at  Meadville,  and  work  was 
begun.  This  contract  was  abandoned  after  a  few  miles  had 
been  graded.  The  Erie  had  held  out  the  hope  that  it  would 
be  able  to  give  some  financial  aid  to  the  enterprise,  but  its 
own  financial  straits  prevented.  April  3,  1857,  the  Mead- 
ville Railroad  Company  was  chartered  by  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  to  build  a  railroad  from  Meadville  to  Erie,  Pa., 
and  was  vested  with  the  right  to  receive  from  the  Pittsburg 
and  Erie  Company  a  transfer  of  the  latter's  branching 
privileges.  This  opened  a  way  for  the  route  from  Ohio  to 
New  York.  July  13,  1857,  the  Company  was  organized. 
William  Reynolds  was  chosen  president.  July  23,  1857,  the 
Pittsburg  and  Erie  Company  made  sale  and  transfer  of  its 
branching  privileges  to  the  Meadville  Railroad  Company  for 
$400,000.  July  27th,  the  transfer  was  ratified  by  the  Mead- 
ville Railroad  Company,  and  a  contract  made  with  A.  C. 
Morton,  for  the  construction  of  the  railroad.  August  31st, 
Morton  made  a  <  onstruc  tion  contract  with  the  Erie  and  New 
York  City  Railroad,  and  he  and  Henry  Doolittle  went  to 
Europe  to  push  negotiations  for  money  and  iron.  A  deed 
of  trust  was  executed  for  that  purpose,  and  bonds  prepared 
to  the  amount  of  $2,500,000.     Then  the  memorable  panic 


of  1S57  came  on,  and  the  money  was  not  forthcoming. 
Morton  and  Doolittle  returned  home.  Morton  was  unable  to 
go  on  with  his  contract,  and  it  was  cancelled  ;  and  April  16, 
1858,  another  one  was  closed  with  Henry  Doolittle  and  W. 
S.  Streator. 

April  15,  1858,  by  a  supplement  of  the  charter  of  the 
Meadville  Railroad  Company,  the  name  was  changed  to  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  infant  project  of  185 1  was  taking  on  pro- 
portions that  required  stupendous  effort  to  sustain  it. 
Investors  at  home  were  timid.  Foreign  money  and  in- 
fluence alone  could  keep  the  project  alive.  Recognizing  this 
necessity,  the  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  companies  appointed 
C.  L.  Ward,  Henry  Doolittle,  and  William  Reynolds  to  visit 
Europe,  with  full  powers  to  negotiate  for  the  sale  of  bonds 
and  the  purchase  of  iron.  Ward  and  Doolittle  went  to 
England,  and  there  made  contracts  with  James  McHenry  to 
furnish  money  and  iron  for  the  contract.  Such  was  the 
coming  of  McHenry  into  the  enterprise,  the  future  of  which 
was  to  involve  him  and  it  and  the  Erie  in  such  a  labvrinth 
of  costly  trouble,  and  to  feed  the  great  lawyers  and  courts 
and  legislatures  and  money  lenders  with  millions  that  should 
have  either  been  left  in  the  pockets  of  confiding  investors 
or  over  in  the  treasuries  of  the  companies  concerned. 

The  arrangement  made  with  James  McHenry  was  condi- 
tional, the  condition  being  that  T.  W.  Kennard,  an  eminent 
railroad  engineer  connected  with  the  house  of  McHenry, 
should,  on  examination,  approve  the  enterprise.  In  November, 
1858,  Kennard  came  to  America  as  the  representative  of 
McHenry  and  other  European  interests.  He  went  over  the 
entire  line  of  the  railroad,  and  made  a  favorable  report  to 
London.  In  July  of  that  year  Salamanca,  of  Madrid,  a 
Spanish  nobleman,  placed  one  million  of  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  bonds  in  that  country. 

In  1859  the  company  saw  the  necessity  and  advantage  of 
a  greater  consolidation  of  interests.  It  had  as  yet  no  organi- 
zation in  New7  York ;  so,  under  the  provision  of  the  general 
railroad  law  of  the  State,  such  an  organization  was  perfected 
May  7,  1859,  under  the  name  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  West- 
em  Railroad  Company  of  New  York.  William  Reynolds,  of 
Meadville,  Pa.,  was  elected  president  by  a  strong  Board  of 
Directors,  among  them  Gaylord  Church,  James  J.  Shryock, 
John  Dick,  A.  V.  Allen,  and  William  Hall.  The  first  impor- 
tant move  of  this  company,  after  executing  a  contract  of 
mutual  guarantee  of  the  bonds  of  the  three  separate  com- 
panies, was  the  purchase,  by  legislative  authority,  of  the  line 
of  the  Erie  and  New  York  City  Railroad,  and  the  making  of 
a  contract  for  construction  with  Henry  Doolittle  and  W.  S. 
Streator,  James  McHenry  contracting  to  make  sale  of  the 
bonds  of  the  company.  Work  was  begun  in  May,  i860,  and 
the  road  opened  to  Jamestown  September  11,  i860,  and  to 
Corry  May  7,  1861.  But  then  financial  difficulty  obtruded 
itself  again  in  the  way  of  the  work,  and  further  operations 
along  the  line  were  suspended.  The  Civil  War  had  come 
upon  the  country,  absorbed  popular  interest,  and  disarranged 
plans  in  general.     Another  call  for  foreign  aid  for  the  rail- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


565 


road  was  decided  upon,  and  in  August,  1861,  Henry  A. 
Kent  and  William  Reynolds  were  appointed  by  the  three 
companies,  with  T.  W.  Kennard,  to  visit  Europe  to  solicit 
such  aid.  The  Committee  visited  London,  and,  with  James 
McHenry,  went  to  Paris  to  see  tbe  bankers  of  Duke  Rien- 
zares  and  Queen  Christina,  and  thence  to  Madrid  to  see 
Salamanca,  in  the  interest  of  the  mission.  All  questions  were 
satisfactorily  adjusted  for  renewal  of  the  work  on  the  rail- 
road, when  the  cloud  of  war  with  England  raised  by  the 
seizure  of  the  mail  steamer  Trent  by  Commodore  Wilkes 
again  brought  matters  to  a  stand,  and  it  was  far  into  1862 
before  work  was  resumed. 

March  12,  1862,  for  greater  convenience  of  the  companies. 
the  general  control  was  placed  under  a  central  board  of  two 
directors  from  each  of  the  companies.  It  was  made  up  as 
follows  :  The  Ohio  Board,  Marvin  Kent  and  W.  S.  Streator; 
the  Pennsylvania  Board,  William  Reynolds,  John  Dick  ;  the 
New  York  Board,  A.  F.  Allen,  T.  W.  Kennard.  William 
Reynolds,  President  of  the  Board. 

During  this  same  year  the  line  to  Franklin  was  contracted 
for  by  James  McHenry.  This  was  subsequently  extended  to 
Oil  City,  to  which  place  it  was  completed  in  June,  1S64, 
being  the  first  railroad  into  the  oil  regions. 

In  February,  1863,  Sir  Morton  Peto  became  interested 
with  James  McHenry  in  the  affairs  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western. 

In  July,  1863,  the  Cleveland  and  Mahoning  Railroad  was 
leased  for  ninety-nine  years  by  the  Atlantic  and  Great  West- 
em,  and  an  additional  rail  laid  thereon,  so  as  to  give  the  hit- 
ler a  broad  track  into  Cleveland. 

The  opening  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway 
to  Cleveland,  "  completing  the  broad-guage  connection  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  the  lakes,"  was  celebrated  at  Cleve- 
land November  18,  1863. 

Great  embarrassment  was,  of  course,  constantly  present  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  work,  as  a  result  of  the  war  and  the 
great  premium  on  gold  ;  yet,  in  the  face  of  all  the  difficulties, 
the  work  was  brought  to  a  successful  termination,  and  the 
list  spike  was  driven  connecting  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  with  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  and  Dayton  Railroad 
at  Dayton,  June  20,  1864.  On  this  memorable  occasion  the 
three  companies  were  represented  by  their  officers,  and  a 
banquet  was  given  by  S.  S.  L'Hommedieu,  president,  and  A. 
Mi  I,aren,  superintendent,  of  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton,  and 
I  >ayton. 

The  completion  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  made 
a  broad-gauge  connection  from  New  York  to  St.  Louis,  a  six- 
foot  gauge  having  been  laid  on  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton,  and 
Dayton  to  Cincinnati. 

President  Reynolds's  connection  with  the  enterprise  was 
terminated  October  1,  1S64,  after  the  work  of  twelve  years. 
He  resigned  because  of  the  desperate  financial  condition  of 
the  Company,  and  the  impossibility  of  controlling  the  expen- 
ditures of  the  European  parties  at  interest.  During  the  early- 
years  of  the  enterprise  the  control  was  with  the  American 
boards,  and  the  business  was  carefully  managed,  but  as   the 


work  progressed  the  European  association  found  increasing 
difficulties  in  negotiating  securities,  and,  in  contravention  of 
express  instructions,  hypothecated  large  amounts  of  the 
bonds.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  perpetual  financial 
trouble.  The  war,  the  stoppage  of  specie  payments,  the 
high  rate  of  exchange  and  price  of  gold,  were  factors 
which  had  not  been  taken  into  account  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  work.  However  this  may  have  been,  the  com- 
panies were  not  satisfied  with  the  manner  of  expenditures, 
which  they  regarded  as  in  many  cases  extravagant.  But  as 
the  foreigners  were  furnishing  all  the  money  it  was  a  difficult 
matter  to  control. 

William  Reynolds  was  succeeded  as  president  of  tin- At- 
lantic and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  by  James  Robb, 
formerly  a  New  Orleans  banker.  He  was  in  offii  e  but  three 
months,  when  he  resigned,  for  the  same  reasons  that  had  led 
President  Reynolds  to  resign.  He  was  succeeded  by  S.  S. 
L'Hommedieu,  but  the  burden  of  the  foreign  contingent  was 
too  great  to  be  borne,  and  the  Company  went  into  the  hands 
of  a  receiver,  April  1,  1867.  The  receiver  was  Robert  B. 
Potter,  of  New  York.  The  railroad  was  operated  under  his 
direction  until  December,  1S6S,  when  the  Erie  Railway  Com- 
pany leased  it  for  a  term  of  twelve  years,  the  minimum 
annual  rental  to  be  Si, 800,000,  which  was  to  be  increased  by 
whatever  sum  30  per  cent,  of  the  net  earnings  of  the  railroad 
would  yield.  Jay  Gould  was  then  President  of  the  Erie. 
James  McHenry  brought  another  suit  for  foreclosure,  but  he 
was  now  dealing  with  men  who  were  past  masters  in  the  art 
of  legal  manipulation  when  it  came  to  receiverships,  and  be- 
fore McHenry  had  moved  beyond  the  preliminary  steps  in  his 
suit,  Judge  Barnard,  in  April,  1869,  had  acted  on  the  motion 
of  Gould,  and  appointed  Gould  and  W.  A.  O'Doherty  re- 
ceivers of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western.  This  receivership 
was  transferred  to  Reuben  Hitchcock,  of  Cleveland,  in  No- 
vember, 1869.  In  February,  1X70,  a  second  lease  of  the 
railroad  was  made  to  the  Erie,  pending  foreclosure.  The  sale 
under  foreclosure  occurred  October  2,  [871,  and  the  property 
was  purchased  by  Gen.  George  B.  McClellan  and  William 
butler  Duncan,  with  others.  The  company  was  reorganized 
under  the  name  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad 
Company  of  New  York.  November  7,  1S71,  it  was  consol- 
idated with  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Com- 
pany of  Pennsylvania,  under  the  name  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Railroad  Company  of  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania. November  20,  1871,  these  were  consolidated  with 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  of  Ohio, 
under  the  old  name  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Rail- 
road Company. 

In  the  organization  General  McClellan  was  elected  presi- 
dent. He  was  succeeded  by  J.  11.  Devereaux,  of  Cleveland. 
The  property  had  now  virtually  passed  into  the  absolute 
possession  of  M<  Henry  and  foreign  bankers,  and  it  «  is  the 
power  they  possessed  through  it  that  led  to  the  "rescue"  of 
the  Erie  Railway  Company  from  the  control  of  Jay  Gould,  in 
1872.  While  Peter  H.  Watson  was  President  of  the  F.rie, 
and   near  the  close  of   his  administration,   in    May.    1S74, 


;66 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


McHenry  ded    in    leasing   the   Atlantic    and    Great 

n  Railroad  to  the  Erie  for  ninety-nine  years,  on  terms 
generous  to  the  lessor.  This  lease  was  repudiated  by  Presi- 
dent fewett,  who  succeeded  Watson  at  the  head  of  Erie. 
December  i<>,  1X74.  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  went 
into  t:  <>f  a  receiver  again— J.  H.  Devereaux— and 

the  long,  tedious,  costly  Jewett-McHenry,  McHenry-Jewett 
to  make  scandalous  chapters  in  the  history 
of  both  companies. 

In  lanuarv,  1SS0,  the  property  was  again  sold  at  fore- 
closure to  five  trustees,  who  represented  the  old  security 
1  who  organized  the  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio  Railroad  Company.  By  this  arrangement  the  Company 
was  1  ontrolled  by  the  bondholders  in  England. 

|.  H.  Devereaux  was  elected  president  of  the  new  com- 
pany, and  the  offices  were  removed  from  Meadville  to  Cleve- 
land. In  1880  the  gauge  of  six  feet  was  changed  to  the 
standard  gauge.  The  capitalization  in  1875  was  #108,687,602, 
-'8,000  per  mile.  In  18,80  it  was  ^132,500,000,  or 
s;i  5,128  pei  mile.  In  1894  it  was  £169,473, 168,  or  $395,000 
per  mile. 

March  6,  1883,  the  railroad  was  leased  by  the  Erie,  under 
Hugh  I.  fewett  ("Administration  of  Hugh  J.  Jewett,"  page 
262),  Jan  is  M.  Adams  then  being  president  of  the  lessor 
company,  and  February  24,  1896,  the  property  was  sold 
under  foreclosure,  at  Akron,  O.,  by  Receiver  John  Todd, 
and  was  purchased  by  representatives  of  the  Erie  Railroad 
Company,  to  which  company  it  was  transferred  ("  Adminis- 
tration of  Eben  B.  Thomas,"  page  283),  and  it  began,  with 
the  Erie,  an  unharassed  career  at  last. 

James  McHenry  was  the  son  of  a  well-known  physician  of 
Lame,  Country  Antrim,  Ireland,  who  came  to  this  country 
in  1S1 7  when  James  was  but  six  weeks  old.  He  settled  at 
Philadelphia,  where  he  practised  his  profession  successfully 
for  many  years.  The  son  grew  to  manhood  in  that  city. 
While  yet  a  youth  he  became  clerk  to  a  large  mercantile 
house  there,  and  in  time  a  member  of  the  firm.  The  death 
of  his  father  in  1845  placed  him  in  possession  of  resources 
ample  to  set  in  operation  a  scheme  he  had  long  contem- 
plated—the establishing  in  Great  Britain  of  a  market  for  the 
sale  of  American  products  in  that  country.  He  pushed  the 
project  without  delay,  and  founded  a  house  at  Liverpool. 
He  is  credited  with  having  been  the  first  to  import  to  Eng- 
land American  butter  and  cheese.  The  venture  was  so 
1 11I  that  consignments  from  this  country  to  the  house 
of  Mi  Henry  iV  Co.  frequently  reached  the  enormous  quan- 
tit)  of  twenty  shiploads  a  day.  But  notwithstanding  the 
perity  of  the  house,  financial  disaster  over- 
took it  within  a  year,  and  its  creditors  compromised  at  a 
ruts  in  the  dollar.  McHenry  engaged  in  other 
ts,  and  was  so  successful  that  within  a  few  years  he  paid 
the  debts  of  McHenry  &  Co.  in  full,  although  he  was  not 
legally  bound  to  do  so. 

When  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad,  whose 
subsequent  career  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  difficulties 


and  scandals  that  are  a  large  part  of  the  history  of  Erie,  was 
projected,  James  McHenry  became  interested  in  it,  and  had 
no  difficulty  in  inducing  abundant  English  capital  to  invest 
in  the  enterprise.  He  took  the  contract  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  railroad  on  such  terms  that  he  was  able,  sub- 
sequently, to  acquire  absolute  ownership  of  it.  His  idea 
throughout  was  to  make  it  a  necessarv  possession  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  on  conditions  that  would  relieve  him  of 
its  complications.  The  story  of  the  results  of  his  efforts 
toward  accomplishing  such  an  end  is  told  in  the  chapters  on 
the  administrations  of  Jay  Gould,  Peter  H.  Watson,  and 
Hugh  J.  Jewett. 

The  Duke  of  Salamanca,  the  financial  adviser  of  Queen 
Isabella  of  Spain,  had  subscribed  largely,  at  McHenry's 
request,  toward  the  building  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railroad.  After  the  Spanish  Revolution,  Queen 
Isabella  and  her  son  Alfonso  found  refuge  at  McHenry's 
splendid  home,  Oak  Lodge,  Kensington,  London.  It  was 
through  McHenry's  efforts  that  Henri  Bischoffscheim,  the 
London  banker,  became  financially  interested  in  the  resto- 
ration, and  the  two  men  provided  the  funds  which  helped 
place  Alfonso  to  the  Spanish  throne. 

There  also  existed  a  strong  friendship  between  McHenry 
and  Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  and  when  the  Empress  Eugenie 
and  the  Prince  Imperial  fled  to  England,  after  the  downfall 
of  the  Empire  in  1S70,  it  was  at  Oak  Lodge  that  they  found 
welcome  shelter  and  unbounded  hospitality.  The  Prince 
Imperial  was  educated  at  Woolwich,  and  McHenry  willingly 
became  interested  in  schemes  looking  toward  the  restoration 
of  the  Empire,  with  the  young  prince  at  its  head.  These 
schemes  were  in  progress  when  the  final  blow  to  the  restora- 
tion was  given  by  the  death  of  the  Prince  Imperial  in  Eng- 
land's Zulu  war. 

James  McHenry  numbered  among  his  close  friends  many 
distinguished  Americans  as  well  as  foreigners.  His  nature 
was  generous  and  sympathetic.  It  was  in  a  burst  of  gen- 
erosity that  he  purchased  the  magnificent  estate  at  Glen 
Cove,  L.  I.,  and  presented  it  to  his  then  friend  and  adviser, 
S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  later  so  conspicuous  in  the  Erie-Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  entanglements. 

In  personal  appearance  James  McHenry  was  not  unlike 
that  of  his  persistent  foe,  Hugh  J.  Jewett.  A  prominent 
nose,  heavy  jaws,  and  firmly  set  lips  gave  to  his  smooth- 
shaven  face  an  appearance  of  unusual  strength.  His  manner 
was  earnest  at  all  times,  but  courtesy  marked  it  through- 
out.    He  died  March  27,  1891. 

THE    BRADFORD    BRA?\"CH. 

The  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad  Company 
had  its  originas  the  Buffalo  and  Pittsburg  Railroad  Company, 
which  was  organized  at  the  Tifft  House,  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
October  13,  1852,  under  the  general  railroad  law  of  New 
York  State.  Orlando  Allen  was  elected  president.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  company  was  to  construct  a  railroad  that  would 
connect  Buffalo  with    the    semi-bituminious   coal    fields  of 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIK 


567 


Northern  Pennsylvania.  Contracts  for  grading  a  section  of 
the  road  between  Ellicottville  and  the  Pennsylvania  line  into 
the  valley  of  the  Tunungawant,  and  for  the  mad  from  Elli<  ott- 
ville  to  Buffalo,  fifty  miles,  was  let,  but  the  work  was  soon 
abandoned.  March  14,  1856,  the  Buffalo  and  Bradford 
Railroad  Company  was  chartered  by  the  Pennsylvania  Legis- 
lature, to  build  a  railroad  from  the  New  York  State  line,  in 
the  valley  of  the  Tunungawant  Creek,  up  the  valley  to  the 
coal  mines  in  Lafayette  township,  McKean  County,  Pa.,  with 
the  privilege  of  constructing  lateral  lines  in  the  counties  of 
McKean,  Elk,  and  Clearfield,  and  to  intersect  with  the 
Sunbury  and  Erie  Railroad  and  Allegheny  Valley  Railro 
the  railroad  to  be  begun  in  ten  years.  Daniel  Kingsbury, 
who  owned  large  tracts  of  what  he  believed  to  be  valuable 
coal  lands  in  that  region,  which  was  then  an  undeveloped 
wilderness,  was  the  projector  of  and  principal  stockholder  in 
the  company,  which  was  organized  with  Kingsbury  as  presi- 
dent. Frank  Williams  was  chief  engineer.  Augustus  \V. 
Newell,  still  living  in  Bradford,  was  of  the  engineer  corps  of 
that  pioneer  railroad  in  Northern  Pennsylvania.  His  remi- 
niscent es  of  the  work,  as  related  to  the  author  of  this  history, 
are  interesting : 

"  We  commenced  the  survey  very  early  in  the  spring  of 
1856,  the  snow  in  the  hemlock  swamps,  the  heavy  down  tim- 
ber, and  dense  underbrush  rendering  the  work  almost  impos- 
sible. There  were  ver)  few  settlers,  and  of  very  little  means, 
living  in  small  log  houses,  except  in  the  villages.  The  roads 
up  the  valley  were  almost  impassable,  and  a  bob-sled  drawn  by 
a  pair  of  oxen  was  a  conveyance  common  in  summer  as  well 
as  winter.  1  was  assistant  engineer;  or,  in  other  words,  I  did 
the  work.  Every  centre  stake  and  every  level  was  set  by  me 
from  Brie  Junction,  now-  Carrollton,  to  Bradford.  Our  first 
contractors  were  King  &  Loomis,  and  afterward  John  S. 
King,  who  graded  the  mad  to  Bradford  and  seven  miles  up 
the  West  Branch. 

"  We  got  the  rails  laid  to  Bradford.  The  '  Orange  '  was 
the  first  locomotive.     We  had  an  engineer,  fireman,  express 

.  and  one  or  two  brakemen,  and  I  think  several  con- 
ductors. The  receipts  did  not  pay  the  running  expenses,  and 
the  trains  were  discontinued  after  a  few  weeks.  I  did  not 
get  my  pay  for  services  on  the  road  (and  never  did). 

"The  road  was  abandoned  for  a  time,  and  briers  and  weeds 
grew  up  the  whole  length  of  it.  I  bought  a  hand-car  and 
tried  to  make  a  living  that  way,  and  that  was  work.  Then  I 
took  a  set  of  wheels  and  boxes  from  a  gravel  car  and  made  a 

red  platform  car.  Upon  this,  after  much  difficulty,  I 
placed  a  little  five-inch  single-cylinder  engine,  formerly  used 
in  drilling  oil  wells,  connecting  it  by  a  belt  to  a  pulley  on  the 
axle.  To  the  surprise  of  all.  1  made  it  wink,  and  I  made  it 
pay.  1  1. ni  this  engine  about  one  and  a  half  years.  I  was 
'busted,'  a  bankrupt,  and  mighty  few  friends ;  but  $10  z 
and  upwards  that  I  made  running  my  train  soon  brought 
them  back  and  brought  the  road  into  notice. 

"My  old  friend  Charles  Minor,  Superintendent  of  the  Erie, 
I  took  over  the  road.  He  enjoyed  the  trip  heartily.  I  le  and 
his  friends  in  the  Erie  bought  out  the  company,  putting  me 


in  as  one  of  the  new  directors.  We  then  changed  the  road 
to  its  present  location.  I  continued  to  operate  the  road  on 
shares  for  a  year  or  more,  employing  my  own  men,  until  my 
contract  expired,  when  a  conductor  named  Kerr  took  the 
train.  Joe  Haggerty  was  engineer.  He  was  a  brother-in-law 
t    H.  G.  Brooks. 

"  1  laniel  Kingsbury  was  an  uncle  of  mine,  and  was  the  sole 
owner  of  the  road  at  the  time  the  Erie,  or  its  offii  ers,  rather, 
bought  it.  The  present  coal  beds  now  owned  and  worked 
by  the  Erie  were  a  part  of  his  lands.  He  failed  to  get  an 
outlet  during  his  lifetime." 

In  1859  the  buffalo  and  Bradford  Railroad  and  the  Buffalo 
and  Pittsburg  Railroad  companies  were  consolidated  under 
the  title  of  the  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad 
Company.  In  1863,  the  railroad  then  being  built  as  far  as 
the  hamlet  Littleton  (now  the  city  of  Bradford),  Samuel 
Marsh,  Vice-President  of  the  Erie;  Charles  Minot,  Superin- 


1* 


f 


I   1 


NI  W'l.II.'s     PIONEER     TRAIN'     (INTERIOR     AND     EXTERIOR). 
DRAWN    FROM   A    SKETCH    BY    MR.  NEW  I  I  I  . 

tendent  of  the  Erie  ;  John  Arnott,  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  and 
others  interested  in  the  Erie  management,  believed  there 
was  a  future  in  the  wilderness  railroad,  and  purchased  it  for 
a  song  from  Daniel  Kingsbury.  They  extended  the  road  to 
Buttsville,  Pa.,  and  leased  the  operating  of  it  to  A.  W.  Newell, 
the  Erie  furnishing  the  rolling  stock,  as  above  stated  by  Mr. 
Newell,  and  with  the  result  mentioned.  In  1866  the  pur- 
chasers of  the  railroad,  the  expected  developments  in  coal 
and  mineral  not  having  been  made,  and  all  of  the  pn  >| 
being  Dire<  tors  in  the  1  rie,  disposed  of  the  property  by  per- 
petual lease  to  the  Erie,  on  terms  that  netted  them  a  small 
fortune  each.  How  the  stock  of  the  road  was  used  by  1  lan- 
iel  Drew  in  his  Erie  stock  manipulations  is  told  on  page  1 49 
of  this  history.  In  1873  ulc  '•"^''  Pur<  nase  "'  '  "•''  '!'' 
the  region  was  made  by  the  Erie,  and  in  1875  the  Bradford 
region  became  the  Me.  1  a  of  oil  producers,  and  for  ten  years 
was  the  petroleum  centre  of  the  world.  The  Bradford  branch 
of  the  Erie  at  once  became  the  most  valuable  collateral 
property  the  Erie  had.  Under  the  Jewett  administration  the 
railroad  was  extended  to  Johnsonburg ;'  the  great  Kinzua 
\  iadui  t  was  built  in  1882,  and  the  railroad  that  was  alone  in 
an  unbroken  wilderness  a  few  years  before,  became  the  main 


;68 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


thoroughfare  in  a  region  populous  and  productive.     It  enjoys 
the  dignity  now  of  being  a  division  of  the  Erie  (the  Bradford 
ion)  with  a  Superintendent  all  its  own. 

A     RAILROAD    WITH    A     MIS>IM;     LINK. 

The  Honesdale  Branch  (which  is  the  nine  miles  of  railroad 
between  Hawley  and  Honesdale,  in  Wayne  County,  Pa.)  and 
the  Jefferson  Division  of  the  Erie  are  parts  of  a  railroad 
for  the  building  of  which  a  company  was  chartered  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Legislature  April  23,  185 1.  What  should  be 
another  part  of  the  railroad  never  got  any  farther  along  than 
the  survey  between  the  Lackawaxen  Valley  at  Honesdale  and 
th.-  headwaters  of  the  Starucca  Creek,  between  Carbondale 
an  1  Lanesboro,  Pa.  Why  the  railroad  should  be  called  the 
"  [efferson  Railroad,"  there  being  no  county  or  town  or 
strerm  or  locality  through  which  it  runs  or  was  intended  to 
run  that  bears  or  ever  did  bear  the  name  of  Jefferson,  is  fre- 
quently a  source  of  curious  inquiry,  and  no  one  who  ever 
made  the  inquiry  has  had  his  question  answered,  for  the 
reason  that  for  years  only  one  person  living  has  known  the 
answer  to  it,  and  he  never  happened  to  be  the  person  of 
whom  the  inquiry  was  made.  As  the  history  of  the  Jefferson 
Railroad  is  virtually  a  part  of  the  early  and  later  history  of 
Krie,  its  storv,  in  itself  interesting,  belongs  to  this  chronicle. 

When  the  necessity  for  the  Erie  to  enter  Pennsylvania  with 
its  railroad  became  apparent  to  the  Company  more  than  fifty 
years  ago  ("  Administration  of  Benjamin  Loder,"  pages  87 
to  90),  the  people  of  Wayne  County,  Pa.,  knowing  that  the 
Susquehanna  Valley  could  be  reached  by  a  much  shorter 
route  through  the  interior  of  that  county  than  by  the  one 
from  Lackawaxen  through  the  Delaware  Valley,  made  vigorous 
effort  to  induce  the  Company  to  adopt  that  route,  the  saving 
in  distance  being  estimated  at  from  seventeen  to  twenty  miles. 
Meetings  of  the  people  were  held  and  addressed  by  prom- 
inent men,  to  awaken  an  interest  in  the  matter  that  would 
have  its  influence  on  the  Erie  and  on  the  Legislature.  For 
reasons  then  misunderstood,  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company  opposed  the  movement.  It  sent  its  friends  and 
employees  to  the  various  meetings,  and  by  them  every  plan 
that  was  proposed  in  favor  of  the  Erie  route  was  voted  down, 
thus  giving  the  meetings  an  appearance  of  hostility  to  the 
measure.  By  this  means  the  first  application  of  the  Erie,  in 
1845,  for  f'g111  of  way  through  Pike  County,  Pa.,  was  rejected 
in  the  Legislature,  the  Senator  from  the  Wayne  and  Pike 
district  being  the  Hon.  William  H.  Dimmick,  who  was  also 
the  attorney  of  the  Canal  Company.  Charles  S.  Minor,  a 
leading  lawyer  of  Honesdale,  saw  the  advantage  to  that 
region  of  the  coming  of  the  railroad  into  and  through  it,  and 
resolved  to  bring  it  about  if  it  could  be  done.  In  1846, 
however,  the  opposition  by  the  Canal  Company  to  the  Erie 
getting  entrance  into  Pennsylvania  was  withdrawn.  The  en- 
abling act  was  passed,  but  permitted  the  railroad  to  be  built 
only  through  a  part  of  Pike  County,  which  would  carry  the 
railroad  on  up  the  Delaware.  Mr.  Minor  was  still  determined 
to  help  the  Erie  to  a  way  through  Wayne  County  if  possible. 


When  the  term  of  Senator  Dimmick  expired,  Mr.  Minor  drew 
up  a  charter  for  a  company  to  be  known  as  the  Jefferson 
Railroad  Company,  and  the  reason  he  called  it  the  "Jeffer- 
son" Company  was  to  avoid  all  opposition  to  the  measure, 
having  taken  his  idea  from  the  Washington  Railroad  Com- 
pany, which  had  been  then  recently  chartered.  "  I  believed," 
says  Mi.  Minor,  who  is  still  (1898),  although  an  octogenarian, 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Honesdale,  "  that  if  the 
people  in  this  section  saw  a  notice  of  the  bill  they  would 
think  it  appertained  to  Jefferson  County  ;  while  if  the  people 
of  Jefferson  County  noticed  it  they  would  see  that  it  was 
nothing  that  affected  them  ;  and  thus  the  bill  passed  without 
attracting  any  attention." 

But  by  the  time  the  charter  was  passed  the  Erie  had  been 
extended  through  the  Delaware  Valley  into  the  Susquehanna 
Valley,  and  was  well  on  toward  completion  to  Dunkirk.  A 
survey  of  the  route  from  Honesdale  to  the  Susquehanna  was 
made  and  found  feasible,  there  being  no  grade  exceeding 
fifty  feet  to  the  mile,  and  the  distance  between  Lackawaxen 
and  Susquehanna  being  twenty  miles  shorter  than  the  Dela- 
ware Valley  route.  President  Loder,  of  the  Erie,  having 
verified  the  survey,  declared  to  Mr.  Minor  and  Francis  B. 
Penniman,  who  had  waited  upon  Mr.  Loder  to  ascertain 
whether  the  advantages  of  the  Wayne  County  route  would 
not  warrant  the  Erie  in  building  the  railroad  anyhow,  that  if 
the  Erie  could  have  gone  through  Wayne  County  originally  it 
would  have  been  greatly  to  its  advantage.  "  But  the  road  is 
now  built  along  the  Delaware,"  said  he,  "  and  we  have  no 
money  to  build  another  through  Wayne  County.  At  some 
time  in  the  future,  however,  it  will  probably  be  desirable  to 
build  a  road  on  that  route." 

It  was  necessary  to  raise  money  to  pay  the  tax1  on  the 
Jefferson  charter,  in  order  to  obtain  articles  of  incorporation, 
and  under  the  circumstances  there  was  some  doubt  in  the 
minds  of  its  sponsors  whether  the  charter  was  worth  it.  The 
Hon.  Thomas  H.  R.  Tracy  was  a  man  of  considerable  local 
authority  in  the  management  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Company  then,  and  Messrs.  Minor  and  Penniman 
resolved  to  consult  with  him  on  the  subject.  It  is  generally 
the  belief  to  this  day  that  the  Canal  Company  fought  the 
coming  of  the  Erie  into  that  region  because  it  feared  the 
railroad  as  a  rival  in  the  coal  traffic,  but,  according  to  the 
revelation  made  by  Judge  Tracy  to  Minor  and  Penniman, 
such  was  not  the  actual  cause  of  that  opposition.  When  the 
custodians  of  the  Jefferson  charter  asked  Judge  Tracy  whether 
it  would  be  advisable  to  pay  the  tax  on  it,  he  said  : 

"  By  all  means  !  And  if  the  amount  of  the  tax  is  any  con- 
sideration, the  Canal  Company  will  pay  it,  for  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  use  the  road  to  send  off  coal  one  of  these  days. 
We  were  never  opposed  to  the  railroad.  When  the  Erie  road 
proposed  to  come  into  the  Ctate  we  were  afraid  the  idea 
would  go  forth  that  it  was  aiming  at  the  coal  fields,  and  that 
would  put  up  the  price  of  coal  lands.  All  we  wanted  was 
one  year  in  which  to  buy  coal  lands,  so  we  fought  off  the 
Erie  the  first  year,  bought  coal  lands,  and  then  withdrew  all 
our  opposition.     We  are  in  favor  of  your  road." 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


369 


Mr.  Tracy  paid  the  tax  on  the  account  of  the  Canal  Com- 
pany, and  from  that  time  that  company  was  friendly  to  the 
enterprise,  but  nothing  was  done  toward  it,  and  the  charter 
lapsed. 

The  Washington  Coal  Company  charter  of  1849  was  a 
revival  of  a  charter  granted  by  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature 
in  [839  (April  13).  At  the  same  time  the  Pennsylvania  Coal 
Company  was  chartered,  and  the  two  companies  combined. 
The  name  was  changed  to  that  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal 
Company  in  1850,  and  the  gravity  railroad  from  Pittston  and 
1  lunmore,  Pa.,  tc  Hawley,  Pa.,  was  built  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  coal  from  the  Company's  mines.  For  years  the  coal 
was  transported  to  market  from  Hawley  in  the  boats  of  the 
1  lelaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  resulting  in  the  fre- 
quent clashing  of  interests  between  the  two  companies,  and 
in  a  lawsuit  that  was  twenty  years  in  the  courts  and  cost 
each  company  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  To 
have  its  business  on  a  more  profitable  and  independent  basis, 
the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  began  the  building  of  a 
railroad  from  the  terminus  of  its  gravity  road  at  Hawley  to  a 
connection  with  the  Hrie  at  Lackawaxen,  sixteen  miles.  This 
was  in  i860.  The  railroad  was  opened  December,  1863,  and 
was  leased  by  the  Krie,  and  became  part  of  that  system  under 
the  name  of  the  Hawley  Branch.  This  connected  the  Penn- 
sylvania Coal  Company's  mines  with  its  storage  docks  at 
Newburgh,  via  the  main  line  of  the  Hrie  and  the  Xewburgh 
branch.  In  1884  the  gravity  railroad  was  abandoned,  a 
locomotive  railroad,  the  Erie  and  Wyoming,  having  been  built 
by  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  between  Hawley  and 
Dunmore  (Scranton),  to  connect  with  the  Hrie  and  take  the 
place  of  the  gravity  railroad. 

The  first  coal  car  on  the  Hawley  Branch  was  loaded  De- 
cember 14,  1863.  Passenger  cars  were  attached  to  the  two 
coal  trains  that  were  run.  James  Frantz  was  the  engineer 
and  Charles  Gorham  conductor  of  the  first  train  into  Hawley 
with  passenger  car  attached,  in  December,  1863. 

The  building  of  the  Hawley  Branch  of  the  Erie  had  the 
effect  of  arousing  interest  in  the  long-forgotten  Jefferson 
Railroad  scheme.  March  13,  1863,  the  charter  was  revived, 
with  an  amendment  authorizing  the  building  of  a  branch  from 
a  point  on  the  original  survey  at  the  Starucca  Summit  in 
Wayne  County  south  to  Carbondale  Lanesboro,  Pa.,  having 
been  the  point  of  junction  of  the  railroad  with  the  Erie  fixed 
in  the  charter.  Authority  was  given  the  company  in  1S64  to 
make  junction,  also,  with  the  main  line  elsewhere  if  desired. 
That  portion  of  the  Jefferson  Railroad  between  Hawley  and 
the  terminus  a  mile  below  Honesdale  was  built  in  1S67-68, 
and  opened  for  business  July  13,  1868.  The  building  of  that 
part  of  it  from  Carbondale  to  the  Erie  main  line  was  begun 
April  15,  1S69,  under  an  arrangement  by  which  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  Company  was  to  provide  the  funds  to  build 
it,  and  the  Erie  was  to  operate  it  after  it  was  built.  Henry 
A.  Fonda  was  the  contractor  ("Administration  of  Peter  11. 
Watson,"  page  216),  and  he  (hanged  the  original  route  of  the 
railroad  so  that  the  intent  of  the  projectors  of  the  road  was 
lost,  or  made  difficult  and  improbable.     This  was  the  building 


of  the  link  from  Honesdale  to  the  Summit,  at  the  headwaters 
of  Starucca  (reek  in  Wayne  County.  The  protests  of  the 
directors  of  the  Jefferson  Company  were  of  no  avail,  for  the 
contractor  had  the  support  of  Thomas  Dickson,  President  of 
the  Canal  Company,  and  the  Canal  Company  was  furnishing 
the  money  to  build  the  road.  The  railroad  was  made  of 
greater  length,  (rooked,  and  of  very  heavy  grades  by  this 
■  hinge.  Among  the  other  costly  and  delaying  obstacles 
in.  ountered  was  the  "  sink-hole"  near  Ararat  Summit.  The 
rails  had  been  put  down,  and  cars  had  run  over  that  stretch 
of  track,  when  one  night  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  track  and 
road-bed  disappeared  entirely,  and  a  great  quagmire  occupied 
the  place.  Into  this  pit  10,000  carloads  of  gravel — about 
100,000  tons — and  500  large  hemlock  trees,  branches  and 
all,  were  thrown  without  having  any  perceptible  effect  toward 
forming  a  bottom  upon  which  a  new  road-bed  could  be 
founded.  Then  four  piles,  each  forty  feet  long,  were  driven 
down,  one  on  top  of  the  other,  before  solid  bottom  was 
reached,  showing  the  depth  of  the  unstable  spot  to  be  160 
feet.  A  row  of  piles  was  driven,  in  the  manner  of  the  test 
piles,  on  both  sides  of  the  space  required  for  the  road-bed. 
They  were  driven  close  together,  so  close  that  the  work 
required  nearly  8,000  of  them.  These  prevented  the  escape 
of  anything  dumped  into  the  enclosure.  For  four  months 
gravel,  rocks,  and  forest  trees  entire,  were  thrown  into  the  pit 
before  the  all-absorbing  morass  was  overcome.  Acres  of 
hemlock  forest  were  levelled  to  supply  the  trees,  of  which 
1,500  from  50  to  100  feet  high,  and  with  a  spread  of 
branches  sometimes  of  twenty-five  feet,  were  used.  An  ad- 
jacent gravel  hill,  fifty  feet  high  and  covering  four  acres,  was 
levelled  to  obtain  material  for  building  up  this  remarkable 
road-bed,  and  rocks  weighing  many  tons  each  were  tumbled 
into  the  depths  before  a  solid  way  was  made  across  it. 

The  railroad  was  completed  in  October,  1870,  and  by  an 
arrangement  made  with  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal 
Company  and  Jefferson  Railroad  Company  the  same  vear, 
the  Jefferson  Railroad  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Erie 
by  purchase  of  the  stock,  the  F>ie  to  reimburse  the  Canal 
Company  for  its  advances  in  building  the  railroad,  and  the 
Erie  is  now  the  owner  of  the  road  by  sui  h  stock  control. 
The  Jefferson  Railroad  proper  is  legally  the  line  from  Lanes- 
boro, Pa.,  to  Starucca,  and  that  from  Starucca  to  Carbondale 
is  a  branch,  and  the  track  from  Jefferson  Junction  to  Sus- 
quehanna is  another  branch,  although  the  line  from  Susque- 
hanna to  Carbondale  is  the  actual  Jefferson  Division  of  the 
Frie.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  Railroad  runs  over  this 
railroad  from  Lanesboro  to  Carbondale,  that  link  being  part 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Division  of  that  railroad. 

So  the  Jefferson  Railroad,  which  might  have  been  a  portion 
of  the  F>ie  main  line  to  the  Erie's  profit  and  advantage,  is  to 
this  day  an  incomplete  railroad.  It  never  even  got  all  the 
way  to  Honesdale  from  Hawley,  but  stopped  a  mile  or  more 
below  that  place,  running  a  spur  up  to  the  coal  shutes.  At 
the  time  the  Erie  was  negotiating  tor  the  purchase  of  the 
Jefferson  Railroad,  its  managers  entered  into  a  contract 
to  extend  the  railroad  all  the  way  to  Honesdale,  but  as  the 


24 


37" 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Jefferson  franchises  passed  into  their  possession  immediately, 
they  regarded  the  contract  as  one  made  by  themsi  Ives  with 
themsi  I  the  extension  never  was  made.     During  the 

|  iv  Could,  early  in  the  winter  of  1872,  Gould 
routi  from  Honesdale  over  the  old 
on  route  to  the  Starucca  Creek,  and  finding  it  entirely 
feasible  he  agreed  that  if  the  people  of  Wayne  County  would 
540,000,  or  furnish  its  equivalent  in  right  of  way,  he 
would  1 1  implete  the  Jefferson  Railroad  by  building  the  Hones- 
dale  link.  Coe  F.  Young,  then  General  Manager  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  and  that  company's  railroad  sys- 
tem, assured  Could  that  the  condition  could  readily  be  com- 
ith,  and  it  was  decided  to  begin  work  on  the  railroad 
.is  soon  as  spring  opened.  Before  that  time  came,  Gould 
was  no  longer  in  control  of  Erie,  and  the  Jefferson  Railroad 

itill  a  railroad  with  a  missing  link. 

A.  Reeves  Hankins  was  the  first  conductor  on  the  Hones- 
dale  Branch,  and  William  Aumick  the  first  engineer,  they  run- 
ning the  passenger  train.  Coal  trains  began  running  over  the 
branch  in  November,  1S6S. 

The  firs  ttrain  over  the  Jefferson  Railroad  was  a  special, 
on  which  were  Jay  Could,  Thomas  Dickson,  president  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  and  other  prominent 
railroad  men.  It  was  run  October  23,  1S70,  and  was  in 
charge  of  A.  T.  Palmer  as  conductor,  now  superintendent  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  at  Kansas  City.  Early  in  No- 
vember, 1870,  the  first  traffic  train — a  coal  train — was  run 
over  the  railroad,  George  DeWitt  conductor  and  Sid  Luckey 
engineer. 

It  was  in  anticipation  of  the  control  of  this  new  and  im- 
portant outlet  for  the  coal  traffic  that  the  Gould  manage- 
ment of  Erie  began  laying  its  plans  to  extend  and  widen  the 
field  of  Erie's  influence  and  power  in  an  entirely  new  terri- 
tory. This  ambition,  laudable  in  itself,  was  not  entirely 
aided  toward  attainment  by  the  condition  of  the  Erie's  affairs 
and  the  methods  of  its  procedure  at  that  time,  and  led  to 
what  was  known  as 

THE    ALBANY    AND    SUSQUEHANNA    WAR. 

The  Albany  and  Susquehanna  Railroad  was  opened  Janu- 
ary 12,  1869.  It  connected  Binghamton  with  Albany,  and 
became  a  link,  together  with  the  Erie  and  the  Boston  and 
Albany  Railroad,  in  a  chain  of  railroad  communication  be- 
tween New  England  and  the  West  that  seemed  to  bear  prom- 
ise of  great  importance.  It  also  held  the  key,  through  pro- 
jects then  going  forward,  to  the  entrance  of  the  coal  traffic  of 
the  upper  Lackawanna  anthracite  field  to  markets  theretofore 
in  li  1  1  issible.  The  Albany  and  Susquehanna  consequently 
filled  the  eye  of  both  the  Erie  management  and  that  of  those 
in  control  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company,and 
nine  b  of  future  importance  in  railroad  ownership  was  builded 
upon  it.  Much  of  the  stock  in  the  Albany  and  Susquehanna 
Company  was  owned  by  towns  along  the  line,  and  in  |ulv, 
1869,   Jay  Gould,   acting  on   the    suggestion    of   Walter   S. 


Church,  a  leading  director  in  the  company,  who  was  opposed 
to  the  rule  of  James  H.  Ramsey,  president  of  the  company, 
quietly  sent  out  agents  to  buy  up  the  stock  of  the  different 
towns,  with  the  intention  of  getting  a  majority  of  the  holding, 
so  that  lie  might  control  the  next  election  for  directors,  and 
thus  get  possession  of  the  railroad  in  the  interests  of  Erie. 
The  movement  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Ramsey,  who  be- 
gan a  counter-campaign  to  checkmate  Gould.  The  courts  were 
kept  busy  for  months  issuing  injunctions  and  counter-injunc- 
tions, appointing  receivers,  etc.  By  September,  1869,  there 
were  seven  injunction  suits  pending,  before  almost  as  many 
different  judges,  Judge  Joseph  G.  Barnard  being  always  at 
the  beck  of  Gould  and  Fisk  ;  and  the  interests  of  Ramsey,  or 
what  was  known  as  the  "  Albany  interests,"  seeming  to  be 
well  taken  care  of  by  Judge  Rufus  H.  Peckham,  Judge 
Clute,  and  Judge  Murray.  August  6th,  Judge  Barnard  ap- 
pointed James  Fisk,  Jr.,  and  Charles  Coulter  receivers  of  the 
Albany  and  Susquehanna  Railroad.  When  they  went  to  Al- 
bany to  take  charge  of  the  property,  they  found  that  on  the 
evening  of  August  6th  Judge  Peckham  had  appointed  Robert 
H.  Pruyn  receiver.  This  led  to  further  complicated  litiga- 
tion, in  which  both  sides  were  enjoined  from  doing  anything. 
Fisk  and  Coulter  took  possession  of  the  railroad  at  Bingham- 
ton, however,  and  Receiver  Pruyn  enforced  his  authority  at 
the  Albany  end.  Both  sides  essayed  to  run  the  railroad, 
which  resulted  in  a  clash  at  arms,  during  which  rails  were 
torn  up  and  bridges  destroyed.  On  August  1 1  th,  the  Bar- 
nard receiver  appealed  to  Governor  Hoffman  to  take  charge 
of  the  property  in  the  name  of  the  State,  as  it  was  being 
ruined.  The  Governor  did  so,  placing  it  in  control  of 
Colonel  Banks  and  a  force  of  military.  This  was  the  situa- 
tion when  the  election  came  on  at  Albany  on  September 
7th.  Scenes  of  violence  ensued  at  the  election,  and  two  sets 
of  directors  were  elected,  one  in  favor  of  the  Erie  interests 
and  the  other  in  the  interest  of  the  Ramsey,  or  Albany,  con- 
tingent. Neither  board  could  act,  and  the  Attorney-General 
brought  suit  against  all  the  parties  at  interest  to  have  it  de- 
cided which  was  the  regular  board.  The  case  was  fixed  for 
argument  before  Judge  E.  Darwin  Smith  at  Rochester,  No- 
vember 29,  1869.  November  23d,  Judge  Murray,  at  Delhi, 
Delaware  County,  granted  an  order  in  a  suit  brought  by 
Ramsey  against  Gould,  Fisk,  and  other  Erie  Directors,  sus- 
pending them  as  Directors  and  officers,  and  appointing 
David  Groesbeck  general  receiver  of  the  Company.  These 
proceedings  were  subsequently  set  aside,  and  in  December 
Judge  E.  Darwin  Smith  decided  against  the  legality  of  the 
directors  elected  in  the  Erie  interest.  The  situation  now 
was  such  as  to  bring  about  a  fierce  renewal  of  the  contest  for 
ultimate  possession  of  the  railroad,  but  before  either  side  had 
gained  any  victory,  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Com- 
pany, which  previously  had  a  hand  in  the  fight  only  by 
implication  as  a  supporter  of  Erie,  leased  the  Albany  and 
Susquehanna  Railroad,  February  24,  1870.  The  lawsuits 
between  Ramsey  and  the  Erie  managers  were  in  the  courts, 
however,  nearly  two  years  longer  before  this  long  and  bitter 
battle  of  the  Could  regime  came  to  an  end. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


o/ 


THE    "NEWBURGH    SHORT   CUT." 

The  Newburgh  and  New  York  Railroad  was  projected  in 
1861,  and  surveys  were  made  by  William  Sneeden,  at  that 
time  superintendent  of  the  Northern  Railroad  of  New  fersey. 
The  expense  of  the  survey  was  paid  by  Newburghers  and  the 
Erie.  Nothing  was  done  until  1864,  when  Robert  H.  Berdell 
came  in  as  President  of  the  Erie.  John  Houston,  an  Erie 
civil  engineer,  was  directed  to  make  a  permanent  location  of 
the  route.  Nothing  further  was  done  until  1866,  when  the 
project  was  revived.  An  attempt  was  made  to  bond  New- 
burgh and  other  places  in  aid  of  the  road,  but  failed.  Then 
Homer  Ramsdell  took  the  matter  up.  He  was  a  Director  in 
the  Erie,  and  through  his  influence  that  Company  took  hold 
of  the  New  York  and  Newburgh  road.  In  1868  it  was  put 
under  contract  by  the  Erie  to  Peter  Ward  of  Newburgh  and 
Valentine  levy  of  Hudson  City,  N.  J.  Ground  was  broken, 
April  10,  1S6S.  The  road  was  completed,  and  turned  over 
to  the  Erie,  August  23,  1869.  It  cost  $550,000,  and  brought 
Newburgh  within  sixty-two  miles  of  New  York. 

The  opening  of  this  Newburgh  Short  Cut  was  made  the 
occasion  of  a  celebration  the  like  of  which  had  not  been 
seen  since  the  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Dunkirk.  Saturday, 
August  14,  1869,  the  citizens  of  Newburgh  extended  invita- 
tions to  the  officers  and  Directors  of  Erie  to  be  their  guests 
on  the  opening  of  the  railroad. 

An  excursion  train  left  Newburgh  at  9.45,  in  charge  of 
Conductor  Thomas  Wright  and  Engineer  Henry  Gaylord. 
There  was  firing  of  cannon  at  every  station.  The  excursion 
train  from  New  York  was  met  at  the  junction.  On  this  train 
were  James  Eisk,  Jr.,  Comptroller  of  Erie  ;  the  Directors,  the 
Secretary  and  Treasurer;  Hugh  Riddle,  General  Superin- 
tendent ;  A.  P.  Berthoud,  Superintendent  of  the  Eastern 
Division;  James  H.  Rutter,  General  Freight  Agent;  Gov. 
John  T.  Hoffman,  A.  Oakey  Hall,  Mayor  of  New  York, 
Mayor  Peddie  of  Newark,  Hon.  Charles  H.  Winfield  of 
Jersey  City,  and  many  other  distinguished  guests. 

The  train  was  gaily  decorated.  Edward  Kent  was  the  en- 
gineer, and  Chauncey  Hale  the  conductor.  A  procession 
nearly  a  mile  long  paraded  the  streets  of  Newburgh,  where 
there  were  hours  of  speech-making.  1'isk  made  a  famous 
speech  in  response  to  the  address  of  welcome.  Three  hearty 
cheers  and  a  "  tiger"  were  given  for  him  and  Jay  Could,  and 
the  band  played  "Hail  to  the  Chief,"  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  speech.  A  great  banquet  was  given  at  Moore's  ( >pera 
House,  for  which  the  citizens  of  Newburgh  had  subscribed 
mo  a  plate.  The  railroad  was  but  sixteen  miles  long,  but  it 
was  an  event,  and  those  "ere  the  times  of  Gould  and  l'isk. 

Till'.    WAR    i>I      Till:    GAUGES. 

When  the  1  !rie  was  completed  to  Dunkirk  in  1851  there 
was   no   railroad   connection   farther  west.     The   Cleveland, 
Ashtabula,  and  Painesville  Railroad  was  being  extended  e 
ward,  with  the  intention  of  connecting  with  the  Erie  or  the 


New  York  Central  Railroad  by  means  of  local  roads  across 
the  northeast  corner  of  Pennsylvania,  known  as  the  Triangle, 
and  bordering  on  Lake  Erie,  the  distance  ac  ross  that  portion 
of  Pennsylvania,  between  the  New  York  and  the  Ohio  lines, 
being  fifty  miles.  The  borough  of  Erie  (now  city)  01  1  u] 
the  vantage  point  in  that  corner  of  the  State  on  Lake  Erie. 
A  railroad  known  as  the  Erie  and  Northeast  Railroad  had 
been  chartered,  April  22,  1842,  to  be  built  from  Northeast, 
a  Pennsylvania  village  near  the  New  York  line,  to  Erie,  about 
twenty  miles.  Nothing  was  done  toward  building  the  rail- 
road until  1849,  when,  events  seeming  to  indicate  that  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  was  certain  to  reach  Lake  Erie, 
the  Erie  and  Northeast  Company  saw  the  importance  of  its 
railroad  as  a  link  in  a  chain  of  rail  communication  between 
the  East  and  West  and  began  work  upon  it.  The  railroad  was 
completed  January  19,  1852,  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road having  then  been  open  between  New  York  and  Dunkirk 
the  better  part  of  a  year.  In  1848  Pennsylvania  capitalists 
obtained  a  charter  from  their  State  Legislature  for  the  Erie 
and  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  to  build  a  railroad  from  Erie 
to  the  Ohio  line.  This  would  have  assured  the  complel 
oi  a  line  across  the  Triangle,  but,  unfortunately,  the  indi- 
viduals interested  in  the  project  were  dilatory  in  taking 
advantage  of  their  charter,  and  in  1849  it  was  repealed  in  the 
interest  of  the  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad,  which  was  then 
building  to  connect  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburg,  and  which 
was  determined  to  harass  the  New  York  trunk  lines  in  ob- 
taining thoroughfare  through  Pennsylvania. 

In  1844  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  had  chartered  the 
Franklin  Canal  Company,  with  authority  to  repair  the  Franklin 
Division  of  the  Pennsylvania  Canal,  and  the  privilege  1  1 
constructing  a  railroad  on  the  towpath  north  to  Erie  and 
south  to  Pittsburg,  or  on  a  route  the  company  deemed  most 
advantageous.  Construing  this  concession  somewhat  liber- 
ally, the  Canal  Company  located  a  railroad  between  Erie  and 
the  Ohio  State  line,  which  would  complete  a  connection  by 
rail  with  the  Erie  and  Northeast  Railroad,  and  give  a  direct 
line  to  the  New  York  lines  to  Cleveland. 

Under  the  New  York  railroad  law  of  1849,  a  company  en- 
titled the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad  Company  was 
organized  to  build  a  railroad  from  Buffalo  westward  along 
Eake  Erie  to  the  State  line,  the  purpose  being  to  make  a 
connection  with  the  Erie  and  Northeast  Railroad,  and  thus 
control,  with  that  railroad  and  the  proposed  Ohio  1  onnei  tion, 
the  traffic  to  and  fro  between  the  East  and  West  and  the 
railroad  then  terminating  at  Buffalo,  which  was  destined  soon 
to  become  part  of  the  present  New  \  ork  Central  system. 
The  original  intent  of  the  Erie  and  Northeast  Railroad 
Company  was  to  make  the  gauge  of  its  railroad  six  feet,  and. 
in  fact,  it  had  an  understanding  with  the  New  York  and  I 
Railroad  Company  to  that  effect,  being  also  under  the  im- 
pression that  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad  w 
of  that  gauge.  The  influences  that  subsequently  combined 
the  five  local  New  York  railroads  between  Albany  and  Buffalo 
into  the  one  New  York  Central  were  then  at  work,  and  it 
was  evident  the  Central  was  to  be  of  the  four-foot-eight-and- 


it  - 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


a-half -gauge,  and  also  that  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Rail- 
road was  in  existence  in  the  interests  of  the  Central,  for  tin- 
same  gauge  was  adopted  by  the  State  Line  Company. 

The  New  York  and  Erie,  as  well  as  the  Central,  knew  the 
importance  of  a  connection  that  would  give  it  thoroughfare 
that  corner  of  Pennsylvania,  and  under  the  New  York 
General  Railroad  Law  of  1850  the  Dunkirk  and  State  Line 
Railroad  was  organized  to  build  a  railroad  from  the  Dunkirk 
terminus  of  the  Erie  to  the  Pennsylvania  line,  with  a  gauge 
of  six  feet,  to  meet  the  Erie  and  Northeast  connection  there 
with  the  same  gauge.  This,  of  course,  was  in  the  interest  of 
the  Erie,  and  would  give  it  a  line  toward  the  West  without 
breaking  bulk.  This  aroused  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line 
Railroad  Company,  or,  rather,  the  interests  in  the  Central 
that  controlled  it,  and  they  so  harassed  the  Erie  in  its  Dun- 
kirk and  State  Line  project  that  the  Erie  was  weak  enough, 
early  in  1S51,  to  consent  to  a  compromise  with  the  Central, 
instead  of  insisting  on  having  its  independent  connecting 
line,  the  building  of  which  it  abandoned.  The  Buffalo  and 
Mate  Line  Railroad  was  originally  laid  out  to  go  via  Fredo- 
nia,  three  miles  from  Dunkirk.  By  the  compromise  with  the 
Erie  the  route  was  changed,  and  the  railroad  was  built  via 
Dunkirk,  to  give  the  Erie  connection  with  it,  and  a  neutral 
gauge,  known  as  the  Ohio  gauge,  was  adopted  by  the  local 
railroad,  the  Erie  and  Northeast  Railroad  agreeing  to  lay  the 
same  gauge,  the  width  of  which  was  four  feet  ten  inches. 
Then  the  Erie  subscribed  §250,000  to  the  stock  of  the  Buffalo 
and  State  Line  Railroad,  to  aid  in  its  construction,  and  placed 
itself  ever  after  at  the  mercy  of  its  great  rival,  which  never 
hesitated  to  assert  its  supremacy  in  that  connecting  line 
whenever  Erie  interests  might  be  damaged  by  so  doing.  The 
Buffalo  and  State  Line  is  now  part  of  the  Central's  Lake 
Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  system.  The  four-foot-ten 
gauge  necessitated  a  breaking  of  freight  bulk  and  changing 
of  cars  by  passengers  by  the  Central  at  Buffalo,  and  by  way 
of  the  Erie  at  Dunkirk. 

But  the  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad's  influence  and  the 
influence  of  the  borough  of  Erie  now  appeared  again.  By 
the  arrangement  between  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  and  the 
Erie  and  Northeast  railroads,  the  two  New  York  trunk  lines 
were  to  obtain  a  highway  across  Pennsylvania,  which  the 
Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad  determined  to  prevent ;  and 
the  borough  of  Erie  discovered  that  passengers  and  freight, 
east  and  west  bound,  would  pass  through  that  place  without 
[ring  cars  or  breaking  bulk  there,  and  thus  disappointing 
citizens  of  Erie  who  had  calculated  on  making  money  by 
such  a  break  in  the  gauge.  Responsive  to  the  demands  of 
those  influences,  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  March  rr, 
185 1,  passed  a  law  establishing  the  legal  gauge  for  all  rail- 
roads west  of  Erie  to  the  Ohio  line  at  four  feet  ten  inches, 
and  prohibiting  all  railroads  east  from  that  borough  from  laving 
track  except  of  a  f our-foot-eight-and-a-half  or  a  six-foot  gauge. 

The  Erie  and  Northeast  Company,  standing  on  what  it 
claimed  was  its  charter  rights,  refused  to  comply  with  the 
law,  and  laid  its  tracks  at  the  neutral  or  Ohio  gauge,  but 
when  the  work  of  laying  the  track  through  Erie  borough  was 


attempted,  the  rails  were  torn  up  and  the  workmen  dispersed 
by  infuriated  Erie  people.  The  cry  was,  'i  Break  gauge  at 
Erie,  or  no  railroad  !  "  The  riots  were  fierce  and  bloody,  and 
guns  and  pistols  were  the  order  of  the  day  ;  and  orders  of  the 
Pennsylvania  courts,  and  even  the  authority  of  the  LTnited 
States  court,  were  defied.  During  this  lawless  outbreak  many 
lives  were  lost.  The  Governor  of  the  State  refused  to  use  his 
authority  to  restore  order.  The  Erie  and  Northeast  Company 
was  determined.  It  abandoned  the  route  through  Erie,  and 
attempted  to  build  its  railroad  around  the  place,  but  the 
tracks  were  torn  up  and  bridges  destroyed  by  the  Erie 
rioters. 

From  1853  until  1855  the  War  of  the  Gauges  was  waged  by 
the  people  of  Erie,  supported  by  the  State  government  and 
politicians,  and  in  defiance  of  the  courts.  Passengers  and 
freight,  during  the  winter,  when  the  lake  was  closed,  had  to 
be  transferred  by  wagon  from  a  point  east  of  Erie  as  near  as 
the  people  of  that  place  would  permit  the  cars  to  come  on  that 
side,  to  a  point  west  of  the  borough,  where  the  cars  from 
that  direction  were  stopped,  and  vice  versa.  The  hardships  of 
this  were  great,  especially  to  emigrants,  who  were  travelling 
westward  in  great  numbers.  This  was  called  "  Crossing  the 
Isthmus."  The  War  of  the  Gauges  forced  the  Erie  to  abandon 
one  of  its  through  passenger  trains,  and  a  freight  and  a  stock 
train,  for  many  months,  resulting  in  heavy  loss. 

In  1S55  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  to  punish  the  Erie  and 
Northeast  Railroad  Company  for  its  determination  to  aid  in 
advancing  the  general  transportation  interests  of  the  country 
in  face  of  the  opposition  of  the  Pennsylvania  Central  Rail- 
road and  of  the  selfish  lawlessness  of  the  people  of  Erie,  re- 
pealed its  charter,  confiscated  its  railroad,  and  placed  it  in 
charge  of  State  agents.  This  resulted  in  a  compromise.  The 
Erie  and  Northeast  agreed  to  build  its  railroad  into  Erie  and 
to  the  harbor,  and  to  subscribe  §400,000  to  the  stock  of  the 
Pittsburg  and  Erie  Railroad,  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Com- 
pany subscribing  alike  amount — a  condition  of  the  blackmail- 
ing settlement  being  also  that  the  Cleveland  and  Erie  Rail- 
road should  subscribe  §500,000  to  the  stock  of  the  Sunbury 
and  Erie  Railroad,  another  projected  Pennsylvania  line — and 
the  gauge  law  was  repealed.  The  charter  rights  of  the  Erie 
and  Northeast  Railroad  and  its  property  were  restored  to  the 
Company,  and  the  disgraceful,  high-handed,  and  lawless  War 
of  the  Gauges  was  over.  In  1S57  the  Erie  and  Northeast 
Railroad  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  New  York  Central, 
and  the  Erie  management  soon  discovered  how  foolish  it 
had  been  in  succumbing  to  the  Central  interests  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  Buffalo  and  State  Line  Railroad  ("  Administration 
of  Homer  Ramsdell,"  page  121). 

The  Bergen  County  Railroad  was  incorporated  in  1875. 
It  is  known  as  the  "  Short  Cut  "  from  Rutherford  to  Ridgwood 
Junction,  and  was  virtually  built  by  the  Erie.  It  was  added 
to  the  system  in  18S0.  It  is  about  ten  miles  long.  The 
Chicago  and  Atlantic  Railroad  became  the  property  of  the 
Erie  August  31,  1887  ("Administration  of  John  King," 
pages  270  to  272).  Other  connections  of  the  Erie  system, 
owned,  leased,  and  operated,  are  listed  on  pages  286  and  2S7. 


THE    TURNING    OF    ITS    WHEELS. 

1S41-1S98. 

The  Story  of  the  Time-tables— Erie's  First  Official  Time-tables  not  Printed,  but  Made  with  Pen  and  Ink  on  Note  Paper— Later,  Printed  in 
a  Country  Printing  Office— Some  Rare  Old  Time-tables  in  Facsimile— Development  of  Traffic— Henry  Fitch,  First  General  Pas- 
senger Agent— Beginning  of  Milk  Transportation— Original  Locomotives— The  Strange  Career  of  "The  Orange"— Joe  Meginnes 
and  Other  First  Erie  Engineers— Queer  Engines— Story  of  the  "  Diamond  Cars,"  Sleeping  Cars  Built  for  the  Erie  Nearly  Sixty 
Years  Ago— Worden,  the  First  Conductor—"  Poppy"  Ayres  and  "Hank"  Stewart— First  Superintendents— Erie's  First  Tragedy 
of  the  Rail  and  Its  Sequences — Amusing  Incidents,  Strange  Accidents — Story  of  I  low  the  Erie  Brought  the  Telegraph  into  Service 
for  the  Running  of  Trains— Original  Railroad  Telegraph  Operators — Notable  Strikes  on  the  Erie,  and  Historic  Accidents — The 
Side-tracking  of  Piermont  and  lJunkirk — Erie  Operative  System  and  Equipment  of  To-day. 


STORY    OF    THE    TIME-TABLES. 

The  first  official  time-tables  (1841)  for  the  information  and 
regulation  of  employees  on  the  Erie  were  not  printed.  They 
were  arranged  by  S.  S.  Post,  who  enjoyed  the  distinction  of 
being  the  Company's  original  "  Superintendent  of  Trans- 
portation." After  he  had  drafted  them  they  were  copied  on 
half -sheets  of  note  paper  by  his  clerk.  As  it  was  necessary 
to  provide  each  engineer  and  conductor,  each  station  agent, 
and  the  heads  of  operating  departments  with  a  copy,  the 
clerk  was  obliged  to  make  as  many  as  nine  copies  of  the  first 
official  time-table.  There  were  a  superintendent,  a  super- 
intendent of  transportation,  a  master  mechanic,  two  con- 
ductors,  two  engineers,  and  two  station  agents,  one  at  Chester 
and  one  at  Goshen,  each  to  be  supplied  with  a  time-table. 
The  body  of  it  was  written  with  black  ink.  The  names  of 
"  turn-out  "  stations  or  points  were  indicated  by  being  written 
with  red  ink.  These  were  places  where  a  train  going  in  one 
direction  was  to  turn  out,  or  lie  on  a  siding,  until  an  ex- 
pected train,  going  in  the  opposite  direction,  should  pass.  The 
original  turn-outs  were  at  Monsey,  the  V  at  Ramapo,  and  at 
Turners  and  at  Chester.  Written  time-tables  were  in  use  until 
too  many  copies  were  required  to  stock  the  employees,  and 
then  printed  ones  came  in.  The  public  was  kept  informed 
of  the  movements  of  trains  and  the  changes  in  time  by  hand- 
bills and  announcements  in  New  York  newspapers  and  the 
two  Goshen  newspapers — the  Independent  Republican  and  the 
Democrat.  At  the  time  the  railroad  was  opened  in  1841, 
and  for  years  afterward,  there  was  not  a  newspaper  on  the 
line  between  New  York  and  Goshen,  and  none  between 
Goshen  and  Binghamton,  on  the  route  over  which  the  rail- 
road was  later  to  proceed  west  from  Goshen.  One  of  the 
original  official  time-tables,  made  with  a  pen,  would  to-day  be 
of  priceless  value  as  a  relic  of  pioneer  railroading,  and  a 
printed  copy  of  one  would  be  of  scarcely  less  intrinsic  worth 
as  a  curiosity  in  the  history  of  railroad  operating,  but  not  one 


of  either  is  in  existence.  The  oldest  handbills  announcing 
changes  in  the  running  of  trains  on  the  Erie  and  giving 
information  as  to  passenger  rates  and  regulations,  that  the 
author  has  been  able  to  find,  were  issued  in  the  spring  of 
1S47.  Older  than  that  by  two  years  is  the  freight  schedule 
he  unearthed,  which  was  issued  in  June,  1S45.  Thev  are 
both  reproduced  in  facsimile  on  pages  375  and  3S1.  Any- 
thing rarer  than  these,  in  this  day  of  relics  of  pioneer 
railroading  on  the  Erie,  it  would  be  impossible  to  obtain. 
They  will  appeal  with  peculiar  interest  to  traffic  managers  in 
this  advanced  age  of  transportation  science,  fixing  indisputably 
on  the  records,  as  they  do,  the  ideas  of  those  early  directors 
of  Erie's  operating  departments  as  to  the  best  methods  and 
plans  for  conducting  railroad  traffic  according  to  the  lights 
they  had,  and  to  popularize  the  railroad  and  make  business 
for  it.  The  schedule  of  freight  rates  for  1S45  is  peculiarly 
valuable,  as  showing  the  commodities  of  traffic  that  yielded 
the  early  freight  earnings  of  the  railroad.  The  Erie  has 
2,271  miles  of  railroad  now.  It  had  fifty-four  miles  when 
those  schedules  were  promulgated.  Even'  shipper,  and,  it 
may  almost  be  said,  every  passenger,  was  personally  known 
to  the  management  then — a  situation  now  hardly  possible  of 
belief. 

The  first  official  Erie  printing  office,  after  the  railroad  was 
opened  to  Goshen,  was  the  Goshen  Democrat  office,  and 
there  the  original  time-tables  and  announcements  of  the 
Company  were  printed.  The  work  was  done  on  a  hand-press, 
and  the  printer  was  Charles  Meade,  the  Democrat  being 
published  by  Meade  &  Webb.  In  1X50  the  Company  estab- 
lished its  own  printing  office  in  the  Erie  Building,  foot  of 
Duane  Street,  New  York,  and  Charles  Meade  was  called 
there  to  take  charge  of  it.  R.  C.  S.  Hendrie,  foreman  of  his 
( ioshen  office,  went  with  him.  Meade  remained  at  the  head 
of  the  printing  department  of  the  Company  until  the  death 
of  his  brother-in-law  and  partner,  Webb,  when  he  returned 
to  Goshen  to  take  the  affairs  of  the  Democrat  concern  in 


I  —  1 

Yi  4 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


hand.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  management  of  the  Erie 
printing  office  by  his  old  foreman,  Hendrie,  who  conducted  the 
establishment  until  it  was  sold,  in  December,  [874,  to  Lange, 
Little  &  Co.  ol  New  York.  No  better  work  of  the  kind  is 
done  to-day  in  any  modern  printing  office  than  these  early 
Erie  printers  executed,  ["he  report  to  the  stockholders  for 
)  pamphlet  of  180  pages,  issued  from  the  Erie  printing 
office,  is  a  particularly  fine  sp'e<  imen  of  press-work  and  supe- 
rior skill  in  difficult  typographical  execution,  ft  bears  the 
imprint,  "Press  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany, R.  C.  S.  Hendrie,  Printers."  David  D.  Osmun  was 
an  employee  of  the  original  Erie  printing  office  at  Goshen, 
and  put  in  type  some  of  the  very  first  Erie  time-tables.  He 
is  still  living  at  Chester,  N.  Y. 

fanuary  t,  1841,  in  anticipation  of  a  much  earlier  open- 
ing of  the  railroad  than  actually  occurred,  the  Company  began 
running  a  steamboat  from  the  foot  of  Cortlandt  street  to  the 
depot  at  Piermont.  "The  new  enterprise,"  said  the  news- 
paper announcement,  "  commences  with  the  steamer  'Utica,' 
under  the  command  of  Capt.  Alexander  H.  Shultz,  late  of 
the  steamer  '  Independence,'  on  the  Philadelphia  line,  than 
whom  there  is  not  a  more  capable  or  gentlemanly  commander 
on  our  waters.  It  is  intended,  in  connection  with  this  com- 
pany,  to  open  a  line  of  travel  to  Albany  this  winter.  When 
the  arrangements  are  all  completed,  passengers  will  leave  New 
York  in  steamboats  and  take  the  railroad  at  Piermont  to  Goshen, 
and  thence  to  Albany  by  stages,  by  which  route  the  difficult 
and  dangerous  travel  through  the  Highlands  may  be  avoided." 

The  first  official  Erie  time-table  ever  published  was  incor- 
porated with  the  announcement  of  the  opening  of  the  railroad 
0  G  shen.  The  late  A.  S.  Whiton,  then  a  clerk  in  the  office 
of  the  superintendent  of  transportation,  made  the  copies  of 
it  that  were  sent  to  the  newspapers,  from  the  original  schedule 
as  decided  upon,  after  long  consultation  at  the  Piermont 
offices  by  Superintendent  H.  C.  Seymour,  Superintendent  of 
Transportation  S.  S.  Post,  and  Alexander  Main,  who  was 
cashier,  paymaster,  and  auditor  of  the  Company.  The  sched- 
ule was  approved  by  the  President  and  Directors,  and  was 
as  follows  : 

THE   EASTERN   DIVISION 

OF    THE 

NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAIL  ROAD, 

Will  be  opened  for  freight  and  passengers  on  Thursday,  the  23d  of 
nber,  and  until  further  notice  the  trains  will  run  as  follows  : 

FROM  GOSHEN 

A  Passenger  Train-  Daily, 

except  Sundays,  leaving  the  Depot  at  7  A.M.,  and  stopping  at  any  of 
the  foil-  1  s  where  passengers  may  desire  to  be  left  or  taken 

up,  viz.  :  Chester,  Monroe  Village,  Turners,  Monroe  Works,  Ramapo 
station,  Sufferns,  Pascac,  Blauveltville,  and  Piermont,  arriving  in  the 
'Oal    I    tica,  at  New  York,  at  12,  M. 

A  Freight  Train  Tri-Weekly, 

leaving  the  depot  at  3  I'M.,  on  Mondays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays, 
stopping,  if  required,  at  Chester,  Monroe  Village,  Seaman-ville, 
Turners,  Works,  Ramapo  station,   Sufferns,   Pascac,  (.urn- 

bush,  Blauveltville,  and  Piermont,  arriving  at  New  York,  by  the 
Company's  st        1         m    fn    jhl  barges,  al  10  P.M. 


FROM   NEW  YORK. 

A    PASSENGER   Train   Daily, 

excepting  Sundays,  leaving  the  foot  of  Albany  St..  in  the  steamboat 
Utica,  Captain  A.  II.  Shultz,  at  8  A.M.,  and  arriving  in  Goshen  at 
1    P.M. 

A  Freight  Train  Tri-Weekly, 

leaving  the  foot  of  Cedar  street,  at  4  P.M.,  on  Mondays,  Thursdays 
and  Saturdays,  and  arriving  at  Goshen  at  10  l'.M.  Stopping  places 
the  same  as  in  the  trains  from  Goshen. 

Passengers  by  the  morning  trains  are  informed  that  no  breakfast 
will  be  furnished  on  the  boat  or  on  the  road.  They  are  requested  to 
purchase  tickets  before  taking  seats  in  the  cars,  as  all  persons  from 
New- York,  or  from  any  depot  where  tickets  are  sold,  will  be  charged 
as  way  passengers,  if  they  neglect  to  purchase  tickets  before  taking 
their  seats. 

For  freight  or  passage,  inquire  at  the  Company's  dock  in  New 
York,  at  the  foot  of  Albany  street,  or  at  the  various  depots  along  the 
route. 

II.  C.  Seymour, 
Superintendent  and  Engineer  East.  Division, 
New  York  &>  Erie  Railro 


This  was  a  modest  announcement,  and  it  was  not  entirely 
satisfactory  to  Seymour  and  Post.  It  did  not  seem  to  be 
comprehensive  enough,  so  they  went  into  earnest  consulta- 
tion again,  and  produced  the  schedule  and  accompanying 
paragraphs  of  instruction  to  the  public  as  shown  below.  It 
appeared  one  week  after  the  opening  of  the  railroad  to 
Goshen  : 

THE  EASTERN   DIVISION 

OF    THE 

NEW7   YORK   &    ERIE    RAIL-ROAD 

Is  now  open  for  freight  and  passengers  and  until  further  notice  the 
trains  will  run  according  to  the  following 

NEW  ARRANGEMENT: 

FROM  GOSHEN. 

A    Passenger    Train    Daily, 

except  Sundays,  leaving  the  depot  at  7  A.M.,  and  stopping  at  any 
of  the  following  places  where  passengers  may  desire  to  be  left  or  taken 
up,  viz. :  Chester,  Monroe  Village,  Turners,  Monroe  Works,  Ramapo 
station,  Sufferns,  Pascac,  Blauveltville,  and  Piermont,  thence  by  the 
Steamboat  Utica,  Capt.  A.  H.  Shultz,  to  New  York,  landing  at  the 
foot  of  Albany  street. 

'FROM    NEW  YORK. 

A  Passenger   Train   Daily, 

excepting  Sundays,  leaving  the  foot  of  Albany  St.,  in  the  steamboat 
Utica,  Captain  A.  H.  Shultz,  at  S  A.M.,  and  proceeding  immediately 
on  the  arrival  of  the  boat  at  Piermont,  to  Goshen,  stopping  at  the 
above-named  places. 

A   Freight    &    Passenger    Train, 

daily  (Sundays  excepted,)  will  leave 

GOSHEN 

at  3  o'c  P.M.,  stopping  at  Chester,  Monroe  Village,  Seaman-ville, 
Turners,  Monroe  Works.  Ramapo  station,  Sufferns,  Pascac,  (Ireen- 
bush,  Blauveltville  ami  Piermont.  Thence,  (on  Mondays,  Tuesdays, 
Thursdays,  and  Fridays.)  by  steamboat  Union  and  barges  to  New- 
York,  landing  at  the  foot  of  Chambers  St.,  and  on  Wednesdays  and 
Saturdays  bvthesteamboat  Utica,  touching  at  the  foot  of  Chambers 
street,  where  all  market  freight  will  be  delivered  on  board  the  barges. 

FROM    NEW    YORK. 

I. eaving  the  foot  of  Chambers  street,  on  Mondays,  Tuesdays, 
Thursdays  and   Fridays    in    the  steamboat  Union,   and    the   foot   of 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


375 


5/' 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


street  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays,  in  the  steamboat  L'tica. 
Stopping  places  the  same  as  in  the  trains  from  Goshen. 

Passengers  by  the  morning  trains  are  informed  that  no  Breakfast 
will  be  furnished  in  the  boat  or  on  the  road.  They  are  requested  to 
purchase  Tickets  before  taking  seats  in  the  cars,  as  all  persons  from 
New  York,  or  from  any  1  >epot  when-  Tickets  are  sold,  will  be  charged 
as  Way  Passengers  if  they  neglect  to  do  so.  ] 

For  Freight  or  Passage,  apply  at  the  Company's  Transportation 
office,  at  the  corner  of  Liberty  and  West  streets,  near  the  Albany 
|  of  the  Depots  along  the  route. 

It  is  indispensably  requisite  that  all  freight  intended  to  be  forwarded 
the  same  day,  should  be  at  the  I  lepot  at  least  one  hour  previous  to  the 
starting  of  the  trains. 


Returning,  leave  New  York — ■ 

First  train  at  7     o'clock,  P.  M. 
Second  do.     5^       "       A.  M. 

Fare  through  (for  this  day  only),  Si. 00. 

Passengers  by  the  morning  train  from  Goshen,  will  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  witnessing  the  opening  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct  and  other 
civic  festivities. 

£3^™  The  Goshen  and  Mount  Hope  Bands  will  accompany  the 
morning  train  from  Goshen,  and  return  in  the  evening  train  from 
New  York.  H.  C.  Seymour,  Sit//. 


PASSENGER   CHARGES. 

FIRST   CLASS   CARS. 
From  Goshen  to  Chester,  &  vice  versa     So.  12^ 


• 

Monroe,         "        " 

0.25 

' 

Turners,        "        " 

o-37i 

1 

Monroe  Works,     " 

O.02i 

' 

Ramapoo, 

1. 00 

' 

'              Suflferns, 

1. 00 

' 

Pascac, 

I. 12* 

' 

'              Blauveltville,         " 

1-25 

' 

Piermont, 

1.25 

"               New-York,             " 

I.50 

SECOND    CLASS    CARS. 

From  Goshen  to  Chester,  cV  vice  versa 

So.  IO 

'         "               Monroe,       "         " 

0.20 

Turners, 

O.25 

Monroe  Works,     ' 

O.50 

Ramapo  &vicinity" 

O.62  J 

'         "              Sufferns, 

0.75 

Pascac, 

o.So 

'         "               Blauveltville, 

0.87* 

Piermont, 

0.87J 

' 

New- York, 

1. 00 

II.  C.  Seymour, 

Superintendent  ami  Engineer  East.  Division. 
New   York  &=  Erie  Railroad. 


Albany  Street,  New  York,  extended  from  Greenwich  Street 
to  the  North  River,  between  Thames  and  Carlisle  (now 
Rector)  streets.  Albany  Basin  was  the  river  between  Albany 
Street  and  Cedar  Street. 

Trains  were  run  by  this  schedule  until  December  30,  1841, 
when  the  "  Winter  Arrangement "  was  made.  It  had  been 
discovered  that  there  was  not  business  enough  for  a  daily 
freight  train,  and  it  was  reduced  to  tri-weekly  trips,  leaving 
"  each  termination  on  Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays, 
at  about  the  same  time  as  the  passenger  trains."  The  rates 
of  fare  remained  the  same. 

The  running  of  cheap  pleasure  excursions  over  the  Erie  is 
to-day  a  feature  of  its  passenger  traffic,  and  a  profitable  one. 
Nearly  sixty  years  ago  (1842),  the  first  experiment  in  this 
class  of  special  passenger  business  was  tried  on  the  Erie,  per- 
haps the  first  experiment  of  the  kind  on  any  railroad.  The 
announcement  for  this  initial  pleasure  excursion  was  as 
follows  : 

FOURTH  OF  JULY ! 

NEW'   YORK   &   ERIE    RAILROAD. 

Two  trains  of  Passenger  Cars  will  leave  Goshen  for  New  York, 
July  4th,  starting  as  follows  : 

First  train,  at  6    o'clock,  A.  M. 
Second  do.       4$  o'clock,  P.  M. 


This  first  opportunity  for  the  people  along  the  line  to  have 
a  cheap  trip  to  and  from  the  metropolis  on  a  particularly 
interesting  and  memorable  occasion  was  not  taken  advantage 
of  with  an  enthusiasm  that  warranted  the  Company  in  trying 
any  further  experiments  in  special  pleasure  excursions  at  that 
period  of  its  existence,  for  two  cars  were  all  that  were  neces- 
sary to  carry  the  excursionists,  including  the  bands.  There 
were  not  more  than  100  persons  aboard.  This  pioneer  Erie 
pleasure  excursion  train  was  in  charge  of  Eben  E.  Worden, 
conductor.  The  engineer  was  James  Newell.  The  locomo- 
tive was  the  "Ramapo"  (No.  3). 

During  1842  but  little  change  was  made  in  the  running  of 
trains,  except  that  the  New  York  terminus  was  removed  from 
Albany  Street  to  the  foot  of  Duane  Street,  and  daily  trips  of  the 
freight  trains  were  resumed.  The  "  Winter  Arrangement," 
made  December  12,  1S42,  announced  that  the  cars,  on  and 
after  that  date,  would  "  run  in  connection  with  the  steamboat 
'Arrow'  (Capt.  A.  H.  Shultz),  daily  except  Sunday."  The 
freight  train  was  again  made  tri-weekly,  leaving  "  the  foot  of 
Duane  street  Tuesday,  Thursday,  and  Saturday  of  each  week 
at  3  o'clock  p.m.,''  and  departing  from  Goshen  "  on  the  sime 
days,  at  8 %  a.m."  From  the  time-table:  "N.B. — A  sub- 
stantial Ice  Boat  will  be  in  readiness  for  use  whenever  the 
state  of  the  river  shall  require  it.  The  Western  Stages  con- 
nect with  the  Cars  at  Goshen." 

Before  the  Erie  was  opened  to  Goshen,  travel  between  New- 
York  City  and  the  West,  particularly  for  that  then  almost  un- 
known land  of  attractive  nomenclature,  "  the  Lake  Country," 
was  by  stage  coaches  from  New  York,  via  Hoboken,  thence 
across  the  State  of  New  Jersey  to  the  Delaware  River,  a  mile 
below  Milford,  Pa.  The  river  was  crossed  by  ferry,  and  at 
Milford  the  route  was  over  the  Milford  and  Owego  Turnpike, 
across  the  northeastern  corner  of  Pennsylvania,  much  of  the 
way  through  the  wilderness,  to  the  State  of  New  York  again, 
and  Owego,  whence  other  coach  connections  carried  the 
traveller  on  toward  his  destination.  Passengers  for  this  line 
were  booked  at  the  Commercial  Hotel,  kept  by  John  Patton, 
at  the  foot  of  Cortlandt  Street,  or  at  John  Ball's,  foot  of 
Barclay  Street,  New  York.  They  took  the  ferry  to  Hoboken, 
whence  stages  departed  from  Van  Buskirk's  Hotel  ev^ry 
Tuesday,  Thursday,  and  Saturday  at  a  a.m. 

The  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Goshen  made  that  place  for 
the  time  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  through  coach  lines,  and 
also  brought  into  existence  a  project  for  improving  travel  be- 
tween New  York  and  Albany,  as  indicated  by  the  following 
announcement : 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


377 


NEW  YORK  AND  ALBANY  STAGE    LINE. 

ON    BOTH    SIDES    NnKIII    RIVER. 

Office  at  the   Old  Stand,    Western   Hotel,   9   Courtlandt  Street. 
Fare  $6. 

The  line  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  is  from  New  York  to  Pier- 
mont  on  Steamboat  "  l.'tica,"  from  Piermont  to  Goshen  by  the  railroad, 
and  thence  to  Albany  by  stage. 

Passengers  by  this  line  may  leave  New  York  any  morning  (Sundays 
excepted)  at  8  o'clock,  and  arrive  in  Albany  next  morning  by  9. 

This  is  the  shortest,  quickest,  and  cheapest  route  to  Albany.  The 
railroad  cars  are  large,  commodious,  and  warmed  by  stoves. 

The  line  on  the  East  side  will  be  by  steamboat  daily  as  far  as  the 
ice  will  permit.  E.  Beai  11. 

$W  Passengers  for  Newburgh  and  Paltz  may  secure  passage  at 
this  office  by  steamboat  and  railroad  to  Turner's,  16  miles  this  side  of 
Newburgh,  where  stages  will  be  in  readiness  to  convey  them  to  the 
above  named  places. 

New  York,  Dec.  25,  1841. 

This  project,  however,  did  not  prove  to  be  a  success. 

As  the  railroad  slowly  advanced  westward,  the  stage-coach 
terminals  at  the  eastern  end  moved  with  it,  until  the  line  was 
at  last  opened  to  Binghamton  in  1.S49,  when  stage-coach 
travel  from  the  east  to  the  "  Lake  Country"  became  a  thing 
of  the  past,  and  the  romantic  days  of  travel — romantic  de- 
spite its  delays,  discomforts,  and  hardships — are  now  but  a 
memory,  and  a  living  memory  to  but  few,  for  the  ante-railroad 
days  were  a  long,  long  time  ago.  The  genius  of  that  long- 
forgotten  time  is  pathetically  expressed  in  the  following 
poem,  written  more  than  a  generation  ago  by  the  late  Peter 
Wells,  of  Port  Jervis,  X.  Y.,  and  inspired  by  the  passing 
away  of  the  stages  that  was  made  necessary  by  the  coming 
of  the  Erie  cars  : 

THE  OLD  STAGE  COACH. 

The  good  times  when  our  fathers  rode 

In  safety  by  the  stage. 
Have  passed  before  the  onward  march 
Of  this  progressive  age  ; 

And  now  no  goodly  coach-and-four 
Draws  up  beside  the  stage-house  door. 

How  rang  the  laugh,  the  jest,  and  joke, 

As  ill  together  rode, 
Coached  up  in  friendly  jollity 
Like  boys  of  one  abode  ; 

The  weary  miles  seemed  shorter,  then, 
As  thus  we  rode  o'er  hill  and  glen. 

Full  half  the  pleasure  of  the  way 

Was  appetite  and  fare — 
This  gathered  from  "  mine  host's"  full  board, 
That  from  the  mountain  air. 

O  !  then  we  went  life's  flowery  ways  ! 
They  ended  with  our  staging  days. 

O,  that  was  music  !  when  at  morn, 

As,  winding  round  by  yon  old  mill, 
The  driver  blew  his  sounding  horn, 
And  echo  answered  from  the  hill. 

Now.  echoing  horn  nor  prancing  team 
Is  heard  amid  this  age  of  steam. 


But  drawn  beneath  some  sheltering  shed 
The  old  stage-coach  m  \  ands  ; 

Its  curtains  flapping  in  the  wind — 
The  ghost  of  ruin's  waving  hands  ; 

While  on  the  wheels  the  gathering  rust 
Proclaims  the  mortal,  "  dust  to  dust." 

While  in  the  fields  their  scattered  bones, 

Or  on  the  common  turned  to  die  ; 
Their  "  trips"  all  o'er — their  "  routes  "  all  run — 
The  wheelers  and  the  leaders  lie  ; 
The  driver's  pride  and  labor  got 
And  he  "  like  one  who  stands  alone." 

In  the  time-table  adopted  April  3,  1843,  tne  naillc  traffic 

was  first  mentioned,  that  item  of  traffic  having  within  a  few 
months  become  so  important — an  entirely  new  commodity 
for  transportation,  as  it  was — that  it  had  commanded  distim  t 
attention.  "An  accommodation  line,"  the  new  sched 
announced,  "for  Passengers,  Milk,  &o,  will  also  be  run  daily, 
leaving  Goshen  at  6  p.m.,  and  the  foot  of  Duane  street  at 
7  a.m."  One  regular  passenger  train  still  served  to  transai  ' 
the  business  of  the  railroad. 

An  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  railroad  occurred 
the  last  week  in  May,  1S43.  This  was  the  making  public  of 
the  fact  that  the  line  would  be  opened  to  Middletown,  eight 
miles  beyond  Goshen,  the  following  week.  This  was  the  first 
official  time-table  between  New  York  and  Middletown  : 

NEW   YORK    ANT)    ERIE    RAILROAD 

EXTENDED   TO    MIDDLETOWN. 

(  )n  and  after  June  1st.  the  regular  trains  will  run  between  New 
York,  Goshen  and  Middletown  daily  (Sundays  excepted)  as  foil 

For  Passengers — Leave  New  York  (from  the  font  of  Duane  si 

at  3 '>  P.  M.,  by  steamboat  Arrow,  (apt.  A.  II.  Schultze,  taking 
the  cars  at  Piermont.  and  arrive  at  Goshen  at  B  '•  and  at  Middle- 
town  at  9  o'clock  P.  M. 

Returning — Leave  Middletown  at  6  A.  M.,  and  arrive  at  New  York 
at  11  A.  M. 

An  accommodation  line  for  Freight  and  Passengers,  leaves  New  York 
as  above  at  6  A.  M.,  and  arrives  at  Goshen  at  12  o'i  loi  k,  noon, 
and  at  Middletown  at  1  o'clock,  P.  M.  Returning,  leave  Mid- 
dletown at  5',   1'.  M.,  and  arrive  in  the  city  at   12. 

FOR  Freicht — Leave  New  York  at  6  A.  M..  and  arrive  at  Middle- 
town  same  dav.  Returning,  leave  Middletown  at  1  P.  M.  and 
arrive  in  New  York  same  night. 

II.     I".     S|   \  M    ,1    |;.     Sup't. 

May  2$tk,   1  -  I 

The  railroad  was  tiot  opened  to  Middle-town,  however,  until 
June  7,  1843. 

In  the  time-table  that  went  into  effect  August  1.  1843,  it 
was  announced  that  "  the  fare  upon  the  passenger  lines  will 
be  reduced 

Between  New  York  and  Middletown  to  $1,23 

Goshen  '    1.12 

Chester  "     1,00 

14  Mon  95 

"  Turners  85 

"  "  Monroe  W'k's        75 

"  R.ni  60 

"  "  Mm  40 

"  Clarkstown     '  30 

"  "  Blauveltville  "  25 

"  *'  Piermont        "  20 " 


37' 


METWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


The  business  warranted  the  continuance  of  the  two  passen- 
ger trains.     Thus  the  time-table  : 

mger  Trains  will  leave    Middletown  daily  (Sundays  excepted) 

k  a.  in.,  and  at  5%  o'clock  p.  m.,  and  arrive  in   New  York 
at  II  a.  111.  and  about  12  at  night. 

The  steamboat  Arrow  will   leave  New  York  daily  (except   Sundays) 
1.  in.,  and  3 '.   p.  in.— Taking  the  cars  at   Piermont,  passen: 
al   Middletown  at  I  o'clock  p.  m.,  and  9  p.  m. 


reight  Trains  will,  as  heretofore.be   run  daily  (except   Sun- 

Middletown  at  1  o'clock,  p.  m.,  and  no  freight  except 

-  ill  be  taken  by  the  Passenger  train-.      Barges  will  be  taken  in 

boat  leaving   N.  York  at  6  o'clock  a.  m.,  and  from 

Piermont  to  N.  Y.  by  the  Evening  Passenger  boat. 


_  'Stages  for  Milford,  Honesdale.  Carbondale,  Binghamton  and 

Owego,  will  run  from  the  Cars  on  their  arrival  at  Middletown. 

schedule  was  changed  December  18,  1S43,  for  the 
■"Winter  Arrangement,  1843-4."  One  passenger  train  was 
taken  off  and  the  freight  line  made  tri-weekly.  The  "  freight 
cars"  were  advertised  to  leave  Middletown  at  10  a.m.  Tues- 
tnd  Thursdays,  and  at  2  p.m.  on  Saturdays.  The  pas- 
senger train  carried  the  milk  as  theretofore,  "leaving  both 
M  ddletown  and  foot  of  Duane  street  at  8  o'clock  a.m." 

I  luring  the  winter  of  1844  the  Company  made  great  prep- 
arations for  increased  patronage  against  the  opening  of 
spring.  The  first  time-table  for  that  season  was  issued  April 
1st,  for  the  "  Summer  Arrangement."  An  additional  passenger 
train  each  way,  daily  except  Sunday,  was  put  on  the  road. 
This  was  the  first  time-table  published  by  the  Erie  on  which 
the  hours  of  arrival  of  passengers  at  the  terminals  of  the  rail- 
road were  announced,  passengers  from  New  York  being 
scheduled  to  arrive  at  Middletown  at  12.30  and  9.30  p.m., 
and  those  from  Middletown  to  arrive  at  New  York  at  noon 
and  9  p.m. 

(From  the    Time-tabled) 

The  Company  have  placed  on  the  route  a  new  and  splendid  Steam- 
boat of  the  larger  class,  which  will  run  without  a  Barge,  and  exclu- 
sively in  connection  with  the  Passenger  trains,  enabling  residents  of 
the  country  to  remain  in  the  city  four  hours,  and  return  the  same  day. 

|[^~  Hours  of  receiving  Freight  in  New  York,  from  9  o'clock  a.  m., 
to  5  p.  m.  only. 

LINKS    OF    STAGES 

connecting  with  the  Railroad  at  Middletown, 

The    1  1  ine   for   Owego,  via.  Port  Jervis,   Milford,  Cherry 

Ridge,  Honesdale,  Carbondale,  Dundaff,   Lenox,  Brooklyn,  Montrose 

and  Friendsville  ;  leaves  Middletown  immediatelv  upon  the  arrival  of 

■rain  from  New  York.      Returning,  arrives  in  Middletown 

in  time  for  the  evening  train  for  New  York  at  4  p.  m. 

Middletown    and    Owego   Line,   via.    Bloomingburgh,    Wurtsboro', 

Alii'.-     Lake,    Bethel,    Fosters,    Cochecton,    Kileyville, 

Mount    Pleasant,    Gibson,    New    Milford,   Great   Bend,    Binghamton 

Middletown   at   5   a.   m.      Returning,  arrives  at 

Middletown  in  tin  evening  train  for  New  York. 

Pine  lor  Carbondale,  via.  Mount  Hope,  Otisville,  Cudde- 
backville,  Forestburgh,  Narrowsburgh,  and  Honesdale;  leaves  Mid- 
dletown on  Tuesdays,  ll:i:'  iturdays,  at  4  a.  m.  Return- 
ing on  Monday-,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  arrives  in  Middletown  at 
8  p.  m. 

Middletown  and  Milford  line,  via.  Ml.  Hope,  Port  Jervis  and 
Finchville,  leaves  Middletown  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays  and  Fri- 
day-, upon  the  arrhal  ol  the  morning  train  from  New  York.  Return- 
ing on  Tuesdays,  Thursdays  and  Saturdays,  arrives  in  Middletown  in 
time  for  the  evening  train  for  New  York  at  4  o'clock,  p.  m. 

The  above,  except  the  last  mentioned,  are  regular  mail  lines. 


The  business  of  the  railroad  was  governed  by  the  seasons 
in  those  pioneer  days,  and  November  18,  1844,  the  Company 
decided  that  one  regular  passenger  train  each  way  and  an 
accommodation  train  would  be  sufficient  to  do  the  passenger 
business  of  the  road  until  further  notice.  The  leaving  time 
from  New  York  was  fixed  at  8  a.m.,  and  from  Middletown 
at  6.30  a.m. — this  until  the  close  of  navigation  in  the  Hud- 
son River,  when  the  leaving  time  would  be  8  o'clock  a.m.  at 
both  terminals.  The  accommodation  train  was  run  in  con- 
nection with  the  freight  boats,  leaving  New  York  at  3  and 
Middletown  at  3.30  p.m.,  "until  further  notice,  or  the  close 
of  navigation." 

(From  the    Time-table.) 

For  Freight — Leave  New  York  at  3  o'clock  p.  m.,  and  arrive  in 
Middletown  the  next  afternoon.  Leave  Middletown  at  10  o'clock  a.  m., 
and  arrive  in  New  York  the  same  night,  except  during  the  close  of 
the  River,  when  it  will  arrive  in  New  York  about  noon  or  a  little  after, 
the  next  day. 

Live  stock  will  be  taken  only  on  Tuesdays,  Thursdays  and  Satur- 
days. The  special  rates  of  charges  advertised  April  1,  1S44,  will  cease 
on  the  close  of  the  River,  when  the  full  rates  of  toll,  as  published  July 
1,  1 S 4 3 ,  will  be  charged. 

HS^"  Freighters  will  take  the  same  days  as  heretofore,  and  have  their 
loading  ready  at  least  half  an  hour  before  starting  time. 

II.  C.   Seymour,   Superintendent. 

It  would  seem  that  competition  had  all  to  do  with  the  reg- 
ulation of  the  cost  of  railroad  transportation,  even  in  the  be- 
ginning, for  the  Erie  had  two  schedules  of  rates — one  marked 
low,  so  that  the  Hudson  River  navigation  (from  which  busi- 
ness was  largely  drawn  when  the  railroad  was  opened  between 
Goshen  and  the  Hudson)  would  have  no  advantage  over  it, 
and  the  other  based  on  the  principle  of  "  what  the  traffic  will 
bear,"  after  river  navigation  was  suspended  by  the  close  of 
the  river  by  ice. 

"  Freighting  "  was  a  business  peculiar  to  that  era  of  railroad 
communication  between  New  York  and  the  only  markets  then 
having  an  outlet  to  the  city  by  rail — Orange,  Pike,  Sussex, 
Rockland  and  Sullivan  counties.  "  Freighters"  were  a  class 
of  middlemen  who  transacted  business  between  the  farmer, 
the  railroad,  and  the  New  York  dealer  in  farm  produce,  and 
his  presence  in  the  traffic  was  the  beginning  of  the  great  com- 
mission business  of  New  York  to-day.  The  freighter  re- 
ceived, loaded,  and  took  to  New  York  all  kinds  of  goods 
placed  in  his  charge.  He  found  a  market  for  them,  sold 
them,  and  returned  the  proceeds  to  his  customers,  less  a 
commission.  He  hired  cars  of  the  railroad  company  for  his 
purpose,  and  was  independent  of  any  interference  on  the 
part  of  the  Company  in  the  loading  of  them.  These  cars 
were  in  charge  of  men  who  were  dignified  by  the  title  of 
Captain,  and,  indeed,  many  of  them  had  been  Hudson  River 
skippers,  whose  business  the  railroad  had  ruined.  Their 
headquarters  were  chiefly  at  Chester,  Goshen,  New  Hamp- 
ton, and  Middletown. 

The  first  freighters  to  appeal  to  the  public  for  business 
were  John  M.  Cash  &  Co.,  of  Goshen,  who  announced,  Octo- 
ber S,  1 84 1,  two  weeks  after  the   railroad  opened,  that  they 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


379 


were  ready  to  take  and  forward  all  kinds  of  produce  to  market 
by  the  New  York  and  Krie  Railroad,  sell  the  same,  collect  the 
iiiniiey  for  it,  and  settle  with  the  farmer  less  the  commission, 
fash  &  Co.  were  quickly  followed  by  others,  l'rominent 
among  the  pioneers  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Erie's 
freight  business  were  : 

At  Chester:  H.  Barnes  &  Co.,  Capt.  Cornelius  B.  Wood; 
Tuthill  &  Seelv.  Capt.  G.  L.  Roe  ;  Feagles  &  Leeds,  Capt.  W. 
H.  Leeds  ;   Yelverton  &  Thompson,  Capt.  William  B.  King. 

At  Goshen:  ('.  W.  Reevs,  Capt.  A.  S.  Trimble;  Sears  & 
Brown,  Capt.  Daniel  E.  Brown  ;  Jennings  &  Thompson,  Capt. 
James  W.  Thompson. 

At  New  Hampton  :  Dolson,  Dunning  &  Co.,  Capt.  G.  L. 
I  lolson  :  T.  B.  Denton  &  Co.,  Capt.  Nelson  W.  Hoyt. 

At  Middle  town :  Stacy  Beakes,  Capt.  D.  A.  Blake;  Cole- 
man &  Finch,  Capt.  George  Coleman;  S.  Denton  &  Co., 
(apt.  C.  J.  Stephenson. 

These  freighters,  or  some  of  them,  provided  pasture  orfeed 
for  cattle,  and  storage  for  grain  and  produce,  to  accommo- 
date drovers  and  distant  dealers  who  brought  their  live  stock 

roods  tn  Erie  stations  for  shipment.  'They  also  had  their 
own  freight  houses,  the  Railroad  Company  simply  being  trans- 
pi  hums.  All  this  business,  before  the  opening  of  the  railroad 
tn  Goshen,  had  its  common  shipping  centre  at  Xewburgh. 
It  was  drawn  from  as  far  as  the  Delaware  Valley  on  the  west, 
and  all  the  intermediate  country,  and  all  the  region  lying  in 
Sullivan  and  Ulster  counties  within  fifty  miles,  and  a  large  part 
of  Rockland  County.  The  farmers  ami  produce  dealers  carted 
their  goods  by  wagon  to  Xewburgh,  whence  it  was  carried  to 
market  by  the  Hudson  River  transportation  lines  that  made 
Newburgh's  importance  as  a  commercial  centre.  The  open- 
ing of  the  railroad  to  Goshen  cut  off  that  great  source  of 
trade  from  Xewburgh  and  Chester  and  Goshen  ;  and  later, 
Middletown,  Otisville,  and  Port  Jervis  became  the  points  of 
shipment  for  all  that  great  area  of  country.  For  a  long  time 
utter  the  railroad  was  put  in  operation  between  Piermont  and 
Goshen,  Xewburgh  produce  dealers  and  transportation  lines 
nude  desperate  efforts  to  divert  business  from  the  railroad 
and  the  freighters  by  sending  agents  through  the  producing 
i  ountry  to  buy  butter,  grain,  pork,  cattle,  and  whatever  went 
to  make  up  the  sum  of  the  freight  business,  at  prices  higher 
n  the  producers  would  net  through  the  freighters  and  the 
railroad.  Although  this  succeeded  in  taking  a  great  deal  of 
business  to  Xewburgh,  it  was  to  the  constant  financial  loss  of 
those  who  were  engaged  in  the  fight  against  the  railroad,  and 
was  at  last  abandoned  as  a  foolish  and  childish  attempt  to 
sustain  antiquated  methods  in  competition  with  the  advent 
nodern  and  progressive  ones  in  transportation. 

With  the  making  of  the  "  Summer  Arrangement"  for  1845 
the  additional  passenger  train  was  restored  to  the  service. 
The  Company  was  being  reorganized,  and  great  expectations 
were  indulged  that  work  in  pushing  the  railroad  on  its  way 
westward  was  soon  to  be  resumed,  it  having  been  in  suspen- 
sion ever  since  the  spring  of  1842.  The  public  was  informed 
by  the  time-table  that  "  the  new,  commodious,  and  fast-sailing 


steamboat  'St.  Nicholas,'  in  connection  with  the  passenger 
trains,  will  run  entirely  independent  of  the  barges  and  freight 
trains.  The  time  of  running  between  Middletown  and  Xew 
York  will  be  five  hours."  One  treight  train  was  run  daily  each 
way.  "  The  manifests  will  be  closed  at  the  time  specified  for 
leaving,  at  the  depots  above  named,  and  all  articles  entered 
for  transportation  after  these  hours  will  be  forwarded  next 
day,"  as  shippers  were  officially  notified  by  Superintendent 
H.  C.  Seymour. 

By  the  "  Winter  Arrangement  "  for  1845-6  one  regular  pas- 
senger train  was  taken  off  and  the  accommodation  train  put 
on  in  connection  with  the  freight  boats,  "  until  further  notice 
or  the  close  of  navigation  above  the  Highlands."  Shippers 
were  notified  that  no  one  could  ship  live  stock  except  on 
Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays.  April  r,  1846,  a  time- 
table containing  some  noticeable  announcements  was  adopted. 
The  fare  was  reduced  to  attract  travel  that  might  go  to  the 
Hudson  River  boats  at  Newburgh.  Two  passenger  trains  and 
a  freight  train  were  run  each  way  daily. 

(From  the  Time-table.') 

Breakfast  may  be  had  on  board  the  steamboat  by  passengers  leaving 
New  York  at  7  a.  m. ;  also,  Supper  and  Berths  on  the  evening  trip  to 
New  York. 

Tickets  to  New  York  can  be  purchased  at  the  several  offices,  and 
of  the  conductors  upon  the  trains  ;  and  Tickets  from  New  York  will 
be  sold  at  the  captain's  office  on  the  steamboat. 


Persons  who  do  not  procure   Tickets,  will    be   charged  as  way 
passengers,  at  rates  not  exceeding  21,  cents  per  mile. 


No  commutation,  either  by  the  yea*  or  quarter;  but  Tickets, 
not  transferable,  will  be  sold  at  reduced  rates,  by  the  several  ticket 
agents,  in  packages  of  \i,  24,  y.  Sx>i  with  the  names  of  the  persons 
to  whom  sold  inserted  therein. 

Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  no  General  Ticket  Agent 
in  charge  of  that  department  of  the  Company's  business,  but 
one  had  now  been  provided,  in  the  person  of  Henry  Fitch. 
As  will  be  seen  by  the  above  notes  to  the  time-table,  he  had 
begun  to  put  some  system  into  the  conduct  of  the  passenger 
business,  and  system  in  that  line  was  a  new  thing  in  railroad- 
ing, for  as  yet  the  freight  and  passenger  business  in  railroad 
traffic  had  not  been  governed  by  any  special  rules  apart  from 
each  other,  more  than  to  separate  the  earnings  from  each 
department  in  the  accounting  and  book-keeping.  Mr.  Fitch, 
as  the  first  General  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent  of  the  Erie, 
had  no  precedent  to  guide  him  in  formulating  a  system  out 
of  which  was  to  gradually  grow  ami  develop  the  stupendous 
machinery  required  to  conduct  the  passenger  business  of  the 
Erie  to-day,  and  was  obliged  to  originate  and  experiment. 

Henry  Fitch  was  educated  at  Yale  College.  In  1846  he 
was  a  preceptor  in  the  Academy  of  Coshen.  X.  Y.,  and 
retired  to  take  charge  of  the  Erie's  passenger  business.  He 
remained  with  the  Erie  until  185.^,  when  he  resigned  to 
11  1  ept  the  position  of  purchasing  agent  of  the  Louisville  and 
Nashville  Railroad.  He  subsequently  became  a  bridge  con- 
tractor, and  made  a  fortune.  This  he  increased  as  a  broker 
in  Wall  Street.  He  died  April  19,  1S95,  aged  76  years,  his 
death  following  by  a  few  hours  that  of  his  wife. 


38o 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


In  September,  1846,  Capt.  "Alec"  Shultz,  who  owned 
the  Hudson  River  steamboats  that  ran  in  connection  with 
the  trains  at  nt,  and  who  seems  to  have  been  a  man 

with  no  lerable  "  pull "  in  Erie  transportation  affairs, 

red  the  idea  of  an  excursion  over  the  railroad,  and 
the  river  and  ba)  to  Coney  Island,  then  a  sand  barren, 
except  at  its  northern  extremity,  whi  n  I  imous  clam  bakes 
were  served.  The  idea  meeting  with  the  approval  of  Super- 
intendent 11.  C.  Seymour  and  his  lieutenant,  S.  S.  Post,  the 
event  was  announced : 

TO    NEW    YORK    BAY. 

The  citizens  of  Orange  County  are  notified  that  arrangements  have 
been  made  for  an  excursion 

On  Thursday,  the  17'rn  inst. 

The  Excursion  Train  will  leave  Middletown  at  6  3-4  A.  M.,  and 
stop  at  New  Hampton,  Goshen,  Chester,  Oxford,  Monroe,  Turners, 
Monroe  Works.  Ramapo  Station  and  Monsey  ;  and  will  return,  stop- 
ping at  the  same  places,  about  the  usual  time  of  the  Regular  Evening 
nger  Train  up. 

The  steamer  will  proceed  immediately  down  to  Coney  Island, 
passing  the  Dutch  Fleet  of  War;  the  Quarantine;  the  Forti- 
11    \  1 1.  «  i  on  the  Narrows,  &<  . 

After  landing  at  Coney  Island,  now  well  fitted  for  the  reception  of 

visitors,  and    partaking   of  Clam   Chowder,  &c. ,  the  party  will  return 

v  of  the  new  channel  and  obtain  a   fine  view  of  Col,  Steven- 

son's  Ri  i.imi  si  ob  <  alifornia  Volunteers,  now  encamped  on  the 

shore  of  Governor's  Island. 

The  Boat  will  then  run  up  the  East  River  as  far  as  HuRLGATE, 
passing  near  the  Navy  Yard,  and  in  full  view  of  the  numerous  Ves- 
sels of  War,  now  there. 

The  proposed  trip  will  present  to  the  observation  of  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen  some  of  the  most  interesting  scenes  and  scenery  in  the 
world. 

Music  will  be  provided  on  the  Boat,  and  every  effort  made  to 
render  the  occasion  pleasant  and  joyous. 

Fare  for  the  excursion  only  One  Dollar. 

September  II,  1846. 

Like  its  predecessor  of  July  4,  1842,  this  early  Erie  pleas- 
ure excursion  was  not  a  success.  Only  about  200  persons 
were  attracted  by  the  features  of  the  occasion.  This  was  in 
a  great  measure  due  to  the  fact  that  the  horror  of  the  disaster 
that  had  befallen  an  excursion  party  on  the  railroad  only  six 
weeks  before  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  every  one  in  all 
the  country  then  tributary  to  the  Erie,  and  people  were  timid 
about  riding  on  the  cars,  particularly  on  such  an  occasion. 
This  disaster  was  the  first  serious  accident  in  the  history  of 
ilroad  and  it  had  carried  mourning  to  many  families. 
•) 

This  first  ( loney  Island  excursion  was  a  failure  in  more  re- 
[«'  ts  than  one.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these  was  the 
In  t  that  it  failed  to  go  to  Coney  Island.  A  former  resident 
oi  Goshen,  who  was  one  of  the  excursionists,  and  who  lives 
to-daj  11  9  1  to  tell  about  it,  had  such  little  faith  in  the 
sponsors  of  the  affair  that  he  declares  it  to  be  his  belief  that 
they  never  intended  that  the  excursion  should  go  to  Coney 
Island.     'I  1  which  was  the  "St.  Nicholas,"  went 

no  further  down  the  bay  than  the  Battery,  but  did  take  the 
excursionists  up  the  East  River  to  Hell  Gate,  where  she 
turned  immediately  and  sailed  back  to  the  Erie  pier  at  the 


foot  of  Duane  Street,  and  lay  there  from  2.30  until  4.30  p.m., 
when  she  started  for  Piermont.  The  train  arrived  at  Coshen 
at  9.30  p.m.,  "  the  band,"  says  this  surviving  excursionist  of 
indignant  memory,  "  making  a  last  effort  to  play  '  Home, 
Sweet  Home' — and  such  music!  Terrible!"  (Wilmot  M. 
Vail,  Port  Jervis,  X.  Y.) 


HENRY    FITCH. 

Work  on  the  railroad  was  resumed  toward  the  beginning  of 
1846,  and  when  the  next  time-table  of  the  Erie  appeared  it 
announced : 

THE   OTISVILLE    EXTENSION 

OF    THE 

NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAILROAD, 

will  be  opened   to   the  public  on  Tuesday,  November  3d.,  when  the 
following  change  ok  hours  will  be  made  : 

For  Passengers  : 

Leave    New  York    (foot   of    Duane    st.)  at  S    o'clock    a.m.,    and  4 

o'clock  p.m. 
Leave  Otisville  at  b\  a.m.,  and  3,\  p.m. 
Fare  between  New  York  and  Otisville,  $1.50. 

For  Freight  : 

Leave  New  York   at  5   o'clock,  p.m.,  and  arrive  in  Otisville  in   the 

afternoon  of  the  next  day. 
Leave  Otisville   at    11   o'clock,  a.m.  ;   Middletown  at  12  m.  ;  Goshen 

at  1    p.m.  ;  and   Chester  at    \\  p.m.  ;  arriving  in  New  York   same 

night. 

But  little  change  in  this  time-table  was  made  during  the 
winter,  except  that  a  "  through  "  freight  line  was  established 
between  Otisville  and  New  York,  running  Tuesday,  Thurs- 
day, and  Saturday,  and  stopping  only  at  Middletown,  Goshen, 
and  Chester.    A  way  freight  train  left  Otisville  at  "  7.45  a.m. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


38i 


on  Monday,  Wednesday  and  Friday,  arriving  at  Piermont  the 
same  day,  and  New  York  the  next  day."  Freight  was  re- 
ceived on  board  the  barges  "Samuel  Marsh"  and  "Henry 
Suydarn,  Jr." 

In  March,  1847,  the  first  time-table  ever  published  by  the 
Erie  giving  schedule  time  for  trains  at  all  stations  was  issued 


milk  trains  being  authorized  to  "  take  along  and  deliver" 
certain  articles  of  merchandise  at  an  advance  in  the  regular 
rate.  The  question  of  the  right  of  passengers  to  carry  par- 
cels and  bundles  into  the  cars,  which  has  only  within  the  past 
year  or  two  disturbed  the  amicable  relation  of  suburban  pa- 
trons with  the   railroads  on  which  they  travel  to  and  from 


mm 


THE  SPRING  ARRANGEMENTS  OF  THIS  LINE  WILL  COMMENCE  ON 

SHAY,  • 

APRIL  1st,  when  the  Cars  and  Boats  Hill  run  as  follows : 


1'or   l>  WW  \<.l  I.S: 


at  7  o'clock  A.  M  and  4  o'clock  P.  M. 
5P.M.    MTDDLETC WN  at  6  1-2  A.  M.  i  6  1-2  P.  M. 
'6"      CHESTER  "71-4     "      &  6 1-4     " 


Leave  NEW- YORK  P 
Leave  OTISVTLLE  at  6  A.M.: 
"    OOSHEN '•--<••>-     7    "&■ 


FREIGHT: 


every  day    >  >■[•  Bufcji  at  S  o'clookP.  H. 
DLETOWT*  11*.  OOSHEN  12i  and  CHESTER  at  1  o'olook  F.  M. 


.  MAY  H 


A  change  will  bo  made  in  the  time  of  leaving  Otisrille  for  New  York  by  the  Passenger  Trains. 

SUMMER  ftRRAlVGEMENT 

WUI  go  raw  opcnuoo.  tod  *3  aMfei  separation  of  toe  PASSENOEB  and  MILK  Trtinj  "U  ta  «rff«t«l 

Trains  lor  New  York  will  then  leave  as  follows: 


FOR   PASSENOERS: 


Ou.O.:. 


I*."  MuDfUB, 


M.  and  1  1'.  P  M. 
-     •    4  23      - 

-  «  40 

-  4  :j 

-  6  » 
"  ft  18 

-  &  » 
■•  6  38 
■  ft  U 

06 


U,v>  Wort*  (■   Ji       •       •     fi  OS       ■■ 

*n  *.   M.  a= J  -    -  f  H  E—^.-  Works  ?   I!   *    M  W  <   S  P  SI 

'■'-        -     6  X,    *  Uamri  •  906*  -     '   '-'     - 

10      "        -     &  56     *  Clrt*rtD  9  16     -  *    7  06     • 

3D      ■      *    7  16    •  PvnnoM  9  40    -  •    7  26    * 


■Yen  tUmpioo 

CoablD. 

Oiurtul), 

Ckuw, 


FOB  MILE: 

sniHudooriL 
a  •»  - 

6  00   ■ 

6  12    - 


E  B 

I 
(,  v. 

i,  :■■ 
1  OS 

7   It 


€  »  ■ 

6  *S  » 

6  56  * 

70»  ' 

7  l»  ' 


7  2".  AKtod?  25  •  M.     MrwwWoAs.7  3R  A- U  and  7  X  P  H. 


mff  in  New  Y&rfc  I 


e  10  ■  -  e  io 

Spn«|  Vittrf.  6  40    "  "  8  40    ' 

PtcrBaM,  9  10    "  "  9 10    ' 

30  A.M.  ai,.H  OOaM. 


ie  Freight  Trains  and  the  Passenger  Trains  from  Sow- 

l  ark.  will  contioae  to  leave  at  tbe  time  stated  above.  The  return  Milk  Trains  will  leave 
Piermont  half  an  hoar  behind  the  Passenger  Trains,  and  wilt  take  along  and  deliver  at  the  a- 
bove  named  Depots  and  Station*,  all  the  Packages,  Parcels  and  light  articles  of  Freight,  which 
may!  be  regularly  marked  and  directed,  and  put  in  charge  of  tbo  Agents  of  the  Company  for 
that  purpose.  Freight  Ac.  by  this  line  will  bo  charged  25  per  cent  in  addition  to  tbe  regular 
advertised  rales      j 

r  "No  Freight.  Box**/;?  T^unkf,  «zo«pt  Baggage  oonjletLDg  of  Wearing  apparel,  ud nob  article*  a*  outom  nsiully  permit*  to 

lOOlba  tf  vt^-tung  m*.  ,hi&^«  lb.-    If  w*^b.t<  leu  law  *»  He.  e  cfcup  e(  i&  cole  wia  be  nude.    Ver  tectum,  relabel  to  Oneb,  dt_  eeqoj,  ofS.  S  Peer,  Sept  Truupor- 


t  WEBS, 


H.  C.  SEYMOUR,  Superintendent.. 


PHnVTEBS... Democrat  a  Whig  Oflce,  OoaheD. 


FACSIMILE  OF  OLD  ERIE  TRAIN  SCHEDULE,   ONE-QUARTER  SIZE  OF  ORIGINAL. 

GOSHEN,  N.  Y. 


ORIGINAL  LOANED  BY  FRANK  DRAKE,  ESQ., 


in  the  form  of  a  handbill.  This  is  historically  very  valuable, 
and  is  reproduced  in  facsimile  as  above.  As  will  be  seen, 
by  this  arrangement  "  an  entire  separation  of  the  passenger 
and  milk  trains  "  was  effected,  thus  fixing  the  date  when  the 
milk  traffic  had  assumed  proportions  demanding  distinct  at- 
tention from  the  Company.  This  time-table,  also,  would  seem 
to  mark  the  beginning  of  the  railroad  express  business  on 
the  Erie,  as  indicated  by  the  paragraph  relating  to  the  return 


their  homes,  the  right  being  disputed  by  the  companies,  was 
very  positively  denied  by  this  Company  half  a  century  and 
more  ago,  as  witness  the  testimony  to  that  effect  by  this  rare 
and  incontrovertible  witness  from  the  pioneer  days  of  rail- 
roading on  the  Erie. 

The  next  event,  the  importance  of  which  finds  no  demon- 
stration in  the  cold  record  of  the  time-tables,  was  this : 


382 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


NEW  YORK  &  ERIE  RAILROAD 

EXTENDED    I" 
PORT     J  E  R  V I  S  . 

WIN  I  IK  ARRANGEMENT. 

Until   further   notice,  the  different  trains   will  run  once  each  way 
daily,  [except  Sundays]  as  follows  : 

For  Passengers  : 

1  eave  New   Vork,  by  steamboat,  [Foot  Duane 
street]  at  ~\  o'clock  A.M. 
"      Otisville,  7 

Middletown,  7^ 

"       Goshen,  7l 

"       Chester,  8 

stepping  each  way  at  the  several  intermediate  passenger  stations. 

J®"  No  Packages,  Parcels,  Trunks,  (or  baggage  except  personal, 
consisting   of   clothing,  not   exceeding  50  lbs.)  will  be  taken  by  the 
jer  Heat  or  Trains,  unless  by  special  agreement  and  payment 
made  in  n  which   case  the  charges  will  be  at  the  discretion 

of  the  Agent,  not  exceeding  double  the  published  Freight  rates. 
Applications  in  New  Vorkmustbe  made  to  Mr.  J.  F.  <  larkson,  agent, 
.11  the  office  on  the  Pier  at  the  foot  of  Duane  St.,  upon  which  receipt 
articles  will  be  received  upon  the  steamboat  and  forwarded  by  the 
Passenger  train.  The  Company  will  be  responsible  for  no  article 
1  sent  by  the  1'assenger  Boat  or  Trains,  unless  it  be  receipted 
foi  b)  an  agent  duly  authorized  ;  except  personal  baggage  which  is 
put  in  charge  of  the  Baggage  Masters. 

For  Freight  : 

New  Vork,   at   3   o'clock   P.M.,    per   Barges    Samuel  Marsh, 
Henry  Suydam,  Jr.,  and  Dunkirk. 

Leave  Port  Jervis  at  7  o'clock  A.M.,  Otisville  at  8,  Middletown  at  gl, 
Goshen  at  io$,  and  Chester  at  11. 

\\    VCCOMMODATION  &  MILK  TRAIN 

will  run  in  connection  with  the  steamboat  which  tows  the  Freight 
Barges,  leaving  New  Vork  at  3  o'clock  P.M.  and  ordinarily  arriving 
at  Piermontin  time  for  the  train  to  start  from  6  to  7  o'clock  for  Port 
[ervis  and  all  the  intermediate  stations.  Leave  Port  Jervis  at  il 
P.M.,  Otisville  at  2,  Middletown  at  2|,  Goshen  at  3,  Chester  at  3!, 
Turners  at  4,  Monsey  at  5  o'clock,  and  arrive  at  Piermont  at  6  o'clock 
P.  M  ;  thence  leaving  for  New  Vork  by  a  comfortable  steamboat,  as 
is  the  milk  is  put  on  board  and  the  barge  is  in  readiness. 
Good  Berths  will  be  provided  on  board  at  25  cents,  and  Meals  at  37^ 
cents  each. 

N    B.  —  Persons  having  articles  lost,  damaged  or  unnecessarily  de- 
are  requested  to  communicate  the  fact   in  writing  immediately, 
in   S,  S.  Post,  Superintendent  of   Transportation   office  at  Piermont, 
lii  1  1  her  information,  enquire  of  the  several  Depot  Agents,  the  Supt. 
Transportation,  or  the  undersigned. 

II.   C.    Seymour,    Superintendent. 

PIERMONT,  January   1,  1S48. 


Port  Jervis  was  the  terminus  of  the  Railroad  from  January, 
until  January,  1849,  when  the  line  was  opened  to  Bing- 
hamton.  The  only  change  made  in  the  running  of  trains 
during  that  time  was  the  putting  of  a  passenger  train  on  the 
line  between  Port  Jervis  and  Piermont,  January  8,  1848,  and 
a  second  one  Man  h  1,  1848.  One  left  Port  Jervis  at  6  a.m. 
and  the  other  at  3  p.m.,  and  New  York  at  7  a.m.  and  4  p.m. 
The  milk  train  was  discontinued  in  March,  1848,  the  milk 
being  transported,  "until  further  notice,"  by  the  passenger 
trains,  morning  and  evening.  'lite  milk  trains  were  put  back 
May  1st  foil  wing,  one  leaving  I'ort  Jervis  in  the  morning  and 
the  other  in  the  evening. 

A    coming  event    of   great    importance   to  the   Erie  was 


foreshadowed  in  the  fall  of  1848  by  this  announcement  in  the 
local  newspapers  : 

RAIL-ROAD  NOTICE. 

THE    PATERSON   ,Y   RAMAPO   RAIL-ROAD 

being  finished,  the  cars  will  commence  running  regularly  on  Wednes- 
day, the  1st  of  November,  leaving  New  Vork  by  the  Jersey  City  Ferry 
Boats,  foot  of  Cortlandt  street,  at  S  o'clock  A.M.  and  5  o'clock  P.M., 
and  Suffern's  Depot  (on  the  Erie  Rail-Road, )  on  the  arrival  of  the 
cars  which  leave  Port  Jervis  at  6  A.M.  and  3  P.M. 

The  Accommodation  Train 

will  leave  Suffern's  Depot  at  7  A.M.,  and  Cortlandt  st.  Ferry,  New 
Vork,  \  before  3  P.M. 

The  Train  to  and  from  Paterson. 
Leave  Paterson  at  8J  A.M.,  \\\  A.M.   and  3  P.M. 
Leave  New  Vork  at  9!  A.M.,  12A  P.M.  and  4P.M. 

Z3P  Passengers  are  requested  to  be  at  the  Ferry  five  minutes  previ- 
ous to  the  hours  of  starting. 

October  30,  1S4S. 

Not  that  such  an  event  was  unexpected,  for  the  Ramapo 
and  Paterson  Railroad  had  been  gradually  pushing  its  way 
from  Paterson,  N.  J.,  up  through  the  Paramus  Valley  toward 
the  Ramapo  Valley  for  three  years  or  more,  and  it  was  well 
known  that  there  was  nothing  to  warrant  the  expense  of  such 
an  undertaking  except  that  its  northern  terminus  would  be 
not  far  from  the  Erie's  track  at  Suffem,  and  that,  as  at  its 
southern  terminus  the  track  of  the  Paterson  and  Hudson 
River  Railroad  began  and  ran  directly  to  a  point  on  the 
North  River  opposite  New  York  City,  this  would  bring 
travellers  over  the  Erie  an  hour  nearer  the  city  than  the 
regular  Erie  route  via  Piermont  and  the  Hudson  River  boats. 
Naturally  the  projectors  of  the  new  railroad  argued  this 
would  divert  a  large  jrnrt  of  that  travel  to  the  Ramapo  and 
Paterson  line.  To  such  an  extent  was  this  expectation 
realized  that  the  sale  of  tickets  to  Suffern  at  Erie  stations 
increased  in  astounding  degree,  and  the  demand  for  tickets 
to  New  York  decreased  proportionately.  Although  the  rail- 
road was  then  in  operation  as  far  west  as  Port  Jervis,  the 
travel  that  left  the  Erie  at  Suffern,  to  make  the  rest  of  the 
journey  to  New  York  over  the  New  Jersey  line,  grew  to 
such  proportions  that  the  companies  operating  that  line 
were  in  a  short  time  warranted  in  improving  their  accom- 
modations, as  the  following  time-table  shows  : 

RAMAPO    &    PATERSON,   PATERSON   .V    HUDSON   RIVER 
RAIL-ROAD. 

Express  Trains 

Will  leave  the  Depot  at  Suffern  regularly  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Passenger  Trains  from  the  West,  and  reach  Jersey  City  in  about  one 
hour  from  the  time  of  departure. 

Returning, 

(until  further  notice)  will  leave  New  York,  foot  of  Cortlandt  street,  at 
8  o'clock  a.m.  and  5  o'clock  p.m. — always  arriving  at  Suffern  in  time 
to  meet  the  Passenger  trains  going  west  via  Piermont. 

These  trains  will  stop  at  the  following  places  only  :  Ramsey's, 
Hohokus,  Rock  Road,  Paterson,  Aquackanonk  and  Bergen. 

E3F"  Personal  baggage  conveyed  to  and  from  the  office  of  the  Com- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


583 


pany,  75  Cortlandt  St..  X.  V.,  free  of  charge.  Passengers  are 
requested  to  be  at  the  Ferry  a  few  minutes  before  the  hour  of  start- 
ing. 

December  14,  1S48. 

The  last  time-table  adopted  between  New  York  and  Port 
Jervis,  while  the  latter  place  was  the  western  terminus,  was 
dated  January  1,  1849,  and  it  did  not  show  that  any  very 
encouraging   growth   of    traffic   had   followed   the   railroad's 


above  line,  leave  the  foot  of  Cortlandt  street,  crossing  to 
Jersey  City,  one  hour  after  the  Erie  Railroad  boat  leaves 
Duane  St.,  and  arrive  at  Suffern's  in  time  for  the  Erie  cars 
going  west.  Those  coming  East,  can  leave  the  Erie  train  at 
Suffern's  Depot,  and  by  this  route  arrive  in  X.  V.  at  least 
one  hour  and  a  half  sooner  than  by  the  Erie  line.  The 
Ramapo  Cars  leave  Suffern's  immediately  on  the  arrival  of 
the   E.rie  train  coming  East,  and   always  arrive  from  New 


tfuiaa  tf&Qtka 


A.  93d,  4pril,  1849. 


NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAILROAD. 


•V©  Train    will  be  alloired   under  any   circumstances   to  leave   a  station  before  the 
time  specified  in  this   Tabic,  as   regulated  bu  the  Clock  at  the  Piermont  office. 


NA1IES  OP 

DEPOTS, 

8TATIO.N3   A.ND 

PiSSlXC  PUCES. 


EASTERN     TRAINS, 
Port  Jervis   to   New   York. 


freight  Trains.   MILK 

NIGHT.  I  [MY.  TK  AIN 


7   10 

7  04 

6  40 

6   14 


5  53"  1 


New  York 

Pier 

Piermont 

Blauvellville 

Clarktowo 

Spring  Valley 

Moasey      :  5  4- 

Sufferns       '  5  12 

Ramapo  VV'ks    S  00 

Ramapo  Sta'tn  *4   51 

Sloatshurg'   j  4  43 

>«4Iooroe  W'rks    4  iji 

..'    Turners  3  33 

Monroe 

Oxford 

Chester 

I    Gosben 

New  Hampton 

Howels 

Otisville 

Shin  Hollow 

Port  Jervis 


2 


PIssi;m;kr    THAI  vs. 


DEFOTS. 


WESTERN     TRAINS, 
New   York    to   Port  Jervis. 


W  *Y         THROUGH    AC  DA   N. 


PTATION9  A>D 


<  P1SS1K  PLACES. 


PASSENGER   TRAIVS.      MILK 


TliaoL'GU. 


1122 


o\ll  04 
10 


After'n 


7-tftr 


11  15    Is  00 

10  00      6  40 

9  56      G  3G 

946  6  24 
9  34   6  10  8  46 

9  '-'0'     603      8   33 
918''  5  S3      8  24 
y  03      5  36 
8  56      :   29 
8  54      5  27 
8  50  5   19 

59 

II 

33 

24 

14 

5s 

15 


Leaves 
Morn'g 


529 

WHcr 


New  *5fork 

Pier  I    8  30 

I     Piermont      <    8  34 

j   Blauveltville  ;    8  49 

GlarkstouQ     <J  Q{ 

Spring  Valley      9  1 2 

Monsey         918 

Sufferns      \    9  24 

Ramapo  W'ks     9  31 

Ramapo  Sta'tn     9  37 

Sloalsburg         9  40 

Monroe  W'rks  1004 

I  Turners 
Monroe 
Oxford 
Chester 
Goshen 
Nevy  Ha  mpton 


Leaves 
Morning, 


ac'mm'n.  TRAIN 


Leaves;  Leaves 
Afler'n.  I  After'n 

4  00" ~4 

5  30 
5  34 
5  46 

5  58 

6  03' 

6  11 
6  27 


Freight  Trains. 


ft 
DEPOTS, 


Leaves 
Morning. 


Leaves 
Even'g.i 


eiAnoss  asd 


P1SS1M  PtlCES. 


New  York 

Pier 
Piermont 


Howells 

Otisville 

Shin  Hollow 

Port  Jervis 


Leaves  Leaves    Leaves  Leaves  Leaves  Leaves 


Morning.  Morn'glMorn'g  After'n.  After'n 


10 

29 

10 

40 

1049 

11 

03 

" 

25 

11 

i" 

u 

58 

12 

13 

12 

30 

12 

49 

1  1 

00 

1122 

11     33 
11     43 

11  65 

12  12 


8  58 

9  13 
9  30 
9  49 

;10   00 


8  50' 10  31 
10  04  11  16 

10  44    11   56 
110412    14 

11  22  (12  34  J 

1155''  1  04 

12     40    1    50. 

2. 24 

2  54 

3  26 

3  56 

4  31 

5  06 


?   30 

7  40  ' 

8  13  j   lilauveltville 
'846''!   Clarkstowu 
19  11  Spring  Valley 
I  9  26  |.      Monsey 

|j  9  58  I       Sufferns 

!10  14  Ramapo  W'ks 

10  20  Ramapo  Sta'tn 


..a  14 

10  12 

1  43 

10  27 

2  20 

10  42 

3  00 

3  .30 

4  00 

Sloalsburg 
Monroe  W'rks 
Turners 
Monroe 
Oxford 
Chester 
Gosljen 

Middletown 

Howells 

Otisville 

Shin  Hollow 

Port  Jervis 


I  The  large  figures  shew  the  points  of  meeting  of  trains.     The  letter  P  is  added  where  the  expected  train  is  a  passenger  train. 

All  passenger  trains  going  East  are  entitled  to  the  road:.    Passenger  trains  going  West,  will  keep  out  of  the  way  of  the  Eastern  passenger  trains. 

When  engines  are  transferred'from  one  principal  station  to  another,  they  shall  follow  one  of  the  times  of  (his  table  and  be  subject  like  extra  trains  to  the 
directions  given  in  the  17lh  and  18th  clauses  of  ihe  Instructions. 

In  regard  to  gravel  trains  see  the  12th  clause  "f  the  Instructions.  & 

The  night  freight  trains  until  further  notice  will  leave  Piormool  on  Tuesday,  Thursdays  and  Salurdays,  and  will  leave  Tort  Jem's  for  Piermont  on  Mondays 
Wednesdays  and  Fridays.     They  will  only  be  put  on  the  road  when  necessary.  '  ' 


FACSIMILE  OF  ORIGINAL,    REDUCED   ONE-THIRD.      ORIGINAL   LOANED    BY    H.    A.    HORTON,    ESQ.,    OF  GOSHEN.    N.   V. 


extension  to  the  Delaware  Valley,  for  the  afternoon  pas- 
senger train  ami  one  milk  train  were  taken  off,  and  the  two 
combined  into  an  accommodation  train  to  run  in  connection 
with  the  freight  barge  from  Piermont,  leaving  Port  Jems  at 
4  P.M.,  and  New  York  at  the  same  hour.  But  the  railroad 
was  opened  to  Binghamton  about  that  time,  and  immediately 
after  that  the  Ramapo  and  Paterson  and  Paterson  and 
Hudson  River  Railroad  lines  informed  the  travelling  public 
that  "  travellers  going  West  by  the  Erie  Railroad  can,  by  the 


York  in  time  to  connect  with  the  Erie  train  going  west. 
Baggage  by  this  route  will  be  taken  to  and  from  the  R.R. 
Office,  No.  75  Cortlandt  st.,  free  of  charge.  X.  B. —  Bag- 
gage coming  East,  should  be  checked  to  Suffern's." 

The  facsimile  official  time-table,  as  above,  is  the  first  one 
issued  in  that  form  under  the  superintendence'  of  James  i'. 
Kirkwood.  This  one  was  for  the  Delaware  Division.  It  is 
peculiarly  interesting  as  a  memento  of  those  ante-telegraph 


384  BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


ma  a  w  a  id  @  w  a  p>  ca  a  a 

O o Or 

t 

1st. — No  train  must  under  any  circumstances  leave  a  station  before  its-time,  as  specified  in  the  Viine  Table. 

3d.*£-Ptssenger  trains  shall  not  wait  for  freight  trains,  but  all  Binghamton  passenger  trains  goingin  a  direction  from  Piermont,  will  keep  out  of  the  way  of  those 
going  towards  Piermont ;  and  passenger  grains  will  in  no  case  proceed,  where  another  passenger  train  Having  the  right  to  the  road  is  due,  until  a  message  has  been  ^e- 
from  'he  conductor  of  that  passenger  train. 

3d. — A  Binghamton  passenger  train  going  towards  Piermont,  will  wait  ten  minutes  at  a  station  fvhere  another  passenger  train  should  pass,  if  the  expected  train 

has  not  arrived  ;  it  may  then  proceed,  using  all  necessary  precautions.     It  will  also  proceed  cautiously]  when  running  in  the  time  of  a  delayed  freight  train,  until  that 

train  has  been  met.  ;  j  . 

4ih. — A  passenger  train  not  entitled  to  the  road,  will  not  proceed  towards  a  station  where  a  pass&igef  train  havin^he  precedence  is  expected  to  be,  unless  it  shaif 

be  able  to  arrive  five  minutes  before  the  time  of  leaving  of  the  latter  train. 

5th. — Freight  trains  will  to  all  cases  wait  for  passenger  trains,  and  for  milk  trains,  and  be  kept  entirely  out  of  their  way,  never  leaving  a  station  on  the  time  of  a 
passenceroi  milk  train,  unless  on  positive  information  received  from  it.  The  rate  bi  speed  is  twelve  miles  per  hour  for  freight  trains,  and  enginemen  of  freight  train* 
are  not  at  liberty  to  make  up  for  lelays  liy  increasing  the  speed  beyond  this  rate.  A  freight  train  whtchjis  up  to  time,  will  wait  twenty  minutes  at  the  proper  passing  place 
for  another  freight  train  which  nrny  be  delayed.  It  will  then  proceed  at  a  walk  keeping  a  man  ahead  *ith  a  proper  signal,  and  using  every  precaution  until  it  meets  the 
other  train  or  n  ■ounil      A  freight  train  which  is  behind  timeonrill  move  at  a  walk,  a^i  keep  a  man  ahead  with  a  red  flag,  or  red  lantern,  as  the  case 

may  be,  until  it  passes  the  coming  weight  train.     This  does  not  apply  to  passen^tr  trains,  a  freight  iraidPhever  being  on  the  road  in  the  time  of  a  passenger  train,  wiles* 
fi   A  li      >Dlk  trains  will  in  all  cases  wait  lor  passenger  trains — -but  wilftake  precedence  of  freight  trains.     The  rules  for  freight  trains 
milk  trains — unless  tyien  otherwise  specified.  -i 

Glh. — I  train,  or  a  freight  train,  the  conductor  shall  immediately  send  messengers  to  the -stations  on  either  side  of  him.  to  notify 

the  waj  he  shall  forward  a  written  message  with  the  least  practicable  delay  t*.  the  approacliJog  passenger  train, — he  shall  also  station  men  with  red  flags,  oq 

red  lantei  distance  on  either  side  oi  the  spot — he  shall  also  communicate  with  the  freight  train  detained  by  the  accident,  and  every  way  agent  or  other  officer 

on  ihe  road  w  ill  promptly  assist  the  conductor  in  lorwarding  the  necessary  information.     The  way  qfcents  at  the  stations  on  either  side  of  the  accident,  shall  make  i; 
their  business  in  notify  all  approaching  tfains.  , 

7ili  — ,\  red  flag  by  day.  and  a  red  lantern  by  night,  when  shown  or  swung  on  the  track,  are  Signals  of  danger,  on  seeing  which  the  engineman  will  stop  the 
trim      All  signals  violently  given  arc  alio  to  be  considered  signals  o\'  danger,  and  in  cases  of  uncertainly,  a  man  must  always  be  sent  forwards.  *    ] 

glh  —Every  engineman  in  approaching  a  road  or  switch,  should  move  at  a  moderate  speed,  andj-see  that  the  way  is  clear  before  he  reaches  it.     If  the  switch  bq 
i  to  be  right,  lie  should  stop  till  heis  I  I 

Oih — Enginemen  will  not  start  the  train  till  they  shall   be  diiectd 'by  the  conductor,  nor  until  the  bell  is  rung,  and  they  will  run  the  train  as  nearly  to' theif 
i  arriving  at  the  stations  too  soon,  nor  too  late  lor  the  business  usually  done  therti  i 

10th. — The  ei  held  responsil  le  that  theii^engmcs  are  neat  and  in  good  working  oiler  before  they  start,   that  their*  spark  arresters  and  wire-nef» 

dition,  ill  it  they  have  a  sufficiency^!  \vaodVnl  watoi  in  the  tender,  and  that  rheycue  otherwise  thoroughly  provided  for  the  work  which  they  hav« 
I        .  eman  will  not  only  attend  to  evw  v}sigiisi|  and  tojris  instructions,  but  he  willpe  vigilant,  and  cautious  while  on  the  road,  not  trusting  entirely 

to  signals  for  safety.  .       ^   *■  "   ■  J  b  } 

1 1  th  — ll  u  shall  be  found  impracticable  from-  any  irgprseeq  Qgnse  ft  r  a  freight  train  in  passing  from  one  station  to  another,  to  reach  the  station  to  which  it  « 
proceeding  in  season,  and  another  train  Is  expected,  ibeji  tl^j^Qiihieyn^ The* coining  tram  is  a  passenger  train,  will  cause  his  train  to  be  backed,  keeping  a  man  ahead, 
I  turn  "Ut.  and  (here  wait  the  passing  ol  the  ir^injferJWi'fto  the  road.     If  this  cunool  he  Hone,  or  if  the  expected  train^is  a  freight  train,  he  will  be  careful 
la  man  very  far  ahead  w  iih  a  flag  L>\  day,  or  a  laut,ern  byffiglH,  to  give  notice  of  his  approach,  hrt"3  the  engineman  of  the  train  -shall  not  proceed  if  these  precau- 
tions are  not  strictly  obsen  <  I  c*f;  :^|^  {•  *~. 

I2A j— The  engines  .of  gravel  lp[ns.  when  jcayin:^afr'en^T%  house  or  principal  station  for  the.'^vvork.  or  when  returning  to'lhe  same,  shall  always  take  the  time 
'  of  or'eol  the  regular' trains,  unless"Tne~s*ui  e^^iile^ffHi«ii#Wl*llll(eW-iH|!Mi1#,fti^i  jjuVd-A1 4h  w-Scr^kSaWSS*'  "-aiJ.-  >■->  ^iw4n- a^ ^f  f  -^  u yty'^  **>  or  from  it,  af^a.  WJ& 
using  the  greatest  precaution.  The  engines  ol  wood  trains  shall  lollow  the  same  rule  wherever  practicable — they  shall  never  be  on  the  road  within  twenty  minutes  W 
the  time  ol  any  of  the  regular  trains. 

13th. — Red  flags  or  red  lanterns  shall  always  be  placed  at  a  safe  distance  on  either  side  of  the  ground  where  gravel  trains  are  at  work,  and  a  man  shall  remain 
will,  them  wheneverit  is  advisable  for  safety.  The  engineman  of  the  gravel  train  shall,  as  well  as  the  conductor,  and  the  foreman  in  charge  of  the  repairs,  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  the  strict  observance  of  this  rule,  and  of  every  additional  precaution  which  particular  circumstances  may  make  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the  road.  ~ 
14th. — Trains  in  arriving  at  a  turn-out,  where  a  meeting  with  another  tram  is  intended,  will  enter  upon  the  nearest  end  of  the  turn-out,  under  all  circumstances-^ 
never  passing  ahead  with  the  view  of  backing  in  upon  it.  Freight  trains  when  meeting  passenger  trams  will  take  the  turn-out  if  practicable.  In  other  cases  trains  will 
keep  to  the  right. 

15ih. — If  freight  trains  are  at  any  time  obliged  to  keep  the  main  track  in  passing  passenger  trains,  a  man  with  a  flag  by  day  or  lantern  by  night,  will  be  always 
sent  in  the  direction  of  the  approaching  train,  to  give  suitable  warning  for  it  to  approach  carefully,  and  the  conductor  of  the  freight  train  will  see  that  the  switches  are 
right  for  the  passage  of  the  passenger  train. 

16th, — A  freight  train  must  not  leave  a  station  immediately  preceding  a  station  where  a  passenger  tram  is  expected  to  pass,  unless  it  shall  be  able  to  arrive  at  the 
latter  station  by  its  prescribed  rale  of  running,  (which  is  twelve  miles  per  hour)  ten  minutes  before  the  time  for  the  passenger  train  to  leave. 

17th. — When  a  regular  train  is  divided  into  two  or  more  distinct  trains,  a  red  red  flag  by  day  and  a  red  lantern  by  night,  will  be  exhibited  in  front  of  the  engines  of 
all  the  trains  except  the  last 

18th, — Red  lanterns  must  be  exhibited  at  night  in  the  rear  of  all'night  trains  and  of  all  the  day  trams  that  may  occupy  the  road  after  sunset.     No  excuse  will  bo 

d  lor  any  neglect  in  exhibiting  this  signal. 
19th — In  running  one  train  behind  another,  each  engineman  must  so  run  as  to  keep  the  train  ahead  of  him  out  of  sight — and  in  approaching  a  station,  particular 
;    will  be  used  so  to  slacken  the  speed  as  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  running  into  the  leading  train.     No  excuse  as  to  being  dece'ved  about  the  distance  will  be  re- 
ceived for  a  neglect  of  this  rule.     In  case  of  obstruction,  to  the  leading  train,  a  man  shall  immediately  be  sent  behind  to  stop  the  following  train 

20th. — Every  engineman  is  authorized  tu  require  the  conductor  and  brakemen  of  his  train  to  be  at  their  posts,  and  every  engineman  will  be  held  responsible  who 
proceeds  with  his  train,  t  the  instructions  detailed  here,  are  neglected  or  violated.     No  brakeman  will  be  allowed  to  leave  his  post,  or  to  be  in  a  car  when 

the  train  is  running,  upon  any  consideration  whatever. 

21st. — Bach  conductor  or  assistant  conductor  of  a  freight  train  will  be  held  responsible  for  the  correct  performance  of  duly  of  the  brakemen  of  his  train.  He  will 
require  the  doors  of  freight  cars  always  to  be  closed  and  locked  ;  and  keep  the  brakemen  at  their  posts.  "Whenever  delay  occurs  at  a  station  from  freight  being  im- 
properly stowed,  he  is  required  to  report  the  circumstances  on  the  same  day. 

22d. — All  engines  on  approaching  a  station,  will  pass  the  switch  cautiously  ;  and  in  all  cases  slop  at  the  station — unless  otherwise  instructed.  Way  agents  are  ex- 
pressly required  to  report  all  violations  of  this  rule. 

23d. — All  persons  in  any  way  in  charge  of  repairs  on  the  road,  are  required  to  procure  'copies  of  the  Time  Table,  and  of  the  "  Instructions." 
24th. — Enginemen  will  allow  no  person  to. ride  upon  the  engine  without  express  authority  from  a  superintendent  of  the  road. 

25th. — Conductors  of  freight  trams  will,  when  passing  over  the  maximum  grades,  station  themselves  on  the  rear  car  of  the  train,  and  see  that  all  the  brake-men 
arc  at  their  post 

26th- — All  persons  when  at  work  upon.the  track,  are  required  to  give  notice  of  any  obstruction  caused  by  their  work,  by  exhibiting  red  flags,  or  red  lanterns, 
conspicuously  and  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  obstruction,  taking  care  always  to  place  them  beyond  a  curve,  so  that  they  shall  be  seen  upon  a  straight  line  in  both 
directions  of  the  road, — and  all  conductors,  enginemen,  &c,  are  particularly  enjoined  to  proceed  with  extreme  caution,  when  such  signal  is  exhibited,  until  the  obstruc- 
tion shall  be  passed — and  in  all  cases  where  the  obstruction  is  such  as  to  prevent  the  passing  of  the  train,  a  man  shall  be  sent  ahead  by  the  person  attending  to  the  re- 
pairs, with  a  red  fla^,  or  a  red  lantern,  half  an  hour  at  least  before  the  train  shall  be  due,  and  remain  with  it  until  he  has  stopped  the  train. 

27th. — Enginemen  will  be  careful  to  see  that  the  bell  is  rung  at  eighty  rods  before  crossing  a  highway,  and  kept  ringing  until  the  road  is,  crossed. 
28th. — The  clock  at  the  Piermont  office  shall  be  the  standard  time,  and  all  conductors  and  enginemen  before  leaving  Piermont,  are  required  to  compare  and  re- 
gulate their  time  by  that  clock,  and  the  conductors  of  freight  trams  are  required  to  see  that  the  clocks  at  all  the  way  stations  conform  to  the  standard  time. 

29th. — The  conductors  of  the  passenger  trains  are  required  to  examine  the  clocks  in  the  ticket  offices  at  Port  Jervis  and  Binghamton  daily,  and  report  there, 
whatever  difference  may  exist  in  the  times. 

30th. — The  conductors  and  enginemen  are  required  to  keep  themselves  informed,  by  frequent  enquiry  at  the  terminal  stations,  of  any  changes  in  the  Time  Table 
or  Instructions  ,  and  ignorance  of  any  such  change  shall  not  be  receiyed  as  a  reason  for  delays  as  accidents. 

April  2H  1849.  J#  p.  KIRKWOOD,  Sup*t. 

FIRST   CODE  OF   ERIE  TRAIN   REGULATIONS,       (PRINTED   ON  BACK   OF  TIME-TABLE   SHOWN   ON   PAGE   383.) 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


3^5 


days  of  railroading,  owing  to  the  "instructions"  that  were 
printed  upon  it  for  the  guidance  of  the  engineers,  con- 
ductors, and  trainmen,  which  will  be  something  to  amaze 
the  railroader  of  this  day  and  generation.  The  code  of 
regulations  for  trains  thus  promulgated  was  the  beginning  of 
a  system  that  was  but  little  improved  until  the  coming  of  the 
telegraph. 

Binghamton  was  the  western  terminus  of  the  Erie  five 
months.  The  official  announcement  of  the  opening  to  Owego 
was  as  modest  as  all  previous  notices  of  the  kind,  and 
included  the  first  time-table  between  New  York  and  that 
place  : 

NEW  YORK   AND   ERIE    RAIL   ROAD. 
Extended  to  Owego. 

On  and  after  the  1st  June,  the  trains  will  run  as  follows,  daily, 
except  Sundays  : — 

For  Passengers — Through  Trains  will  leave  New  York  for 
Owego,  by  steamboat,  from  the  Duane  street  Pier,  at  1%  o'clock 
a.m.  and  5  o'clock  p.m.,  stopping  at  Ramapo  Station,  Chester, 
Goshen,  Middletown,  Otisville,  Port  Jervis,  and  all  the  way  stations 
west  of  the  last  named  place  ;  and  will  leave  Owego,  on  and  after  the 
4th  June,  at  6  a.m.  and  7  p.m.,  and  Binghamton,  on  and  after  the  1st 
June,  at  7  a.m.  and  S  p.m.,  arriving  in  New  York  at  7)4  p.m.  and 
>'.  a.m.,  stopping  at  all  the  way  stations  between  Owego  and  Port 
Jervis  ;  and,  east  of  Port  Jervis,  at  Otisville,  Middletown,  Goshen, 
Chester,  Ramapo  Station,  and  Spring  Valley. 

Way  Trains — For  Port  Jervis  and  all  the  intermediate  stations, 
will  leave  New  York,  by  steamboat  "Thomas  Powell,"  from  Duane 
street  Pier,  at  7)4  a.m.  and  4  p.m.;  and  will  leave  Port  Jervis  at  6 
a.m.  and  4  p.m. 

Milk  Trains — A  train  leaves  Otisville  at  $)4  a.m.,  arriving  in 
New  York  about  11.  The  afternoon  milk  is  taken  by  the  train 
leaving  Port  Jervis  at  4  o'clock  p.m.,  and  arriving  in  New  York  about 
midnight. 

Freight — Freight  leaves  New  York  every  night  for  all  the  regular 
stations  on  the  road.  A  freight  train  will  leave  Owego  even'  morn- 
ing at  6  o'clock  a.m.;  and  another  will  leave  Port  Jervis  as  usual 
every  morning  at  S  o'clock  a.m.  with  market  freight.  &c. 

James  P.  Kirkwood,  Sup' I. 

The  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Owego  led  to  the  estab- 
lishing of  a  passenger  and  freight  route  by  way  of  Seneca 
and  Cayuga  Lakes  and  the  Cayuga  and  Susquehanna  Rail- 
road to  Owego  to  connect  with  the  Erie.  A  market  line 
was  established  by  James  Sisk,  of  Binghamton  ;  William 
Whitney,  Dresden,  on  Seneca  Lake ;  George  P.  Monell, 
Dresden :  Nathaniel  Ells,  Owego.  Capt.  James  Sisk  had 
charge  of  the  line,  and  had  agents  at  all  the  points  from 
Geneva,  on  Seneca  Lake,  to  Hancock,  in  the  Delaware 
Valley,  on  the  Erie.  It  was  called  "  Even-body's  Market 
Line." 

The  next  momentous  event  in  the  progress  of  the  railroad's 
development  was  the  following  announcement : 

NEW  YORK  AND   ERIE    RAILROAD   OPEN  TO  ELMIRA. 

On  and  after  Monday,  the  1st  of  October,  the  passenger  train  leav- 
ing New  York  at  5  p.m.  will  run  through  to  Elmira,  arriving  the  next 
morning. 

Freight  for  Elmira  and  stations  between  Owego  and  Elmira  will  be 
received  at  the  Pier  foot  of  Duane  Street  on  and  after  the  5th  of  Oc- 
tober. James  P.  Kirkwood, 

Oct.  I,   1S49.  Superintendent. 


The  first  time-table  through  to  Elmira  was  this : 

NEW   YORK   AM)   ERIE    RAILROAD. 
Open  to  Elmira. 

On  and  after  the  Sth  October,  1S49,  the  trains  will  run  as  follows, 
Sundays  excepted  : — 

Passenger  Train. —  Through  Trains  will  leave  New  York  for 
Elmira,  from  the  Company's  Pier,  at  the  foot  of  Duane  street,  at  7 
o'clock  a.m.  and  5  o'clock  p.m.,  stopping  at  all  the  way  stations. 

From  Elmira  the  through  trains  will  leave  for  New  York  at  6  a.m. 
and  5J  p.m.,  stopping  also  at  all  the  way  stations. 

Freight. — Freight  leaves  New  York  every  night  for  all  the  regular 
stations  on  the  road.  A  freight  train  will  leave  Elmira  ever)-  morning 
at  3.20  o'clock. 

Fare  from  New  York  to  Elmira  $5.  The  intermediate  stations  in 
proportion. 

Commutation  Tickets  at  lowest  rates  for  the  stations  between 
New  York  and  Port  Jervis  can  be  purchased  at  the  New  York  and 
Piermont  offices. 

The  steamboat  "  Erie"  leaves  N.  Y.  for  Piermont  every  day  at  3 
o'clock,  and  returns  on  the  arrival  of  the  train  from  Elmira,  arriving 
at  New  York  about  8i  p.m. 

t^S"  Stage  lines  connect  with  this  road  at  various  stations,  to  wit : 
At  Elmira  with  Jefferson  and  Geneva  by  the  Seneca  Lake,  arriving  at 
Geneva  in  time  to  take  the  express  train  going  west  to  Buffalo  ;  with 
Tioga  Point,  Corning,  &c. ;  with  Ithaca  and  Cayuga  Bridge,  via 
Cayuga  Lake.  At  Binghamton  with  Chenango  Forks,  Green,  Oxford, 
Norwich,  &c.  At  Deposit  with  Delhi,  Bainbridge,  Oxford,  &c.  At 
Narrowsburgh  with  Ilonesdale,  Carbondale,  Wilksbarre,  &c.  At 
Port  Jervis  with  Milford.  At  Middletown  with  Wurtsboro,  Ellen- 
ville,  ^c.  James  P.  Kirkwood,  Sup't. 

In  the  latter  part  of  November,  1849,  the  Chemung  Rail- 
road was  finished,  and  November  30th  the  following  an- 
nouncement was  made  : 


CHEAPEST   AND    QUICKEST    ROUTE    TO    NEW   YORK  ! 

By  the  Railroad  recently  completed  from  Jefferson  at  the  Head  of 
Seneca  Lake  to  Elmira,  where  it  strikes  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road. Regular  running  of  trains  will  begin  over  this  route  December 
5,  1S49,  thus  opening  a  new  route  between  Geneva  and  New  York, 
by  connection  with  boats  on  Seneca  Lake  at  Jefferson,  and  covering 
the  distance  in  the  short  space  of  Seventeen  Hours,  at  the  Moderate 
Charge  of  Five  Dollars  !  More  Expeditious  and  Cheaper  than  from 
Geneva  to  New  York  via  Albany  ! 

The  arrangement  was  not  completed  until  the  middle  of 
December,  when  the  Erie  leased  the  Chemung  Railroad. 
Jefferson  is  now  the  village  of  Havana. 

December  31st  the  Erie  was  opened  to  Corning,  with  no 
further  announcement  than  the  official  time-table,  which 
stated : 

On  and  after  December  31,  1846,  the  trains  will  run  as  follows, 
Sundays  excepted  : 

Morning  Train  for  Elmira,  Corning,  and  intermediate  places, 
leaves  the  Pier  at  the  foot  of  Duane  street,  at  7  o'clock  a.  m.,  arriving 
the  same  evening. 

EVENING  Train  for  Elmira.  Corning,  Jefferson,  Geneva,  Rochester, 
Buffalo  and  intermediate  places,  leaves  at  4  p.  m. ,  arriving  at  Buffalo 
the  next  evening.  Fare  to  Geneva  $6,50;  to  Rochester  $S,  15  ;  to 
Buffalo  $10,35. 

Passengers  for  Ithaca  and  Cayuga  Lake  take  the  cars  of  the  Cayuga 
and  Susquehanna  Railroad  at  Owego. 

Passengers  for  Tioga  and  Lycoming  Counties,  Pa.,  take  the  cars  of 
the  Corning  and  Blossburg  Railroad,  at  Corning. 

Passengers  for  New  York   leave  Geneva  at  6  a.  m.  and  2  p.  m. 


386 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


a.  m.  and  4.3°  P-  '"■  Leave  Corning  at  4,20 
p  m.  "Leave  Elmira  at  9,24  a.  m.  and  5.44  p.  m.  OwegO  10,50 
a.  m.   and    7,35   p.m.      Binghamton  at    11.39  a.   •"•   ;iml    s>27  '■>■  m. 

p.  m.     Narrowsburgh  at  3,44  p.  n 
12.4;   1 

i  leaves  New  York  for  all  the  regular  stations  on  the  mad  at 
4  a.  111"  Leaves  Jefferson  at  7,55  a.  m.  and  Corning  at  11  p.  m.  for 
New  \ 

Geneva,  N.  Y.,  thus  became  what  might  be  called  the 
m  terminus  of  the  Erie.    Connection  was  made  there 
with  local  railroads  for  Buffalo  and  Rochester. 

The  first  time-table  for  the  Newburgb  Branch  was  pub- 
lished [anuary  8,  1850.  A  passenger  train  ran  from  New- 
burgh  twice  a  day,  morning  and  evening,  connecting  at 
Chester  with  trains  on  the  main  line.  One  freight  train  was 
run.  but  had  no  schedule  time. 

Corning  was  the  western  terminus  of  the  Erie  until  Sep- 
tember, 1850,  and  no  change  was  made  in  the  running  or 
number  of  through  trains.  In  that  month  the  railroad  was 
opened  to  Hornellsville,  but  Geneva  was  still  the  main  ob- 
jective point,  and  the  time-table  of  December  2,  1850,  was 
headed,  "  New  Route  to  Buffalo  and  the  West."  The 
steamer  "Thomas  Powell"  carried  the  passengers  from  New 
York.  For  the  'West  there  was  an  express  train  at  7  a.m., 
arriving  at  Geneva  at  10  p.m.  ;  a  way  and  mail  train  at  7  a.m. 
for  Elmira,  stopping  at  every  station,  and  "arriving  at  Elmira 
the  same  evening"  ;  a  way  train  at  3  p.m.  for  Otisville  ;  and 
a  night  express  at  4  p.m.,  stopping  at  principal  stations  to 
Binghamton,  and  at  all  stations  west  of  Binghamton.  By  the 
7  a.m.  express  train,  "Passengers  for  Rochester,  Buffalo, 
etc.,"  the  time-table  stated,  "can  lodge  at  Geneva,  or  on 
board  the  boat  on  Seneca  Lake,  where  comfortable  berths 
are  provided,  and  take  the  Express  Train  from  Albany  next 
morning,  arriving  at  Rochester  and  Buffalo  at  the  same  time 
as  passengers  via  Albany,  with  the  advantage  of  a  night's 
rest."  And  by  the  4  p.m.  express  they  "proceed  to  Geneva 
and  take  the  train,  arriving  at  Buffalo  the  same  evening." 
Eastward,  an  express  train  (boat  on  Seneca  Lake)  left  Geneva 
at  4  a.m.,  and  Hornellsville  at  5.40  a.m.,  arriving  at  New 
York  at  9.14  p.m.  ;  a  way  and  mail  train  left  Elmira  at  5.50 
a.m.  :  a  night  express  train  left  Geneva  at  1  p.m.,  and 
Hornellsville  at  2.20  p.m.,  arriving  at  New  York  at  8  a.m., 
and  a  way  train  left  Otisville  at  6  a.m.,  arriving  at  New  York 
at  11. 

April  14,  1851,  the  following  announcement  appeared: 

NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE  RAILROAD. 

In    anticipation  of  the  opening  of  the  road,   the   Directors  of  the 

i"'v  have  made   arrangements  to  tieket  passengers  and  check 

baggage  through  to  Chicago,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Toledo  and  other 
placesonthe  Lake  On  thi  arrival  ol  the  trains  at  Dunkirk,  the 
steamers  "  1  hi  1  -."  "  Queen  I  :ity  "  or  "  Keystone  State  "  of  the  De- 
troit Inu — Hi,  Empin  ,  ttoga"  or  "  Alabama "  of  the  Cleve- 
land or  Toledo  line,  will  be  in  readiness  to  convey  passengers  directly 
through  to  those  plai  1  The  steamers  "  Albany,"  "  Diamond  "  and 
"  Fashion "  will  also  form  a  line  between  Dunkirk  and  Cleveland 
landing  at  the  intermediate  pons.  -These  steamers  are  all  first-class 


vessels,  are  fast  sailers,  and  have  superior  accommodations.  When 
these  arrangements  are  completed,  it  is  intended  to  convey  passengers 
from  this  city  to  Dunkirk  in  sixteen  hours  (night  line  eighteen  hours)  ; 
toCleveland  in  twenty-six  or  twenty-seven  hours  ;  to  Detroit  in  thirty- 
six  hours  ;  to  Cincinnati  in  forty  hours,  and  to  Chicago  in  forty-eight 
or  fifty  hours. 

The  benefit  which  these  arrangements  will  confer  upon  the  travelling 
community  cannot  be  estimated,  and  the  Company  feel  confident  that 
their  efforts  to  accommodate  the  public  will  meet  with  a  liberal 
reward. 


ERIE  TERMINUS,    DUNKIRK   HARBOR,    185I. 

May  15,  1851,  the  road  was  open  to  Dunkirk,  and  the  first 
through  official  announcement  for  business  published  in  the 
newspapers  was  dated  May  19th.     This  was  it : 

NEW   VORK  AND  ERIE   RAILROAD. 

1S51. 

For  Dunkirk,  Detroit,  Chicago,  Milwaukee,  and  other  ports  on 
Lake  Michigan  and  St.  Louis. 

From  New  York  to  Detroit  in  35  hours,  direct  from  Dunkirk  with- 
out landing  ;  to  Chicago  in  50  hours  ;    to  Milwaukee  in  60  hours. 

Ti/tw  saved  is  money  earned. 

One  of  the  following  new  low-pressure  steamers — "  Keystone  State," 
Capt.  W.  P.  Stone,  "Niagara,"  Capt.  A.  Walker,  "Queen  City," 
Capt.  T.  J.  Titus — leave  Dunkirk-  daily  at  1 1  o'clock  a.m.,  or  on  the 
arrival  of  the  Evening  Express  Train  from  New  York,  in  connection 
with  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad. 

By  leaving  New  York  at  6  p.m.,  passengers  arrive  at  Dunkirk  next 
morning,  take  one  of  the  above  steamers  direct  for  Detroit,  arriving  in 
time  for  the  Day  Express  Train  over  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad 
and  arrive  in  Chicago  same  evening,  12  hours  ahead  of  the  Albany 
route.  Baggage  checked  from  New  York  to  Detroit  tree  of  por- 
terage. 

By  leaving  New  York  same  time,  via  Albany  &  Buffalo  Railroad, 
arrive  in  Detroit  at  evening,  and  Chicago  the  next  morning,  with  a 
night's  ride  over  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  and  12  hours  longer 
time. 

Three  other  lines  of  first-class  steamers  connect  with  the  Road  at 
Dunkirk,  viz.:  Sandusky  Line,  Toledo  Line,  and  Walbridge's  Line, 
running  in  connection  with  the  Cleveland,  Columbus  and  Cincinnati 
Railroad,  Sandusky  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  Michigan  Southern 
Railroad  and  Ohio  and  Indiana  Canals  at  Toledo,  and  Michigan  Cen- 
tral Railroad  at  Detroit. 

[See  small  bills  of  each  steamboat  line  for  time  connections,  fare, 
&c] 

Fare  from  New  York  to  Dunkirk,  $S.oo. 

The  fare  will  be  given  in  a  few  days  from  New  York  through  to 
Detroit  and  Chicago. 

Through  tickets  can  be  obtained  at  the  office  of  the  Company. 

New  York  office,  foot  of  Duane  street. 

('has.   MlNOT,  Superintendent. 


The  railroad  was  opened  for  regular  business  Monday,  May 
19,  1851,  and  this  was  the  first  official  time-table  of  trains 
from  New  York  : 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


387 


NEW  YORK   AND   ERIK    RAILROAD. 

On  Monday,  the  19th  instant,  the  following  trains  will  leave  New 
York  from  Duane  Street  Pier,  till  further  notice  : 

For  Dunkirk — Express  Trains  at  6  a.m.  and  6  p.m.  Mail  Train, 
via  Piermont,  at  8  P.M. 

The  Evening  Express  Train  connects  at  Dunkirk  with  the  splendid 
steamers  Niagara,  Keystone  State  and  Queen  City,  one  of  which 
leaves  immediately  on  the  arrival  of  the  train,  for  Detroit  direct,  run- 
ning through  in  about  thirty-six  hours  from  New  York  to  Detroit,  and 
forty-three  to  Chicago. 

The  Morning  Express  Train  connects  with  splendid  steamboats  for 
Cleveland  direct,  and  with  other  boats  for  Erie,  Sandusky,  Toledo, 
&c.  Passengers  by  this  line  arrive  at  Cleveland  in  about  twenty-three 
hours  from   New  York. 

Passengers  from  Buffalo  can  take  either  Express  Train  and  arrive 
by  the  Morning  Train  at  Geneva  at  half  past  7  P.M.,  and  at  Buffalo  the 
same  night  ;  by  the  Evening  Train  arrive  early  the  next  morning  and 
proceed  direct  to  Buffalo. 

Way  Trains  for  Otisville  at  8.30  P.M.,  via  Piermont,  and  at  6.10 
P.M.,  via  Jersey  City, 

N.   Marsh,   Secretary. 

May  19,  1851. 

The  first  train  from  Dunkirk  came  through  in  seventeen 
hours,  and  brought  100  through  passengers.  It  arrived  at 
Jersey  City  at  11  p.  m.,  Monday,  May  19. 

The  first  freight  train  to  come  East  over  the  Erie  from 
Dunkirk  left  that  place  Monday  morning,  May  19th.  It 
arrived  at  Piermont  Tuesday  evening,  May  20th.  It  con- 
tained a  car  of  live  stock  which  was  consigned  to  Powell, 
Ramsdell  &  Co.,  of  Newburgh,  by  William  Lisle.  Some  of 
the  cattle  were  sent  to  New  York,  and  were  the  first  trans- 
ported over  the  Erie  to  arrive  at  that  city. 

Following  is  the  initial  schedule  of  trains  to  New  York  : 

NEW    YORK    AND    ERIE    RAILROAD. 

New  Route  to  New  York  City,  via  Dunkirk 

and  the  Erie  Railroad,  connecting  with  first-class  Steamers  on  Lake 
Erie,  the  Michigan,  Cleveland,  Columbus  &  Cincinnati,  Cleveland  & 
I'ittsburgh,  and  Sandusky  &  Cincinnati  Railroads,  and  Steamers  on 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  and  the  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania Canals. 

Trains  leave  Dunkirk  as  follows  : 

i^t.  Morning  Express  Train  at  6  A.M. 

2d.    Morning  Mail  Train  at  9  A.M. 

3d.   Evening  Express  Train  at  4  P.M. 
Fare  from  Dunkirk  to  New  York,  $3. 00. 
Second  Class  Pare  will  be  given  in  a  few  days. 

The  Express  Freight  and  Cattle  Train,  leaves  Dunkirk  daily  at  4 
A.M.,  to  which  a  Passenger  Car  is  attached  for  the  accommodation 
<>!  way  Passengers  and  Drovers. 

Particular  attention  paid  to  the  shipment  of  Stock  and  Freight  of 
every  description.  The  gauge  being  6  feet  wide,  gives  this  route 
great  advantages  over  narrow  Roads,  in  the  transportation  of  stock 
and  all  other  Freight. 

Additional  Trains  will  be  put  in  commission  in  a  very  short  time. 

Freight  Tariffs  distributed,  giving  full  particulars  in  regard  to  the 
prices  of  Freight 

Freight  carefully  shipped  at  Dunkirk,  and  each  of  the  following 
Freight  stations:  Forestrille,  Smith's  Mills.  Dayton.  Cattaraugus, 
Little  Valley,  Creat  Valley,  Allegany,  Olean,  Hinsdale,  Cuba,  and  all 
other  Eastern  Stations. 

C.  MlNOT,    Superintendent. 
J.   Nottingham,  Agent. 

Dunkirk,  May  19,  1851. 

The  following  was  an  interesting  event  in  the  early  history 
of  the  Erie  as  a  through  line  : 


NEW    YORK   AND   ERIE  RAILROAD. 
Excursion  Tickets. 

In  order  to  afford  the  Stockholders  an  opportunitv  to  visit  and 
examine  the  road,  the  Directors  have  resolved  to  issue  Excursion 
Tickets  to  Stockholders,  from  the  present  time  till  July  10,  1S51,  at 
the  following  low  prices  : 

From  New  York  to  Dunkirk  and  back - 

From  New  York  to  Dunkirk    5. 00 

The  tickets  to  Dunkirk  and  back  will  be  good  for  ten  days  from 
their  date,  and  those  to  Dunkirk  only,  three  days  from  their  date,  af- 
fording an  opportunity  to  stop  at  any  of  the  stations  on  the  road  and 
resume  the  journey  at  pleasure,  within  the  time  limited.  The  tickets 
will  be  sold  only  at  the  office,  No.  45  Wall  St.,  New  York. 

Nathaniel  Marsh,   Secretary. 

New  York,  fune  5,  1S51. 


The  next  through  Erie  time-table  tells  how  completelv 
travel  to  and  from  the  West  had  been  revolutionized  by  the 
completion  of  the  Erie,  and  was  but  the  foreshadowing  of 
the  time  of  universal  rail  communication  on  the  continent, 
the  great  idea  of  which  was  born  of  the  impulses  that  created 
and  carried  forward  to  success  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road, the  first  link  in  that  now  perfect  chain  of  transconti- 
nental communication.  On  this  Erie  time-table  the  "  Emi- 
grant Train  "  first  finds  a  place  among  the  listed  trains  of  the 
road.  The  schedule  was  the  "  Fall  Arrangement  for  185 1." 
Three  through  trains  were  run  between  New  York  and  Dun- 
kirk, each  way,  and  the  "suburban"  traffic  required  t\v. > 
trains  from,  and  one  to,  New  York.  Following  is  the  sched- 
ule : 

1.  Day  Express  Train,  at  6  am.  (Sundays  excepted)  for  Dunkirk, 
there  connecting  without  delay  with  first  class  steamers  for  Cleveland, 
running  in  connection  with  the  express  train  from  Cincinnati  ;  and 
with  first  class  steamers  for  Toledo  and  Monroe,  running  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Michigan  Southern  Railroad.  Dinner  at  Deposit,  and 
Supper  at  Hornellsville.  Passengers  by  this  train  take  the  Canan- 
daigua  Railroad  at  Elmira,  and  arrive  at  Rochester  and  Buffalo  the 
same  evening. 

2.  Mail  Train,  at  8  am.  (Sundays  excepted)  stopping  at  all  the  sta- 
tions. This  train  remains  over  night  at  Elmira,  and  goes  on  next 
morning  at  7:30,  arriving  in  Dunkirk  at  4:55  pm.  (Dinner  at  Nar- 
rowsburgh.) 

3.  Way  Train,  at  3  pm.  (Sundays  excepted)  for  Pieimont  and  Suf- 
fern. 

4.  Way  Train,  at  5  pm.  (Sundays  excepted)  for  Sufferns,  Delaware 
and  intermediate  stations. 

5.  Evening  Express  Train,  at  6  pm.  for  Dunkirk,  and  there  con- 
necting with  first  class  steamers  for  Detroit  direct  ;  and  also  for  Erie, 
Ashtabula,  Cleveland,  Sandusky,  Toledo  and  Monroe.  On  Saturdays 
this  train  runs  only  to  Elmira.  (Supper  at  Turner's,  breakfast  at 
Hornesville.) 

6.  Emigrant  Train  at  6  pm.  (Sundays  excepted)  for  Dunkirk. 
Trains  ts  A'eif   York.  —  I.    Day  Express  Train  leaves  Dunkirk  at  6 

am.  (Sundays  excepted)  arriving  in  N.  York  same  evening.      Passen- 
gers from  Buffalo  and  Rochester  take  this  train  at  (anandaigua. 
1.   Way  train   leaves   Delaware   at  5  am.  (Sundays   excepted! 
ping  at  all  stations. 

3.  Mail  train  leaves  Corning  at  6:43  am.,  stopping  at  all   si 
(Sundays  excepted). 

4.  Mail  train  leaves  Dunkirk  at  10  am.  (Sundays  excepted).  Pas- 
sengers by  this  train  can  stay  "\er  night  at   Corning.  Elmira,  Ov 

or  Binghamton,  and  proceed  next  morning  by  Express  or   Mail   train 
to  New  York. 

j.  Accommodation  train  leaves  Dunkirk  at  li  pm.  (Saturdavs  and 
Sundays  excepted). 

6.    Evening   Express    train    leaves    Dunkirk    at    5    pm.  and  1 
daigua  at  ql  pm.,  taking  passengers  from  the   Night   Express  train* 
from  Buffalo  and  Rochester. 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


Wb-A-a* 


Takes  Effect'  Monday,  NofrcinBer  2£,  1801. 


TRAINS  MOVING  EAST. 


THIRD  CLASS. 


WAY 
FRflGHT.-. 

'5.05  PM 
4.35    u 
■4.-05  "" 
2.90  * 


210   " 
1.41  - " 

12.35    pm 
.11.55    AM 


11.20  « 

M)45  " 

935  " 

8  57  " 


8.00  " 

7.22  " 

^0.32  « 

J6.10  " 


^5:05 
4:35 
3.45 

••3.15 


.2.55    u 
"•2.30    " 
•130    "' 
1*30    AM 


CATTLE 
FREIGHT. 


12.40  pm 
»f2:23  ".'■ 
•12.06pm 

'11.38  am 


•11.18" 

-.  10.58" 
•10.33  " 
MO  14" 


•1043  " 
•9.43  " 
8  42  " 

7.46  " 


P7.10  " 

•6.27  " 

5.56  " 

5.12" 


•4.42  " 
4.20  " 
3.15", 

'2.38  " 


•2.20  " 

•2.00  " 

1.00  " 

12.01  AM 


FIRST  CLASS. 


ACCOM'O'N 
PASSENGER 


"Western  Division. 


3.03  pj 

2.51  " 

'2-38  « 

&.IO  " 


•2.00 
1.41 

1.25 
1.10 


12.57   ■ 
12.42 
12.10  pm 
11.52   AM 


^,1 1.28  " 

10  57  " 

10.27  " 

10.16  " 


10.02  " 

9.44  « 

9.26  " 

9.07  « 


8.57 
•8.47    ' 
815 

7.45   am 


NIGHT  EXP. 
PASSENGER 


I'M 


10.15 

10.04  " 

•9.54  « 

•9.35  " 


*9.29 

9.14 

•9.02 

•8.53 


8.45  •" 
•8.33  " 
*8.U  " 
•7.58    " 


§7.42 
•7. 15 
•6.56 
6.48 


btajihs  of 

-STATIONS 

ANp 

Passirig  Places, 


ArHorndLsville, 
Dep.       Almond, 
Alfred, 
Aadover, 


Dep. 


Shoemaker's  C'uer, 
- '       Genesee, 
Scio, 
PhiHipsville,    •- 


Belvidere, 
Friendship. 
Cuba, 
Hinsdale, 


QJean, 

Wunavjgw'ant, 
Great  Valley, 


Budk  tooth, 

Littlj  Valley, 

Qfalt&r&xguSj 

Tth-nout, 


D&yton, 
p  Cooper's  Corner,  - 

Forestville, 
Oep.     Bj^ftkirk, 


Ar 


#F 


TRAINS  MOVING  WEST 


FIRST  CLiS 


11.1! 

•11.19  " 

11.42  ': 

12.00  m 


pf  Trains  do  not  stop  at  those  Stations  indicated*^  a.  ^unlesS'fiPfessarv.  ir>  the  cases  referred  to  in  Rule""**. 
l-Z.  tiS^S .m?"l,*|2j:  Stop  10  minutes;  J[  Stop  15  minutes/,  $  S£r$  20  minutes. 


_.The  Express  Freight  Train  leaves  the  Pita;  every  day: 
fc^'jWay  Freight  Trains  will  not  run  on  SunSt^.  (except:* 
'HTtey  will  st..  i ;  on  other  days  from  each  end  of  their  Bivjaieh,  HRIk 
•AOj«e&Et"I>ivision  has  previously  arrived. 
'  BET.  The  Westward  bound  Way  Freight  ahdthe  Cattle  Fn 

K-y"  in",  H-iandajgna  Express  Passenger  Train  will  iunjforydau  Hop 
flUys.  B^.The"N,i£htExD_r^  Passenger  Train  wifl  run  aAyUay  w,'h  * 
\tccoraiDiaa.tionTrain  will  run  (coxa  Elmira  to  Dunkirk;  UM>  <t^y«i:i.t:|>tinj 

•WfC.IAYLQKi  Division  Ageat . 


rain;;  Sundays  at  2.25  am. 
rw^uhe  end  of  their  Division,  when  accidentally  d^dayed,}  WL 
!  i  '^I=djto  the  fact,  whether  or  not  the  .Way  Freight  Train  o*  "tbe 

OJ#3,  should  pass  at  Cuba. 
tjQ/£rerr;¥ork :  and  from  N'aw-Yorii- to 'Elaaixa  every  . day   csraptwig  Sq^ 
t^^ae c»f  Saturdays  from   Dunkirk,  wnTT*in  oa^  io  JEtnifra        BrV^^oA 
> ,  ::rtrt  from  Dunkirk  to  Elmira,  every. day  exceprta^  Sundays 


CHA'S  MINOT,  Snpt 

EARLY   OFFICIAL  TIME-TABLE,   IN   FACSIMILE.      ORIGINAL  OWNED   BY   H.    E.    GILPIN,    ESQ.,    SUPERINTENDENT   ALLEGANY 

DIVISION,    HORNELLSVILLE,    N.    Y. 

(These  Erie  relics  are  very  rare,  and  this  one's  value  was  greatly  lessened  by  some  former  owner  of  it  cutting  off  the  official  heading  in 
•order  to  make  it  fit  a  frame.      This  time-table  is  historically  important  as  showing  the  early  beginning  of  the  running  of  trains  on  Sunday  on 
i  rie,  something  which  was  strongly  protested  against.) 


Newburg  Branch. — Trains  run   daily,  (Sundays  excepted)  as   fol- 
lows .  Leaving  Newburg  at  6:05  and  9:45  am.,  and  5:15  pm.      Leave 
r  at  7:25  and  10:47  am-.  and  6:35  pm. 

ht  Trains. — Leave  from  pier  foot  of  Duane  street,  at  6  pm., 
for  all  stations  on  tin-  road,  and  for  Canandaigua,  Rochester,  Buffalo, 
and  all  Western  states.  Chas.   Minot,   Stiff. 

The  railroad  from  Canandaigua  to  Jefferson  (Havana),  at 
the  head  of  Seneca  Lake,  had  been  completed,  and  was  under 
lease  to  the  Erie,  making,  with  the  Chemung  Railroad  from 
Elmira,  a  line  of  railroad  by  the  use  of  which  the  Erie  had 
as  yet  the  only  means  .  i|  reai  hing  Buffalo  or  Rochester.  With 
the  coming  of  the  Canandaigua  Railroad  the  steamboats  on 
Seneca  Lake  to  Geneva  ceased  to  be  a  portion  of  the  Erie's 
"through   line."     The   Chemung  Railroad  and  the  Canan- 


daigua line  are  now  parts  of  the  Northern  Central  Railroad, 
and  belong  to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  system. 

As  a  matter  of  historical  importance,  the  following  time- 
table is  incorporated  with  this  chronicle  of  the  regular  Erie 
first  schedules,  as  this  railroad  is  now  part  of  the  Erie  (the 
Buffalo  Division). 

BUFFALO  &  NEW  YORK  CITY  RAIL-ROAD. 

That  portion  of  the  Buffalo  .V  New  York  City  Rail-Road  between 
Hornellsville  and  Portage,  will  be  opened  to  the  public  on  and  after 
Thursday,  22d  Jan.,  1852. 

Trains  wilt  run  daily  (except  Sundays)  for  Passengers  and  freight, 
leaving  Hornellsville  at  7  A.  M.,  or  after  the  Arrival  of  the  N.  Y.  & 
E.  R.  R.  Night  Express  Train  from  New  York,  and  returning  leave 
Portage  at  4  P.  M.,  arriving  at  Hornellsville  in  time  for  the  night 
Express  Train  for  New  York. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


589 


The  standard  Time  for  the  Road  will  be  Ten   Minutes  slower  than 
the  N.  V.  A;  E.  R.  K.  time,  at  the  Hornellsville  Station. 

The  rates  of  fare  will  be  Three  Cents  per  Passenger  per  Mile. 
The  rates  of  Freight  to  or  from  Stations  on  the  N.  Y.  &  E.  R.  R. 
east  or  west  of  Hornellsville,  will   be   for  three  classes  corresponding 
to  the  classification  upon  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  and  as 
follows  . 

1st  Class,  6  cents  per  Ton  per  Mile. 
2d      "       5     "       "       "     "       " 

3d       "       4 "       " 

Xo  charge  will  be  made  less  than  twenty-five  cents,  and  no  package 
will  be  estimated  at  less  than  fifty  pounds. 


Will  run  in  connection  with  the  Trains   from   and  to  the  following 
points  : 

Dansville,  Mt.  Morris,  Geneseo,  Avon,  Rochester,  Castile,  Perry, 
Gainesville,  Warsaw,  Wyoming.  Attica,  Pike,  Arcade,  Yorkshire, 
Springville,  Ellicottville,  Franklinville,  Farmersville,  Rushford,  Pel- 
fast,  Cold  Creek,  Mixville,  &c.  S.   Seymour, 

Engineer  6*  Superintendent. 

Hornellsville,  Jan.  14,  1S52. 

A  terminus  at  Buffalo  was  a  consummation  that  the  Erie 
managers  had  long  seen  to  be  a  necessity  if  they  might  com- 
pete successfully  for  Western  traffic,  for  there  was  no  longer 
any  doiibt  that  Dunkirk  was  a  mistake.  They  built  much 
hope  on  this  railroad  from  Hornellsville  to  Attica  as  being 
the  means  by  which  they  could  get  their  cars  into  Buffalo. 
The  beginning  of  operations  on  that  road  did  not  strengthen 
that  hope,  however,  for  passengers  bound  from  New  York  to 
Buffalo  and  the  West  by  the  Erie  and  the  Hornellsville  and 
Attica  route,  according  to  the  time-table  of  July  26,  1852,  if 
they  left  New  York  by  the  Erie  mail  train  at  8  a.m.,  "  re- 
main over  night  at  Binghamton,  Owego,  Elmira  or  Corn- 
ing, and  reach  Buffalo  the  next  evening,  in  time  for  boats 
going  up  the  Lake;  or  leaving  New  York  by  the  6  p.m.  ex- 
press, reach  Buffalo  at  the  same  time,  and  have  an  opportunity 
to  spend  several  hours  at  the  Falls  and  High  Bridge  at  Port- 
age. Passengers  from  Buffalo  leave  at  8  a.m.  and  connect  at 
Hornellsville  either  with  the  Erie  mail  train,  which  remains 
over  night  at  either  of  the  above  places,  and  reach  New  York 
next  evening,  or  with  the  night  express,  which  reaches  New 
York  at  12.30  next  day." 

The  Buffalo  and  New  York  City  Railroad  became  a  vital 
part  of  the  Erie  property  years  later,  but  only  after  much 
tribulation,  disappointment  and  expense  to  the  Company. 
("The  Building  of  It,"  pages  360-363.) 

There  was  no  increase  in  the  number  of  through  passenger 
trains  on  the  Erie  for  many  years  after  the  opening  of  the 
road  to  Dunkirk.  Until  1S54  those  trains  were  known  as  the 
Night  Express,  the  Day  Express,  the  Mail  Train,  and  the 
Emigrant.  There  were  express  freights  and  stock  expresses, 
and  local  trains  had  been  put  on  the  different  divisions  as  the 
way  traffic  increased.  In  1S54  the  through  express  trains 
began  to  be  known  as  the  New  York  Express,  the  Cincinnati 
Express,  the  Dunkirk  Express,  and  when  a  regular  division 
of  trains  began  to  be  made  at  Hornellsville  for  the  Buffalo 
connection,  the  Buffalo  Express  came  into  existence.  This 
was  in  1854.  It  was  not  until  i860,  after  the  return  of 
Charles  Minot    to  the  general    superintendency,  that    Erie 


trains  began  to  be  designated  by  numbers,  which  is  their 
universal  designation  to-day,  whether  the  train  is  No.  1  or 
No.  617.  On  the  time-table  adopted  January  18,  i860,  the 
west-bound  through  trains  became  No.  1  (Dunkirk  Express), 
No.  3  (Night  Express),  No.  5  (Mail).  The  east-bound  trains 
were  No.  2  (New  York  Kxpress),  No.  4  (Night  Express), 
No.  6  (Accommodation),  No.  16  (Cincinnati  Express).  No. 
15  was  a  Fast  Freight.  No.  8,  now  one  of  the  fastest  and 
most  sumptuous  express  trains  on  the  road,  was  a  Stock  Ex- 
press. Nos.  2  and  4  connected  at  Chester  for  Newburgh. 
The  other  through  trains  scheduled  for  passengers  were  No. 
13  (Express  Freight),  No.  17  ^Yay  Freight),  No.  18  (Fast 
Freight),  and  No.  20  (Way  Freight).  No.  3  ran  only  to 
Elmira  on  Saturdays,  and  No.  5  remained  over  night  there. 
There  was  no  emigrant  train  scheduled  on  this  time-table. 
In  the  meantime  there  had  been  no  material  change  in  the 
trains  or  the  running  of  them,  except  that  the  local  traffic 
required  the  putting  on  of  a  way  passenger  train  between 
New  York  and  Port  Jervis,  and  it  was  scheduled  on  the  time- 
table adopted  November  19,  1858,  the  train  that  became 
known  as  the  Orange  County  Express,  and  is  so  known  to 
this  day.  Until  February  6,  1856,  the  night  express  from 
New  York  and  the  night  express  from  Dunkirk  were  run  on 
Sundays.  On  that  date  all  Sunday  trains  were  withdrawn 
from  the  road,  except  that  the  milk  and  freights  ran  as  usual. 
Even  the  Cincinnati  Express,  which  did  not  start  on  Sunday, 
but  had  been  run  to  its  destination  on  that  day,  was  stopped 
at  Coming  Saturday  night  and  held  there  until  Monday  morn- 
ing, taking  the  place  of  the  night  express  on  Monday.  "  The 
effect  of  the  halt  of  this  through  train  at  Corning,"  a  news- 
paper account  of  the  change  said,  "  will  be  beneficial  to  that 
thriving  town."  No  Sunday  trains  were  run  on  the  Erie  for 
more  than  a  year,  and,  in  fact,  were  not  entirely  resumed 
until  1S60,  after  the  return  of  Charles  Minot. 

The  first  "pocket  time-table"  of  the  Erie  was  issued  to 
the  public  June  11,  1866.  It  was  for  the  Eastern  (now  New- 
York)  Division  and  branches  only.  It  was  printed  on  a  card 
4/4  x  3^  inches  in  size,  which  folded  in  the  middle,  the 
east-bound  schedule  appearing  on  one  side,  and  the  west- 
bound on  the  other.  There  were  eighteen  trains  scheduled 
west-bound,  and  seventeen  east-bound,  of  which  nine  each 
way  ran  only  to  Paterson.  One  ran  each  way  between  Suf- 
fern  and  Jersey  City,  one  each  way  between  Middletown  and 
Jersey  City,  and  one  (the  milk  train)  to  and  from  Otisville. 
Port  Jervis  had  two  local  trains  each  way.  This  time-table 
scheduled  three  trains  each  way  between  Warwick  and  New- 
burgh, a  connection  for  one  of  them  being  for  Goshen. 
There  was  but  one  local  Sunday  train  each  way  over  the  Di- 
vision. Of  the  Paterson  trains  two  ran  on  Sunday  from  New- 
York.  To  New  York,  the  train  that  left  Port  Jems  week 
days  at  6.30  a.m.  ran  from  Paterson  on  Sundavs.  The  time- 
table bore  the  names  of  H.  Riddle,  General  Superintendent, 
and  W.  R.  Barr,  General  Passenger  Agent. 

The  schedule  of  trains  for  the  New  York  Division,  in  the 
pocket  time-table  for  December,  1S9S,  occupies  four  closely 
printed  pages  7  j4  x  4  inches  in  size. 


39° 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


The  increase  of  trains  lias  been  steady  since  the  days  of 
Gould    and    Fisk.       There    an  our     through    express 

trains  from  New  York  over  the  Erie,  seven  days  in  the 
week— Da)  Express  (No.  1 1,  Pacific  Express  (No.  3),  Ves- 
tibuled  Limited  (Xo.  5;  vestibuled  in  1887),  and  Buffalo 
and  Cleveland  Express  (No.  7).  The  Day  Express  does  not 
run  ovei  the  old  Erie  main  line  west  of  Hornellsville.  There 
are  five  through  express  trains  to  New  York,  four  of  them 
seven  days  in  the  week— Day  Express  (Xo.  2),  Vestibuled 
Limited  (No.  8),  New  York  Special  (No.  10),  Atlantic  Ex- 
press (No.  1:),  and  Local  Express  (No.  14).  The  Day  Ex- 
press does  not  run  over  the  old  Erie  main  line  west  of  Hor- 
lle,  and  none  of  the  through  trains  runs  to  or  starts 
from  Dunkirk,  the  legal  western  terminus  of  Erie,  and  only 
one  of  them  (No.  3)  1  onnects  for  Dunkirk  from  the  East,  and 
only  one  (No.  12)  has  a  train  connection  from  Dunkirk,  the 
other  passenger  service  on  the  old  Erie  main  line  to  and  from 
Dunkirk  and  Salamanca  being  one  local  train  each  way  daily. 
On  what  the  Erie  designates  as  its  through  time-table  of 
trains,  Dunkirk  is  not  mentioned,  nor  does  the  other  legal 
terminus  of  the  Erie,  Piermont,  find  a  place  on  any  schedule 
of   the  Erie  to-day. 

There  are  on  the  Xew  York  Division  and  branches  thirteen 
local  passenger  trains  westward,  ami  ten  eastward,  six  days  a 
week,  and  five  special  Sunday  trains.  These  local  trains  are 
independent  of  the  140  or  more  trains  between  New  York 
and  Faterson,  and  between  Paterson  and  other  suburban  places 
on  the  old  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  and  Paterson  and 
Ramapo  railroads.  There  are  three  local  trains  each  way- 
over  the  Delaware  Division  ;  five  west  and  seven  east  on  the 
Susquehanna  Division  ;  three  west  and  four  east  on  the  Alle- 
gany (formerly  Western)  Division  ;  five  each  way  six  days  a 
week,  and  one  each  way  Sunday,  on  the  old  Erie  main  line 
between  Piermont  and  Suffern  ;  and  four  each  way  over  the 
Newburgh  Branch,  six  days  a  week,  and  one  each  way  Sun- 
days— making  100  passenger  trains  over  the  Erie  line,  that 
began  through  business  in  1851  with  three  passenger  trains, 
one  live-stock  train,  one  through  freight,  one  way  freight,  and 
milk  train  each  way  daily  except  Sunday;  while  the 
Erie  freight  trains  to-day  are  numbered  by  the  score  daily. 
On  the  Erie's  acquired  lines  and  branches  there  are  nearly 
300  passenger  trains  constantly  passing  to  and  fro,  many  of 
them  every  day  in  the  week. 

The  original  official  Erie  time-table  for  May,  185 1,  could 
easily  have  been  printed  on  a  single  page  of  this  history. 
The  time-tables  for  the  railroad  and  its  branches  to-day 
would  till  lilt\   ol   these  pages  ! 

Tilt:    ORIGINAL    STARTING    PLACE. 

Piermont,  the  original  starting  point  of  the  Erie,  was 
twenty-four  miles  from  New  York.  The  trip  from  Xew  York 
up  the  Hudson  Run  to  the  cars  had  its  inconvenien<  es,  bul 
it  also  had  its  pleasures  in  fine  weather.  On  a  bright  sum- 
mer morning,  with  a  grateful,  refreshing  breeze,  it  was  a  de- 


lightful sail.  It  was  this  trip  on  the  river  that  was  used  for 
years  by  those  opposed  to  the  changing  of  the  terminus  to 
Jersey  City  as  the  argument  in  favor  of  maintaining  the  origi- 
nal arrangement.  The  river  trip,  it  was  urged,  was  so  restful 
and  healthful  a  diversion  from  the  tedium  of  travel  by  rail, 
that  its  benefit  to  the  travellers  was  greater  than  the  saving 
of  time  by  the  New  Jersey  route  would  be  ;  but  the  travellers 
and  the  Company  failed  to  look  at  it  in  that  way. 

In  the  original  days  of  Erie,  as  now,  the  view  of  Piermont 
from  the  river  was  very  beautiful.  The  village  made  a  pretty 
show,  while  the  steep  heights  above  were  dotted  with  neat 
cottages  amid  gardens  and  cedar  groves.  To  the  left,  the 
hillside  sloped  suddenly  to  a  glen,  up  which  lay  the  course  1  if 
the  railroad.  The  great  pier,  one  mile  long,  and  300  feet 
wide  at  the  river  extremity,  where  there  was  a  spacious  basin 
and  dock  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Company's  boats, 
was  covered  with  tracks.  All  the  space  occupied  by  the  de- 
pots and  the  freight  and  car-houses — in  fact,  by  all  the  shore 
terminal  facilities — was  made  ground,  the  river  having  been 
filled  in  over  an  area  of  ninety  acres  ;  otherwise  there  would 
not  have  been  room  for  a  single  track  to  run  along  the  river 
shore.  The  shops  were  on  the  north  side  of  the  Company's 
grounds.  They  were  large  for  those  days,  and  for  years  were 
the  main  building  and  repair  shops  of  the  railroad.  They 
employed  more  than  200  men  in  iS^r,  when  the  railroad 
was  opened  to  Dunkirk.  The  round-house  at  Piermont  had 
stalls  for  thirty  locomotives  in  1851.  The  repair  shops  were 
continued  at  Piermont  until  the  summer  of  1S69,  when  the 
work  was  transferred  to  Jersey  City,  and  the  abandonment  of 
Piermont  by  the  Erie,  so  far  as  it  could  abandon  the  place, 
was  complete.  While  it  was  the  terminus  of  the  Erie,  Pier- 
mont was  a  place  of  much  importance.  The  village  wis 
divided  into  two  parts,  on  the  north  side  of  the  railroad  be- 
ing the  business  section.  The  home  of  Eleazar  Lord,  Erie's 
first  President,  was  there,  and  there  he  died.  The  great  pier 
was  a  constant  scene  of  bustle  and  activity,  where  scores  of 
men  were  employed  transferring,  loading,  and  unloading 
freight  from  the  cars  to  the  boats.  The  pay-roll  of  the  Com- 
pany at  Piermont  amounted  to  many  thousands  of  dollars  a 
month.  The  pier  is  now  abandoned  except  as  a  storage 
place  for  coal,  with  here  and  there  a  man  at  work  upon  it, 
and  the  passenger  trains  that  are  run  to-day  over  that  part 
of  the  original  Erie,  to  and  from  that  former  liveliest  railroad 
terminus  in  the  country,  are  scheduled  to  depart  from  and 
arrive  at  Sparkill,  a  station  a  mile  from  Piermont,  and  un- 
known when  the  railroad  first  went   through. 

As  the  time  when  the  railroad  between  Suffern  and 
Piermont  was  the  main  line  is  now  only  a  memory,  and  as 
locomotives  and  cars  were  an  old  thing  in  that  section  years 
before  they  were  new  fifty  miles  farther  west,  reminiscences 
of  the  pioneer  Erie  days  along  that  stretch  of  road  are  inter- 
esting  anil  important. 

David  1'.  Demarest  kept  the  Red  Tavern,  at  what  is  now 
Nanuet,  and  in  1839  began  supplying  the  railroad  with  ties, 
and  subsequently  with  fuel.     Railroad  laborers  to  the  number 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


39i 


of  thirty-five  boarded  at  the  tavern,  and  his  young  wife  at- 
tended to  all  the  work  alone,  having  also  two  young  children 
to  care  for.  In  1849  he  was  appointed  agent  of  the  Com- 
pany, and  the  station  was  named  Clarkstown.  With  the  com- 
ing of  the  railroad  he  constructed  two  water  tanks  to  supply  the 
locomotives  with  water.  They  were  filled  by  hydraulic  rams, 
driven  by  water  power  from  the  Naurashank  Creek.  These 
required  his  constant  attention.  He  was  station  agent  at 
Nanuet  until  his  death  in  1SS1.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Joseph  G.  Demarest,  the  present  agent  (1CS98).  The 
station  is  in  part  of  the  house  built  by  D.  P.  Demarest  in 
1S49.  Tickets  were  not  sold  at  Nanuet  until  1852,  and  the 
station  and  date  were  written  on  them  in  ink  by  the  agent. 
The  station  was  known  as  Clarkstown  until  1S56,  when  it  was 
changed  to  Nanuet,  which  is  said  to  have  been  the  name  of 
an  Indian  chief  who  once  lived  in  the  vicinity. 

Tallman's  came  into  life  through  the  building  of  the  rail- 
road, and  was  named  for  Tunis  I.  Tallman.  It  was  known 
to  the  first  Erie  railroad  men  as  the  fifteen-mile  turnout,  it 
being  fifteen  miles  from  Piermont,  and  a  long  switch  had 
been  made  to  enable  one  train  to  "  turn  out "  for  another. 

When  the  Erie  was  surveyed  through  this  locality  the  pres- 
ent station  of  Monsey  was  a  wet  swamp  and  tangled  morass. 
The  Company  drained  it.  Eleazar  Lord,  while  President  of 
the  Company  in  1840,  purchased  eight  and  a  half  acres  of 
Ian  1  there  with  the  intention  of  making  an  important  water 
station.  A  platform  was  built  for  passengers  to  stand  on 
while  waiting  for  trains,  and  the  word  Kakiat  was  cut  on  it 
by  a  contractor  named  Jessup,  that  word  being  the  Indian 
name  for  the  surrounding  country.  It  was  afterward  named 
Monsey,  in  honor  of  an  old  Indian  chief.  In  1841,  when  the 
railroad  was  opened,  Angus  McLaughlin  put  up  a  shanty  or 
shed  where  the  present  depot  stands,  for  a  refreshment 
saloon.  It  was  patronized  by  railroad  men  and  train  men. 
Aaron  Johnson  bought  the  Lord  tract  in  1843,  and  became 
first  station  agent  at  Monsey.  At  the  opening  of  the  railroad 
a  log  pump  was  sunk  by  the  Company  in  a  brook  just  east  of 
the  Spring  Valley  station.  A  platform  was  built  around  it, 
on  which  two  men  stood  and  pumped  water  into  the  tank  of 
the  locomotives.  Subsequently  a  well  was  dug  at  Monsey 
which  was  fitted  with  a  pump  so  arranged  that  the  en- 
gine of  the  train,  by  adjusting  its  driving  wheels  to  wheels 
placed  in  the  track,  could  pump  its  own  water.  This  was 
succeeded  by  a  tank  which  was  filled  by  hand  pumping  from 
the  well.  This  remained  until  1855,  when  the  tank  building 
burned. 

\\  here  Spring  Valley  now  is  was  only  a  crossing  at  a  farm 
road  when  the  railroad  was  built.  The  farmers  thereabout, 
believing  that  Eleazar  Lord  had  given  undue  preference  to 
Monsey  because  he  owned  land  there,  protested  that  trains 
should  be  stopped  at  the  crossing  fur  their  better  convenience 
as  shippers,  and  soon  after  the  road  was  opened  to  Goshen 
they  held  a  meeting  and  prepared  a  petition  to  that  effect. 
The  Companv  replied  that  if  the  fanners  would  build  a  de- 
pot, freight  trains  would  be  stopped  there,  but  no  promise 
would  be  made  to  stop  passenger  trains.     The  farmers  built 


a  depot,  which  consisted  of  a  board  shanty  on  a  platform 
10x12  feet,  which  was  promptly  taken  in  possession  by 
Henry  Iseman,  who  started  a  store  in  it.  The  railroad 
named  the  station  Pascac,  but  the  name  was  subsequently 
changed,  at  the  suggestion  of  Isaac  Springsteel,  a  prominent 
farmer,  to  Spring  Valley,  and  a  board  with  that  name  on  it 
was  nailed  to  a  cherry  tree  stump  near  the  "  depot."  When 
trains  began  stopping  there,  soon  afterward,  Iseman  was 
forced  to  move  his  store  elsewhere. 

WHEN    THE    LOCOMOTIVE    CAME. 

By  authority  of  his  office  as  constructing  engineer,  George 
E.  Hoffman  made  the  contracts  for  the  first  Erie  locomo- 
tives and  cars.  He  first  got  the  estimate  of  Rogers,  Ketchum 
&  Grosvenor,  of  Paterson,  N.  J.,  for  the  building  of   three 


ERIE  LOCOMOTIVE,  TYPE  OF  1 846  ;  CAB  AND  PILOT  ATTACHED 
IN  1849;  SKETCH  MADE  AT  SUSQUEHANNA  IN  1 852.  ORIGI- 
NAL   LOANED   BY   MINISINK  VALLEY    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

eight-wheel  locomotives,  four  of  them  driving-wheels.  That 
firm  bid  59,000  for  each  locomotive,  and  would  take  none 
of  the  Company's  stock  to  apply  on  the  payment.  Hoffman 
then  went  to  Philadelphia  and  consulted  the  locomotive 
builders  of  that  city.  William  Norris  was  willing  to  make 
the  machines  for  5S,ooo  apiece,  and  to  take  53,000  of  the 
price  of  each  engine  in  Erie  stock — Erie  stock  then  being 
quoted  at  a  little  better  than  nothing.  Then  the  Paterson 
builders  said  they  would  furnish  the  engines  for  SS,ooo,  but 
the  pay  must  be  all  in  cash.  Hoffman  gave  Norris  the  con- 
tract. This  was  May  12,  1840.  The  locomotives  were 
delivered  to  the  Company  at  Piermont  the  following  Decem- 
ber. They  were  shipped  by  way  of  the  Raritan  Canal  and 
Hudson  River.  One  was  called  the  "  Eleazar  Lord,"  one  the 
"  Piermont,"  and  one  the  "  Rockland,"  and  were  numbered  1, 
2,  and  3  respectively.  The  contractors  had  been  greatly  delayed 
in  putting  down  the  superstructure  for  want  of  facilities  for 
transporting  the  timber  and  rails  from  Piermont  forward, 
and  the  engines  were  put  at  that  work.     No.  1  weighed  32,000 


392 


jJKTVYEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


pounds,  22,000  pounds  on  the  drivers  ;  tender,  36,500;  out- 
side connecti.ui  :  13-inch  1  ,  20-inch  stroke.  The  No. 
2  was  four  tons  heavier  than  No.  1,  but  was  similar  other- 
wise. No.  3  was  a  16-ton  engine,  and  like  Xos.  1  and  2  in 
other  respects.  In  the  spring  of  1841  two  more  Norris 
engine  1  th<  road,  the  "  Orange  "  and  the  "  Ramapo." 
There  is  no  record  of  their  cost,  and  as  to  the  "  Orange,"  or 
No.  |,  there  seems  to  be  no  official  record  at  all.  The 
"Orange"  became  famous  in  many  ways  on  the  eastern 
end  of  the  railroad,  from  the  opening  in  1841  to  1846,  and 
later  on  western  sections  of   the   road.     Her  first  engineer 


JOSEPH   W1DROW   MEGINNES    ("JOE"). 

was  Joe  Meginnes,  and  her  career  has  no  parallel  among  the 
pioneer  locomotives  of  the  Erie  or  any  other  railroad.  Here 
are  some  historic  incidents  in  that  career. 

As  a  Newspaper  Special. —  In  1842  the  regular  mail 
route  between  New  York  and  Albany  was  a  stage-coach  line 
through  the  counties  of  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson.  This 
was  long  before  the  day  of  the  telegraph,  and  the  newspapers 
of  that  time  had  to  depend  on  the  mails  or  special  couriers  in 
obtaining  the  news.  Presidents'  and  governors'  messages 
were  then  considered  the  most  important  items  of  news  that 
a  newspaper  could  give  its  readers,  and  in  1842  the  New 
York  Sun  resolved  to  place  before  its  readers  the  message 
of  Governor  Seward  for  that  year  in  advance  of  any  of  its 
rival  journals.  The  New  York  Herald  resolved  that  the  Sun 
should  do  no  such  thing,  although  the  Sun  had  arranged  with 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  to  aid  it  in  the 
undertaking.  There  was  a  stage  line  between  Goshen  and 
Albany,  and  it  had  hopes  of  becoming  the  popular  one  to 
and  from  the  capital,  in  connection  with  the  Erie.  The  Sun 
arranged  to  have  a  copy  of  the  Governor's  message  delivered 
to  it  by  means  of  the  railroad  and  the  Goshen-Albany  route. 
The  Herald  believed  a  copy  could  be  delivered  in  New  York 
sooner  by  a  courier  over  the   regular  stage  line  east  of  the 


Hudson,  and  arranged  to  have  one  delivered  over  that  route. 
The  Railroad  Company  was  intensely  interested  in  the  result 
of  this  race,  for  if  it  proved  that  the  distance  between  New 
York  and  Albany  could  be  made  quicker  by  way  of  the  rail- 
road and  the  Goshen  and  Albany  stage  route,  the  fact  would 
go  far  toward  making  that  route  the  popular  one,  it  was  be- 
lieved, largely  to  the  benefit  of  the  railroad.  Hence  the 
management  made  every  arrangement  to  facilitate  the  delivery 
of  the  Governor's  message. 

Joe  Meginnes,  with  his  locomotive  "  Orange,"  was  chosen 
to  make  the  flying  trip  between  Goshen  and  Piermont  with 
the  message  when  it  should  be  delivered  to  him.  The  pro- 
prietor of  the  Albany  and  Goshen  stage  line  had  provided 
reliable  post-riders  for  this  occasion,  and  the  best  of  horses 
at  ten-mile  relays,  to  carrv  them  to  Goshen  with  all  speed. 
The  Hudson  River  line  had  made  similar  arrangements  for 
its  route.  When  Governor  Seward's  message  was  delivered 
to  the  Legislature  at  its  meeting  in  January,  1842,  a  copy 
of  it  was  delivered  to  each  of  the  post-riders,  and  away  they 
sped.  Joe  Meginnes  had  his  engine  all  ready  to  start  from 
Goshen  on  the  word.  The  "  Orange  "  stood  at  the  old  Goshen 
depot,  puffing  and  snorting,  as  if  with  impatience.  No  post- 
rider  came.  By  and  by  there  was  danger  of  the  engine's 
steam  getting  low,  and  Joe  ran  her  up  and  down  the  track, 
while  his  fireman  (Daniel  Sutherland,  of  Owego,  says  he  was 
the  fireman)  stoked  her  and  kept  her  boiler  full  of  water. 
An  hour  passed,  then  the  sound  of  the  horse's  hoofs  was 
heard  on  the  hill,  and  a  minute  later  the  panting  horse  came 
dashing  up  to  the  station.  The  message  was  handed  over  to 
the  custody  of  the  engineer,  and  he  pulled  out  immediately 
for  Piermont.  "He  pulled  out  so  suddenly,"  says  David 
D.  Osmun,  of  Chester,  N.  Y.,  who  was  present  on  the  occasion, 
"  that  the  locomotive  actually  rose  from  the  rails,  like  a  rearing 
horse,  and  then  came  down  upon  them  again  with  a  '  chug.'  " 
Joe  Meginnes  always  declared  that  he  would  have  arrived  at 
Piermont  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour  sooner  than  he  did  if 
Master  Mechanic  Brandt  had  not  been  on  the  engine  with 
him.  Brandt  was  afraid  to  ride  as  fast  as  Joe  was  inclined 
to  run,  and  the  engineer  had  to  obey  his  superior  officer.    . 

A  steamboat  was  waiting  at  Piermont,  all  ready  to  com- 
plete the  trip,  and  it  was  quickly  steaming  down  the  river. 
The  wide  awake  Sun  editor  had  put  aboard  this  boat  a  force 
of  printers,  with  type  and  tools,  who  were  set  at  work  imme- 
diately putting  the  message  in  type.  By  the  time  the  steam- 
boat reached  New  York  the  message  was  ready  to  go  to  press 
as  soon  as  the  type  could  be  carried  to  the  Sun  office  and 
placed  in  the  forms.  The  result  of  all  this  haste  and  enter- 
prise was  that  when  the  rider  reached  New  York,  bearing  the 
Herald's  copy  of  the  message,  the  Sun  had  been  an  hour  on 
the  street  with  its  reproduction  of  the  document.  A  great 
deal  of  money  was  won  and  lost  on  the  result  of  this  great 
race.  But  the  result  of  the  race  did  not  have  the  effect  of 
making  the  Albany  and  Goshen  connections  of  the  Erie  the 
popular  route  between  New  York  and  Albany,  and  the  stage 
line  was  soon  abandoned. 

Wilmot  M.  Vail,  of  Port  Jervis,  who,  as  a  boy,  was  present 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


o9o 


on  the  occasion,  says  that  the  engine  that  carried  the  message 
from  Goshen  was  the  "  Ramapo,"  and  that  the  "  Orange " 
followed  as  a  tender,  the  "  Ramapo  "  being  run  by  Engineer 
Newell.  At  Sloatsburg  the  "  Ramapo  "  burned  out  a  flue  and 
was  unable  to  proceed  further.  She  was  put  on  the  Y  at 
that  place,  and  the  message  was  transferred  to  the  "  Orange," 
and  Joe  Meginnes  took  it  on  to  Piermont. 

Travelling  West  ahead  of  the  Railroad. — Joe 
Meginnes  ran  the  "Orange"  until  1S46,  when  the  new  loco- 
motive "  Sussex,"  or  Xo.  6,  was  given  him.  Joshua  1'. 
Martin  came  from  the  Lancaster  and  Columbia  Railroad  in 
tint  year  and  took  charge  of  the  "Orange."  He  ran  her 
between  Piermont  and  Otisville ;  and  when  the  railroad  was 
opened  to  Port  Jervis,  ran  to  and  from  that  place  until  the 
sum  ne  r  of  1S4S,  when   the  "Orange"  was  ordered  to  Bing- 


JOSHUA   P.    MARTIN',    OF    "THE   ORANGE"   AND    "OLD   71." 

hamton  to  help  in  the  construction  of  the  railroad  east  from 
that  place.  Martin  was  ordered  to  Binghamton  also,  to  take 
charge  of  her  there.  He  went  by  stage  with  his  family  and 
his  firemdn,  John  Meginnes,  Joe's  brother.  The  "  Orange  " 
was  forwarded  by  Hudson  River  from  Piermont  to  Albany, 
thence  by  Erie  Canal  to  the  junction  with  the  Chenango 
Canal,  and  down  that  canal  to  Binghamton.  The  engine  was 
five  weeks  on  the  way.  After  the  railroad  was  finished  be- 
tween Binghamton  and  Port  Jervis,  Martin  and  the  "  Orange  " 
nelped  build  it  on  to  Hornellsville,  which  place  that  pioneer 
locomotive  was  the  first  to  enter.  The  "  Orange  "  was  sold 
to  the  Attica  and  Hornellsville  Railroad  Company  in  185 r, 
and  it  was  the  only  engine  belonging  to  that  company  for 
more  than  a  year,  doing  all  the  work  of  construction  between 
Hornellsville  and  Portage. 

Joshua  P.  Martin,  who  had  charge  of  the  "  Orange  "  during 
the  construction  period  on  the  Susquehanna  Division,  had  his 


choice  of  divisions  of  the  railroad  to  run  on  when  the  road 
was  opened  to  Dunkirk.  He  chose  the  Delaware  Division, 
and  made  his  famous  record  with  "Old  71."  ("Administra- 
tion of  Benjamin  Loder,"  pages  98-101.)  He  was  appointed 
master  mechanic  of  the  Buffalo,  Coming  and  Xew  York 
Railroad  (now  Rochester  Division  of  the  Erie),  and  later 
returned  to  the  Erie  as  master  mechanic  and  engine  de- 
spat*  her  between  Dunkirk  and  Susquehanna.  When  he  was 
running  on  the  Delaware  Division,  nearly  fifty  vears  ago,  Josh 
Martin  was  held  up  by  the  moon.  The  Delaware  Division  is 
very  crooked.  One  night,  as  Josh  was  booming  along,  the 
moon  was  shining  nearly  at  his  back.  A  few  minutes  later 
he  saw  what  he  thought  was  the  headlight  of  a  locomotive  on 
the  track  directly  ahead  of  him.  He  shrieked  for  brakes  and 
reversed  his  engine.  The  train  came  to  a  stop.  Then  he 
discovered  that  he  had  turned  a  sharp  curve  in  the  road  and 
come  face  to  face  with  the  moon.  Martin  died  at  Jersey  City, 
February  24,  1SS3.  His  son,  William  K.,  is  an  Erie  engineer 
at  Hornellsville. 

In  its  issue  of  December  3,  1S51,  the  Hornellsville  Tribune 
announced  that  "  the  locomotive  '  <  (range  '  has  been  placed 
on  the  Hornellsville  and  Attica  Railroad,  preparatory  to  the 
opening  of  the  road  from  this  place  to  Portageville.  and  has 
been  put  in  fine  running  condition  by  her  engineer,  W.  J. 
Hackett." 

The  "  Orange  "  drew  the  first  train  of  passenger  cars  on 
that  railroad,  January  22,  1852.  June  5,  1852,  she  was  taken 
apart  and  ferried  across  the  Genesee  River  at  Portage,  the 
bridge  across  the  great  chasm  being  unfinished,  and  was  set 
up  on  the  track  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  June  7  th. 
the  track  having  been  laid  part  of  the  way  to  Warsaw.  Thus 
the  "  Orange  "  was  the  first  locomotive  to  sound  a  whistle  in 
that  part  of  the  Genesee  Yalley,  and  she  hauled  the  iron  to  com- 
plete the  track  from  Warsaw  to  Attica.  More  than  ten  years 
later,  although  in  1853  she  was  described  as  "worn  out,"  she 
became  the  pioneer  locomotive  on  the  Buffalo,  Bradford  and 
Pittsburg  Railroad,  now  the  Bradford  Division  of  the  Erie. 
Since  that  time  the  historic  old  engine  seems  to  have  been 
lost  track  of,  the  impression  among  old  railroad  men  being 
that  she  was  taken  to  Susquehanna  to  be  broken  up  and  sent 
to  the  scrap  heap. 

The  first  Erie  engineers  and  freight  conductors  had  a  life 
of  much  hardship  in  cold  or  stormy  weather.  There  were  no 
such  things  as  cabooses,  and  the  locomotives  had  no  cabs. 
The  conductors  had  to  ride  on  the  locomotives.  There  was 
no  protection  from  snow,  or  ice,  or  wind,  or  rain.  It  was 
not  uncommon  to  see  the  engineer  covered  with  ice  like  a 
coat  of  mail.  "  Joe "  Meginnes,  who,  according  to  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  I!.  Freeman,  of  Xew  London,  Conn., 
was  one  of  five  engineers  who  were  the  first  to  run  on  the 
Erie,  was  the  first  engineer  to  have  a  cabbed  Erie  engine. 
Joe  Meginnes,  whose  full  name  was  Joseph  Widrow  Meginnes. 
came  to  be  known  in  after  years  as  the  "  Dandy  Engineer." 
He  had  more  the  appearance  of  a  man  of  letters  than  that 


394 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


of  a  locomotive  engineer.  He  was  dainty  in  his  dress,  even 
on  his  engine,  and  never  appeared  anywhere  with  oil  or  the 
engine  on  his  hands  or  face.  He  was  a  most 
competent  man.  and  his  instincts  were  so  fine  that  when,  on 
a  trip  over  the  New  Jersey  Railroad,  he  saw  for  the  first  time 
a  locomotive  with  a  cab,  he  became  so  dissatisfied  with  his 
engine  that  he  made  a  demand  on  the  Company  for  a  cab  to 
it.  Time  passing,  and  no  cab  having  been  provided  for 
Joe's  engine,  he  called  on  General  Superintendent  H.  C. 
Seymour  and  informed  him  that  unless  the  cab  was  furnished 
forthwith  he  would  leave  the  road.  The  locomotive  was 
fitted  with  a  cab  without  delay,  and  that  was  the  beginning 
of  cabbed  engines  on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad. 
This  was  in  [848.  Engineer  Meginnes  always  had  his  choice 
11  omotives  from  new  ones  that  came  on  the  road.  He 
quit  the  locomotive  sen-ice  in  1857  to  take  charge  of  the 
railroad  dining  saloons  at  Port  Jervis  and  Narrowsburg.  He 
died  at  Port  Jervis  in  1S59,  aged  42.  He  came  to  the  Erie 
from  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad. 

In  1S46  the  Company  added  locomotives  No.  6  and  No.  7 
to  the  road.  They  were  named  the  "Sussex"  and  the 
"  Sullivan."  It  was  the  idea  of  the  Coir  xany  to  name  its 
locomotives  after  the  counties  through  .hich  the  railroad 
ran  and  those  contiguous  to  it.  Engines  6  and  7  were 
ton  machines,  Rogers  make,  with  5-foot  drivers,  and  they 
were  called  the  "giant  engines"  by  the  amazed  people  along 
the  line.  Next  year,  however,  the  Company  put  on  two 
Baldwin  locomotives,  Nos.  8  and  9,  and  called  the  "  New 
York"  and  the  "Monroe,"  which  were  a  greater  curiosity. 
They  had  six  3-foot  9-inch  drivers,  and  tall,  straight  smoke- 
stacks. After  that,  as  the  railroad  progressed  westward,  new 
locomotives  became  frequent  on  the  road,  and  of  patterns 
that  would  excite  much  wonder  in  the  railroad  engineer  of 
this  generation.  They  were  named  for  the  counties  until  the 
list  of  counties  was  exhausted,  when  the  names  of  towns  and 
railroad  officials  were  bestowed.  But  the  locomotives  early 
came  to  be  known  by  their  numbers  only,  and  every  division 
of  the  road  had  its  favorite  engine  and  engineers,  whose 
memory  and  the  memory  of  whose  exploits  will  be  forever 
green— John  Brandt,  Jr.,  Joe  Meginnes,  James  McAlpin,  Isaac 
Lewis,  Joshua  P.  Martin,  Onderdonk  Merritt,  Ben  Hafner, 
W.  C.  Arnold,  ( rarry  Iseman,  James  McCann,  William  Schrier, 
Jam  Charles  Rooney,   Henry  Hawks,   Henry  Green, 

Sam  Walker,  William  Thomas,  "•am  Wood,  D.  E.  Carey,  John 
Donohue,  1  [oratio  ( '..  Brooks,  VV.  D.  Hall,  Reub  Hamlet,  Sam 
Veasey,  Captain  York,  Luther  Pitcher,  James  Salmon,  "Old 
Tripp,"  Ed  Kent,  A.  N.  Judd,  Dan  Kenyon,  Mel  Rose,  Tom 
Tenant,  William  Ingram,  Sylvan  Merritt,  Sam  Tyler,  Lou 
Springstein,  Nathaniel  Taft,  Gad  and  William  Lyman,  Ellis 
Bart,  "Old  Drake,"  John  Meginnes,  Charles  Mygatt,  John 
Kinsella,  Ben  Gardiner,  Dan  Shaver,  Tim  Murphy,  Charley 
Coffey,  Amos  Beatty,  Dave  Henderson,  Jimmy  Frantz,  and 
the  hosts  of  other  brave  and  good  men  who  mounted  the 
footboard  when  the  Erie  was  still  young  (some  of  whom  are 
still  on  duty),  and  when  the  locomotive  was  part  of  the  man 


and  the  man  part  of  the  locomotive,  seemingly  with  one  soul, 
one  heart,  one  body. 

The  first  master  mechanic  on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road was  John  Brandt.  He  was  a  German,  and  came  from 
the  Georgia  Railroad.  He  had  been  the  superintendent  of 
motive  power  on  the  Philadelphia  and  Columbia  Railroad  in 
1836,  a  Pennsylvania  State  road,  and  the  original  portion  of 
the  present  great  Pennsylvania  Railroad  system.  From  183S 
to  1X40  Brandt  was  superintendent  of  motive  power  on  the 
Georgia  Railroad,  which  he  left  to  enter  the  service  of  the 
Erie  in  1840.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneer  locomotive  engi- 
neers of  this  country.  He  brought  with  him  to  the  Erie,  or 
was  the  means  of  their  coming,  the  first  engineers  that  ran 


BENJAMIN    HAFNER    ("THE    FLYING    DUTCHMAN"). 

cn  the   Erie.      Fred  Hamel  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the 
Erie  engineers. 

Of  the  engineers  who  came  on  the  Erie  while  there  was 
still  no  railroad  beyond  Port  Jervis,  only  one  is  alive  to-day, 
and  he  is  still  in  the  service  of  the  Company — Benjamin 
Hafner,  known  the  country  over  among  railroad  men  as  the 
"  Flying  Dutchman."  He  came  on  the  Erie  in  1848,  having 
been  nine  years  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio.  His  first  loco- 
motive on  the  Erie  was  the  "  Susquehanna,"  a  Rogers  engine. 
There  were  then  less  than  200  men  on  the  pay-roll  of  the 
Company,  and  a  majority  of  them  were  freight  handlers  at 
l'iermont.  lien  Hafner  left  the  Erie  in  1854,  and  ran  on 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  but  returned  to  the  Erie  in 
1858.  He  has  been  buried  under  his  locomotive  five  times 
so  that  it  took  hours  to  dig  him  out,  and  he  never  got  a 
si  ratch.  Once,  at  Ramsey's,  the  train  running  at  fifty  miles 
an  hour,  he  collided  with  a  coal  car.     The  train  was  behind 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


395 


time,  and  he  had  already  made  up  [ortv  minutes  between 
Port  Jen-is  and  that  place — a  run  of  about  fifty-five  miles. 
His  engine  turned  upside  down,  and  some  of  the  cars  were 
wrecked.  Mrs.  James  Gordon  Bennett  was  a  passenger  on 
the  train.  A  brakeman  was  badly  hurt.  Mrs.  Bennett  took 
up  a  collection  for  him  among  the  passengers,  contributing 
liberally  herself. 

In  1869,  while  Jay  Gould  was  President  of  the  Erie,  he 
ordered  a  locomotive  made  at  the  Brooks  Locomotive  Works 
at  Dunkirk,  which  he  named  the  George  (i.  Barnard,  after 
the  famous  Judge  of  that  name.  It  was  the  handsomest 
locomotive  ever  made  up  to  that  time.  It  was  decorated  by 
paintings  in  oil,  on  every  spot  where  one  could  be  placed,  by 
the  late  Jasper  F.  Crapsey,  the  artist.  There  were  fourteen 
(nits  of  varnish  on  the  boiler.  Gould  selected  Ben  Hafner 
to  be  the  engineer  of  the  locomotive.  The  first  trip  I  \ 
Gould  ever  took  behind  this  locomotive  with  Ben  at  the 
throttle  he  was  in  a  special  car,  bound  for  Susquehanna,  104 
miles  from  Port  Jem's.  Gould  told  Hafner  to  go  pretty  fast. 
He  went  so  fast  that  before  they  had  gone  many  miles  over 
the  crooked  Delaware  Division  Gould  sent  his  colored  porter 
ahead  to  tell  Ben  to  go  slower,  much  to  the  disgust  of  Ben. 
Ben  Hafner  got  the  name  of  the  "  Flying  Dutchman  "  in 
this  way:  One  day  in  the  summer  of  187 1  No.  8  was  late 
when  he  took  that  train  at  Port  Jervis.  He  had  orders  to 
make  the  run  to  Jersey  City  in  as  short  a  time  as  he  coul  1. 
The  distance  was  eighty-nine  miles.  Hafner  made  the  run 
in  just  two  hours,  including  seven  stops,  one  of  which  was 
fourteen  minutes  at  Turner's  for  supper.  The  passengers 
were  badly  frightened  at  the  speed  of  the  train.  When  the 
train  reached  Jersey,  one  of  the  passengers  passed  Ben  as  he 
was  leaning  out  of  his  cab,  and  yelled  at  him  : 

"Say,  I'd  rather  sail  in  the  'Flying  Dutchman'  than  ride 
after  you  !  " 

From  that  day  to  this  Ben  Hafner  has  been  the  "  Flying 
Dutchman"  to  all  railroad  men.  In  1893  Hafner  retired  as 
an  engineer  after  more  than  half  a  century  on  a  locomotive, 
and  since  then  has  been  depot  master  at  Port  Jervis.  He  is 
hale  and  hearty  at  seventy-six. 

When  the  railroad  was  opened  to  Dunkirk  in  185 1,  there 
were  locomotives  on  the  line  of  the  makes  of  Norris,  Rogers, 
Baldwin,  Swinburne,  the  Boston  Locomotive  Works,  Taunton 
Locomotive  Works,  the  Amoskeag  Co.,  and  Ross  Winans. 
There  were  two  of  these  latter,  Nos.  88  and  89,  intended  for 
freight,  and  were  remarkable  in  having  eight  3-foot  7-1'nch 
drivers.  A  historic  Erie  locomotive  of  the  period  previous  to 
the  opening  to  Dunkirk  was  the  No.  90,  named  "The  Dun- 
kirk." It  was  one  of  the  Hinkley,  or  Boston,  locomotives. 
They  were  mostly  hook-motion,  with  independent  cut-off. 
This  locomotive  was  brought  from  Boston  in  the  fall  of  1S50, 
by  Horatio  G.  Brooks.  It  was  transported  on  a  vessel  to 
New  York,  and  from  there  sent  up  the  Hudson  River  to 
Albany,  thence  to  Buffalo  on  a  boat  on  the  Erie  Canal,  and 
from  Buffalo  to  Dunkirk  on  the  schooner  "  Commodore 
Chauncey."     The  engine  was  landed  at  the  Erie  dock  and 


depot  at  the  foot  of  what  is  now  Washington  Avenue,  Dun- 
kirk, November  7.  1850.  It  was  used  in  the  construction  of 
the  road  from  Dunkirk  east,  and  after  the  road  was  open  was 
run  by  Brooks  on  a  regular  passenger  train  on  the  Western 
Division.  Brooks  was  the  first  engineer  on  that  division. 
He  became  superintendent  of  it,  and  afterward  master  me- 
chanic of  the  entire  line.  He  suggested,  while  holding  that 
office,  many  of  the  improvements  that  began  to  be  made 
during  the  administration  of  R.  H.  Berdell.  In  1S6S,  when 
the  Erie  abandoned  its  shops  at  Dunkirk,  he  founded  the 
Brooks  Locomotive  Works,  and  was  president  of  that  com- 
pany at  the  time  of  his  death,  April  21,  1887. 

Among  the  pioneer  engineers  who  came  to  the  Erie  in  185 1 
was  William  D.  Hall,  who  began  his  railroad  life  as  fireman  on 
the  Boston  an  1  Maine  Railroad  in  1^43,  when  he  was  twenty 


WILLIAM    D.  HALL,    OF    "  HINKLEY,  99." 

years  old,  having  served  two  years  in  the  machine  shop  of  the 
Boston  and  Providence  Railroad.  In  less  than  a  year  he  was 
promoted  to  be  an  engineer.  He  came  to  the  Erie  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1 85 1,  and  ran  a  train  between  Hornellsville  and  Cuba. 
May  5,  1851,  he  took  the  special  car  containing  the  officers 
and  Directors  of  the  Company  from  Hornellsville  to  Dunkirk, 
this  being  the  first  car  through  from  Piermont  to  Dunkirk. 
He  was  engineer  over  the  Western  Division  of  the  second 
section  of  the  great  excursion  train  that  celebrated  the  open- 
ing of  the  railroad,  May  15.  1851,  his  engine  being  a  Hink- 
ley, No.  99.  He  ran  that  engine  on  a  regular  passenger  train 
between  Hornellsville  and  Dunkirk  until  1856,  when  he  quit 
the  Erie  service,  two  weeks  before  the  big  strike.  He  has 
been  running  an  engine  on  the  New  York  Central  twenty-two 
years,  and  is  still  in  the  service,  at  seventy-six  years  old,  at 
Buffalo.     He  ran  the  first  link-motion  locomotive  ever  built, 


396 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


and  has  run  engines  built  by  every  locomotive  builder  in  the 
United  States. 

Another  of  the  engineers  who  came  from  the  Boston  and 
Maine  Railroad  was  Charles  H.  Sherman,  where  he  had  run 
two  years  as  engineer.  He  was  one  of  the  engineers  who 
came  on  the  road  at  the  solicitation  of  Superintendent  Charles 
Minot,  while  the  Western  Division  was  being  finished.  Sher- 
man was  the  engineer  of  the  locomotive  that  hauled  the  first 
sei  tion  of  the  great  excursion  train  from  Hornellsville  to 
Dunkirk  on  the  opening  of  the  railroad,  May  15,  185 1.  In 
1852  he  became  engine  despatcher  at  Dunkirk,  and  remained 
as  such  seventeen  years.  He  was  afterward  travelling  fore- 
man and  road  inspector,  and  later,  and  until  his  death  in 
1897,  foreman  of  the  engine  house  at  Dunkirk. 


. 


CH  \RI.PS    H.    SHERMAN 

There  are  two  engineers  who  came  on  the  Erie  from  the 
Boston  and  Maine  Railroad  in  1851,  still  in  active  service  on 
the  Western  Division,  where  they  have  been  running  nearly 
fifty  years.  They  are  David  E.  Carey  and  Samuel  Veazey,  of 
Hornellsville.  Both  are  long  past  three-score  years  and  ten, 
with  clean  records,  and  apparently  as  well  equipped  for  ser- 
vice as  they  were  when  they  began.  W.  A.  Kimball,  who  ran 
the  first  train  between  Hornellsville  and  Cuba,  is  still  living  at 
that  place,  but  he  retired  from  railroad  service  years  ago. 

Among  the  curious  locomotives  that  came  on  the  road  in 
1851  (July)  were  two  from  the  Boston  Locomotive  Works, 
two  single-driver  engines,  designed  for  speed — Nos.  87  and 
112.  They  were  totally  different  in  action.  The  former  was 
a  mass  of  machinery  ;  hook-motion,  and  independent  variable 
cut-off.  The  latter  was  a  full  crank,  direct-acting,  without 
rocker  arm;  a  link-motion.    With  a  train  suitable  to  their 


capacity,  they  were  very  quick,  not  costly  to  maintain,  and 
easy  on  the  track.  The  engineers  took  great  pride  in  these 
machines,  which  were  put  in  use  upon  the  Susquehanna 
Division.  Luther  Pitcher  had  charge  of  No.  112,  and  John 
Donohue  of  No.  87.  In  the  light  of  the  present  it  was  folly 
to  purchase  such  motive  power,  not  to  mention  the  purchase 
of  the  two  engines  nicknamed  "  Plank  Roads,"  with  seven- 
foot  drivers,  and  cylinders  15x20,  outside-connected,  and 
'fire-box  not  much  larger  than  an  ordinary  cooking  range. 
The  cylinders  were  placed  aft  of  the  smoke  arch  and  steam 
pipe,  out  of  doors,  between  the  dome  and  steam-chest. 
There  was  a  running  board  from  the  back  end  of  the  foot- 
board entirely  around  to  the  other  side.  They  were  built  by 
Norris,  and  came  on  the  road  in  the  winter  of  1851.  They 
were  Nos.  84  and  85.  With  two  or  three  coaches,  on  the 
Susquehanna  Division,  after  getting  under  headway,  the  engi- 
neers would  make  good  time  with  these;  but  it  took  a  mile 
start  to  get  them  under  way.  They  were  a  failure,  of  course. 
No  engineer  wanted  to  run  them,  and  the  last  one  in  train 
service  (No.  84),  on  its  very  last  trip,  was  ripped  to  pieces 
by  Mike  Barnwell,  its  engineer,  who,  it  was  said,  stopped  his 
train  just  after  passing  Gulf  Summit,  west  bound,  took  a 
wrench  and  loosened  up  set-screws  and  pins,  and  whistled  off 
brakes,  whereupon  the  whole  of  her  machinery  was  cleaned 
off.  The  boiler  and  one  pair  of  drivers  are  in  use  at  the  Sus- 
quehanna shops  as  stationary  power — or  were  in  such  use  a 
few  years  ago.  May  17,  1853,  the  Cincinnati  Express,  drawn 
by  No.  84,  made  the  run  from  Susquehanna  to  Hornellsville, 
145  miles,  in  161  minutes,  which  beat  the  record  up  to  that 
time.  The  No.  85  was  used  as  a  switching  engine  in  the 
Port  Jervis  yard  for  several  years,  but  went  to  the  scrap  heap 
in  the  '6os. 

From  iSsr  on,  the  Essex  Company,  Danforth,  Cook  &  Co., 
the  New  Jersey  Locomotive  and  Machine  Co.,  Seth  Wilmarth 
(who  made  twenty  thirty-five-ton  engines  for  the  Company  in 
1S54,  Nos.  167  to  1S7),  and  the  Taunton  Locomotive  Works, 
added  their  styles  to  the  lot ;  while  later  came  the  Grant, 
Brooks,  and  other  makes  to  jumble  the  equipment,  so  that  in 
1870  there  were  eighty-five  different  patterns. 

Running  on  freight  trains  between  Suffern  and  Jersey  City, 
at  the  time  the  Erie  began  to  run  between  those  points,  in 
185 1,  were  two  of  the  original  type  of  locomotives,  named 
the  "Whistler"  and  "  McNeal."  They  were  hook-motion, 
single  driver,  and  worked  steam  at  full  stroke,  no  "  cut-off." 
The  steam-chests  and  slide-valves  were  perpendicular  between 
the  cylinders.  There  was  an  extension  on  the  forward  end 
of  the  valve  yoke,  which  came  through  the  steam-chest  and 
ran  into  a  guide.  The  bell  was  on  the  back  end  of  the 
boiler,  inside  the  cab,  and  was  without  a  "  clapper,"  being 
operated  by  strokes  of  a  soft  hammer  in  the  hands  of  the 
engineer.  The  fuel  used  was  wood,  and  was  cut  in  about 
eight-inch  lengths.  The  heating  surface,  or  fire-box,  was  very 
small,  so  that  if  the  engineer  had  to  drop  down  a  grade  and 
rise  another,  he  would  stop  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  put  in  a  good 
fire,  spread  his  slide-valves  so  as  to  allow  steam  to  pass 
through  the  cylinders  and  create  artificial  draught  to  ignite 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


397 


the  fuel,  and  when  sufficient  steam  was  generated,  open  his 
"butterfly"  throttle-valve,  rush  down  the  one  hill  and  prob- 
ably just  raise  the  other,  accomplishing  wonderful  results  for 
that  day.  The  freight  cars  were  four-wheeled  and  barn-door 
style,  with  a  bar  across  them. 

The  story  of  how  Rogers  engine,  "  No.  ioo,"  failed  to 
make  a  record  for  herself  and  her  engineer,  Gad  Lyman,  on 
the  historical  14th  and  15th  of  May,  185 1,  when  the  Erie 
was  opened  to  Dunkirk,  is  told  on  preceding  pages  ("  Admin- 
istration of  Benjamin  Loder,"  pages  98  to  100).  Gad  Lyman 
was  so  much  disappointed  and  chagrined  over  the  failure  of 
his  favorite  on  that  occasion  that  he  soon  afterward  quit  the 
Erie's  service.  The  "100"  was  taken  in  charge  by  Gad 
Lyman's  brother  William,  who  ran  her  on  the  Eastern 
Division  until  April  13,  1852,  when,  while  she  was  making 
her  stop  at  Chester,  the  crown  sheet  blew  out  with  frightful 
results.  The  locomotive  was  thrown  completely  over  back- 
ward and  rolled  down  an  embankment.  The  fireman,  Robert 
Irving,  was  in  the  tank  at  the  time  and  was  blown  more  than 
fifty  feet  away.  He  was  instantly  killed.  Engineer  Lyman 
was  buried  in  the  wreck.  His  leg  was  cut  off  by  the  latch 
of  the  door  of  the  fire-box.  He  lived  but  a  short  time.  The 
headlight  of  the  locomotive  was  picked  up  more  than  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  distant.  This  explosion  was  one  of  the  first 
of  the  kind  in  this  country.  The  Rogers  Locomotive  Works 
called  in  all  their  engines  of  that  make  and  strengthened  their 
crown  sheets. 

In  March,  1858,  an  experiment  was  made  on  the  Erie  with 
Cumberland  (soft)  coal  as  a  substitute  for  wood  as  fuel  for 
locomotives.  Although  it  was  reported  that  the  experiment 
showed  a  saving  of  forty-eight  per  cent,  in  cost  of  fuel,  no 
movement  was  made  toward  adopting  the  substitute  until 
December,  1S61,  when  Hinkley  engine  "99,"  Taunton 
engine  "  117,"  and  Rogers  "  64  "  were  rebuilt  to  burn  coal, 
and  this  was  the  beginning  of  coal-burning  locomotives  on 
the  Erie  for  regular  service.  It  was  not  until  1872,  however, 
that  coal  entirely  replaced  wood  on  the  road,  and  if  an 
engineer  of  the  present  generation  of  Erie  trainmen  should 
by  any  circumstance  happen  to  see  one  of  the  old  wood- 
burners,  even  of  the  most  modern  type,  he  would  wonder  at 
it :  and  what  would  be  the  speech  of  one  of  the  dead  and 
gone  Erie  engineers  who  passed  their  days  on  the  cabless, 
pilotless  machines  that  first  came  on  the  Erie,  if  he  might 
come  back  and  see  the  marvellous  and  monster  Erie  engines 
of  to-day? 

For  several  years  of  its  later-day  operations  the  Erie  has 
had  in  use  a  type  of  remarkably  large  engines.  The  class  S 
engines  weigh  200,550  pounds  each.  They  are  used  for 
hauling  freight  trains  on  the  Susquehanna  Division.  At  the 
time  of  the  World's  Fair  this  was  the  largest  style  of  engine 
built. 

In  1 899  the  Company  placed  on  the  road  what  are  claimed 
to  be  the  fastest  locomotives  in  any  service.     They  are  of  the 


compound  passenger  Wootten  Atlantic  type.  They  are  used 
for  hauling  the  fast  mail  and  express  trains,  and  for  the  pas- 
senger service  over  two  or  more  divisions  between  New  York 
and  Chicago,  and  were  designed  by  A.  E.  Mitchell,  superin- 
tendent of  motive  power  of  the  Erie.  The  railroad  men  claim 
that  the  trains  have  made  over  eighty-two  miles  an  hour,  with 
six  vestibuled  cars.  The  trains  have  made  an  average  of  bet- 
ter than  sixty  miles  an  hour.  These  engines  were  built  by  the 
Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  of  Philadelphia. 

The  engines  are  not  as  heavy  as  the  former  modern 
engines,  and  are  much  neater  in  appearance.  The  cab  is 
about  half  way  back  on  the  boiler,  making  it  near  the  centre 
of  the  engine.  The  fireman  remains  behind  on  the  tender, 
and  can  at  all  times  see  the  engineer  at  his  post  in  the  cab. 
The  total  weight  of  these  engines  is  151,240  pounds.  They 
have  76-inch  drivers.  The  weight  on  the  drivers  is  81,320, 
and  on  the  trailing  wheels  30,710  pounds.  The  cylinders  are 
13x26  inches  in  diameter  and  26-inch  stroke. 

THE    ORIGINAL    CARS. 

According  to  an  official  statement  made  in  1841,  George 
E.  Hoffman  ordered  the  first  Erie  cars.  Pond,  Higgins  ^V 
Co.,  of  LTtica,  wanted  82,500  each  for  passenger  cars,  and 
Si, 500  each  for  freight  cars,  and  would  take  20  per  cent,  of 
the  amount  in  stock.  Davenport  &  Bridges,  of  Cambridge- 
port,  Mass.,  were  willing  to  make  the  passenger  cars  for 
$2,000  each,  and  the  freight  cars  for  $900  each,  and  take 
25  per  cent,  in  stock.  Hoffman  closed  a  contract  with  them 
for  four  passenger  cars,  and  with  Push  &  Lobdell  for  six 
freight  cars.  The  passenger  cars  were  eight-wheel  cars,  with 
bodies  36x11  feet,  six  feet  high  in  the  clear  inside,  with  a 
capacity  of  thirty  persons  each,  and  they  were  to  be  made  in 
the  best  and  most  substantial  manner.  The  freight  cars  were 
eight-wheel  cars,  the  wheels  weighing  500  pounds  each, 
chilled,  and  equal  to  those  used  in  Norris  locomotives.  The 
axles  weighed  300  pounds  each,  and  were  swelled  axles  of 
hammered  iron.  The  cars  weighed  ten  tons  each,  fitted  with 
axles  and  everything  complete. 

The  first  rolling  stock  received  by  the  Company  was  six 
freight  cars,  on  September  5,  1840,  before  any  rail  had  been 
laid  on  the  road.  They  were  built  by  Bush  &  Lobdell,  at  a 
cost  of  S900  each.  The  builders  took  Si, 400  of  the  total 
cost  of  the  cars  in  stock.  These  cars  were  twenty-five  feet 
long,  ten  feet  wide,  and  six  feet  high,  with  four  wheels.  On 
September  17,  1840,  Rogers,  Ketchum  &  Grosvenor,  of  Pater- 
son,  contracted  for  eight  similar  cars  at  the  same  price,  tak- 
ing Si, 800  in  stock,  and  on  September  25,  1840,  contracted 
to  build  six  more,  and  four  passenger  cars,  two  at  §2,000 
each,  and  two  "for  ladies,"  at  $2,050  each.  The  passenger 
cars  were  to  be  thirty-two  feet  long,  eleven  feet  wide,  and 
six  feet  four  inches  high.  On  the  same  date  Davenport  & 
Bridges  contracted  to  furnish  two  platform  cars  "  thirty-one 
feet  long,  same  width  and  height  of  the  passenger  cars,  that 
carry  the  'baggage  crates,'  at  a  cost  of  S750  each,  and  ten 
'  baggage  crates '  at  S75   each.     This  order  for  rolling-stock 


39§ 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


5,750,  of  which  53,900  was  paid  in  stock.     This,  with 
the  three  I'-  s,  made  ai  expenditure  for  roll- 

ock,  before  a  rail  was  laid,  of  ^-'.350." 
The   Erie  baggage  car  was  flat.     "  Baggage  crates "  were 

closed  trucks   on  wheels   into  which   the  baggage  was  placed, 
anil  then  rolled  on  the  Hat  cars. 

i   PING    CARS    ON    THE     ERIE    FIFTY-SIX    YEARS 

\r,o. 

George  M.  Pullman  nor  Webster  Wagner  is  any  more  en- 
titled to  the  right  of  being  called  the  inventor  of  the  sleeping 
car  than  the  man  in  the  moon  is  entitled  to  be  called  the  in- 
ventor of  the  sewing  machine.  As  to  Pullman  (being  of 
Erie  interest),  his  chief  claim  to  the  monopoly  in  the  sleep- 
ing 1  ar  patent  was  founded  on  his  control  as  assignee  of  pat- 
ents issued  to  Eli  Wheeler,  of  Elmira,  September  20,  1859, 
which  patents  Rudolph  Dirks,  of  Sumneystown,  Pa.,  claims 
were  his  ;  but  even  the  Wheeler  patents  were  antedated  by 
the  Charles  McC. raw  patents  more  than  twenty  years — De- 
cember 10,  1838,  being  the  first  one.  Sleeping  cars  were  in 
use  years  before  Pullman  or  Wagner  was  ever  heard  of,  and 
among  the  very  earliest  of  railroads  to  have  them  was  the 
Erie,  which  had  two  in  1843,  although  the  railroad  was  only 
three  hours'  journey  in  length.  These  cars  were  two  of  six 
cars  of  extraordinary  size,  built  by  John  Stephenson,  one  of 
the  pioneer  car  builders  of  the  country.  The  models  of  the 
cars  were  made  by  Thomas  Brown,  of  the  Stephenson  works, 
then  in  Harlem.  They  were  not  intended  as  sleeping  cars, 
as  the  term  is  now  know^n,  but  to  be  used  by  passengers  if 
they  chose,  for  reclining  and  sleeping  during  their  journey. 
Railroads  were  not  long  enough  in  those  days  to  require  much 
night  travel.  But  these  cars,  according  to  the  positive  state- 
ment of  John  Stephenson  himself,  were  built  with  the  idea 
that  they  were  to  be  slept  in,  and  for  that  purpose. 

These  pioneer  sleeping  cars  were  known  by  the  name  of 
"  the  Diamond  Cars,"  from  the  fact  that  the  sides  of  the 
frame  of  the  cars  were  built  trestle  form,  thus  making  the 
spaces  for  the  windows  diamond-shaped,  so  that  the  windows 
were  necessarily  of  that  shape.  The  frames  of  the  seats  were 
stationary,  two  seats  being  placed  back  to  back,  causing  each 
pair  of  seats  to  face  each  other.  The  cushions  were  loose 
from  the  frames  of  the  seats,  and  a  rod  or  bar  could  be  slid 
from  under  one  seat,  across  the  opening  between  two  facing 
seats  at  the  front  or  aisle-side,  and  fitted  in  a  hole  in  the 
frame  of  the  other  seat.  The  aisle  ends  of  the  seat  cushions 
were  laid  upon  this  bar,  the  other  ends  resting  upon  the 
truss  plank  at  the  wall  side  of  the  car,  the  cushions  being 
pushed  forward  over  the  foot  space,  and  supported  as  above. 
The  back  cushions  were  moved  down  to  take  the  place  of  the 
seat  cushions,  thus  making  a  platform  or  bed.  The  bar  had 
a  little  lip  on  it,  so  that  when  in  the  hole  in  the  other  seat  it 
could  not  get  out  without  being  raised,  and  the  ends  of  the 
seat  cushions  abutted  against  the  forward  ends  of  the  arms 
so  they  could  not  slip  out  into  the  aisle.  There  was  a 
partition  against   which   the  back  cushions  rested,  forming 


head  and  footboards  between  the  beds.  When  the  cushions 
were  in  place  they  made  two  facing  seats.  The  passengers 
00  upying  the  seats  manipulated  the  bar  and  changed  the 
seats  into  a  bed  at  pleasure.  There  were  two  of  these  cars. 
Six  seats  or  beds  were  on  each  side.  There  were  no  bed 
clothes  or  pillows.  The  cushions  were  black  hair  cloth. 
There  was  a  large  diamond-shaped  window  opposite  each  seat, 
and  one  in  the  middle  between  each  pair  of  seat  backs,  and 
a  small  window  in  each  door.     The  cars  were  eleven  feet  wide. 

Archippus  Parish  was  car-builder  foreman  of  the  car  shops 
at  Piermont  in  1S43,  when  the  two  diamond  cars  came  to  the 
road  from  Stephenson's  car  works  at  Harlem.  Thev  were 
delivered  at  Piermont  from  a  ferry-boat.  Parish  had  them 
taken  off  the  boat  and  superintended  the  putting  of  the  trucks 
under  them.  The  cars  were  named  "  Erie  "  and  "  Ontario." 
The  "Ontario"  for  a  time  was  run  on  a  train  known  as  the 
"  Thunder  and  Lightning  Milk  Train,"  which  ran  between 
Otisville  and  Piermont.  Parish  afterward  went  on  the  road 
as  conductor,  and  ran  between  Piermont  and  Otisville  from 
1S46  to  1847. 

These  curious  forerunners  of  the  luxurious  sleeping  cars  of 
the  present  day  were  soon  found  to  be  too  heavy  for  practical 
use  on  the  railroad  at  that  day,  and  they  were  placed  aside, 
to  be  used  only  in  emergencies. 

A  necessary  adjunct  of  the  railroad  for  years  was  a  wood 
train,  which  passed  over  the  line  gathering  up  wood  as  it  was 
brought  in  from  the  woods  and  ranked  up  at  convenient 
places,  and  delivering  it  at  points  where  it  was  needed  for 
fuel.  The  men  in  charge  of  the  wood  train  made  applica- 
tion to  have  one  of  the  diamond  cars,  but  Superintendent  of 
Transportation  S.  S.  Post  said  he  could  not  spare  either  of 
them,  as  the  Company  was  short  of  rolling  stock,  and  he  fre- 
quently had  to  put  them  on  passenger  trains  to  help  out. 
The  end  of  the  diamond  cars  was  that  they  became  boarding- 
house  cars  for  track  laborers.  In  1850  the  "  Erie  "  was  on  a 
siding  at  Piermont,  and  the  "  Ontario  "  at  Suffern,  and  grad- 
ually fell  to  pieces  and  disappeared  years  ago.  They  were 
sleeping  cars,  however,  and  when,  in  1S79,  the  Pullman  Com- 
pany brought  suit  -against  the  Wagner,  or  New  York  Central, 
Sleeping  Car  Company,  to  recover  damages  for  infringement 
on  the  Pullman  patents,  Pullman  was  so  nonplussed  at  the 
revelations  made  in  regard  to  the  Erie  diamond  cars  of  1843 
that  a  halt  was  called  in  the  proceedings,  and  both  Pullman 
and  Wagner  wisely  concluded  that  it  would  not  be  well  to  go 
any  further  in  the  legal  test  of  their  "rights,"  and  agreed  to 
a  compromise,  by  which  they  both  continued  to  share  in  the 
profits  of  an  invention  which  was  old  long  before  either  of 
the  claimants  had  thought  of  making  it  his  own. 

About  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  diamond  cars  on  the 
railroad,  the  first  cars  with  swinging-back  seats  were  put  on. 
They  were  made  by  Eaton  &  Gilbert,  of  Troy,  N.  Y. 

{From  tlie  Goshen  Independent  Republican^    yune  19,   1S47.) 

The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  have  been  treating 
their  patrons  and  themselves  to  some  new  and  elegant  cars.     The  old 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


399 


ones  are  pretty  good,  but  the  new  ones  are  perfect  "dazzle  eyes." 
The  seats  are  mahogany,  trimmed  with  figured  crimson  velvet.  The 
stiles  of  the  body  inside  are  also  of  mahogany  and  the  panels  curled 
maple.  The  windows  are  protected  by  blinds,  and  the  cars  are  lighted 
and  ventilated  in  the  most  perfect  manner.  Altogether,  they  are  fine 
specimens  of  utility,  taste  and  elegance. 

About  the  time  the  Erie  began  running  its  trains  through 
to  Jersey  City,  a  man  with  some  genius  originated  a  chair 
seat  for  passenger  coaches.  The  prevailing  seat  was  the  plain 
kind,  with  low  back;  a  comfortable  seat,  but  unless  a  person 
could  have  a  full  seat  in  which  to  recline,  a  night  journey  was 
anything  but  pleasurable.  The  chair  referred  to  was  reversi- 
ble, and  much  higher  in  the  back,  and  provided  with  a  head- 
rest very  similar  to  those  in  use  upon  barbers'  chairs.  These 
chairs  were  most  highly  appreciated.  Persons  intending  to 
take  the  night  train  would  go  or  send  to  Jersey  City  earlv, 
buy  a  ticket,  and  secure  a  night  chair,  thus  enjoying  the 
greatest  luxury  in  travelling  then  known.  Prior  to  the  intro- 
duction of  this  chair,  "  fakirs  "  haunted  the  station  with  a  de- 
vice to  aid  the  passengers  to  enjoy  sleep.  It  was  an  upright 
piece  of  steel  that  would  reach  from  the  middle  of  the  back 
of  the  head  to  a  point  below  the  shoulder  blades.  Crossing 
this  horizontally  were  four  other  pieces  of  steel.  When  put 
in  use,  the  appliance  was  placed  between  the  back  of  the 
person  arid  the  back  of  the  seat,  with  the  passenger's  head 
resting  on  the  top  cross-piece  and  the  point  where  it  was 
riveted  to  the  upright  piece.  Thus  the  head  rested  upon  a 
spring,  and  responded  to  the  jar  or  motion  of  the  car.  These 
contrivances  sold  "on  sight"  at  Si  each. 

In  1S51,  after  the  Erie  had  arranged  with  the  Paterson 
and  Ramapo  and  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  railroads 
for  transfer  of  its  passengers,  mail,  express,  and  baggage  be- 
tween Suffern  and  Jersey  City,  D.  H.  Conklin  was  sent  to 
Suffern  as  telegraph  operator,  and  to  put  the  instruments  in 
the  waiting  room  of  the  other  railroads.  The  situation  was 
too  much  exposed,  and  Superin tent  lent  Minot  gave  him  per- 
mission to  take  the  body  of  an  old  baggage  car  that  stood  on 
a  siding  at  Chester  Junction.  This  was  ordered  to  Suffern, 
and  was  placed  at  the  side  of  the  Erie  track  as  an  office. 
This  car  had  a  cupola  in  its  centre,  and  a  colonnade  or  gang- 
way entirely  around  it.  At  the  time  this  old  car  had  been 
placed  in  sen-ice  the  railroad  probably  had  no  time-card,  or 
if  it  had,  the  train  arriving  first  at  a  given  point  waited  a 
stipulated  time  and  then  proceeded,  running  by  "  sight,"  with 
a  man  seated  in  the  cupola,  whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  for 
the  train  against  which  they  were  running.  The  brake  wheel 
of  the  car  was  in  the  cupola.  It  is  only  within  very  recent 
years  that  a  caboose  with  cupola  and  brake  wheel  therein 
was  introduced  on  railroads,  and  claimed  as  a  new  idea. 

COMING    OF    THE    FIRST    CONDUCTOR. 

Eben  E.  Worden  was  the  first  Erie  conductor.  He  was  a 
slight,  delicate  young  man,  and  was  noted  for  his  polite 
manners.     He  had  been  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Thomas  & 


Worden,  who  had  a  contract  for  a  section  of  the  first  grading 
of  the  railroad  in  1840,  the  cut  through  Piermont  Hill  being 
a  part  of  their  work.  The  Railroad  Company  being  in  finan- 
cial straits,  the  firm  lost  money.  According  to  the  reminis- 
cences of  YV.  H.  Stewart,  it  was  understood  that  one  John 
S.  Williamson,  who  had  influential  friends  in  the  Companv. 
was  to  be  made  conductor  as  soon  as  the  road  was  opened. 
Williamson  lived  at  New  York.  In  consequence  of  Worden 
having  been  unfortunate  in  his  dealings  with  the  Company, 
Superintendent  H.  C.  Seymour  appointed  him  to  be  the 
conductor  on  the  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Goshen.  He 
came  from  Cayuga  County.  He  had  been  a  contractor  on 
the  Erie  Canal,  and  had  a  large  claim  against  the  State,  which 
was  disallowed.  He  then  took  the  contract  on  the  Erie,  in 
1840.  He  remained  with  the  Erie  two  years  as  conductor, 
when  broken  health  compelled  him  to  resign.  He  died  of 
consumption  in  the  fall  of  1844,  and  was  buried  at  Sennott, 
Cayuga  County.  He  married  a  Miss  Smith,  of  Goshen,  but 
left  no  family.  (The  author  made  diligent  effort  to  obtain  a 
portrait  and  biographical  data  of  this  first  Erie  conductor  for 
reproduction  here,  but  was  unable  to  obtain  either,  much  to 
his  regret.) 

The  appointment  of  Worden  as  conductor  created  a  great 
deal  of  feeling  among  the  friends  of  Williamson,  and  they  not 
being  disposed  to  let  the  matter  pass  without  an  effort  to 
secure  him  the  conductorship,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Wor- 
den had  it,  Williamson  was  offered  the  place  of  Receiver  of 
Freight  on  the  New  York  dock,  as  a  compromise.  He  ac- 
cepted the  offer,  but  with  the  understanding  that  when  the 
Company  employed  another  conductor  he  should  be  the  man. 
Capt.  A.  H.  Shultz,  or  Capt.  "Aleck "  Shultz,  as  he  was 
more  generally  known,  had  command  of  the  steamboat  that 
ran  between  Piermont  and  New  York,  in  connection  with  the 
railroad.  A  man  named  Evans  was  ticket  clerk  on  the  boat. 
This  man  evidently  had  influence  with  Captain  Shultz,  and 
Captain  Shultz  must  have  been  influential  at  railroad  head- 
quarters, judging  from  what  happened.  Evans  had  a  relative 
by  marriage  named  Henry  Ayres,  who  was  working  for  the 
Harlem  Railroad  Company.  The  Erie  had  to  have  a  freight 
conductor,  and  Evans  put  in  a  word  for  Ayres  to  Captain 
Shultz,  and  Captain  Shultz  talked  it  up  at  the  Erie  offices, 
and  Ayres  was  chosen  as  conductor  to  take  charge  of  the 
freight  train  on  the  road  between  Goshen  and  Piermont,  thus 
becoming  the  second  conductor  on  the  Erie.  This  appoint- 
ment caused  another  disturbance,  and  the  friends  of  William- 
son tried  to  have  Ayres'  appointment  reconsidered,  but  with- 
out success. 

This  Conductor  Ayres  became  part  of  the  history  of  the 
Erie,  for  he  was  more  than  thirty  years  the  dean  of  the  fra- 
ternity of  Erie  conductors,  and,  as  "Poppy"  Ayres,  was 
known  the  country  over  for  years  after  he  ceased  to  be  a 
railroad  man.  Henry  Ayres  was  a  native  of  Boston.  In  1S20 
he  was  in  the  United  States  Army,  and  was  under  General 
Eustis  when  that  officer  took  possession  of  St.  Augustine, 
Fla.,  July  4th  of  that  year.  In  the  spring  of  1S37  he  began 
work  as  a  conductor  on  the  Harlem  Railroad,  running  from 


4oo 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


New  York  to  Morrisania,  and  in  September,  1841,  com- 
menced running  on   the   Krie.     He  continued  as  conductor 

until  May,  [869,  «hen  he  left  the  road,  and  became  propri- 
etor of  the  Central  House  at  Owego,  to  which  place  he  had 
removed  in  [848.  He  was  subsequently  for  a  time  United 
States  Mail  Agent  on  the  Erie  Railway,  and  was  afterward  in 
the  service  of  the  Company  at  Elmira.  When  he  left  the 
road  he  was  retired  on  half  pay,  which  continued  until  his 
death. 

Captain  Amis,  whose  title  of  Captain  was  given  to  him  by 
his  friends  many  years  ago,  was  one  of  the  most  genial  of 
men,  and  his  fund  of  good  humor  was  inexhaustible.  He 
was  known  affectionately  everywhere  as  "  Poppy  "  Ayres.  He 
1  i\  large  man,  weighing  about  300  pounds.  He  had 
to  squeeze  his  way  through  the  car  doors  sidewise.  In  winter 
he  wore  a  fur-trimmed  overcoat  and  coon-skin  cap.  He  died 
at  Owego,  October  5,  1880,  aged  eighty  years,  leaving  a  wife, 
and  a  son  and  daughter  by  a  former  marriage. 

The  history  of  the  Erie  is  rich  in  reminiscences  of  Captain 
Ayres,  of  which  these  are  samples  : 


assuming  a  theatrical  and  mysterious  manner,  and  passed  on, 
leaving  the  old  lady  gazing  at  the  rope  in  open-eyed  wonder- 
ment. The  telegraph  had  not,  as  yet,  been  put  in  operation, 
but  a  line  was  in  course  of  construction  through  that  country, 
and  the  talk  of  the  people  was  of  that  as  much  as  it  was  of 
the  railroad,  which  had  itself  only  just  come  among  them. 
Conductor  Ayres  knew  that  if  the  old  lady  had  left  her  um- 
brella on  the  steamboat  he  would  find  it  in  the  baggage-car, 
for  it  was  the  rule  for  the  stewards  of  the  boat  to  go  through 
the  saloons  after  passengers  had  left  them  at  Piermont,  and 
if  any  articles  had  been  left  there  by  absent-minded  travellers 
they  were  taken  on  board  the  train  and  placed  in  the  baggage- 
car,  that  they  might  be  restored  to  their  owners.  So  Poppy 
Ayres  went  into  the  baggage-car,  found   the  umbrella,  and, 


An  Umbrella  that  Came  by  Telegraph. — In  the 
summer  of  1849,  a  worthy  old  lady  living  at  Lordville,  in  the 
Delaware  Valley,  resolved  to  make  a  trip  to  New  York, 
where  she  had  relatives,  and  see  the  great  sights  of  Gotham. 
She  had  been  out  of  sight  of  her  native  place  but  once 
in  all  her  life,  and  that  was  when  she  went  one  time  "  down 
the  river"  on  a  raft  with  her  husband.  For  her  New  York 
trip  she  had  boxes  and  bundles  a-many.  Among  these  be- 
longings was  an  ancient  umbrella,  a  family  relic.  It  is  pre- 
sumed that  she  enjoyed  her  visit,  but  she  had  much  tribulation 
on  her  return  trip.  In  coming  up  the  Hudson  River  on  the 
steamboat,  she  became  so  nervous  from  fear  that  the  cars 
would  leave  Piermont  without  her  that  she  forgot  all  about 
her  much-prized  umbrella,  and  left  it  on  the  boat.  She  did 
not  miss  it  until  the  train  had  reached  Cochecton,  which  was 
well  on  toward  her  own  stopping-place.  "Poppy"  Ayres 
was  the  conductor.  In  passing  through  the  cars  after  the 
train  left  Cochecton,  he  saw  the  old  lady  swaying  back  and 
forth  in  her  seat,  wringing  her  hands  and  making  a  great  ado. 

"  What's  the  matter,  mother?  "  the  kindly  conductor  im- 
mediately asked  her.     "  Are  you  sick?  " 

"No.  Not  sick!"  sobbed  the  old  lady.  "  But  I've  left 
my  umbrell'  (sob)  aboard  the  steamboat !  That  umbrelP 
(sob)  has  been  in  our  family  fer  more'n  forty  year  (sob),  and 
now  it's  gone  !  Oh,  oh,  oh  !  That's  worse  than  (sob)  bein' 
sick  !     l!oo-o-o-o,  woo-o-0-0  !  " 

"  Oh,  mother,  mother  !  "  said  Poppy,  consolingly,  patting 
the  old  lady  on  the  baik.  "  Don't  cry  !  We'll  get  your  um- 
brella for  you.  We'll  send  for  it  on  the  telegraph.  It'll  be 
here  in  a  minute  or  two." 

The  old  lady  cheered  up  instantly.  She  dried  her  tears, 
but  1  ould  not  disguise  the  surprise  the  conductor's  assurance 
gave  her.  Ayres  reached  up,  took  hold  of  the  bell-rope — then 
only  a  recent  adjunct,  and  one  that  "  Poppy"  had  himself 
introduced,   as    is    told    elsewhere.     He  wriggled    the    rope, 


CAPT.    HENRY    AYRES    ("POPPY"),    AT   75. 

taking  it  under  his  arm,  started  back  through  the  train. 
When  he  came  to  the  car  where  the  old  lady  was,  he  took  it 
to  her  and  exclaimed,  as  if  in  great  triumph  : 

"There,  mother  !  I  told  you  we  could  get  your  umbrella 
by  telegraph  !     And  here  it  is  !  " 

The  owner  of  the  umbrella  was  speechless  with  joy  for  a 
time  over  the  recovery  of  the  prized  relic.  She  looked  at  it, 
anil  then  gazed  at  the  smiling  conductor.  At  last  she  ex- 
claimed : 

"  For  the  land  sakes  alive  !  Who'd  ever  'a'  thunk  it?  I've 
heern  o'  letters  and  papers  bein'  sent  by  telegrapht,  but 
who'd  'a'  thunk  they  could  send  umbrell's?  " 

And  in  the  exuberance  of  her  joy  she  rose  quickly  to  her 
feet,  threw  her  arms  around  Poppy  Ayres' s  neck,  and  hugged 
and  kissed  him  repeatedly  before  he  could  release  himself, 
much  to  the  delight  and  amusement  of  the  other  occupants 
of  the  car. 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


401 


He  Sued  "  Poppy  "  Ayres.- — One  day,  in  the  summer  of 
1856,  a  fussy  old  gentleman,  named  John  Beebe,  bought  a 
ticket  at  Xewburgh  for  Addison,  Steuben  County,  X.  V.  When 
the  train  he  was  on  reached  Deposit,  which  was  far  less  than 
half  the  way  on  his  journey,  Mr.  Beebe  was  tired,  and  he  got 
off  the  train  and  remained  over  night  at  that  place.  Xext 
morning  he  resumed  his  journey  on  the  emigrant  train.  This 
train  was  not  pleasing  to  Beebe,  but  he  stuck  to  it  until  it  got 
as  far  as  Great  Bend,  Pa.  At  that  station  he  deserted  the 
emigrant  train  and  waited  for  the  day  express.  The  day 
express  was  a  "  swell "  train  at  that  day,  and  its  conductor 
was  "  Poppy  "  Ayres.  He  passed  through  his  train  after  leav- 
ing Great  Bend,  and  came  to  traveller  Beebe,  who  handed  up 
his  ticket.  The  conductor  glanced  at  it  and  handed  it  back 
to  the  passenger. 

"  Ticket  ain't  good  !  "  said  "  Poppy  "  Ayres. 

"Isn't  good?"  exclaimed  Mr.  Beebe,  flaring  up.  "  I'd 
like  to  know  why  it  isn't  good." 

"  Been  punched  once  for  this  division,"  replied  Poppy. 

"  I  don't  care  if  it's  been  punched  for  this  division,  or  that 
division,  or  the  other  division,"  retorted  the  excited  passen- 
ger.    "  I  paid  for  it,  and  I'm  going  to  ride  on  it." 

••  You'll  have  to  pay  your  fare  on  this  train,"  said  the  con- 
ductor, quietly. 

"  I'll  bet  you  I  won't  !  "  declared  Mr.  Beebe,  with  much 
emphasis.     "  You'll  take  this  ticket  or  nothing." 

"Poppy"  Ayres  would  not  take  the  ticket,  and  Mr.  Beebe 
would  not  pay  his  fare,  so  the  train  was  stopped  and  the  stub- 
bom  passenger  was  put  off.  That  did  not  cool  him  down  a 
particle,  however.  He  brought  suit  in  Broome  County,  not 
against  the  Company,  but  against  Conductor  Ayres,  to  recover 
damages  for  being  put  off  the  train.  Judge  Balcom,  who 
was  afterward  called  to  act  in  far  more  serious  but  much  less 
creditable  Erie  litigation,  heard  the  case,  and  directed  a  ver- 
dict for  the  plaintiff.  The  jury  gave  him  a  judgment  for  $250 
against  "  Poppy  "  Ayres.  As  the  conductor  had  simply  carried 
out  the  orders  of  his  superiors  in  ejecting  Beebe  from  the  train, 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  Company  made  good  the  judg- 
ment against  him.  He  never  would  say  whether  such  was 
the  fact  or  not.  At  any  rate,  the  case  was  not  appealed.  It 
may  be  that  this  was  because  the  Company  had  then  pending 
an  appeal  in  the  case  of  Ransom  against  the  Xew  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company,  the  lower  courts  having  awarded  the 
plaintiff,  who  had  been  injured  by  a  train  at  Chemung,  a 
judgment  of  Si5,ooo.  If  the  Company  was  awaiting  the 
result  of  that  case  before  trying  its  chances  in  any  other  ap- 
peals it  acted  wisely,  for  a  few  weeks  after  the  Ayres  verdict 
the  Ransom  judgment  was  affirmed.  Ransom  had  been  hurt 
July  4,  1853.  Interest  and  costs  increased  the  original 
amount  to  $20,000. 

INVENTION    OF    THE    BELL-ROPE. 

Captain  Ayres  was  the  inventor  of   the  present  bell-rope 
system  on  railroads.     The  history  of  the  first  use  of  the  bell- 
rope,  as  related  by  himself,  is  as  follows  :    When  he  com- 
26 


menced  running  on  the  Erie  the  locomotive  had  no  cab  for 
the  engineer.  There  was  no  way  to  go  over  the  cars,  nor  for 
the  engineer  to  communicate  with  the  conductor  when  the 
train  was  in  motion.  In  those  days,  instead  of  the  conductor 
running  the  train,  as  at  present,  the  engineer  had  entire 
charge,  and  the  conductor  was  a  mere  collector  of  fares  and 
tickets.  Previous  to  about  this  time  railroads  had  been  used 
chiefly  for  transporting  freight,  and  there  was  no  occasion  for 
communication  between  the  engineer  and  the  conductor. 
Captain  Ayres'  engineer  was  a  man  named  Hamel,  a  German, 
and  the  original  Erie  engineer.  In  the  spring  of  1S42,  Cap- 
tain Ayres  rigged  a  strong  cord  to  run  from  his  car  to  the 
engine.  At  the  end  of  the  cord  at  the  locomotive  he  tied  a 
stick  of  wood.  The  cord  extended  thence  up  over  the  frame- 
work and  back  over  the  train.  He  told  the  engineer  that 
when  he  wanted  to  signal  him  he  would  pull  the  cord,  which 
would  jerk  the  stick  up  and  down.  Hamel  did  not  like  this 
interference  with  his  powers  as  master  of  the  train,  and  as 
soon  as  the  cars  started  he  cut  the  cord  and  threw  away  the 
stick.  This  was  repeated.  Finally,  one  day,  as  they  were 
about  to  start  from  Piermont,  Captain  Ayres,  as  he  attached 
a  stick  to  the  cord,  told  Hamel  that  if  the  wood  was  missing 
from  the  cord  when  they  reached  Turner's  they  would  fight, 
and  thus  decide  who  was  to  run  the  train.  At  Turner's  the 
stick  was  missing.  Captain  Ayres  removed  his  coat,  and  in- 
formed Hamel  that  he  was  about  to  make  good  his  words. 
Instead  of  coming  down  to  meet  him,  the  engineer  climbed 
to  the  other  side  of  his  locomotive.  Captain  Ayres  followed 
and  seized  him,  whereupon  Hamel  showed  the  white  feather, 
and  said  if  he  was  not  whipped  he  would  not  remove  the 
stick  again.  He  was  thereupon  released.  This  settled  the 
question  of  running  the  train,  and  from  that  day  to  the  pres- 
ent the  conductor,  instead  of  the  engineer,  has  had  entire 
charge  of  running  the  train.  The  gong  was  afterward  substi- 
tuted for  the  stick  of  wood,  and  the  bell-rope  went  into  gen- 
eral use  on  the  few  railroads  that  had  then  been  constructed. 
There  are  other  versions  as  to  the  manner  and  time  of  Cap- 
tain Ayres'  introduction  of  the  bell-rope,  but  this  one  is  his 
own,  and  therefore  authentic. 

William  H.  Stewart,  one  of  the  pioneer  conductors  of  the 
Erie,  ran  the  first  through  train  between  Piermont  and  Dun- 
kirk, and  the  first  train  ever  run  on  telegraphic  orders  (which 
was  in  the  fall  of  1851),  and  was  employed  on  the  Hudson 
River  boat  that  carried  the  first  freight  to  Xew  York  that  was 
ever  run  over  the  Erie  after  the  road  was  opened  to  Goshen, 
September  23,  1841.  Stewart  was  the  fourth  conductor  to 
be  employed,  being  preceded  by  Eben  E.  Worden,  Henry 
Ayres,  and  Henry  Watson. 

Mr.  Stewart  was  in  time  promoted  to  first-class  conductor, 
and  followed  the  road  as  it  advanced  to  all  its  various  ter- 
mini between  Piermont  and  Dunkirk.  He  was  conductor 
until  1S54,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  months  in  1848,  when 
he  was  station  agent  at  Port  Jervis,  his  health  having  failed. 
He  took  the  late  Captain  Lytle's  place  as  station  agent  here, 
and  Lytle  took  his  place  as  conductor.     In  1854  he  resigned 


402 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


ductor  to  take  the  contractfor  delivering  the  train  bag- 
gage from  Jersey  City  to  the  Company's  depot  at  the  Eool  oi 
Duane  Street,  New  York,  the  Company  then  having  no  ferry 
of  its  own.  He  also  had  the  contract  for  delivering  the  mails 
at  Cortlandt  Street.  He  was  obliged  to  give  the  contracts  up 
to  a  friend  of  the  Assistant  President  of  the  Company  in 
[858.  Mr.  Stewart  then  retired  from  railroad  life.  He  died 
at  Waverly,  V  V.,  December  18,  1897,  aged  eighty-six. 

Hiring  a  Conductor. — In  the  early  days  of  railroading 
on  the  Erie,  practical  joking  was  a  favorite  pastime  with  many 
of  the  well-known  employees.  None,  perhaps,  enjoyed  a 
wider  reputation  in  that  line  than  W.  H.  Stewart,  better 
known  as  "  Hank."     While  he  was  agent  at  Port  Jervis,  one 


■ 


W.    H.    STEWART    ("HANK"),    AT    S3. 

day  a  tall,  lean,  lantern-jawed,  spindle-shanked  native  of  the 
"  Wilds  of  Sullivan  "  went  to  that  place  to  get  a  job  on  the 
railroad.     He  called  on  Stewart  at  the  ticket  office. 

"  Kin  I  git  a  job  runnin'  on  this  here  railroad  ?  "  asked  the 
unsophisticated  applicant. 

"  Why,  yes.  I  think  it's  more  than  likely,"  replied  Stew- 
art, sizing  up  the  calibre  of  his  man  at  a  glance.  "We're 
killing  off  two  or  three  men  every  day,  and  are  running  short 
of  hands.  You  can  have  a  chance.  What  kind  of  a  job 
would  you  prefer?  " 

"  Oh,  conductor  !  "  said  the  Sullivan  County  man.  "  That's 
the  job  that  I'm  lookin'  fer  !  " 

•'  All  right,"  said  Stewart.  "  There  will  be  a  train  due  here 
in  an  hour  or  so,  and  if  it  hasn't  any  <  onductor  aboard,  I  can 
give  you  a  job  right  away." 

The  applicant's  delighted  smile  was  so  open  that  he  almost 
showed  his  palate. 


"  But,"  continued  Stewart,  with  great  gravity,  "you'll  need 
a  little  practice  before  you  take  the  job.  We  want  a  man 
who  can  walk  as  erect  as  a  trained  soldier,  and  has  a  voice 
that  he  can  shout  out  the  stations  with,  so  it  will  be  heard  all 
through  the  train." 

"Them's  easy  !  "  exclaimed  the  grinning  backwoodsman. 

"Just  come  out  on  the  platform,  and  we'll  see,"  said 
Stewart.  "  I'll  give  you  a  few  lessons  before  the  train  ar- 
rives." 

The  mischievous  agent  took  his  pupil  out  on  the  platform, 
and  gave  him  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  an  Erie 
conductor  should  bear  himself  while  on  duty.  The  aspiring 
mountaineer  copied  the  example,  and  with  his  thumbs  in  the 
armholes  of  his  vest,  walking  as  straight  as  a  cock  pigeon  in 
a  thunder  shower,  and  calling  out  the  names  of  the  stations 
on  the  Eastern  Division,  in  a  voice  that  could  have  been 
heard  fifty  rods  off,  he  strutted  up  and  down  the  platform  an 
hour  or  more,  Stewart  praising  him  extravagantly,  and  telling 
him  what  a  fine  conductor  he  would  make.  The  exhibition 
soon  brought  half  the  village  to  the  station,  and  a  more 
amused  crowd  of  appreciative  folk  never  gathered  there  be- 
fore or  since. 

The  unsuspecting  Sullivan  County  citizen  strutted  prouder 
and  prouder,  and  shouted  louder  and  louder,  under  the  lavish 
words  of  praise  from  his  instructor,  who  through  it  all  was  as 
serious  as  a  preacher  at  a  funeral.  At  last  the  expected  train 
came  steaming  in.     The  conductor  stepped  off. 

"  Port  Jervis  !  Fifteen  minutes  for  refreshments  !  "  he 
shouted. 

"  Pshaw  ! "  exclaimed  Stewart,  snapping  his  fingers,  and 
turning  to  his  pupil,  who  stood  ready  to  take  his  job. 
"They've  got  a  conductor  on  this  train!  Ain't  that  too 
bad?" 

Then  the  crowd,  which  had  suppressed  its  merriment  up 
to  this  time,  broke  loose  in  one  great  shout  of  laughter. 

The  backwoods  candidate  for  a  conductorship  on  the  Erie 
seemed  then  to  get  the  joke  through  his  head.  He  made 
tracks  for  home,  satisfied,  perhaps,  that  log-chopping  was 
better  than  railroading,  after  all. — (Related  to  the  author  by 
Henry  Dutcher,  of  Warwick,  N.  Y.) 

Giving  Him  a  Job  as  a  Brakeman. — At  another  time, 
while  Stewart  was  running  as  conductor,  Assistant  Superin- 
tendent S.  S.  Post  was  being  bothered  by  a  man  who  wanted 
to  be  a  brakeman.  Post  had  become  tired  of  the  fellow's 
importunities.  One  day,  as  he  was  boring  the  Superintend- 
ent for  a  job,  Stewart  came  in.  Post,  giving  him  a  wink, 
said  : 

"  This  man  wants  a  job  as  brakeman.  Can  you  do  any- 
thing for  him?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Stewart,  "  I  want  a  head-brakeman." 

So  when  Stewart  went  out  with  his  train  that  night,  he  put 
his  man  on  the  front  of  the  baggage  car,  next  to  the  engine. 
It  was  a  foggy,  drizzly  night  in  the  winter,  and  the  position 
the  man  occupied  on  the  train  gave  him  the  benefit  of  all  the 
storm,  and  the  ashes  and  cinders  from  the  engine,  so  that 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


40: 


when  he  got  to  Elmira  it  was  difficult  to  tell  whether  he  was 
a  runaway  slave  or  a  Hottentot  just  landed.  He  slipped 
from  the  train  at  that  place,  and  was  seen  no  more. 

"  He  didn't  even  come  back  after  his  pay  !  "  Stewart  said. 

FIRST    CONDUCTOR    KILLED    ON    THE    ERIE. 

The  freight  train  ran  off  the  track  just  as  it  was  passing  on 
to  the  high  trestle  over  the  Hackensack  River,  five  miles 
from  Piermont,  Saturday  afternoon,  April  6,  1843.  The 
locomotive  and  two  freight  cars  were  precipitated  through 
the  trestle  work  about  fifteen  feet  to  the  ground,  instantly 
killing  Henry  W.  Watson,  the  conductor,  who  was  on  the 
locomotive.  The  engineer  and  fireman  escaped  without  a 
scratch,  but  were  found  unconscious,  each  at  his  post.  One 
of  the  cars  that  fell  through  was  loaded  with  pig  iron  and 
calves.  Nineteen  of  the  calves  were  crushed  to  death  by 
the  iron.  There  were  fourteen  passengers  on  the  train  when 
it  arrived  at  the  turn-out,  some  distance  west  of  the  trestle, 
and  lay  there  for  the  evening  passenger  train  to  overtake  and 
pass  it.  When  the  passenger  train  came  along  the  passengers 
were  transferred  to  it  from  the  freight  train,  and  many  of 
them  were  thus  undoubtedly  saved  from  death. 

Conductor  Watson  was  one  of  the  civil  engineers  who 
made  the  final  location  for  the  Eastern  Division  of  the  railroad 
and  had  been  retained  in  the  Company's  employ,  "  such  was 
his  probity  and  correct  business  habits,  a  compliment  which 
our  citizens  will  bear  us  witness  too  many  of  his  associates 
did  not  deserve,"  pointedly  remarked  a  Goshen  newspaper 
in  its  account  of  the  accident.  He  was  the  first  Erie  con- 
ductor (or  employee)  to  be  killed  on  the  railroad. 

James  Lytle  came  on  the  Erie  as  conductor  in  April,  1S43, 
succeeding  Henry  W.  Watson.  He  was  from  Washington 
County,  X.  V.  David  P.  DeWitt,  a  nephew  of  Superin- 
tendent Sevmour,  was  running  Conductor  Worden's  pas- 
senger train  at  that  time,  Worden  being  ill  with  consumption. 
DeWitt  was  a  civil  engineer.  When  Worden  died  DeWitt 
was  (ailed  to  the  field  and  Lytle  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
train.  Lytle  ran  the  train  until  the  opening  of  the  railroad 
to  Port  Jervis  in  January,  1S4S,  when  he  was  made  agent  at 
that  place,  W.  H.  Stewart  taking  the  passenger  train.  In 
April.  1848,  Stewart  became  ill,  and  Lytle  took  the  train 
again,  Stewart  becoming  agent  at  Port  Jervis.  When  the 
railroad  was  opened  to  Bingham  ton  in  1S49  Lytle,  Sol 
Bowles,  and  Captain  Ayres  ran  trains  through.  It  was  a  hard, 
cold  winter  ;  the  snow  was  deep,  and  the  fuel  was  green 
wood,  hard  to  bum.  Lytle  asked  Superintendent  Seymour 
to  give  him  his  old  train  back.  Seymour  told  him  to  "  run 
that  train  or  nothing."  Lytle  quit  the  road,  and  was  in 
business  in  Middletown  until  his  death  in  1884. 

Conductors  following  these  pioneers  (not  in  chronological 
order)  were  Albert  Stone,  Isaac  Wood,  Hank  Masterson 
(who  was  the  first  baggage-master),  Charley  Green,  Phineas 
Thompson,  David  DeWitt,  Tom  Houston,  Jerome  Dennis, 
Tom  Hill,  H.  C.  Chapin,  John  Sayr,  David  Doremus,  Sam 


Crouch,  John  Buckhout,  Charles  Salmon,  Solomon  Bowles, 
Henry  Smith,  Ryerson  H.  Stewart,  Charles  Robinson,  Ned 
Chamberlain,  William  C.  Clark,  Ellis  Haring,  Ed  Haring, 
Dave  Killinger  (who  afterwards  kept  the  railroad  dining 
saloon  at  Hornellsville),  Ruel  H.  Chamberlain,  Harvev 
Lamb,  Al  Larwill,  Scott  Harris,  Lew  Stanley,  Frank  Spring, 
C.  C.  Quick  ("  Lum"),  Sam  Walley,  Jim  Westervelt,  R.  R. 
Carr,  "  Hi "  Hurty,  Mark  Ball,  Jim  Martin,  Coe  Little,  Abe 
Wandell,  Pat  Jeffries,  Dave  McWilliams,  W.  C.  Wan  Wormer, 
Joe  Northrup,  A.  D.  Thompson  ("Tone"),  George  Wooley, 
I.  A.  Post,  Gabe  Writer,  A.  S.  Cobb,  Maj.  Lee,  Dana  Crum, 
and  many  others  of  the  old  school,  few  of  whom  are  living. 
David  Doremus  has  been  constantly  in  the  service  since 
1S57,  and  is  the  dean  of  the  fraternity  of  Erie  conductors, 
being  the  longest  in  actual  service.  He  runs  trains  Xos.  5 
and  8  between  Jersey  City  and  Binghamton.  Harvey  Lamb 
runs  the  milk  train  on  the  Delaware  Division.  Ellis  Haring 
is  in  the  service  of  the  Belt  Railroad  of  Chicago.  Henry 
Smith  is  running  a  livery  stable  at  Wellsboro,  Pa.  "  Charley  " 
Salmon  has  retired,  and  is  living  at  his  ease.  Scott  Harris  is 
a  prosperous  boot  and  shoe  dealer  at  Owego.  Uncle  loe 
Northrup,  who  ran  the  milk  train  on  the  Eastern  Division 
more  than  thirty  years,  is  enjoying  life,  at  80,  in  retirement 
at  Otisville,  hale  and  hearty.  W.  C.  Van  Wormer  is  Erie 
yard-master  at  Port  Jervis.  Few  of  others  of  the  old-time 
conductors  survive. 

NOTES    OF    PIONEER    RAILROADING. 
{From  Reminiscences  of  IV.  If.  Stewart.} 

There  were  no  ticket  agents  at  first  east  of  Chester,  and 
the  conductor  was  provided  with  tickets  for  each  station 
on  the  road,  a  square  tin  box  to  carry  them  in,  and  a  bag 
containing  ten  dollars  in  small  coin  or  bills.  This  was 
carried  in  the  box  and  was  the  conductor's  capital  for  the 
day.  It  was  to  make  change  with  when  passengers  offered 
money  for  their  tickets  larger  than  the  amount  charged. 
The  tin  box  and  its  contents  were  delivered  at  one  end  of 
the  run  to  the  general  ticket  agent  at  Piermont,  who  was 
Henry  Fitch.  The  account  was  balanced  with  the  con- 
ductor, and  the  box  returned  to  him  with  ten  dollars  in  the 
bag  again  for  the  return  trip.  All  tickets  for  New  York  were 
collected  on  the  boats. 

The  Erie  freight  dock  at  New  York  was  originally  at  the 
foot  of  Albany  Street,  but  the  increase  in  business  was  so 
steady  that  new  and  better  quarters  were  soon  obtained  at 
the  foot  of  Duane  Street.  Joseph  Hoxie,  better  known  as 
"  Singing  Joe "  and  "  Fighting  Joe "  Hoxie,  was  freight 
agent  on  the  dock.  There  was  at  first  no  shelter  of  any 
kind  there  for  freight,  and  consequently  butter,  cheese,  grain, 
leather,  etc.,  were  all  dumped  in  a  pile  together  on  the  dock, 
to  be  sat  upon,  spat  upon,  and  otherwise  befouled  by  steve- 
dores and  longshoremen  until  consignees  could  manage  to 
dig  their  goods  out  of  the  mass  and  take  them  away.  But 
Joe  Hoxie  kept  them  in  good  humor  by  his  never-failing 
repertory  of  songs  and  his  endless  jolly  stories. 


404 


BHTWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


There  was  at  first  no  system  of  doing  business  at  all.  No 
one  in  authority  seemed  to  have  any  idea  of  railroading. 
Samuel  S.  Brown  was  general  freight  agent  at  New  York. 
W.  11.  Stewart  was  running  on  a  freight  boat  between  Corn- 
wall and  New  York  prior  to  the  opening  of  the  railroad 
between  Goshen  and  Piermont.  Daniel  Tobias  was  the 
captain  of  the  boat.  The  opening  of  the  railroad  destroyed 
his  business,  as  it  did  that  of  many  other  freighters  from 
Newburgh,  and  he  hired  his  boat  to  the  railroad  company  to 
cany  its  freight  from  Piermont  to  the  New  York  dock,  and 
Stewart  and  the  other  hands  remained  at  work  on  it.  When 
winter  set  in  and  shipments  fell  off,  there  was  no  money 
the  employees.  Freight  Agent  Brown  discharged 
Stewart  and  the  other  men  on  the  boat,  but  they  went  to 
New  York,  and  Joe  Hoxie  hired  them  over  again.  After  a 
while  the  Company  issued  scrip,  with  which  it  paid  its  men 
and  for  supplies.  A  bushel  basket  of  it  at  the  time  was  not 
worth,  intrinsically,  the  price  of  a  month's  board,  but  there 
were  men  who  bought  it  on  speculation  at  twenty-five  cents  on 
the  dollar.  A  large  buyer  of  the  scrip  was  Augustus  S.  Whiton, 
the  first  superintendent  of  the  Eastern  Division.  He  took  all 
he  could  get,  and  the  result  proved  that  he  had  judged  wisely. 
The  time  came  when  the  scrip  was  redeemed  at  its  face 
value  by  the  Company,  and  Whiton  made  a  snug  little  fortune. 

It  was  the  custom  for  some  years  after  the  railroad  was 
opened  to  have  boys  pass  through  the  cars  with  cans  of  water 
and  tin  dippers  to  satisfy  the  thirst  of  passengers.  These 
were  called  "water  boys,"  and  a  water  boy  on  the  railroad 
was  the  envy  of  all  juveniles  along  the  line.  Like  the  whale- 
oil  lamps  and  tallow  candles  that  threw  their  dim  light  through 
the  cars  at  night,  the  water  boys  are  long-forgotten  adjuncts 
of  railroad  travel. 

William  Skelly,  better  known  as  Billy  Skellv,  was  the 
first  newsboy  on  the  railroad.  He  was  a  protege  of  Captain 
Alec  Shultz,  a  bright  boy  ten  or  twelve  years  old.  He  was 
very  active  and  very  popular  with  the  patrons  of  the  road. 
If  a  train  was  delayed,  he  always  passed  through  the  cars 
informing  the  passengers  what  the  trouble  was,  how  long  it 
was  likely  to  last,  etc.  He  was  the  pioneer  of  the  railroad 
news  business,  and  as  he  grew  up  increased  his  facilities 
until  he  had  a  monopoly  of  the  business  between  New  York 
and  Port  Jervis,  supplying  such  dealers  as  there  were  then  at 
his  own  prices.  Skelly  made  a  snug  fortune  in  the  business, 
and  his  enterprise  led  to  the  establishing  of  the  Union  News 
Company,  the  present  great  railroad  news  agency  of  this 
country.  The  pioneer  railroad  newsdealer  was  not  as 
successful  in  keeping  money  as  he  was  in  making  it,  and  he 
died  penniless.  As  early  as  1843  Asa  Faulkner,  a  brakeman, 
sold  newspapers  on  Erie  trains. 

Riding  on  a  railroad  was  a  new  thing,  and  it  was  a  long 
time  before  people  learned  that  by  paying  fare  from  Pier- 
mont to  Monsey,  say,  they  would  have  no  difficulty  in  riding 
all  the  way  to  Goshen  without  the  conductor  discovering  the 


fact  that  they  had  paid  fare  only  a  small  part  of  the  distance. 
A  well-to-do  and  prominent  farmer,  who  lived  not  far  from 
Goshen,  once  sought  to  evade  conductor  W.  H.  Stewart  on 
the  train  by  going  into  the  closet  when  the  conductor  came 
through.  Mr.  Stewart  discovered  the  trick.  The  station 
where  the  man  was  to  get  off  was  Goshen.  Before  the  train 
arrived  at  that  place  the  conductor  stationed  a  brakeman  at 
the  closet  door  with  instructions  to  hold  it  fast  and  not  let 
the  man  out.  The  instructions  were  obeyed,  and  the  eco- 
nomical farmer  was  carried  on  to  Middletown.  Then  Stewart 
collected  fare  from  him  and  let  him  out.  He  was  obliged  to 
remain  all  night  at  Middletown,  and  pay  his  fare  back  to 
Goshen  next  day,  so  that  his  attempt  to  "  beat "  the  railroad 
company  cost  him  dear. 

The  afternoon  trains  from  Middletown,  which  began  run- 
ning in  1843,  carried  the  milk  shipments.  No  provision  was 
made  for  Sunday  nights,  and  soon  the  order  came  from 
Superintendent  Seymour  that  the  freight  conductors  must 
run  the  milk  trains  Sunday  nights.  These  were  Stewart  and 
I.ytle,  and  they  made  the  run  on  alternating  Sunday  nights. 
All  went  smoothly  until  the  latter  part  of  the  summer,  when 
one  night  Stewart's  train  ran  over  a  pony  that  was  on  the 
track  at  the  Ramapo  crossing.  The  night  was  dark,  and  the 
engineer  did  not  see  the  pony  until  he  was  upon  it.  The 
highway  crossed  the  track  diagonally,  and  was  planked.  The 
engine  was  the  "  Rockland,"  and  the-engineer  VV.  C.  Arnold. 
The  locomotive  left  the  rails  and  ran  fifty  yards  along  the 
wagon  road.  In  those  days  the  train  crews  carried  their  own 
wrecking  tools,  consisting  of  a  jack,  block  and  tackle,  etc.  ; 
but  if  a  train  was  four  hours  late  they  would  make  up  their 
minds  at  the  Piermont  headquarters  that  something  more  was 
wrong  with  it  than  the  train  men  could  handle,  and  a  wreck- 
ing crew  would  be  sent  out  to  look  it  up  and  give  it  a  lift. 
This  night,  however,  no  wrecking  crew  came  from  Piermont  to 
help  this  train  out  of  its  difficulty,  but  at  davbreak  next  morn- 
ing, when  Stewart  and  his  gang,  by  hard  work  all  night,  had 
succeeded  in  getting  the  engine  back  on  the  track,  the  wreck- 
ing crew  came  in  sight. 

About  two  weeks  after  this  mishap,  the  same  train,  with 
the  same  crew,  struck  a  horse  and  wagon  that  the  driver  was 
attempting  to  drive  across  the  track  ahead  of  the  locomo- 
tive, at  Ward's  pond,  near  Ward's  station,  one  mile  north  of 
Sloatsburg.  The  result  was  the  throwing  of  the  engine,  two 
milk  cars,  and  the  passenger  car  off  the  track  into  the  pond. 
The  water  was  very  deep,  and  the  locomotive  was  submerged 
all  except  the  smokestack.  One  milk  car  was  out  of  sight, 
under  water,  and  the  forward  end  of  the  other  was  deep  in 
the  pond.     The  passenger  car  was  at  the  edge  of  the  pond. 

There  being  no  possibility  of  the  train  crew  extricating  the 
engine  and  cars  from  the  pond,  Conductor  Stewart  walked  on 
to  Sloatsburg,  one  mile,  where  he  hired  Sloat's  son  to  drive 
him  to  Monsey,  a  station  twelve  miles  further  east.  There 
he  got  a  handcar  and  the  "  road  gang,"  and  started  for  Pier- 
mont. There  was  no  frog  at  switches  in  these  days,  and  the 
change  was  made  by  a  moving  bar.     The  switch    east  of 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


405 


Blauveltville  was  open,  and  as  the  hand-car  came  speedily 
along,  it  was  thrown  from  the  track.  Conductor  Stewart  was 
hurled  with  such  force  against  the  bar  on  the  hand-car  that 
two  of  his  ribs  were  broken,  and  he  was  tumbled  down  the 
embankment  several  feet.  They  got  the  car  back  on  the 
track,  however,  and  went  on  to  Piermont,  where  they  got  the 
wrecking  crew  and  returned  with  it  to  the  scene  of  the  most 
extraordinary  wreck  that  had  ever  occurred  on  any  railroad. 
They  arrived  there  between  eight  and  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  A  man  named  Thomas  had  a  trip-hammer  mill 
nearby,  which  got  its  power  from  Ward's  pond.  The  mill 
had  been  idle  for  a  long  time,  and  Superintendent  Seymour, 
who  had  come  with  the  wrecking  train,  requested  Thomas  to 
draw  the  water  off  the  pond,  so  the  men  might  get  at  the 
sunken  locomotive  and  cars,  and  get  them  out  and  back  on 
the  track.  Thomas  started  up  his  mill,  and  said  he  would 
not  draw  the  water  off  unless  the  railroad  Company  paid  him 
56oo  for  doing  it.  After  a  long  parley  a  compromise  price 
for  his  granting  the  company's  request  was  agreed  upon. 
The  water  was  drawn  off  the  dam,  and  the  train  was  got  back 
on  the  rails  about  dark,  or  nearly  twenty-four  hours  after 
the  accident  occurred.  No  one  was  injured  by  the  smash-up, 
singularly  enough,  but  two  carloads  of  Orange  County  milk 
never  got  any  further  toward  their  destination  than  Ward's 
pond. 

The  Railroad  Company  had  always  been  exceedingly  ac- 
commodating to  Thomas,  stopping  at  Ward's  to  take  him  on 
and  let  him  off,  and  taking  on  and  leaving  freight  for  him 
there.  After  this  experience  with  him,  though,  he  got  no 
more  favors  from  the  Company.  He  was  obliged  to  go  to 
Sloatsburg,  a  mile  east  of  Ward's,  to  get  aboard  trains,  and  to 
ship  all  his  freight  from,  and  receive  it  at,  that  station.  So 
he  lost  a  great  deal  more  than  he  made  out  of  his  act  of 
selfishness. 

The  first  general  superintendent,  Hezekiah  C.  Seymour, 
came  from  Oneida  County,  and  got  the  name  on  the  road  of 
the  "  Oneida  Chief."  In  1849  a  successor  to  Superintendent 
Seymour  was  to  be  appointed,  as  he  intended  to  quit  the 
service.  S.  S.  Post  was  superintendent  of  transportation. 
He  was  in  the  line  of  promotion  to  the  general  superintend- 
ency,  and  as  he  was  very  popular  with  the  employees,  they 
were  delighted  with  the  prospect  of  having  him  as  their 
superintendent.  James  P.  Kirkwood  was  also  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  place.  W.  H.  Stewart  ran  what  was 
called  the  night  line,  and,  in  expectation  of  hearing  the 
news  somewhere  along  the  line  that  Post  had  been  elected 
superintendent,  he  had  a  big  transparency,  inscribed  "  S.  S. 
Post,  General  Superintendent,"  all  ready  to  light  and  display 
on  his  train.  The  news  came,  however,  that  Kirkwood  was 
the  choice  of  the  Directors,  and  there  was  great  disappoint- 
ment among  the  "  boys."  This  was  in  April,  1849.  It  is 
highly  probable,  though,  that  S.  S.  Post's  long  connection 
with  the  Railroad  Company,  and  his  popularity,  would  have 
secured  him  the  place;  if  he  had  not  shown  an  inclination  to 
answer,  in  a  non-committal  way,  queries  put  to  him  by  the 


Directors,  and  a  disposition  to  respond  to  them  by  asking 
questions  himself.  Superintendent  Kirkwood  became  known 
among  the  railroad  men  as  the  "  Silent  Man,"  from  a  pecu- 
liarity of  his  disposition.  His  office  was  at  56  Wall  Street, 
New  York.  Audience  with  him  was  easily  obtained,  and  as 
the  caller  entered,  the  superintendent  would  look  up  at  him 
a  moment.  If  the  caller  did  not  at  once  go  on  to  mention 
the  business  that  had  brought  him  there,  Kirkwood  would 
turn  his  eyes  back  to  his  work  without  a  word.  Then  the 
visitor  might  stand  or  sit  there  all  the  rest  of  the  day  without 
the  Superintendent  paying  any  more    attention   to  him,  or 


H.    C.    SEYMOUR. 

until  the  visitor  broke  the  silence  himself  by  speaking  and 
making  known  his  errand. 

For  a  long  time  after  the  railroad  was  built,  all  switching  at 
the  ends  of  divisions  and  elsewhere  was  done  with  horses. 

John  Bailey  was  the  first  station  agent  at  Goshen.  He 
was  the  father-in-law  of  A.  C.  Morton,  who  was  the  civil 
engineer  of  the  road  for  Orange  County.  The  depot  at 
Goshen  was  built  over  the  track,  or  rather  the  track  ran  into 
the  depot.  When  the  train  came  in,  the  business  of  the 
railroad  was  over  for  that  day.  The  train  and  locomotive 
were  locked  in  the  depot,  and  the  agent  kept  the  kev  until  it 
was  time  to  begin  business  on  the  road  again  next  morning, 
when  he  would  unlock  the  depot  and  let  the  trainmen  go 
in  and  "  fire  up."  The  bell  that  hung  above  the  platform 
was  rung  fifteen  minutes  before  the  train  was  to  start. 

Capt.  A.  H.  Shultz,  the  pioneer  Erie  steamboat  Captain, 
was  born  at  Rhinebeck.  Before  there  were  railroads  in  Cen- 
tral and  Western  New  York,  he  ran  stages  between  Roches- 
ter and  Buffalo.  Later  he  ran  a  steamboat  between  Amboy, 
N.  J.,  and  New  York.    He  began  in  the  Erie  service  January 


406 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


:i,  having  been  harbor  master  under  Coven 
betore  the  railroad  was  in  operation,  and  i  ontinued  until  i     |  i. 
He  was  Alderman  from   the    Fifth  Ward  of  New  York.     He 
was   afterward   in    the    Government   service  for  mam 
He  died  at  Philadelphia,  April  30.  1867. 

The  winter  of  1843  was  one  °*  tlle  nar<jest  on  record. 
Capt.  Shultz  made  his  two  trips  on  the  Hudson  River  daily 
between  Xew  York  and  Piermont,  although  the  ice  was  twelve 
inches  thick,  missing  but  one  trip.  April  28,  1843,  in  recog- 
nition of  this,  the  people  of  Piermont  presented  him  with  a 
solid  silver  snuffbox,  lined  with  gold. 

THE    FIRST    FREIGHT    SHIPMENT. 

The  first  shipment  of  freight  on  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  to  New  York,  although  it  was  not  billed  and  brought 
no  revenue  to  the  Company,  was  made  May  24,  1841.  The 
track  had  been  put  down  as  far  as  Spring  Valley,  east  of 
Suffem.  Jeremiah  S.  Pierson  had  an  order  for  twenty-four 
tons  of  spring  steel,  to  be  delivered  in  New  York,  from  his 
works  at  Ramapo.  He  sent  the  steel  by  teams  to  Spring 
Valley,  where  it  was  loaded  on  the  construction  cars,  which 
carried  it  to  Piermont  as  they  made  their  trips  to  and  fro, 
whence  it  was  sent  to  New  York  by  boats  on  the  Hudson 
River.  Mr.  Pierson  was  a  liberal  subscriber  to,  and  largely 
interested  in,  the  Company.  He  remunerated  the  men  who 
handled  his  iron  between  Spring  Valley  and  Piermont,  who, 
therefore,  were  the  first  to  profit  by  traffic  on  the  Erie. 

ORIGIN     OF     THE     TRANSPORTATION    OF    MILK    BY 

RAIL. 

Thomas  Selleck,  of  New  York,  had  the  contract  for  driving 
the  piles  across  the  big  swamp  at  Chester,  N.  Y.,  for  carrving 
the  track  of  the  Erie  over  that  then  unstable  stretch  of  the 
route,  in  1840-41.  When  the  railroad  was  opened  to  Goshen 
in  September,  1S41,  Selleck  was  appointed  agent  of  the  Erie 
at  Chester,  thus  becoming  one  of  the  two  original  station 
agents,  the  other  being  John  A.  Bailey,  at  Goshen.  The  ex- 
cellence of  Orange  County's  milk  early  attracted  Selleck's 
attention.  He  was  a  practical  man,  and  suggested  to  the 
farmers  that  they  send  their  milk  to  the  New  York  market  as 
is  the  railroad  was  completed.  At  that  time  the  main 
milk  supply  of  New  York  came  from  the  cows  kept  by  the 
brewery  and  distillery  stables.  In  those  days,  also,  it  was  no 
uncommon  thing  for  truckmen  in  the  city  to  keep  a  cow  or 
two  in  their  stables,  which  they  fed  on  brewery  and  distillery 
refuse.  They  had  their  own  customers  for  the  milk  thus  pro- 
duced. Farmers  from  Long  Island  and  Westchester  County 
supplied  some  families  with  milk  from  their  dairies,  but  the 
great  supply  of  the  city  was  from  the  swill  milk  stables.  The 
Orange  County  farmers  treated  Selleck's  idea  with  ridicule. 
That  milk  could  be  shipped  more  than  fifty  miles,  especially 
in  hot  weather,  and  subjected  to  the  jolting  and  jarring  of  a 
railroad  train,  and  still  be  fit  for  use  when  it  at  last  arrived  at 
□nation,  was  regarded  as  preposterous.     At  any  rate, 


whether  the  milk-shipping  business  was  feasible  or  not,  the 

ige  County  farmers  had  built  up  a  highly  profitable  trade 

in  a  certain  product  of  their  dairies,  and  had  made  a  national 
reputation  for  it  and  themselves,  and  they  were  satisfied  with 
that.  This  product  was  butter.  The  first  butter  made  for 
the  New  York  market,  as  a  matter  of  systematic  and  regular 
supply,  was  manufactured  in  that  portion  of  Orange  County 
and  in  the  bordering  portions  of  Sussex  Countv,  N.  J.  As 
Goshen  was  the  centre  of  that  region,  the  product,  in  time, 
came  to  have  the  name  of  Goshen  butter. 

The  great  business  in  Goshen  butter  was  built  up  without 
the  aid  of  railroads.  In  fact,  with  the  coming  of  the  railroad 
came  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  Goshen  butter  as  a  factor 
in  the  trade  of  the  country.  There  were  no  commission 
dealers  in  New  York,  either,  for  many  years,  and  the  farmers 
were  compelled  to  place  their  butter  on  the  market  them- 
selves and  be  their  own  salesmen.  It  was  transported  from 
the  farms  in  great  covered  wagons  to  Newburgh,  where  it  was 
put  on  barges  and  towed  down  the  Hudson.  Some  farmers 
carted  their  butter  all  the  way  to  New  York.  All  those  in  the 
region  lying  about  Chester,  Middletown,  Goshen,  Unionville, 
Westtown,  Ridgebury,  and  other  villages  in  Orange  County, 
and  about  Beemerville,  Deckertown,  Newton,  and  Clove 
Valley,  in  Sussex  County,  had  an  agreement  or  combination 
by  which  they  marketed  their  product  on  the  same  day,  which 
was  the  second  Tuesday  of  November  in  each  year.  The 
long  trains  of  big  market  wagons,  laden  with  the  golden  prod- 
uct of  the  dairies,  passed  in  almost  endless  procession  over 
the  roads  of  Orange  and  Sussex  counties  annually  on  that  day. 
all  bound  for  Newburgh  and  the  river.  That  day  was  known 
as  "  the  day  of  the  big  trip."  The  price  of  butter  to  the 
farmer  averaged  from  12  T2  to  15  cents  a  pound.  It  was 
packed  down  in  firkins  during  the  winter  and  summer,  and 
none  was  marketed  until  fall. 

When  the  Erie  was  opened  between  Piermont  and  Goshen, 
communication  with  the  New  York  market  became  a-  matter 
of  only  a  few  hours  instead  of  the  best  part  of  two  days.  For 
months  the  butter  trade  was  the  mainstay  of  the  railroad.  It 
may  be  set  down  as  an  important  historical  fact  in  the  life  of 
the  Erie  that  it  was  the  butter  of  Orange  and  Sussex  counties 
that  made  it  possible  to  keep  the  road  in  operation  during 
the  first  few  months  of  its  existence. 

Wedded  thus  as  they  were  to  butter  making,  the  Orange 
County  farmers  were  not  ready  to  see  any  reason  for  the  faith 
of  Thomas  Selleck  in  the  idea  that  there  would  lie  an  in- 
creased profit  for  them  in  abandoning  that  branch  of  the 
dairy  business  for  the  simple  selling  of  their  milk,  and  those 
in  control  of  the  railroad  were  equally  indifferent  and  in- 
credulous. The  railroad  had  been  in  operation  more  than 
half  a  year  before  the  first  shipment  of  milk  was  made  to  the 
city.  In  fact,  the  trade  in  butter  increased  greatly  during 
these  months,  owing  to  the  quicker  and  more  economical 
means  of  transportation  the  railroad  afforded.  Selleck  at 
last  interested  some  of  the  leading  farmers  of  Chester  and 
Oxford  in  his  scheme,  among  them  Philo  Gregory,  James 
Durland,  Jonas  King,  and  John  M.  Bull.     He  was  willing  to 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


407 


1u"*<",,gH«B.' 


I  NEW  YORK  ).ND  ERIE  RAIL  ROAD.  * 


—  ..- 


JOTISVILLE  TO  NEW  YOBkJ 


OTXBVU.LE  *-HJi 

:■      MIDDLtTOWN      ,-4j 

.'!-       ooGuocl  fur  2  Days  ><nly  from  date  00 


D-    j 


A  FITCH   TICKET— 1846. 


A    GREENUIL.H    TICKET. 


'•){cb  Hci'i(  cr|iK!   Ei'ic  ityii  'i|o;iv. 

g%C&^  <??Z  c  t  ^o"^7 

Snp't 


wood  agent's  pass. 


NS&YOitf&'tSIE  RAIL  ROAD.    ,     ! 
Xo.  y!  #     .  cf  Tickets  sold  to!      i 

and  is  good  for  one  passage  between! 

New  York  and // _/A/..<...L&____\ 

ll  £■  't  /        '    £1 


^Obverse.) 


F;: 


"*;■  :  v"'7- 1 :  '  HB 


_^  -  —  .-—- 
I 


-  |^$if  Xftrt  is  g^  within  one  yearrf 


■<. 0  3g 


B& 


JSj 


(Revcrsi'  ) 


merchant's  special  passace  ticket — 1848. 


FACSIMILE    REPRODUCTIONS   OF  RARE   OLD   ERIE  TICKETS.       FROM   THE   COLLECTION   OF  JOEL   C.    NORTHRUP,    OTISVILLE,    N.    Y. 

(SHOWING    IMPERFECTIONS   OF   USE.) 


4o8 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


open  a  depot  in  New  York  for  the  introduction  of  the  milk, 
if  he  could  be  assured  of  shipments  to  meet  the  demand 
which  he  was  positive  would  soon  arise  for  it.  Philo  Gregory 
1  to  make  an  experimental  shipment  of  milk  in  the 
spring  of  1M42.  Selleck  fitted  up  a  room  in  the  city  at  193 
Reade  Street.  Gregory  thereupon  made  the  first  consign- 
of  milk  ever  shipped  on  a  railroad,  and  the  first  that 
ever  entered  New  York  City  from  a  dairy  to  be  offered  for 
sale  in  public  market.  The  milk  was  shipped  in  the  blue 
pyramid  (hums  of  that  day.  There  were  240  quarts  in  all, 
the  equivalent  of  six  of  the  standard  cans  of  to-day.  The 
freight  was  charged  by  weight,  at  twenty  cents  a  hundred. 
Gregory  got  two  cents  a  quart  for  the  milk  delivered  on  the 
cars.  This  first  shipment  of  Orange  County  milk  arrived  at 
Selleck's  depot  in  good  condition,  the  weather  being  cool. 
Selleck  had  notified  many  New  York  families  of  his  intention 
to  have  for  sale  fresh  milk  from  the  dairies  of  Orange  County, 
and  the  contents  of  Gregory's  churns  were  not  sufficient  to 
supply  the  first  demand.  The  next  shipment  was  larger,  and 
then  other  Chester  farmers,  and  the  farmers  about  Oxford, 
seeing  that  there  was  more  money  in  simply  shipping  their 
milk  at  two  cents  a  quart  than  making  it  into  butter  at  fifteen 
cents  a  pound,  began  sending  their  milk  to  Selleck,  and  the 
milk  business  of  the  country  was  born — a  business  that  has 
alone  built  five  railroads  in  Orange  County,  feeders  and 
branches  of  the  Erie,  at  a  cost  of  $4,000,000,  and  returned 
to  the  county  more  than  $50,000,000. 

It  was  not  long  before  Selleck's  milk  depot  was  unable  to 
supply  half  the  demand  for  Orange  County  milk.  People 
abandoned  the  swill  milk  dealers,  and  flocked  to  Selleck's  for 
pure  milk.  It  was  a  daily  spectacle,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
milk  from  the  boat  in  the  morning,  to  see  men,  women,  and 
children  standing  in  a  line  a  block  long,  waiting  their  turn. 
Then  milkmen  began  getting  their  supplies  of  milk  from 
Selleck,  and  he  was  on  the  point  of  establishing  more  depots 
in  the  city  when  his  business  was  purchased  by  a  company 
known  as  the  Orange  County  Milk  Association,  which,  fore- 
seeing the  great  proportion  the  business  must  assume  in  the 
city,  had  been  formed  to  control  as  much  of  it  as  possible. 

The  shipping  of  milk  being  an  entirely  untried  thing,  the 
farmers  and  the  Railroad  Company  both  had  their  troubles  for 
a  long  time.  While  the  weather  was  cool  the  milk  reached 
New  York  in  fair  condition,  if  it  was  not  detained  on  the 
wry  :  but  when  the  hot  weather  came,  much  of  it  soured  be- 
fore it  reached  New  York,  thus  working  loss  to  the  farmer 
and  injury  to  the  reputation  of  Orange  County  milk.  The 
farmers  did  not  know  how  the  milk  could  be  treated  to  keep 
it  sweet.  It  was  shipped  both  morning  and  evening,  but 
much  of  it  soured  nevertheless.  The  railroad  had  its  troubles 
in  trying  to  find  out  how  the  milk  could  best  be  handled  in 
transportation.  At  first  the  churns  were  put  on  a  four- 
wheeled  truck  or  car,  which  was  in  turn  run  into  a  freight 
car.  At  Piermont,  the  railroad  terminus,  this  truck  was  run 
out  of  the  car  on  to  the  Hudson  River  boat,  and  the  churns 
were  not  handled  until  they  arrived  at  New  York.  As  the 
business  grew,  and  <  ans  took  the  place  of  churns  and  miscel- 


laneous receptacles,  the  use  of  these  trucks  became  impos- 
sible. It  was  not  until  after  many  months  of  experimenting 
that  the  cars  were  designed  for  carrying  milk  alone,  and  the 
problem  of  easy  transportation  was  solved. 

But  this  did  not  keep  the  milk  from  souring  in  transit,  and 
many  farmers  abandoned  milk  shipping  and  went  back  to 
butter  making.  It  was  not  until  the  fall  of  1842  that  it  was 
discovered  how  to  treat  the  milk  to  insure  its  keeping  sweet  a 
long  time.  Farmer  Jacob  Vail,  of  Goshen,  made  up  his  mind 
that  if  the  milk  was  lowered  in  temperature  by  sufficient 
cooling  before  shipping,  it  would  get  to  New  York  all  right. 
He  fitted  up  a  hogshead  with  a  coil  of  one-inch  lead  pipe 
inside.  He  packed  this  pipe  with  ice,  and  ran  his  milk 
slowly  through  the  cooled  coil.  This  expelled  all  heat  from 
the  milk.  The  weather  was  very  warm,  but  Yail's  milk 
reached  market  in  prime  condition,  and  remained  so  until  it 
was  all  sold.  Acting  on  Yail's  discovery,  the  farmers  cooled 
their  milk  before  shipment,  and  the  trouble  ceased.  That 
idea  of  Farmer  Vail  was  the  last  blow  to  the  butter  business 
in  Orange  County.  In  less  than  two  years  there  was  scarcely 
a  farmer  within  reach  of  the  railroad  who  did  not  ship  his 
milk  to  New  York,  and  genuine  Goshen  butter,  as  a  commer- 
cial article,  became  a  thing  of  the  piast. 

Jacob  Vail's  appliance  for  cooling  milk,  it  was  soon  found, 
was  not  only  cumbersome  and  costly,  but  also  entirely  un- 
necessary. All  that  the  milk  required  was  to  be  cooled 
sufficiently,  and  this  could  be  done  simply  by  placing  the 
pans  and  cans  in  springs  of  water  until  the  proper  tempera- 
ture was  secured.  In  time  the  capacity  and  convenience  of 
the  springs  were  not  equal  to  the  demands  made  upon  them, 
and  the  farm  icehouse  came  into  existence,  something  that 
had  never  been  heard  or  dreamed  of  in  the  history  of  farm- 
ing. To  this  day  many  farmers  still  cool  their  milk  in  their 
springs,  just  as  their  fathers  did  before  them. 

Said  the  New  York  Railroad  Journal  oi  July  1,  1S43,  in 
an  article  on  this  revolution  in  the  milk  trade  :  "  At  this  mo- 
ment fine  and  wholesome  milk  is  sold  all  over  the  city  at 
four  cents  a  quart.  The  price  for  swill  and  adulterated  milk 
was  six.  This  wonderful  revolution  has  been  wrought  through 
the  agency  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad.  Some  time 
since  we  were  informed  that  if  the  milk  business  were  to  con- 
tinue as  it  had  commenced  it  would  be  found  necessary  and 
profitable  to  run  for  its  accommodation  a  special  train.  The 
following  is  the  mode  in  which  the  transportation  is  performed 
as  related  by  a  resident  of  Orange  County  in  the  Cultivator : 
The  cows  are  milked  early  in  the  morning  at  Goshen  and  its 
vicinity,  the  milk  put  into  cans  containing  sixty  to  seventy- 
five  quarts,  into  which  a  tin  tube  filled  with  ice  is  inserted 
and  stirred  until  the  animal  heat  is  expelled.  It  is  then  sent 
by  the  railroad,  and  arrives,  a  distance  of  sixty  miles,  at  the 
milk  depots  (which  are  numerous  in  the  city)  in  four  and  a 
half  hours.  The  tube  filled  with  ice  is  again  inserted,  and 
the  milk  thus  kept  cool  and  sweet  until  sold." 

The  condition  of  the  milk  business  at  the  end  of  the  first 
year  was  briefly  recorded  in  the  Goshen  Independent  Repub- 
lican in  the  spring  of  1843,  mus  : 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


409 


"  Fifty  dollars  a  day  is  being  received  by  the  railroad  as 
freight  on  milk.  This  would  give,  for  the  working  days,  an 
income  of  nearlv  Si 6,000.  And  should  the  milk  carried  by 
the  road  come  into  general  use  throughout  the  city,  as  we 
have  no  doubt  it  will,  an  annual  revenue  of  some  thirty  or 
forty  thousand  dollars  will  accrue.  By  this  unexpected  busi- 
ness the  freight  on  the  road  is  greatly  increased.  And  while 
the  road  by  this  operation  finds  its  income  vastly  increased, 
we  presume  the  interest  of  the  farmer  is  also  advanced." 

The  onlv  stations  supplying  this  milk  were  Middletown, 
New  Hampton,  Goshen,  Chester,  Oxford,  Monroe,  and  Turn- 
ers. The  same  paper,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1844,  stated 
that  during  that  year  there  had  been  shipped  over  the  rail- 
road "6,138,840  quarts.  The  farmers  are  getting  two  cents 
a  quart  for  their  milk,  and  the  price  of  milk  in  New  York  to 
the  consumers  has  been  cut  from  six  to  four  cents,  a  saving 
of  Si 20,000  for  the  year  to  them.  It  requires  twelve  quarts 
of  milk  to  make  a  pound  of  butter.  This  year's  shipments 
of  milk  would  have  made  500,000  pounds  of  butter,  worth 
S 7 5, 000,  or  less  by  $45,000  than  what  the  farmers  have  got 
for  their  milk,  and  saving  dairy  labor  besides.  Orange  county 
milk  is  driving  swill  milk  from  the  city." 

In  the  early  years  of  the  milk  business  cans  of  five  differ- 
ent sizes  were  used  :  twenty,  thirty,  forty,  fifty,  and  sixty-quart 
cans.  This  great  assortment  was  thought  by  the  farmer  to 
be  necessary  to  avoid  waste,  as  it  was  the  belief  then  that 
what  was  left  over  from  one  milking  was  unfit  to  put  in  with 
the  next  shipment  for  fear  it  would  sour  on  the  way,  so  the 
smaller  cans  were  used  to  hold  these  broken  lots.  That  idea 
was  in  time  found  to  be  wrong,  and  all  cans  but  the  forty- 
quart  one  were  discarded,  and  that  is  now  the  standard  milk 
can  the  country  over. 

In  1S42  the  milk  shipments  over  the  Erie  were  between 
600,000  and  700,000  quarts.  The  next  year  they  were  nearly 
4,000,000  quarts.  In  1S45  the  receipts  of  the  Company 
from  the  freight  on  milk  was  nearly  two-fifths  of  its  total 
freight  receipts. 

The  milk  traffic  has  been  one  of  constant  increase  on  the 
Erie  ;  and  the  Pine  Island  branch,  the  Crawford  branch,  and 
the  Montgomery  branch  years  ago  became  necessary  through 
its  demands.  The  facilities  for  transporting  and  handling 
milk  have  kept  pace  with  the  extension  of  the  shipping  terri- 
tory, so  that  to-day  the  Erie  runs  a  daily  milk  train  from 
Hornellsville,  350  miles  west  of  New  York.  Nearly  every 
station  along  the  line,  from  as  far  west  as  Allegany  County, 
and  in  Steuben,  Chemung,  Tioga,  Broome,  Susquehanna, 
Delaware,  and  Pike  counties,  sends  its  quota  of  milk.  This 
train  is  in  addition  to  the  original  milk  train  of  Orange 
County,  which  also  runs  daily.  From  the  pioneer  shipment 
of  240  quarts  of  milk  from  Chester  on  the  Erie  in  1S42  the 
traffic  has  grown  to  an  average  daily  transportation  of  200,000 
quarts,  or  73,000,000  quarts  a  year,  for  which  the  Erie  receives 
over  $500,000  a  year  in  freight  charges.  The  average  num- 
ber of  cars  of  milk  carried  over  the  Erie  daily  is  twenty-five. 
This  business  is  independent  of  that  brought  in  by  the  New- 
York,  Susquehanna  and  Western  division  of  the  Erie,  ami  of 


the  cream  and  condensed  milk,  amounting  to  many  thousands 
of  quarts  daily.  This  department  of  the  freight  business  is 
in  charge  of  Henry  Adams,  milk  freight  agent,  and  George 
W.  Fredericks  of  Chester,  milk  agent,  who  has  been  in  the 
department  twenty-eight  years. 

FIRST    PASSENGER    KILLED    ON    THE    ERIE. 

The  freight  train  between  Goshen  and  Piermont  carried 
passengers  also,  in  a  car  at  the  rear  end  of  the  train.  A  well- 
known  character  in  Orange  and  adjoining  counties  was  an 
Irish  peddler,  named  Patrick  Fitzsimmons.  He  travelled 
about  the  country  with  a  pack,  a  method  of  trading  by  which 
people  living  at  a  distance  from  towns  and  villages  fifty  years 
ago  were  provided  with  various  kinds  of  merchandise.  Octo- 
ber 27,  1841,  a  month  after  the  railroad  was  opened  to 
Goshen,  Fitzsimmons  was  at  Piermont,  and  boarded  the 
freight  train  to  take  his  first  ride  on  the  "  steam  cars."  'When 
the  train  was  passing  up  the  grade  west  of  the  big  trestle 
over  the  Hackensack  River,  five  miles  from  Piermont,  it 
broke  in  two,  and  the  loosened  cars  started  back  down  the 
grade  toward  the  trestle.  Fitzsimmons  became  frightened, 
and  rushed  to  the  platform  of  a  passenger  car.  The  runaway 
cars  were  then  travelling  at  great  speed.  The  frightened 
peddler  did  not  stop  to  consider  the  consequences,  but  leaped 
from  the  platform.  He  was  hurled  violently  down  the  em- 
bankment and  instantly  killed — thus  the  first  passenger  to 
meet  death  on  the  Erie. 

FIRST    FATAL    DISASTER    TO    A    PASSENGER    TRAIN 
ON    THE    ERIE. 

They  were  still  using  cars  with  but  four  wheels  under  them, 
on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  in  1846.  The  wheels 
were  of  what  was  known  as  the  Winans  wheel,  and  were 
cast  with  spokes.  In  1S46  the  female  seminary  conducted 
by  the  Misses  Watkins  at  Middletown,  N.  V.,  was  a  school 
noted  in  all  that  part  of  the  State  and  the  adjacent  portions 
of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania.  At  the  close  of  the 
school  for  the  summer  vacation  in  the  above  year,  the  young 
ladies  attending  the  institution  joined  the  Misses  Watkins  in 
an  excursion  to  the  then  Mecca  of  all  pleasure-seekers  who 
could  make  the  spot  available,  the  Elysian  Fields  at  Hoboken, 
whose  shady  groves,  green  fields,  and  pleasant  nooks  long 
since  fled  before  the  encroachment  of  railroad  tracks,  stock- 
yards, coal-yards,  oil-yards,  and  docks  and  dock  approaches. 
The  day  selected  for  the  excursion  was  Friday,  July  24th. 
Two  extra  passenger  cars  were  put  on  the  regular  morning 
train  on  that  day  to  accommodate  the  excursionists.  With 
these  cars  the  train  consisted  of  four  passenger  and  three 
milk  cars.  One  of  the  passenger  cars  had  also  an  apartment 
for  baggage  and  the  mail.  The  train  left  Middletown  at 
6.30  in  the  morning,  with  about  200  passengers  aboard,  in 
charge  of  Conductor  James  Lytle.  The  engineer  was  Joseph 
Meginnes ;  the  engine,  the  "  Orange."  The  number  of 
excursionists  was  increased  somewhat  by  others  who  boarded 


410 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


I    New  Hampton,  Goshen,  Chester,  Oxford,  and 

t  a  mile  east  of   Monroe  the  railroad  track 

arried  across  the  outlet,  or  an  arm,  of  Seaman's  mill 

pond  I  tie  bridge.     The  opening  thus   bridged  was 

twenty  feet  wide  and  twelve  deep.    The  water  at  the  bottom 

was  shallow. 

The  young  ladies  of  the  seminary  and  their  parents  and 
invited  guests  were  in  the  rear  car  of  the  train.  The  next 
car  was  one  of  the  two  "diamond  cars."  This  car  was 
larger  and  heavier  than  the  others.  It  was  filled  with  pas- 
sengers, as  was  the  one  ahead  of  it.  The  combination  car 
was  next  to  the  milk  cars.  Among  those  in  the  second  pas- 
senger car  was  George  Stevens,  aged  seventeen,  and  his 
sister.  They  were  from  New  York  and  had  been  visiting 
friends  near  Goshen,  at  which  place  they  got  aboard  the 
train  to  return  to  New  York.  Just  before  the  train  reached 
the  trestle  at  Seaman's  mill  pond,  young  Stevens  went  out  on 
the  rear  platform.  Ogden  Hoffman,  Jr.,  son  of  the  famous 
New  York  lawyer  of  that  name,  and  who  had  also  been 
visiting  friends  in  Orange  County;  Ogden  H.  Dunning  of 
Goshen  ;  Ira  S.  Crane,  son  of  Dr.  John  S.  Crane  of  Goshen  ; 
John  Hawkins  of  Hamptonburgh  :  John  Monnell  of  Middle- 
town  ;  and  Edgar  Monnell  of  Goshen,  had  also  gone  out  and 
were  standing  between  the  two  cars,  some  on  one  platform 
and  some  on  the  other.  The  train  was  moving  rapidly  on  a 
declining  grade,  when  suddenly  the  passengers  in  the  com- 
bination car  found  themselves  violently  thrown  and  tumbled 
about  over  anil  under  the  seats.  Capt.  Lytle,  who  had  been 
through  the  train  collecting  fares,  was  going  toward  the  door 
leading  to  the  baggage  apartment  and  was  hurled  forward 
with  such  force  by  the  sudden  stopping  of  the  car  that  he 
was  carried  bodily  through  a  pannel  of  the  door  and  thrown 
in  a  heap  among  the  mass  of  disarranged  trunks,  hampers, 
baskets,  and  other  belongings  of  the  passengers. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  commotion  on  the  com- 
bination car,  passengers  in  the  second  car  felt  it  suddenly 
begin  to  thump  and  bound  roughly  on  its  way.  Occupying 
one  seat  in  the  centre  of  that  car  were  a  little  girl,  who  sat 
next  to  the  window;  Nathaniel  Webb,  Esq.,  editor  of  the 
Goshen  Democrat ;  Capt.  Israel  H.  YYickham  of  Middle- 
town,  and  his  little  boy.  When  the  thumping  began  Mr. 
Webb  glanced  ahead  out  of  the  window,  and  saw  timbers  fly- 
ing wildly,  and  water  splashing.  Then  came  a  tremendous 
shock,  and  Mr.  Webb  felt  a  violent  blow  on  the  left  side  of 
the  head.  Then  there  was  an  awful  crash,  and  for  a  moment 
all  was  still,  and  then  from  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  crushed 
car  there  issued  appalling  and  heart-rending  shrieks.  In  a 
minute,  having  partially  recovered  from  the  stupefying  effect 
of  the  blow  on  his  head,  Mr.  Webb  hastily  put  the  little  girl 
out  the  window,  and  disengaging  his  feet  with  much  diffi- 
culty from  the  crushed  seats,  made  his  escape  by  the  same 
window. 

The  locomotive  and  two  milk  cars  were  about  ten  rods 
beyond  the  stream,  safely  on  the  rails.  A  little  in  the  rear 
was  a  milk  car  thrown  from  the  track.  About  two  yards  in 
the  rear  of  that  was  the  foremost  passenger  car,  deprived  of 


its  trucks,  and  thrown  obliquely  across  the  rails.  From  this, 
passengers  were  scrambling  through  doors  and  windows. 
Then  came  the  car  from  which  Mr.  Webb  had  escaped.  It 
was  lying  dire<  tl\  a<  ross  the  stream,  with  its  forward  end  rest- 
ing against  the  bank  and  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  surface 
of  it,  the  rear  end  lying  against  the  opposite  bank,  about  two 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  railroad,  and  so  nearly  broken  in 
two  in  the  middle  that  it  nearly  reached  the  water  in  the 
shallow  stream  below.  Next  came  the  diamond  car,  with  its 
rear  end  resting  on  the  bank  even  with  the  track,  and  about 
twelve  feet  of  its  forward  end,  the  car  lying  obliquely,  resting 
directly  upon  the  second  car,  which  it  had  crushed  down. 
The  fourth  and  last  car  was  off  the  track.  It  had  escaped 
injury,  however,  as  had  its  occupants. 

The  rear  car  had  struck  the  fallen  car  and  run  through  it 
about  half  its  length,  crushing  down  all  in  its  way.  Between 
the  floor  of  these  two  cars  lay  most  of  the  passengers  in  the 
second  car,  imprisoned  and  crushed  ;  and  it  seemed  that 
necessarily  most  of  them  must  be  fatally  hurt,  so  small  was 
the  space  where  they  were  held.  Their  groans  and  shrieks ; 
their  heart-rending  entreaties  for  help,  mingling  with  the  wild 
and  frantic  cries  of  those  who  had  escaped  but  were  calling 
upon  the  name  of  a  missing  child,  parent,  or  friend  ;  and  the 
sight  of  blood  dripping  freely  through  the  broken  bottom  of 
the  car  into  the  water  beneath,  all  formed  a  scene  of  horror 
to  unnerve  the  stoutest  heart. 

After  the  first  panic  of  the  catastrophe  was  over,  and  it 
lasted  but  a  very  short  time,  the  hands  belonging  to  the  cars, 
the  passengers  that  were  uninjured,  and  men  from  the  neigh- 
borhood who  immediately  repaired  to  the  spot  went  vigor- 
ously to  work,  and  by  demolishing  the  car  succeeded  in 
releasing  the  sufferers  one  by  one.  This  was  before  the  days 
of  the  telegraph,  and  wrecking  cars  or  wrecking  crews  were 
things  unknown.  Conductor  Lytle  despatched  a  man  on 
horseback  for  aid,  and  to  carry  the  news  to  Middletown,  with 
instructions  to  get  a  fresh  horse  at  Chester  and  another  at 
Goshen.  He  sent  the  locomotive  forward  to  Piermont  with 
the  news.  From  there  word  was  sent  by  a  fast  steamboat  to 
the  officers  of  the  Company  in  New  York. 

The  only  mode  of  releasing  the  passengers  from  the  tele- 
scoped cars  was  to  tear  away  the  sides,  or  break  up  the  floor 
of  the  diamond  car,  which  formed  the  cover  to  the  death 
trap.  For  some  time  the  rescuers  lacked  tools  to  do  this 
expeditiously,  but  at  last  axes  w-ere  obtained  from  neighbor- 
ing farmhouses.  These  had  to  be  handled  with  care  as  well 
as  haste,  for  there  was  danger  in  striking  a  violent  blow  lest 
further  and  perhaps  fatal  injury  should  be  done  to  some  one 
of  the  imprisoned  victims. 

Only  two  of  the  young  men  who  had  stood  on  the  platform 
when  the  accident  occurred  could  be  found.  These  were 
Ogden  Hoffman,  Jr.,  and  Ogden  H.  Dunning.  Neither  was 
hurt,  but  Dunning  never  knew  how  he  came  off  the  cars. 
The  others,  Ira  Crane,  George  Stevens,  John  Hawkins,  Edgar 
Monnell,  and  Charles  Monnell,  had  been  thrust  through  the 
end  of  the  car  and  were  wedged  in  beneath  the  floors  of  the 
two  for  nearly  an  hour  and  a  half  before  they  could  be  ex- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


411 


tricated.  Stevens  and  Crane  had  been  killed  instantly,  and 
were  crushed  out  of  all  recognition.  Charles  Monnell  was 
fatally  injured,  and  died  next  day.  Edgar  Monnell  and  Haw- 
kins were  badly  hurt,  but  recovered. 

Gilbert  \Y.  Oliver,  of  Bloomingburgh,  Sullivan  County,  N. 
Y.,  had  one  leg  frightfullv  mangled,  but  he  bound  it  up  with 
his  handkerchief  to  keep  the  mangled  parts  together,  and 
heroically  went  to  work  to  rescue  his  fellow  sufferers.  He 
persisted  in  this  work  until  he  fell  exhausted  from  pain  and 
loss  of  blood. 

( >n  following  the  railroad  about  twenty-five  rods  back  from 
the  stream,  the  cause  of  the  accident  was  discovered.  A  short 
distance  from  the  track  lay  the  half  of  one  of  the  car  wheels. 
The  wheel  from  which  this  part  was  broken  was  one  on  the 
last  milk  car.  As  the  car  thus  crippled  had  kept  the  track 
for  some  distance,  the  broken  wheel  was  not  noticed.  Just 
before  the  car  reached  the  bridge,  though,  it  left  the  rail,  and 
began  to  strike  and  splinter  the  timbers.  As  it  went  over 
the  bridge  it  tore  that  structure  almost  bare  of  its  timbers, 
but  the  passenger  car  just  behind  it  got  over  the  gap  in  some 
way,  with  the  exception  of  its  hind  tnick,  which  was  torn 
loose  on  the  opposite  bank  and  remained  there.  The  second 
passenger  car  also  leaped  the  gap,  but  its  front  end  struck  a 
little  below  the  surface  of  the  bank  and  directly  against  the 
mass  of  wreck  left  by  the  car  proceeding  it.  The  "  diamond 
car"  was  driven  by  the  impetus  of  the  rear  cars  violently 
upon   the  stalled  car,  and  went  crashing  halfway  through   it. 

As  the  "diamond  car"  rushed  upon  the  car  ahead  of  it, 
the  roof  of  the  latter,  instead  of  breaking  up,  forced  its  way 
through  the  encroaching  car,  and  in  a  sound  state  protruded 
some  twelve  feet  into  it,  passing  over  the  heads  of  those  sit- 
ting most  forward,  but  striking  with  great  violence  those  who 
s  it  near  the  termination  of    its  course.     Several  of   the   pas- 

gers  were  here  badly  hurt.  One  of  these,  Mrs.  Charles 
Conkling,  had  the  evening  before  been  married  at  Otisville, 
and  was  in  company  with  her  husband  on  her  bridal  trip. 
The  sweeping  roof  of  the  second  car  struck  her  in  the  neck 
and  breast,  and  inflicted  such  a  frightful  wound  that  she  was 
carried  from  the  wreck,  it  was  believed,  to  quickly  die.  That 
she  did  not  die  instantly  is  to  this  day  a  cause  of  wonder  to 
all  who  remember  or  have  heard  the  story  of  her  dreadful 
injuries.  She  lingered  for  weeks  on  the  boundary  of  death, 
but  at  last  recovered  sufficiently  to  get  about,  although  terri- 
bly scarred.  She  never  fully  recovered  from  the  shock  of  the 
disaster,  however,  and  died  from  its  effects  a  year  or  so  later. 

Dr.  Boyd,  of  Monroe,  was  soon  at  the  scene  of  the  1 
trophe,  and  doctors  from  Chester  hastened  to  the  spot  on 
receiving  intelligence  of  the  casualty. 

The  rear  end  of  the  train,  which  had  sustained  no  injury, 
was  transformed  into  a  hospital.  As  soon  as  possible  a  hand- 
car was  provided,  covered  with  cushions  from  a  passenger 
car,  and  on  it  the  dead  and  badly  wounded  were  removed  to 
Stickney's  Hotel  at  Monroe.  The  accident  happened  at  8 
o'clock.  When  the  messenger  on  horseback  reached  Middle- 
town  and  told  the  dreadful  news,  which  he  had  also  scattered 
as  he  rode,  church  bells  were  tolled  and  all   the  countryside 


was  wrapped  in  gloom.  A  locomotive  being  at  Middletown, 
a  relief  train  was  quickly  made  up,  and,  bearing  physicians 
and  groups  of  anxious  and  grief-stricken  friends  of  the  dis- 
aster's victims,  sped  toward  the  scene  of  the  disaster  as  train 
had  never  sped  over  the  road  before.  The  locomotive 
sounded  its  whistle  dolefully  all  along  the  line.  The  train 
arrived  at  Seamansville  at  noon.  Two  hours  later  it  returned, 
bearing  the  dead,  and  all  the  wounded  that  could  safely  be 
removed,  to  the  homes  which  they  had  left  but  a  short  time 
before,  happy  and  buoyant  with  expectations  for  the  day,  to 
meet  but  mutilation  and  death. 

The  steamboat  that  was  to  have  carried  the  joyous  party 
from  Piermont  down  the  Hudson  to  their  destination  was 
despatched  instead  to  New  York  with  the  news  of  the  awful 
fate  that  had  befallen  them.  President  Loder,  accompanied 
by  four  New  York  surgeons  he  had  hastily  summoned,  re- 
turned to  Piermont  on  the  boat,  and  hastened  thence  to  the 
wreck  by  special  train.  He  arrived  on  the  scene  soon  after 
the  relief  train  from  Middletown  got  there.  On  Saturdav  he 
despatched  a  special  car  to  bear  the  terribly  wounded  Mrs. 
Conkling  to  her  home  at  Middletown.  Charles  Monnell,  one 
of  the  injured,  died  on  that  day,  ami  his  body  was  taken  to 
Middletown  on  a  special  car.  President  Loder  visited  per- 
sonally the  homes  of  all  the  wounded,  to  learn  what  he  could 
do  or  have  done  to  alleviate  their  sufferings. 

Another  one  of  the  passengers  among  the  seriously  injured 
was  Miss  Julia  Wisner,  daughter  of  Daniel  Wisner,  of  Mid- 
dletown. Her  breast  bone  was  so  broken  and  crushed  that 
its  removal  was  necessary.  Miss  Wisner  never  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  her  injury.  She  died  a  few  years  later. 
Her  funeral  was  the  largest  ever  held  in  Orange  County,  the 
procession  being  two  miles  in  length. 

Following  is  the  list  of  killed  and  badly  wounded  in  this 
first  serious  accident  on  the  Erie  Railroad  : 

Killed — Ira  S.  Crane,  aged  19,  son  of  Dr.  J.  S.  Crane, 
Goshen;  George  Stevens,  aged  17,  New  York  City;  Charles 
Monnell,  son  of  Joseph  Monnell,  hotel-keeper,  Middletown. 

Wounded — Mrs.  Charles  Conkling.  very  badly  lacerated  on 
her  neck  and  breast :  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Penny  ;  George  Harding. 
son  of  Charles  Harding — Otisville.  Miss  Julia  A.  Wisner, 
daughter  of  Daniel  Wisner ;  Miss  Louisa  Sweet,  daughter  of 
Halsteail  Sweet;  Nathaniel  Cooley  :  Jesse  Van  Fleet;  Miss 
Sarah  Watkins,  one  of  the  principals  of  the  Seminary  :  David 
Holley,  one  arm  broken,  the  other  dislocated  ;  Mrs.  T.  C. 
Royce — Middletown.  Gilbert  W.  Oliver,  very  badly  cut  in 
the  leg;  Miss  Miller,  daughter  of  George  Miller — Blooming- 
burgh. Howard  Thompson,  milk  agent  at  Monroe.  Miss 
Stevens,  sister  of  young  Stevens  who  was  killed  :  M.  New- 
man :  Mr.  Bursell  ;  Mr.  Strand;  Walter  S.  Corwin — New 
York  City.  Edgar  Monnell,  son  of  Charles  Monnell  :  Natha- 
niel Webb — Goshen.  John  Hawkins,  Hamptonburgh.  Others 
were  injured  more  or  less  seriously. 

No  aa  ident  that  had  occurred  upon  any  railroad  up  to 
that  time  in  this  country  created  so  wide-spread  a  sensation 
as  this  one  caused.  It  became  the  subject  of  public  com- 
ment not  only  in   this  country,  but  abroad.     It  was  the  first 


412 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


i  ident  of  its  kind,  and  revealed  new  possibilities  of  danger 
to  life  and  linih  that  lay  in  wait  for  travellers  by  rail.  It 
showed,  also,  the  necessity  of  providing  safeguards  against 
the  occurrence  of  similar  disasters  ;  not  that  the  managers  of 
the  Erie  had  not  had  abundant  previous  evidence  of  the 
defects  in  the  equipment  of  the  road,  and  the  insufficiency  of 
its  construction.  That  it  should  have  required  an  awful 
sacrifice  of  life  and  the  maiming  and  mutilating  of  two  score 
of  persons  to  spur  the  management  to  a  correction  of  those 
faults  presented  a  subject  for  much  indignant  and  bitter 
comment  by  the  press  of  the  country,  although  the  people  to 
whom  the  results  of  the  disaster  came  directly  home  with 
crushing  force  put  it  on  record,  at  a  public  meeting  held  at 
Middletown  three  days  after  the  accident,  that  they  exoner- 
ated the  railroad  company  from  all  blame.  The  chairman 
of  this  meeting  was  Capt.  Israel  Wickham,  who,  with  his  little 
boy,  was  among  those  who  had  to  be  dug  out  of  the  ruins  of 
the  second  car,  and  whose  escape  with  scarcely  a  scratch  was 
one  of  the  miraculous  ones  of  the  catastrophe. 

This  railroad  accident  led  to  the  prompt  abandoning  of 
the  use  of  the  Winans  spoke  car  wheel,  not  on  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  alone,  but  on  every  railroad  where 
cars  were  equipped  with  such  wheels,  and  to  the  adopting 
of  solid  wheels.  It  led  to  the  replacing  of  four-wheeled 
by  eight-wheeled  cars  on  the  Erie.  From  it  grew  the 
system  of  testing  car  wheels  at  intervals  during  a  train's 
trip  by  tapping  them  with  a  hammer  to  detect  by  the  sound 
a  defective  wheel,  a  system  that  soon  became,  and  is  yet, 
universal  on  railroads  the  world  over.  It  led  to  the  imme- 
diate beginning  of  the  work  of  filling  in  and  strengthening  the 
trestles  of  the  division  of  the  Erie  then  in  operation,  and  to 
the  ordering  that  particular  care  be  observed  in  building 
similar  work  on  the  sections  then  under  construction.  At- 
tention was  at  once  especially  given  to  the  long  and  high 
trestle  wall  which  carried  the  railroad  over  the  Hackensack 
River,  and  its  deep  valley  near  Nanuet.  This  was  a  slight- 
looking  elevation  of  timber  nearly  seventy  feet  high,  and  its 
apparent  insecurity  had  been  the  source  of  much  loss  to  the 
Company  in  traffic,  as  a  large  portion  of  the  travelling  public 
was  afraid  to  risk  passing  over  the  lofty  structure.  This 
feeling  was  intensified  by  the  falling  of  a  freight  train  through 
the  trestle  in  1843,  ar>d  the  killing  of  a  conductor.  The  fill- 
ing in  of  this  great  gap  required  over  340,000  cubic  yards  of 
earth,  and  the  building  of  a  stone  arch  or  culvert,  140  feet 
long  and  thirty-foot  span,  for  the  passage  of  the  river  through 
the  embankment.  This  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  most 
expensive  pieces  of  work  the  Company  had  encountered. 
It  was  completed  in  May,  1847. 

The  a<  <  ident  at  Seamansville,  aside  from  the  death  and  suf- 
fering it  caused,  was  a  costly  mishap  for  the  Company;  for, 
notwithstanding  the  public  declaration  that  the  community 
did  not  hold  it  blameworthy,  the  Company  soon  found  itself 
defendant  in  a  host  of  suits  brought  to  recover  heavy  dam- 
ages, the  settlement  of  which,  together  with  the  other  costs 
of  tin  ai  1  ident,  compelled  an  outlay  of  more  than  $100,000. 

Mrs.  I'ronk,  widow  of  James  A.  1'ronk,  Esq.,  of  Middle- 


town,  was  one  of  the  young  ladies  on  that  historic  train.  C. 
W.  1  Hmmick,  now  of  Washington,  D.  C,  was  also  a  pas- 
senger. 

ORIGIN    OF    REDUCED     RATES    TO    PREACHERS. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  McCartee  was  pastor  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  at  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  from  1840  to  1S49.  After 
the  completion  of  the  Erie  Railway  to  Goshen,  Dr.  McCartee 
became  a  frequent  passenger,  going  to  the  city  every  week, 
and  sometimes  twice  a  week.  One  of  his  trips  was  in  the 
spring  immediately  after  a  heavy  rain,  and  when  the  frost 
was  coming  out  of  the  ground.  The  combined  action  of  the 
rain  and  frost,  in  connection  with  a  newly  constructed  road, 
resulted  in  covering  the  track  in  some  of  the  deep  cuts  with 
a  heavy  deposit  of  dirt  and  stones,  which  seriously  interfered 
with  the  passage  of  the  trains.  The  train  was  delayed  some 
hours,  much  to  the  discomfort  and  annoyance  of  the  passen- 
gers. There  was  great  murmuring  and  complaint  among 
them,  and  at  length  a  paper  was  drawn  up  and  signed  by 
several,  in  which  the  company  and  its  officials  were  severely 
censured  for  the  condition  of  things. 

The  good  Doctor  did  not  fall  in  with  the  current  of  feeling 
that  had  set  in,  but  took  a  sensible  view  of  the  situation  — 
that  it  was  one  of  those  things  that  could  not  have  been  pre- 
vented, and  for  which  the  Company  was  not  responsible.  He 
concluded,  therefore,  to  endeavor  to  stay  the  tide.  He  kept 
quiet  and  waited  until  the  proper  time.  This  soon  came 
when  he  was  asked  to  sign  the  paper.  He  replied  that  he 
would  do  so  if  they  would  change  the  phraseology  and  in- 
sert a  preamble  that  he  would  suggest,  somewhat  as  follows  : 

"  Whereas,  The  recent  rain  has  fallen  at  a  time  ill  suited  to  our 
pleasure  and  convenience  and  without  any  consultation  with  us  ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  Jack  Frost,  who  has  been  imprisoned  in  the  ground  for 
some  months,  has  become  tired  of  his  bondage  and  has  determined 
to  break  loose,  and  his  head  may  already  be  seen  coming  out ;  there- 
fore, 

"  Resolved,  Thus  and  so." 

The  effect  was  that  the  whole  thing  was  turned  into  ridi- 
cule ;  the  leaders  in  the  indignation  movement  abandoned 
their  effort,  the  paper  was  destroyed,  and  many  of  those  who 
had  signed  it  joined  in  a  hearty  laugh  over  the  affair,  and 
were  glad  that  it  terminated  as  it  did. 

The  train  was  in  charge  of  Captain  Ayres.  He  had  a  vein 
of  humor  himself,  and  enjoyed  the  affair  immensely.  Ever 
afterward  he  refused  to  take  any  fare  from  the  Doctor  when 
on  the  train,  because  of  the  good  service  which  he  had  ren- 
dered to  him  and  the  Company.  The  custom  at  that  time 
was  very  largely  for  passengers  to  pay  their  fare  to  the  con- 
ductor instead  of  purchasing  a  ticket  at  the  ticket  office. 

Dr.  McCartee,  however,  was  not  content  to  be  regarded  as 
the  exclusive  recipient  among  the  clergy  of  a  favor  of  this 
kind,  and  after  a  while  suggested  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to 
extend  it  to  all  the  ministers,  which  was  eventually  done.  At 
first  for  a  short  time  the  Company  issued  tickets  to  ministers 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


4i3 


free  of  all  charge,  but  soon  after  the  half-rate  fare  was 
adopted.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  reduced  fare  to  minis- 
ters so  far  as  the  Erie  is  concerned,  and  dates  back  to  1843. 
The  author's  authority  for  the  Dr.  McCartee  incident  is  the 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  G.  Mills  of  Port  Jervis,  who  had  it  from  Dr. 
McCartee's  lips  many  years  ago. 

"I  was  coming  home  for  the  winter  vacation  of  1S42, 
while  I  was  in  the  seminary,"  says  Dr.  Mills,  relating  another 
incident  of  early  Erie  travel.  "  I  came  up  from  New  York 
on  the  boat.  There  was  a  cold  storm.  Rain  and  sleet  froze 
as  fast  as  it  fell,  so  that  the  rails  were  coated  with  ice.  That 
was  the  time  when  they  used  wood  for  the  engines,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  make  steam.  We  started  out  from  Piermont 
about  twelve  o'clock  noon,  and  were  from  that  until  nine 
o'clock  at  night  getting  eight  miles  out  from  Piermont  and 
back  again,  where  we  remained  until  one  o'clock  the  next 
day,  when  we  started  again,  and  were  until  nine  o'clock  at 
night  getting  to  Goshen.     Captain  Avers  was  conductor." 

FIRST    AID    IN    ACCIDENTS    FIFTY    YEARS    AGO. 

In  February,  1849,  after  the  railroad  had  been  opened  to 
Bingham  ton,  two  passenger  trains  came  into  collision  near 
Narrowsburg,  X.  V.  Both  locomotives  were  disabled.  It 
was  necessary  to  have  other  locomotives  before  the  trains 
could  be  moved.  The  work  was  of  course  simple,  and  there 
was  as  yet  no  telegraph.  There  was  no  locomotive  nearer 
than  Port  Jervis,  thirty-five  miles  away.  W.  H.  Sidell,  who 
had  charge  of  affairs  on  that  part  of  the  railroad,  at  once  had 
a  horse  saddled,  and  summoning  his  chief  and  only  clerk 
and  general  assistant,  Charles  J.  Sackett,  despatched  him  to 
Port  Jervis  over  the  mountains  of  Sullivan  County,  N.  Y., 
with  orders  for  the  immediate  forwarding  of  two  locomotives 
to  the  scene  of  the  accident.  Six  hours  later  the  loco- 
motives arrived,  and  the  trains  were  enabled  fo  resume  their 
trips. 

At  another  time  the  engine  of  a  freight  train  was  disabled 
between  Narrowsburg  and  Cochecton.  This  blocked  the  track 
and  it  became  necessary  that  the  train  should  be  got  back  to 
Narrowsburg  and  placed  on  the  switch  in  order  that  the 
passenger  train,  which  would  be  due  in  the  course  of  three 
hours,  might  pass.  A  man  was  sent  back  to  Narrowsburg 
on  foot  through  the  snow,  to  have  all  the  teams  he  could 
procure  sent  to  the  scene  of  the  blockade.  The  teams 
hauled  the  train  back  in  sections,  and  the  passenger  train 
was  detained  only  an  hour. 

BEFORE    THE    TICKET    PUNCH. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  passenger  business  on  the  Erie  the 
cost  of  passenger  tickets  was  no  inconsiderable  item,  hence 
heavy  card  tickets  from  and  to  the  various  stations  were 
used.  The  signature  of  the  general  ticket  agent  was  at- 
tached, and  they  were  taken  up  by  the  conductor,  returned 


to  the  general  ticket  office,  and  sent  out  to  agents  for  resale 
so  long  as  they  remained  undefaced. 

After  a  time  an  important  discovery,  seriously  affecting 
the  revenue  of  the  Erie,  was  made.  A  resident  of  Andover, ' 
on  the  Western  Division,  will  be  used  as  an  illustration.  He 
purchased  a  ticket  to  New  York.  The  conductors  run  by 
divisions.  The  passenger's  ticket  was  examined  and  honored 
by  the  conductor  between  Andover  and  Hornellsville,  Hor- 
nellsville  and  Susquehanna,  Susquehanna  and  Port  Jervis. 
At  the  latter  station  the  passenger  pocketed  his  through 
ticket  and  purchased  a  ticket  from  Port  Jervis  to  New  York, 
which  was  taken  up  by  the  conductor  on  the  Eastern  Divi- 
sion. Returning,  the  passenger  bought  his  card  ticket  from 
New  York  to  Andover.  At  Hornellsville  he  bought  a  ticket 
from  that  station  to  Andover  and  retained  his  through 
ticket.  After  the  foregoing  description,  it  will  be  clear  that 
thereafter  that  person  could  travel  between  Andover  and 
New  York  as  often  as  he  might  desire,  paying  fare  only 
between  Port  Jervis  and  New  York,  east  bound,  and  between 
Hornellsville  and  Andover,  west  bound. 

This  fraud  on  the  Company  was  in  existence  a  long  time 
before  it  was  discovered.  Then  a  system  of  cancelling  the 
tickets  by  divisions  by  the  conductors  was  adopted.  At  first 
they  were  simply  marked  with  a  pencil.  This  was  not  a 
success,  and  the  emergency  led  to  the  making  and  introduc- 
tion of  the  ticket  punch. 

THE    FATAL    FIRST    IRON    BRIDGE. 

Iron  railroad  bridges,  although  a  modern  thing  in  railroad 
construction  as  regards  their  universal  use,  were  introduced 
as  an  experiment  on  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  as 
early  as  1849.  Three  bridges  of  that  material  were  built  in 
that  year,  the  largest  one  being  the  one  across  Westcolang 
Creek  and  its  deep  ravine,  a  short  distance  east  of  Mast 
Hope,  Pa.,  on  the  Delaware  Division.  Those  bridges  were 
all  removed  and  replaced  with  wooden  bridges  in  the  summer 
of  1850,  because  of  a  bad  accident  that  happened  to  a  train 
while  crossing  the  Westcolang  bridge,  July  31st  of  that  year. 

The  train  was  a  live  stock  and  freight  train  of  seventeen 
cars,  besides  the  engine  and  tender.  At  the  time  the  train 
approached  the  bridge  it  was  going  at  an  ordinary  rate,  but 
the  engine  had  but  just  got  fairly  off  the  solid  track  when  the 
engineer  heard  a  loud  cracking  sound,  and  felt  something 
giving  away.  He  put  on  all  the  steam  possible,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  engine,  which  was  a  very  powerful  one, 
upon  the  other  side,  but  just  as  he  had  cleared  the  bridge  it 
went  down  with  a  crash,  carrying  the  tender  with  it.  The 
cars  following  tumbled  into  the  abyss,  one  after  another,  until 
fifteen  of  them,  with  their  contents,  were  piled  up  in  the  gap. 
The  engineer  and  his  fireman  saved  themselves  by  jumping 
off  on  either  side  of  the  engine.  The  brakeman,  Adam  Tice, 
and  J.  L.  Clapp  of  Ohio,  a  drover's  helper,  aged  19,  went 
down  with  the  cars.  George  Randall,  the  drover,  was  pre- 
cipitated over  the  embankment  with  the  car  he  was  in.  Two 
other  men,  who  were  on  the  sixteenth  car,  discovered  that 


4U 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


NEW     VORK     AND     £ltIE     LlAILltOAD. 

New  YoKKij8fe««c.  c^>.  185^ 


PASS  tluvK*wer 


^      fy*^</    ' -■ ',         KF"  The  person  »cco)>ting 

sg^\  ^^  /  he  Company  shall  not  bo 


E  B  (I  M 


Vc 


K 


I  I 


%9p- 


¥>.  ■■■  £j.&M*f.fciJ  la' 


,  in  afl  cn^e.-',  ec//eW 


;.  U»« 


t_ 


(Obverse.) 


iable,    under    any    circum- 
stances,    whether   of    negli-  | 
gvncti    by    their    Agi 

.   for  .tor  injury   to  , 
the  person,  or  for  auj 
injury  *  '     uf  the 

Passenger  using  the  Ticket 


President 


I 


o 


-"  —       m     _•  -S3     „3 
5?'C    .~  a    -'£■--? 

z.    1    -  _oi    bp  O  Si  S  J3 


.Sfe      -     c 

w.a  o  -  « 


O    «    3  M™    o" 


>  So  g  ■_  5  .;  -.  g^2 

3  o  ^>  «•  © '  rt  SJ-.-eS  c    =>  _    ._    ^ 


fa  £?  £*   ~K:  '~   --  ~   ~  a    ■'    U'  ScS'fe.S  — ■  i2  "^   o  a  —  pc  ■- 


<:"© 


—  : 

(Reverse,  i 
A    MORAN    FREE   PASS— 1859.      NORTHRUP   COLLECTION. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


4i5 


something  was  wrong  in  time  to  save  themselves  by  jump- 
ing. 

The  scene  just  after  the  accident  had  occurred  was  piteous 
in  the  extreme.  A  hundred  head  of  cattle  were  writhing  in 
torture,  and  making  the  whole  mass  active  by  their  throes,  in 
the  vain  endeavor  to  extricate  themselves,  some  with  their 
horns  broken  off,  and  some  held  fast  by  means  of  the  ruin 
piled  upon  them.  Their  cries  were  heart-rending.  Some  of 
the  poor  creatures,  mad  with  pain,  their  eyes  starting  from 
their  sockets,  seemed  bent  on  wreaking  vengeance  on  what- 
ever object  was  nearest  to  them.  Others,  subdued  by  their 
sufferings,  moaned  piteously,  and  gazed  about  as  if  imploring 
release. 

The  imprisoned  sheep  that  were  alive  simply  bleated  plain- 
tively, while  a  few  of  their  companions  that  had  happened  to 
escape  and  clamber  from  the  wreck  went  quietly  to  nibbling 
grass  by  the  roadside,  indifferent  to  the  misery  of  their  fel- 
lows. The  swine  that  were  part  of  the  writhing,  moaning 
mass  were  belligerent,  after  their  kind,  and  those  beneath  the 
ruins  fought  with  each  other  as  long  as  there  was  life  left  in 
them,  while  the  more  lucky  ones  that  escaped  made  for  the 
woods  as  if  flying  from  some  impending  danger.  As  soon  as 
the  momentary  panic  had  subsided,  the  men  who  had  escaped 
injury  set  to  work  to  relieve  their  companions.  It  was  soon 
ascertained  that  the  drover  Randall  and  the  brakeman  Tice 
were  near  each  other,  both  alive,  and  by  no  means  despair- 
ing. Soon  Randall's  voice  was  heard.  He  was  discovered 
buried  among  the  fragments  of  the  cars,  and  directly  beneath 
a  large  ox,  which  was  still  alive,  and  at  times  greatly  dis- 
tressed the  helpless  drover  by  kicking  him  on  the  breast. 
Randall  was  perfectly  sensible,  and  gave  directions  as  to  how 
he  could  best  be  removed.  He  thought  he  could  endure  the 
weight  of  the  ox  until  it  could  be  taken  away  piecemeal. 
The  ox  was  therefore  shot,  but  in  its  dying  struggles  kicked 
Randall  so  violently  in  the  breast  as  to  deprive  him  of  life. 
Immediately  before  his  death  he  spoke  much  of  his  life,  stat- 
ing that  he  had  a  wife  and  four  children.  The  same  ox  lay 
partly  across  Tice,  the  brakeman,  who  died  before  he  could 
be  extricated  from  his  frightful  situation. 

There  was  no  telegraph  in  use  along  the  railroad  yet,  al- 
though a  line  was  being  put  up.  A  man  was  sent  on  horse- 
back to  Lackawaxen,  four  miles  east  of  the  scene  of  the 
accident,  to  inform  John  M.  Williamson,  the  Company's 
agent  at  that  point.  Williamson  despatched  a  messenger  to 
Port  Jervis,  down  the  tow-path  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal,  twenty-three  miles,  to  carry  the  news  to  Division 
Superintendent  Power.  The  Superintendent  at  once  started 
for  the  scene  of  the  accident  with  a  relief  train.  Agent 
Williamson  hastened  to  Mast  Hope.  Clapp,  the  other  drover, 
had  been  found  and  taken  from  the  wreck  in  the  meantime, 
alive,  but  terribly  mutilated.  By  the  time  Superintendent 
Power  arrived,  Agent  Williamson  had  ordered  the  wounded 
cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs  shot.  All  the  dead  beasts  were  buried 
in  a  vast  trench,  but  the  task  was  a  long  and  tedious  one ;  so 
long,  in  fact,  that,  the  weather  being  intensely  hot,  the  car- 
casses began  to  putrefy  before   the  work  was  done,  adding 


new  unpleasantness  to  the  already  accumulated  horrors. 
Coe  Little  was  the  conductor  of  the  train,  and  Nat.  Hatch 
engineer. 

BRINGING    THE    TELEGRAPH    INTO  USE    FOR    RAIL- 
ROADING. 

The  Erie,  through  Charles  Minot,  and  through  his  succes- 
sor, D.  C.  McCallum,  attracted  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country 
to  the  value  of  the  telegraph  as  a  vital  agent  in  the  manage- 
ment of  railroads,  the  running  of  trains,  and  the  safety  of 
passengers.  What  was  known  as  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Telegraph  Line  was  begun  in  August,  1847.  It  was  not  a 
work  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  as  its 
title  might  imply.  Ezra  Cornell  was  the  projector  of  the  line, 
and  while  he  was  constructing  it  through  the  southern  New 
York  counties,  taking  the  wagon  roads  for  his  route,  Charles 
Minot  was  watching  him.  Minot  early  saw  the  value  of  the 
telegraph  to  railroads,  and  how  it  might  be  employed  to  direct 
the  movement  of  trains  at  every  point  along  the  road.  He 
induced  the  Railroad  Company  to  construct  a  line  of  tele- 
graph poles  and  wires  along  the  margin  of  the  railroad,  with- 
out reference  to  patents,  and  without  determining  the 
machinery  to  be  employed.  It  was  constructed  by  the  rail- 
road workmen.  Mr.  Cornell  supplied  insulators  and  also 
Morse  machinery  for  the  offices  to  be  opened.  The  insulators 
were  of  brimstone,  enclosed  in  iron  pots,  and  of  but  small 
value.  On  the  completion  of  the  Erie  telegraph  line,  Super- 
intendent Minot  offered  to  purchase  for  the  Erie  the  Morse 
patent  on  fair  terms.  Mr.  Smith,  one  of  the  owners  of  the 
patent,  refused  to  sell.  He  invited  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company  to  become  stockholders  in  the  Telegraph 
Company,  and  thus  acquire  the  right  to  use  the  Morse  in- 
struments. By  this  time,  however,  the  Cornell  line  had  so 
shown  its  unreliable  character  that  Mr.  Minot  declined  the 
invitation.  He  wrote,  also,  very  placidly  to  Mr.  Smith  that 
his  notion  was  that,  after  its  completion,  "our  Company 
would  make  arrangements  with  the  New  York  and  Erie  Tele- 
graph Company  to  work  it  for  us."  .After  a  short  struggle 
against  circumstances  the  wire  of  the  Cornell  line  was,  in 
1S52  and  1853,  transferred  from  the  poles  along  the  turn- 
pikes to  those  of  the  Railroad  Company,  and  by  gradual 
processes  the  line  became  massed  with  and  faded  into  the 
property  of  that  Company.  In  1852  the  title  of  the  company 
was  changed  to  The  New  York  and  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph. 

In  1S51  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  hay- 
ing constructed  its  telegraph  line,  placed  it  under  two  super- 
intendents. L.  G.  Tillotson  was  intrusted  with  the  section 
between  Owego  and  New  York,  and  Charles  L.  Chapin  with 
the  section  from  Owego  to  Dunkirk.  In  1852  Tillotson  was 
made  sole  superintendent.  Luther  G.  Tillotson  was  but 
nineteen  years  old  when  he  became  superintendent  of  the 
Erie  Telegraph.  He  was  bom  in  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  March  1, 
1834.  His  father  was  a  friend  of  Ezra  Cornell,  and  became 
a  telegraph  constructor.     At  the  age  of  fifteen  Luther  began 


416 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


to  learn  telegraphy  under  his  father,  and  in  less  than  a  yi 
was  an  expert  for  that  day.  He  entered  the  service  of  the 
Erie  in  1S51.  In  1S62  he  began  dealing  in  railway  and  tel- 
egraph  supplies,  and  in  1865  established  the  house  of  J,.  G. 
Tillotson  &  Co.,  in  New  York,  and  remained  at  its  head  until 
eath,  January  31,  1885.  He  was  an  authority  on  tel- 
ih  and  telegraph  construction. 

William  J.  Holmes,  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the 
Erie  Telegraph  Department  since  1856  (as  operator  at  Mast 
Hope)  until  1S59,  was  in  that  year  appointed  division  opera- 
tor of  the  Delaware  Division,  with  jurisdiction  over  all  the 
on  thai  division.  In  1862  he  was  transferred  to  head- 
quarters in  New  York,  and  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Tillotson 
lu-  was  made  general  superintendent,  which  place  he  still 
He  is  also  district  superintendent  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company. 

The  route  of  the  original  Cornell  line  was  along  the  public 
roads  from  New  York  through  Harlem,  White  Plains,  Sing 
Sing,  Peekskill,  Newburgh,  Goshen,  Middletown,  Honesdale, 
Montrose,  Binghamton,  Ithaca,  Danville,  Nunda,  and  Pike  to 
Fredonia. 

The  first  telegraph  instrument  of  the  Cornell  line  on  the 
line  along  the  Erie  was  put  up  in  the  bar-room  of  a  hotel  at 
Goshen,  N.  V.  (now  the  Occidental),  and  its  wonderful  trans- 
mission and  receipt  of  messages  amazed  the  people.  This 
was  in  1849.  Cornell  subsequently  made  an  arrangement 
with  Lebeus  Vail,  who  had  a  bookstore,  book-bindery,  and 
printing  establishment  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  to 
have  the  telegraph  office  in  a  corner  of  his  store.  Vail  had 
three  sons  with  him  in  the  store,  Hector  J.,  Nathaniel,  and 
Wilmot  M.  Hector  and  Nathaniel  soon  learned  to  operate 
the  instrument,  and  Hector  became  the  first  regular  operator. 
The  line  worked  badly.  The  first  telegraph  station  west  of 
Goshen  was  Port  Jervis. 

Hec.  Vail  went  to  Port  Jervis  early  in  185T,  to  take  charge 
of  the  office  there,  and  his  brother  Nat.  was  put  in  charge  of 
the  Goshen  office.  At  that  time  the  Railroad  Company's 
telegraph  line  came  into  the  same  offices.  The  railroad  men 
soon  learned  that  they  could  find  out  where  the  "mail  train" 
or  any  other  train  was  by  asking  at  Vail's,  so  they  could  go 
on  their  way  if  it  was  late,  and  save  time.  But  they  did  it 
without  any  authority.  They  were  simply  "  wildcatting  " 
without  orders,  on  the  strength  of  what  the  telegraph  said. 
It  was  nearly  a  year  after  that  before  the  Company  began  to 
appreciate  the  advantage  of  the  telegraph,  and  led  to  Charles 
Minot's  adopting  it  on  the  road. 

Ezra  Cornell  was  so  poor  at  that  time  that  when  he  came 
to  Goshen,  if  there  was  no  money  in  the  office,  Vail  would 
advance  him  some,  so  that  "  Old  Bones,"  as  he  was  irrev- 
erently called,  might  get  something  to  eat.  A  few  cakes,  or 
a  slice  of  bread  and  a  morsel  of  cheese,  sufficed  him. 

Henry  O'Reilly,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  telegraphy  in  this 
country,  wrote  as  follows,  under  date  of  July  17,  1852  : 

Though  railway  telegraphing  is  attempted  to  a  very  limited  extent, 
even  the  partial  experiment  on  one  of  the  most  profitable  railroads  in 


America  (although  that. experiment  employed  little  of  the  organized 
system  here  proposed)  will  probably  fully  sustain  the  assertion  which 
I  hazarded  when  commencing  the  establishment  of  the  telegraph  sys- 
tem by  individual  enterprise  seven  years  ago,  that  a  well-arranged 
telegraph  for  railroad  purposes  would,  each  and  every  year,  render  to 
a  railroad  company  sufficient  benefits  to  counterbalance  the  whole 
cost  of  construction. 

He  dwelt  upon  the  feasibility  of  telegraph  messages  in  the 
operating  of  railroads,  instancing  that  signals  could  be  given 
from  any  point  at  any  time  of  night  or  day  to  alarm  and  in- 
form any  and  all  stations,  along  the  whole  extent  of  the  line, 
of  delays,  accidents,  or  other  matter  essential  to  safety  of 
passengers  and  property.  Not  only  every  station,  but  every 
train  while  in  motion,  he  declared,  could  be  signalled  and 
cautioned  whenever  necessary,  by  the  ringing  of  bells  by 
electricity,  or  displaying  signals  along  the  line  on  posts  be- 
tween stations,  to  warn  engineers  and  conductors  of  any 
difficulty  or  irregularity  which  might  result  in  mishap. 

These  suggestions  were  placed  before  the  New  Vork  Legis- 
lature in  1853,  the  Legislature  having,  in  1852,  discussed  the 
subject  of  the  seemingly  undue  prevalence  of  railroad  ac- 
cidents, and  propounded  to  the  railroad  companies  of  the  State 
a  number  of  questions  in  relation  to  the  matter,  for  official 
answer.  The  Erie  made  no  reply  to  any  of  the  questions. 
If  it  had,  there  might  have  been  a  record  of  the  date  on 
which  the  experiment  by  Superintendent  Charles  Minot  of 
running  a  train  by  telegraphic  order  was  tried — which  exper- 
iment proving  successful,  the  system  was  regularly  adopted 
by  the  Company,  and  it  became,  as  to-day,  universal  on  rail- 
roads. As  it  is,  there  is  no  such  record.  The  late  William 
H.  Stewart,  the  Erie  conductor  who  ran  the  train  thus  first 
moved  under  telegraphic  instructions,  did  not  remember  with 
certainty  the  year  or  the  month.  He  thought  it  was  in  the 
fall  of  1852  ;  but  as  Mr.  O'Reilly,  in  his  deliverance  to  the 
Legislature  in  July,  1S52,  mentions  the  fact  that  railroad 
telegraphing  was  then  in  use  "  on  one  of  the  most  profitable 
railroads  in  America,"  meaning  the  Erie,  the  first  telegraphic 
train  order  must  have  been  given  before  the  time  mentioned 
by  Mr.  Stewart,  probably  in  the  fall  of  1851.  At  any  rate, 
the  use  of  the  telegraph  as  an  invaluable  adjunct  of  railroad 
operation  was  suggested,  if  not  advocated,  by  Mr.  O'Reilly 
at  least  six  years  before  it  had  practical  demonstration  on  the 
Erie  at  the  hands  of  Superintendent  Minot. 

But  years  before  the  telegraph  was  used  for  any  purpose 
in  this  country,  not  to  mention  its  application  to  railroad 
operation,  the  Cooke  and  Wheatstone  "magnetic  telegraph  " 
had  been  in  use  upon  several  English  railroads,  and  Superin- 
tendent McCallum's  declaration,  made  in  1S55,  that  a  single 
track  railroad  with  a  telegraph  connection  was  much  superior 
to  a  double  track  railroad  without  such  connection,  was 
anticipated  as  early  as  1836,  when  the  editor  of  The  New 
York  Railroad  Journal,  referring  to  the  Cooke  and  Wheat- 
stone  telegraph,  wrote  in  his  periodical  that  "  a  single  track 
of  railroad  of  any  length  can  be  made  as  effective  and  as  safe 
by  means  of  this  auxiliary  as  any  double  track  can  be,  and 
this,  too,  at  an  original  outlay  of  about  the  sum  required  to 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIK 


4'7 


keep  annually  a  track  in  repair.  The  advantages  to  railroads 
of  this  important  invention  can  easily  be  understood  by  those 
familiar  with  railroad  management,  and  if  to  these  we  add 
the  profit  to  be  derived  from  the  transmission  of  intelligence, 
we  certainly  think  there  is  ample  inducement  for  its  employ- 
ment upon  every  railroad  in  the  United  States." 

In  September,  1S39,  the  Great  Western  Railroad  Com- 
pany was  operating  a  "  magnetic  telegraph  "  on  the  line  of 
railroad  between  Paddington  and  Dryton,  England.  Infor- 
mation as  to  how-  many  passengers  left  Dryton  or  Paddington 
by  each  train,  and  similar  intelligence,  was  what  the  tele- 
graph was  utilized  in  communicating.  A  question  sent  would 
be  answered  in  two  minutes,  the  distance  being  13^  miles. 
The  alphabet  was  on  a  dial,  and  the  indicator  pointed  out  each 
letter  under  the  manipulation  of  the  operator  at  the  other 
end. 

The  London  and  Blackwell  Railroad  was  opened  in  Sep- 
tember, 1840.  It  was  three  miles  long,  and  the  cars  were 
run  by  stationary  engines  at  each  end  of  the  line  — possibly  a 
pioneer  cable  line.  Speaking  of  this  railroad  at  the  time,  a 
London  newspaper  said  :  "  The  telegraph  invention  of  Cooke 
and  Wheatstone  enables  parties  at  each  end  to  converse. 
The  telegraph  is  in  a  neat  mahogany  case,  and  it  rings  a  small 
bell  to  announce  when  a  train  is  to  be  put  in  motion.  There 
is  one  at  each  intermediate  station  to  enable  the  servants  of 
the  railway  to  communicate  with  the  engineer  at  the  termini. 
If  there  is  any  impediment  or  casualty,  news  can  be  conveyed 
in  the  short  space  of  three  seconds." 

One  of  the  first  to  learn  telegraphing  on  the  old  Cornell 
line  was  D.  H.  Conklin,  who  was  a  printer's  apprentice  at 
Peekskill,  X.  V.,  in  1848.  In  1850  he  went  to  Williamsburg 
to  work  at  his  trade.  The  telegraph  line  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company  was  building  was  completed  between 
the  end  of  the  pier  at  Piermont  and  Goshen  in  the  latter  part 
of  that  year,  but  had  not  been  put  in  operation.  West  of 
Goshen  portions  of  the  line  were  up,  but  there  were  many 
gaps  in  it  to  be  closed  before  a  thorough  connection  could  be 
obtained.  At  the  pier  a  battery  had  been  put  in,  but  no 
operator  was  placed  there,  and  the  battery  had  failed.  Super- 
intendent Minot,  at  the  suggestion  of  Ezra  Cornell,  sent  for 
young  Conklin  to  go  to  Piermont  and  see  what  the  trouble 
was.  The  Erie  general  offices  were  then  at  35  Wall  Street, 
and  one  day  in  the  latter  part  of  December,  1850 — the  day 
of  the  month  is  now  not  known — Conklin  received  a  letter 
from  Superintendent  Minot.  It  stated  that  Conklin  had 
been  recommended  to  the  writer  in  flattering  terms  as  a  skil- 
ful telegraph  operator  ;  that  it  had  been  decided  that  the 
telegraph  would  be  useful  in  operating  a  railroad,  as  it  was 

•  hoped  that  it  could  be  utilized  not  only  by  showing  the  loca- 
tion of  trains  at  all  times  but  in  the  movement  of  trains  ;   that 

1  the  work  of  erecting  the  Erie  line  was  dragging,  which  was 
exceedingly  annoying  to  the  writer,  as  he  had  been  the  prin- 
cipal in  advising  its  adoption  ;  that  the  line  from  Piermont 
to  Goshen  had  not  been  worked,  and  that  Mr.  Cornell  had 
advised  that  Conklin  be  sent  for  to  go  up  to  Piermont  and  see 
=7 


what  the  difficulty  was.  The  letter  asked  Conklin  to  call  at 
Superintendent  Minot's  office  in  Wall  Street  for  an  interview. 

The  result  of  all  this  was  that  the  young  printer-operator 
went  to  Piermont.  He  found  a  main  battery  the  like  of 
which  he  had  never  seen  before.  It  was  known  as  the 
"  Dutch  Battery."  Conklin  had  never  handled  any  except 
the  "  Grove."  After  nearly  two  days'  work,  however,  he  got 
it  in  order.  Then  the  whole  business  was  blocked  because 
the  Goshen  operator  could  not  be  "  raised."  Hector  J.  Vail, 
familiarly  known  as  "  Hec  "  Vail,  was  the  operator  for  the 
Cornell  line  at  Goshen,  and  the  Erie  wire  was  in  the  same 
office,  as  before  stated.  Vail  was  supposed  to  answer  the 
latter  wire  in  case  it  were  called,  but  operator  Conklin 
called  for  him  all  day,  January  3,  185 1,  and  could  get  no 
response.  Next  day  he  went  to  Goshen  on  the  first  train  to 
see  if  he  could  not  induce  "  Hec  "  to  give  him  and  the  Erie 
wire  a  show  for  a  test.  "  Hec  "  consented  to  do  so.  Conklin 
returned  to  the  Pier,  called  up  Vail,  and  a  thorough  test  of  the 
wire  proved  that  it  was  working  satisfactorily.  Conklin  re- 
turned to  New  York  and  reported  his  success  to  Superintend- 
ent Minot,  with  the  intention  of  resuming  work  at  the  case  in 
the  Williamsburg  printing  office.  But  he  did  not  return  to 
his  case.  Superintendent  Minot's  satisfaction  over  the  suc- 
cessful working  of  the  telegraph  line  was  great,  and  he  had 
little  difficulty  in  impressing  Conklin  with  possibilities  that 
awaited  him  in  the  service  of  the  Erie  Telegraph  Depart- 
ment. 

"You  must  return  to  Piermont  at  once,"  said  he.  "  We 
must  have  your  services  there  as  operator.  I  can't  say  just 
at  this  moment  what  your  wages  w:ill  be,  but  that  will  be  ar- 
ranged to  your  satisfaction.    You  must  return  to  the  Pier  !  " 

The  young  man  severed  his  connection  with  the  printing 
office,  and  returned  to  Piermont  to  take  charge  of  the  tele- 
graph office  there.  He  remained  there  until  the  telegraph 
was  completed  and  opened  as  far  as  Port  Jervis,  in  the  winter 
of  185 1.  The  division  agent  (W.  H.  Power),  as  the  division 
superintendent  was  called  in  those  days,  advanced  him  money 
from  time  to  time — sometimes  as  much  as  $10 — for  his  ex- 
penses. When  the  line  was  opened  to  Port  Jervis,  Superin- 
tendent Minot  brought  up  the  subject  of  Conklin's  salary. 

"  You  know,"  said  he  to  Conklin,  "  we  will  have  to  employ 
about  ninety  operators  when  the  line  is  completed,  and  the 
pay-roll  will  be  heavy,  and  a  large  addition  to  the  operating 
expenses.  Now  you  are  an  expert.  The  amount  we  fix  for 
your  salary  will  govern  the  salaries  of  the  others.  I  hope, 
therefore,  that  you  will  accept  S30  a  month  as  your  pay,  and 
when  the  wire  is  all  in  good  working  order  I  will  give  you  the 
best  office  on  the  line." 

The  offer  was  accepted,  with  hopes  for  the  future,  and 
thus  D.  H.  Conklin  became  the  first  telegraph  operator  to 
receive  a  salary  from  a  railroad  company.  He  assisted  in 
stringing  the  first  insulated  wires  under  the  drawbridges  on 
the  Paterson  and  Ramapo  and  Paterson  and  Hudson  River 
railroads,  and  opened  some  of  the  Erie  telegraph  offices  on 
the  Susquehanna  and  Western  divisions.  In  the  spring  of 
1 85 1  he  succeeded  Joseph  W.  Guppy  as  operator  at  Susque- 


4i8 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


hanna  Depot,  then  the  most  important  office  on  the  line,  it 
being  known  as  a  "  repeating  station." 

In  those  days  passengers,  baggage,  and  express  and  mail 
les  were  transferred  between  Piermont  and  the  foot  of 
Duane  Street,  X.  V..  by  steamers.  The  principal  steamer 
Erie."  Dave  Lampman  was  captain  of  this  boat ; 
Henry  Kipp  was  clerk.  There  was  also  an  official  corre- 
sponding to  steward  or  purser,  in  the  person  of  "  Billy  "  Skelly. 
All  the  freight,  live  stock,  etc.,  was  transferred  to  and  from 
the  cars  and  barges  at  Pier,  and  the  work  required  a 
small  army  of  men.  Coming  out  of  New  York  there  were 
clerks  upon  the   barges  that  worked  at  billing  goods  from 


Uses  for  the  telegraph  wire  developed  slowly.  The  em- 
ployees, being  unacquainted  with  the  telegraph,  had  but  little 
confidence  in  it.  While  at  the  Pier,  Conkling  frequently 
urged  those  in  authority  to  use  the  wire,  and  make  inquiries  of, 
and  give  directions  to,  their  subordinates  through  that  means. 
For  a  long  time  after  communication  was  first  made  by 
wire,  the  message  began  with  "  Dear  Sir,"  and  closed  with 
"  Yours  respectfully." 

The  first  benefit  to  the  railroad  derived  from  use  of  the 
telegraph  was  in  handling  freight.  It  was  the  custom  to  load 
the  holds  of  the  barges  or  boats  and  leave  a  certain  large 
portion  of  the  decks  clear  for  live  stock  expected  upon  a  train 


'Zt&^s 


J> 


^>tf£<Z^? 


/^Z^t^Z^Cc--   9^£6-^    -^i^C       /2^0~0-C_   C"« 


L 


r    -rt" — 


E   FREE  PASS   OF    1 845.      ORIGINAL   OWNED   BY   MISS    ANN    PRESTON,    MIDDLETOWN,    N.    V. 

(Pass  the  bearer  Paul  Preston  Esq'  from  New  York  to  Middletown  per  Steamboat  &  cars. 

Eleazar  Lord  Prest  New  York  and  Erie  Rail  Road  Co 
To  the  Capt  &  Conductor.  New  Yk  25  Ap  1845) 


duplicate  shipping  receipts,  and  upon  arrival  at  the  Pier  the 
work  was  transferred  to  the  freight  office,  a  building  several 
hundred  feet  long,  where  the  work  of  billing  was  completed. 
When  passenger  trains  arrived  from  the  West,  a  large  number 
of  men  were  on  hand  to  transfer  baggage,  express,  etc.,  to  the 
boats.  Before  the  telegraph  line  was  put  in  operation,  the  Pier 
gang  would  be  on  hand  at  the  time  set  for  arrival  of  trains, 
and  all  would  "  throw  the  peaks  of  their  ears  "  inshore  toward 
Piermont.  The  word  would  pass  :  "  There  she  comes  !  "  All 
would  jump  to  their  feet  and  be  in  readiness.  Then  would 
follow:  "No;  it  ain't  her  !  "  and  there  would  be  a  general 
settling  down  again.  Perhaps,  by  next  boat  from  New  York, 
notice  would  be  received  that  the  expected  train  had  met 
with  an  accident  on  the  western  part  of  the  road,  as  an- 
nounced by  telegraph  around  through  the  northern  part  of 
the  State. 


due  at  about  10  p.m.  The  hitching-rack  for  cattle  was  just 
outside  the  rail,  to  which  they  were  led  up  and  tied  by  "  bull 
ropes."  As  the  number  of  head  of  cattle  coming  was  always 
an  unknown  quantity,  but  little  of  the  decks  was  loaded,  and 
the  men  were  laid  off,  or  otherwise  employed,  until  the 
arrival  of  the  train  and  the  transfer  of  the  cattle  to  the  barge 
or  barges  was  made.  Then  loading  was  completed,  and  the 
steamer  started  with  her  barges  for  New  York. 

One  day  it  occurred  to  Operator  Conklin  that  the  wire 
could  be  used  to  the  great  saving  of  time  and  expense  in  this 
matter,  and  he  arranged  with  the  conductor  of  the  stock 
train  the  next  night  to  let  him  know  by  telegraph  the  number 
of  cattle  he  would  bring  in  and  what  he  might  pick  up  at 
"  blind  stations."  This  the  conductor  did.  Conklin  went 
to  the  platform  and  saw  the  foreman,  Jimmy  Hagen,  and 
sorting  out  the  number  of  "bull  ropes"  to  accord  with  his 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


419 


knowledge  of  the  cattle  to  arrive,  told  Jimmy  he  need  not 
stop  his  men  as  they  could  load  up  to  the  space  as  indicated, 
so  that  when  the  stock  train  arrived  the  boat  and  barges 
could  get  off  in  thirty  minutes  instead  of  being  detained  for 
loading  the  balance  of  the  deck  space  after  the  cattle  were 
driven  aboard.  He  also  went  to  Captain  Lampman,  told 
him  what  he  had  done,  and  assured  him  that  the  fires  under 
his  boiler  need  not  be  "banked,"  because  he  would  be  able 
to  get  away  at  the  time  mentioned,  thus  arriving  at  New 
York  much  earlier,  saving  fuel,  and  enabling  his  men  to  get 
more  rest. 

Conklin's  proposition  caused  much  discussion,  participated 
in  by  Captain  Lampman,  Agent  Sabin,  Division  Agent 
Taylor,  and  others,  and  much  distrust  was  expressed,  but 
Conklin  insisted,  and  his  unheard-of  innovation  was  finally 
so  far  agreed  to  as  to  give  it  a  trial.  He  paced  the  long 
platform  waiting  for  the  whistle  of  the  train,  and  was  in  a 
verv  nervous  state  when  the  train  came  in.  The  tally  proved 
correct  with  the  telegraphed  information.  The  stock  was 
driven  to  the  barges,  which  were  started  for  New  York 
sooner  than  any  Erie  barges  had  ever  started  before  after 
the  arrival  of  a  train.  As  related  by  Superintendent  Minot, 
whd  went  to  Piermont  on  the  next  morning's  boat,  the 
barges  arrived  at  Xew  York  several  hours  ahead  of  the 
usual  time,  and  the  stock  was  taken  off  and  driven  to  "  Bull's 
Head."  the  then  live-stock  market  of  Xew  York,  before 
business  commenced.  The  streets  being  unoccupied,  less 
risk  and  trouble  were  encountered.  Minot,  who  slept  in  the 
Company's  building  at  the  foot  of  Duane  Street,  arose  to  go 
to  the  pier  to  see  the  barges  come  in,  as  was  his  custom, 
when  to  his  surprise  he  found  them  already  in,  the  stock  at 
Bull's  Head,  and  the  work  of  unloading  the  barges  going  on. 
He  took  the  morning  boat,  went  up  to  the  Pier,  and  was 
delighted  with  the  evidence  of  the  usefulness  of  his  telegraph 
scheme. 

From  this  beginning  the  use  of  the  telegraph  spread  until 
anything  and  everything  was  expected  from  it.  The  where- 
abouts of  every  train  upon  the  division  was  inquired  for 
about  every  minute.  Lying  in  bed  one  night  (Conklin 
roomed  at  the  end  of  the  pier),  Charley  Pike,  the  night 
watchman,  fame  to  his  room  to  know  where  a  certain  over- 
due train  was.  Just  as  he  came  in,  some  office  was  reporting 
the  train.  Conklin  told  Pike  to  keep  quiet,  and  he  read  to 
him  the  report.  But  the  watchman  was  not,  as  he  said,  to  be 
fooled  in  that  way. 

"You  can't  fool  me,"  he  said,  "by  pretending  to  read 
what  the  telegraph  is  saying  while  you  are  in  bed." 

So  Conklin  was  forced  to  get  up,  go  to  the  instrument, 
and  get  the  information  from  the  tape. 

As  tu  the  inauguration  of  train-despatching,  there  was  but 
one  opinion  among  the  men  who  ran  on  the  trains.  They 
deemed  it  unsafe  and  unwarranted  by  rules  governing  operat- 
ing. Engineers,  in  solemn  conclave  upon  their  "  hunkies  " 
in  the  round-house,  discussed  the  subject,  and  resolved  that 
they  would  not  act  upon  an  order  sent  by  wire,  and  would 
not  run  their  trains  against  a  ruling  time-card  train.     When 


and  where  the  issue  was  made  is  told  elsewhere,  and  thereupon 
Superintendent  Minot  issued  a  circular  authorizing  and  direct- 
ing that  orders  given  by  wire  by  certain  officials  therein 
named  be  obeyed.  This  opened  the  way,  and  thereafter 
"orders"  were  in  demand.  Not  a  conductor  or  engineer, 
arriving  behind  schedule  time,  failed  to  show  the  despatcher 
where  he  (the  despatcher)  had  been  neglectful  of  duty. 
"  Had  we  been  run  to  a  certain  point  for  a  certain  train," 
they  would  say,  "  we  would  have  arrived  on  time." 

About  the  time  Conklin  first  went  to  Pier,  Ezra  Cornell 
had  conceived  the  idea  of  working  a  cable  across  the  Hudson 
River  from  Pier  to  Dearman.  The  steamer  "  Gold  Hunter," 
which  had  been  used  as  a  ferry-boat  between  Fishkill  and  Xew- 
burgh,  was  employed  to  run  the  wire  from  a  reel.  The  size 
of  wire  was  Xo.  9,  and  it  was  covered  with  layers  of  sheet 
gutta-percha.  There  were  weights  composed  of  lead  clamped 
around  the  wive,  which  it  was  supposed  were  sufficiently 
heavy  to  anchor  and  keep  the  wire  from  moving  with  the 
tide.  Unfortunately  the  weights  were  too  light,  and  the  wire 
being  carried  up  and  down  the  river  by  the  tide,  the  cover- 
ing or  insulation  was  destroyed  and  the  work  resulted  in 
failure.  This  was  undoubtedly  the  first  attempt  to  work  a 
telegraph  cable  line. 

D.  H.  Conklin  left  the  Erie  service  to  go  with  the  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  Railway  Company  as  operator  at 
Sand  Cut,  or  Gouldsborough.  In  1868  he  became  a  train 
despatcher  for  the  Delaware  Division  of  the  Erie  at  Port 
Jervis.  Early  in  the  70's  he  went  to  Illinois,  where  he  sub- 
sequently became  president  and  manager  of  a  railroad 
company,  and  remained  at  its  head  several  years,  his  home 
being  at  Decatur.  He  retired  from  active  railroad  sen-ice  a 
few  vears  ago,  and  in  1894  was  elected  mayor  of  Decatur. 
He  is  still  a  resident  of  that  city. 

The  first  report  of  an  accident  on  the  railroad  to  be  sent 
by  telegraph  was  sent  over  the  wire  by  Wilmot  M.  Yail. 
The  exact  date  of  the  incident  is  not  known,  but  it  was 
some  time  in  1S51,  before  the  Erie  had  adopted  tele- 
graph signals.  Hector  Yail  was  then  the  operator  of  the 
Cornell  line  at  Port  Jervis.  His  brother  Xathaniel  had 
charge  of  the  office  at  Goshen.  As  stated,  this  office  was  in 
the  Yail  store.  Wilmot  Yail  had  not  learned  to  operate,  but 
from  hearing  and  seeing  his  brothers  working  at  the  primitive 
Morse  machine  he  had  unconsciously  obtained  some  insight 
into  its  manipulation.  The  day  in  question  Xathaniel  Yail, 
the  operator,  had  gone  to  New  York,  leaving  the  Goshen 
office  uncovered.  The  day  express  from  Xew  York,  while 
making  the  run  between  Chester  and  Goshen,  ran  off  the 
track  and  into  the  ditch  at  Otterkill  Creek,  two  miles  east  of 
Goshen.  The  run-off  was  a  serious  one.  An  hour  or  more 
having  passed  beyond  the  time  the  train  should  have  arrived 
at  Port  Jervis,  the  officials  there  began  to  want  to  know 
something  about  the  train  and  what  was  the  matter  with  it, 
and  Hector  Yail  began  to  call  Goshen.  He  did  not  know  his 
brother  Nat  was  absent.  At  Goshen  they  knew  all  about  the 
accident  to  the   train.     Wilmot  Yail  heard   the  call  on   the 


420 


BETWEEN   THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


machine,  but  telegraphing  not  being  in  his  line  he  let  the  call 
goon.  He  knew  it  was  his  brother  Hec  calling  from  Port 
lervis,  and  naturally  imagined  that  he  wanted  information 
about  the  day  express.  The  calling  kept  on  at  short  intervals 
for  hours,  the  train  not  having  yet  been  put  back  on  the  track. 
At  last  Wilmot  Vail  began  to  think  the  matter  over,  and  made 
up  his  mind  that  he  could  respond  to  the  call  himself.  He 
studied  the  alphabet  awhile,  and  then  pounded  off  on  the 
key  the  news  about  the  wreckeil  train.  He  was  a  long  time 
doing  it,  and  the  message  got  to  Tort  Jervis  in  rather  disabled 
form,  but  near  enough  correct  for  Hec  Vail  to  make  out  its 
purport.  Although  Hec  got  the  news  he  had  been  hours 
calling  for,  he  was  not  pleased  with  the  way  it  came  in,  and 
after  receiving  it  he  telegraphed  back  to  Goshen  this  ungrate- 
ful but  altogether  forcible  inquiry  : 

"  What  d n  fool  sent  this  in?  " 

And  that  is  the  way  the  first  report  of  an  accident  on  the 
Erie,  or  on  any  other  railroad,  was  sent  over  the  telegraph 
wire. 

To  Charles  Minot  belongs  the  honor  of  having  made  the 
first  practical  application  of  the  telegraph  to  railroading, 
either  in  this  or  any  other  country,  by  his  adopting  it  in  the 
early  autumn  of  1S51,  as  near  as  the  date  can  be  now  fixed, 
to  the  running  of  a  train  by  telegraphic  order,  which  led  to  a 
system  that  was  adopted  by  railroads  throughout  the  world, 
and  remained  the  standard  signal  and  reporting  system  on 
railroads  until  the  block  system  began  to  take  its  place, 
ten  years  or  so  ago.  Up  to  the  time  of  Minot's  initial  ex- 
periment with  telegraph  orders,  trains  on  the  railroad  were 
run  on  what  was  called  the  "  time  interval  system."  The 
rule  was  that  a  ruling  train  had  right  of  one  hour  against  the 
opposing  train  of  the  same  class.  Trainmen  were  anxious  to 
get  through.  As  an  instance  of  this,  once  Conductor  Henry 
Ayres  had  lost  his  hour  at  Pond  Eddy.  He  took  the  switch, 
and  after  waiting  ten  minutes,  as  was  the  rule,  and  the  op- 
posing train  not  being  in  sight  or  hearing,  he  started  a  brake- 
man  with  a  red  flag,  and  giving  him  twenty  minutes  start, 
followed  with  his  train.  A  little  west  of  Shohola  he  caught 
the  flagman,  who  had  stopped  on  enough  straight  dine  to 
make  it  safe.  The  exhausted  man  was  taken  aboard  the 
train  and  a  fresh  man  started  on  with  the  flag,  which  opera- 
tion was  repeated  until  the  train  expected  was  met  at  Calli- 
coon,  thirty-four  miles  from  Pond  Eddy.  Captain  Ayers 
used  to  say  that  he  had  flagged  the  entire  length  of  the  Dela- 
ware Division  more  than  once. 

W.  II.  Stewart  was  running  the  west-bound  express  train 
on  the  day  when  Superintendent  Minot  made  his  astounding 
innovation  in  railroading,  he  happening  to  be  going  over  the 
road  on  that  train.  The  train,  under  the  rule  then  existing, 
was  to  wait  for  an  east-bound  express  to  pass  it  at  Turner's, 
forty-seven  miles  from  New  Vork.  That  train  had  not  ar- 
rived, and  the  west-bound  train  would  be  unable  to  proceed 
until  an  hour  had  expired,  unless  the  tardy  east-bound  train 
arrived  at  Turner's  within  that  time.  There  was  a  telegraph 
office  at  Turner's,  and  Superintendent  Minot  telegraphed  to 


the  operator  at  Goshen,  fourteen  miles  further  on,  and  asked 
him  whether  the  east-bound  train  had  left  that  station.  The 
reply  was  that  the  train  had  not  yet  arrived  at  Goshen, 
showing  that  it  was  much  behind  its  time.  Then,  according 
to  the  narrative  of  the  late  W.  H.  Stewart,  given  to  the  author 
in  1S96,  Superintendent  Minot  telegraphed  as  follows,  as 
nearly  as  Stewart  could  recollect: 

To  Agent  and  Operator  at  Goshen  : 

Hold  the  train  for  further  orders. 

Chas.   Minot,  Superintendent. 

He  then  wrote  this  order,  and  handed  it  to  Conductor 
Stewart  : 

To  Conductor  and  Engineer,  Day  Express: 

Run  to  Goshen  regardless  of  opposing  train. 

Chas.    Minot,    Superintendent. 

"  I  took  the  order,"  said  Mr.  Stewart,  relating  the  incident, 
"  showed  it  to  the  engineer,  Isaac  Lewis,  and  told  him  to  go 
ahead.  The  surprised  engineer  read  the  order,  and,  handing 
it  back  to  me,  exclaimed  : 

"  '  Do  you  take  me  for  a  d n  fool?    I  won't  run  by  that 

thing  ! ' 

"  I  reported  to  the  Superintendent,  who  went  forward  and 
used  his  verbal  authority  on  the  engineer,  but  without  effect. 
Minot  then  climbed  on  the  engine  and  took  charge  of  it  him- 
self. Engineer  Lewis  jumped  off  and  got  in  the  rear  seat  of 
the  rear  car.  The  Superintendent  ran  the  train  to  Goshen. 
The  east-bound  train  had  not  yet  reached  that  station.  He 
telegraphed  to  Middletown.  The  train  had  not  arrived  there. 
The  west-bound  train  was  run  on  a  similar  order  to  Middle- 
town,  and  from  there  to  Port  Jervis,  where  it  entered  the 
yard  from  the  East  as  the  other  train  came  into  it  from  the 
West." 

An  hour  and  more  in  time  had  been  saved  to  the  west- 
bound train,  and  the  question  of  running  trains  on  the  Erie 
by  telegraph  was  at  once  and  forever  settled. 

When  the  system  of  running  trains  on  the  Erie  by  telegraph 
was  well  established,  a  code  of  signals  or  signs  for  stations 
was  adopted,  such  as  "PO"  for  Port  Jervis,  "XN"  for 
Lackawaxen,  and  so  on.  With  some  modifications  this  ab- 
breviated nomenclature  is  in  use  to-day. 

The  novelty  and  importance  of  applying  the  telegraph  to 
the  running  of  its  trains  by  the  Erie  did  not  begin  to  attract 
general  attention  until  1855.  In  his  report  for  that  year, 
John  T.  Clark,  New  Vork  State  Engineer,  referred  to  this 
innovation  at  length.  As  his  statements  describe  accurately 
the  system  of  operation  on  the  Erie  that  had  gradually  de- 
veloped under  the  telegraphic  adjunct,  and  which,  modified 
and  improved  by  Superintendent  Minot  and  his  successor, 
D.  C.  McCallum,  eventually  became  the  standard  system  on 
railroads  everywhere,  they  are  reproduced  here  as  interesting 
and  valuable  historic  data  : 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


421 


The  telegraph  has  been  in  use  on  the  Erie  since  1S52  [meaning 
practically].  By  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the  superintendents  of 
the  road,  it  has  saved  more  than  it  cost  every  year.  There  is  an  opera- 
tor at  every  station  on  the  line,  and  at  the  important  ones  day  and 
night,  so  placed  that  they  have  a  fair  view  of  the  track.  They  are 
required  to  note  the  exact  time  of  the  arrival,  departure,  or  passage  of 
every  train,  and  to  transmit  the  same  by  telegraph  to  the  proper  officer. 
On  each  division  there  is  an  officer  called  train  despatcher,  whose  duty 
it  is  to  keep  constantly  before  him  a  memorandum  of  the  position  of 
every  train  upon  his  division,  as  ascertained  by  the  telegraphic  reports 
from  the  several  stations.  The  trains  are  run  upon  this  road  by 
printed  time-tables  and  regulations.  When  they  become  disarranged, 
the  telegraph  is  also  used  to  disentangle  and  move  them  forward. 
When  trains  upon  any  part  of  this  road  are  delayed,  the  fact  is  imme- 
diately communicated  to  the  nearest  station,  and  from  there  by  tele- 
graph to  every  station  on  the  road.  Approaching  trains  are  thus 
warned  of  the  danger,  and  accidents  from  this  cause  are  prevented. 

When  one  or  more  of  the  trains  from  any  general  cause,  like  that  of 
snow  storms,  etc.,  have  been  retarded  and  are  likely  to  produce  delays 
on  the  other  trains,  the  train  despatcher  is  authorized  to  move  them 
forward  by  telegraph  under  certain  rules  which  have  been  arranged  for 
that  purpose.  Having  before  him  a  schedule  of  the  time  of  the  pas- 
sage of  each  train  at  its  last  station,  he  can  determine  its  position  at 
any  desired  moment  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  his  present  purpose, 
and  can  adopt  the  best  means  of  extricating  the  delayed  trains  and  of 
regulating  the  movement  of  all  so  as  to  avoid  any  danger  of  collision 
or  further  entanglement.  He  then  telegraphs  to  such  stations  as  are 
necessary,  giving  orders  to  some  trains  to  lay  by  for  a  certain  period, 
or  until  certain  trains  have  passed,  and  to  others  to  proceed  to  certain 
stations  and  there  await  further  orders. 

To  prevent  any  error  or  misunderstanding  between  the  despatcher 
and  the  conductor  of  the  train,  he  is  required  to  write  his  order  in  the 
telegraph  operator's  book.  The  operator  who  receives  the  message  is 
required  to  write  it  upon  his  book,  and  to  fill  up  two  printed  copies, 
one  of  which  he  hands  to  the  conductor  of  the  train,  and  one  to  the 
engineman.  The  despatcher  then  transmits  a  message  to  the  conductor, 
asking  him  the  question  :  "  How  do  you  understand  my  message?" 
To  which  the  conductor  must  make  reply  in  his  own  words,  repeating 
the  substance  of  the  message  as  he  understands  it,  to  detect  any  error 
which  may  be  made  by  the  operator,  or  of  his  own  understanding  of 
it.  If  this  is  satisfactory  to  the  despatcher,  he  telegraphs,  "  All  right, 
go  ahead  ! "  and  until  this  final  message  is  received,  no  trains  can  be 
moved  on  the  road  by  telegraph. 

Time  is  saved  by  using  abbreviations  for  stations  and  messages, 
trains,  etc. 

In  this  way,  if  a  passenger  train  is  delayed  an  hour  or  more,  all 
freight  trains  which  would  be  held  by  it  at  the  several  stations  under 
the  general  rules  are  moved  forward  to  such  other  passing  places  as 
they  are  certain  to  reach  before  the  delayed  trains  could  overtake 
them,  and  thus  it  frequently  happens  that  in  a  single  day  the  trains 
which  would  otherwise  be  delayed,  are  moved  forward  by  telegraph, 
the  equivalent  to  the  use  of  two  or  three  engines  and  trains. 


Engineer  :     You  will  run  to Station  regardless  of 

train  bound  (east  or  west).      "31." 

Division  Superintendent. 

per  ,  Dispatcher. 

Received  by ,  Operator. 

The  figures  "31  "  meant,  "  How  do  you  understand  ?  "  The 
conductor  and  engineer  to  whom  such  a  despatch  was  ad- 
dressed were  under  obligation,  by  the  rules,  to  reply  to  it  at 
once,  and  in  doing  so  would  telegraph  :  "32,"  which  meant, 

"  I  understand  that  I  am  to ,"  and  then  a  repetition  of  the 

order  followed.  "  Blank  A  "  was  an  order  those  in  charge  of 
trains  never  cared  to  be  under  the  necessity  of  receiving.  It 
was  as  follows  : 

(A) 

From Station  to Conductor,  and 

Engineer,  at Station  : 

You  will  run  (east  or  west)  ahead  of Train,  conditioned 

as  follows  :  Should  you,  from  any  cause,  be  unable  to  make  your  run- 
ning time,  you  will,  as  soon  as  you  discover  such  to  be  the  case,  leave 
your  Flagman  to  warn  the  approaching  train,  ahead  of  which  you 
have  been  ordered  to  run,  and  you  will  put  your  train  upon  the  first 
switch  you  reach,  and  there  remain  until  you  have  received  special 
orders  to  proceed,  or  until  you  can  go  ahead  in  accordance  with  the 
right  of  your  train,  as  per  printed  instruction,  March  6,  1S54.  The 
responsibility  of  an  accident  resulting  from  the  violation  of  any  par- 
ticular contained  in  Rules  14  and  15  of  Supplementary  Instructions 
"f  April  2.  1S55,  will  rest  upon  you.  This  order  will  remain  in  force 
until  countermanded.     "31." 

Division  Superintendent. 

per ,    Train  Despatcher. 

Received  by ,  Operator. 

The  order  contained  in  Blank  A  was  not  telegraphed  entire, 
but  was  printed  and  in  stock  at  the  telegraph  offices,  and 
conductors  and  engineers  were  simply  ordered  by  telegraph 
to  run  their  trains  so  and  so,  "  by  Blank  A,"  which  w^as  en- 
tered by  the  operator  on  the  printed  blank  and  delivered  to 
the  trainmen  it  was  intended  to  instruct. 

This  system,  with  but  little  change  or  modification,  remained 
the  system  under  which  operations  were  conducted  on  the 
Erie  for  thirty-five  years,  when  the  block  system  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  was  finally  put  in  force,  in  December,  1888. 
Old-time  Erie  men  still  cling  to  the  memory  of  the  original 
system,  and  declare  that  it  was  a  better  one  than  the  modern 
block  system  ;  but  such  is  not  the  opinion  of  the  public  or  of 
present-day  railroad  managers. 


The  blank  orders  that  were  the  basis  of  telegraphic  run- 
ning of  trains  originated  with  Superintendent  McCallum,  in 
1854.  They  became  famous  as  "Blank  31,"  "Blank  32," 
and  "  Blank  A."  The  use  of  Blank  31  came  under  Rule  12 
of  the  McCallum  code,  which  was  that  "  when  a  meeting 
place  is  to  be  made  for  trains  moving  in  contrary  directions, 
the  right  to  run  shall  be  made  certain,  positive,  and  defined, 
without  regard  to  time,"  and  this  form  of  order  was  pre- 
scribed : 


From Station  to 


Conductor,  and 


Charles  W.  Douglas  was  the  first  telegraph  operator  to 
ignore  dependence  on  the  printed  slip  of  the  receiving  instru- 
ment in  taking  a  regular  train  order  to  be  delivered  to  a  con- 
ductor, and  to  take  the  message  by  sound  as  the  instrument 
clicked  it  off  in  impressing  the  characters  on  the  tape.  Mr. 
Douglas  started  in  life  as  a  printer.  After  learning  his  trade 
in  the  office  of  the  Advertiser  at  Angelica,  Allegany  County, 
N.  Y.,  he  started  on  foot  in  the  pursuit  of  fortune.  He  had 
as  companions  at  one  time  in  his  tramp  through  the  country 
Mark  M.  Pomeroy,  afterward  known  to  fame  as  "  Brick  " 
Pomeroy,  and  David  R.  Locke,  who  made  a  great  reputation 


4-2 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


and  much  money  in  after  years  as  "  Petroleum  V.  Nasby." 
Early  in  185  i  young  Douglas  found  himself  at  work  in 
the  office  of  the  Record,  at  Dundee,  Yates  County.  N.  V. 
About  that  time  Ezra  Cornell  had  got  a  branch  of  his  tele- 
graph working  along  the  line  of  the  railroad  then  but  recently 
constructed  through  that  way,  and  an  office  was  fitted  up  in 
the  Record  office.  Douglas  at  once  developed  a  tendency 
toward  the  telegraph.  The  mystery  of  the  insignificant  little 
instrument  that  clicked  messages  away  and  received  messages 
ither  clicks,  fascinated  him,  and  he  resolved  to  master 
it.  By  stealthy  nightly  intrusion  into  the  room  where  the  in- 
strument was — it  was  not  worked  at  night — and  by  means  of 
the  operator's  key  alphabet  book,  and  persistent  practice  on 
the  keyboard,  he,  in  the  course  of  time,  believed  that  he  had 


c.   w.   DOUGLAS. 

made  himself  as  proficient  as  need  be  to  adopt  telegraphing 
as  a  profession,  and  he  threw  up  his  job  in  the  Dundee  print- 
ing office,  went  to  Elmira,  where  the  headquarters  of  the 
Erie  telegraph  had  recently  been  established,  in  charge  of  L. 
G.  Tillotson  as  superintendent,  and  solicited  a  situation  as 
operator.  The  telegraph  had  not  yet  been  utilized  in  the 
running  of  trains  under  telegraphic  orders.  The  railroad  had 
been  opened  through  to  Dunkirk  only  a  few  weeks.  The 
young  tyro  in  his  business  succeeded  in  satisfying  Tillotson 
that  he  was  equipped  for  a  place,  and  he  was  employed.  He 
was  sent  to  take  charge  of  the  office  at  Addison,  N.  Y. 
Douglas's  confidence  in  himself  was  not  misplaced.  He 
manipulated  the  instrument  well  from  the  start,  and  soon 
became  expert. 

While  Douglas  was  at  Addison,  the  Erie  adopted  the  tele- 
graphic order  system  of  running  trains.    By  this  time  Douglas's 


ear  had  become  so  nicely  adjusted  to  the  clicking  of  the  re- 
ceiving instrument  that  he  found  he  could  take  a  message 
just  by  the  sounds  of  the  instrument,  without  spelling  it  out 
on  the  tape.  One  day  an  order  came  from  the  despatcher's 
office  at  Elmira  for  a  conductor  who  was  waiting  for  it  at 
Addison.  Douglas  wrote  the  order  as  it  was  clicked  off  the 
wire,  and  handed  it  to  the  conductor.  The  latter,  noticing 
that  Douglas  had  not  copied  the  message  from  the  tape  reel, 
emphatically  refused  to  accept  it  until  the  operator,  who 
protested,  had  taken  it  from  the  tape.  The  incident  seemed 
to  the  conductor  to  be  so  fraught  with  danger  to  the  running 
of  trains  that  he  reported  Douglas  to  Superintendent  Tillot- 
son, who  was  aghast  at  such  trifling  on  the  part  of  an  operator, 
and  immediately  called  the  offender  to  Elmira,  and  repri- 
manded him  severely  for  such  an  unheard-of  act.  Douglas 
insisted  that  if  an  operator  could  understand  by  the  sound  of 
his  instrument  the  call  of  his  office  from  another  office,  there 
was  no  reason  why  he  should  not  learn  the  sound  of  every 
character  in  the  alphabet,  and  read  them  by  ear  correctly  in 
any  combination  they  might  come  off  the  wire,  and  proved  it 
by  practical  demonstration.  Still  Superintendent  Tillotson 
w-as  skeptical,  and  it  was  not  until  Douglas  had  succeeded  in 
every  test  the  superintendent  and  the  Elmira  operator  could 
put  him  to,  during  an  all-afternoon's  experimenting  of  the 
severest  kind,  that  they  began  to  believe  in  the  practicability 
and  safety  of  taking  telegraphic  messages  by  sound.  It  was 
not,  however,  until  Tillotson  had  sent  Douglas  back  to  Addi- 
son and  wired  him  a  long  message  as  fast  as  it  could  be  put 
on  the  wire,  with  instructions  to  take  it  by  sound  and  repeat 
it  to  Elmira,  and  the  message  began  to  come  back  to  Elmira 
from  Addison  almost  before  the  last  word  had  left  the  Elmira 
office,  that  the  superintendent  was  entirely  satisfied,  and  from 
that  day  taking  messages  by  sound  began  to  be  the  best 
qualification  of  an  operator,  and  the  days  of  the  old  tape  reel 
were  numbered.  Douglas  was  called  from  the  little  wayside 
office  at  Addison  and  installed  as  manager  of  the  Elmira 
office.  From  that  Mr.  Douglas  filled  many  responsible 
places  in  the  service  of  the  Company,  until  he  became  chief 
train  despatcher  on  the  Delaware  Division,  under  Superin- 
tendent Hugh  Riddle.  January  1,  1865,  he  was  himself  ap- 
pointed superintendent  of  that  division,  to  succeed  Mr. 
Riddle,  who  was  promoted  to  the  general  superintendenev. 
In  this  position  Mr.  Douglas  speedily  took  front  rank  among 
railroad  superintendents.  In  1S69  he  dismissed  an  employee 
of  the  Company  at  Port  Jervis  for  what  he  considered  good 
cause.  Jay  Gould  ordered  reinstatement.  Mr.  Douglas 
declined  to  obey  the  order,  and  was  forced  to  resign.  General 
Superintendent  Riddle  supported  Mr.  Douglas  in  the  matter, 
and  his  resignation  was  also  demanded.  The  employee  over 
whom  the  controversy  arose  was  reinstated  by  President 
Gould. 

After  leaving  the  Erie  Mr.  Douglas  became  general  super- 
intendent of  the  Southside  Railroad  of  Long  Island,  and  sub- 
sequently general  superintendent  of  the  Oswego  and  Midland 
Railroad,  now  the  New  York,  Ontario  and  Western.  In  1874, 
he  having  been  successful  as  a  railroad  contractor  in  1S70  in 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


423 


building  the  Goshen  and  Deckertown  Railroad  (Pine  Island 
Branch  of  the  Erie),  Mr.  Douglas  took  the  contract  for  build- 
ing the  Corpus  Christi,  San  Diego  and  Rio  Grande  Railroad, 
from  Corpus  Christi,  Texas,  to  Lareto,  on  the  Rio  Grande 
River.  This  is  now  a  part  of  the  International  Railroad.  After 
completing  that  work,  Mr.  Douglas  took  charge  of  the  New 
York  and  Greenwood  Lake  Railroad,  and  later  of  the  New 
York  and  Sea  Beach  Railroad,  on  Long  Island.  When  the 
Erie  dissolved  its  relations  with  the  United  States  Express 
Company,  and  assumed  charge  of  the  express  business  over 
its  railroad,  Mr.  Douglas  was  appointed  route  agent  of  the 
Erie  Express  Company,  which  place  he  held  until  the  business 
was  taken  by  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  For  nine  years  thereafter 
Mr.  Douglas  was  in  the  employ  of  the  West  Shore  Railroad 
Company,  retiring  to  engage  in  the  business  he  started  out 
in  life  in,  and  became  an  employing  printer  at  Syracuse, 
N.  Y.      He  sold  out  his  establishment  in  the  spring  of  1898. 

This  copy  of  a  blank  of  a  train  order  in  use  soon  after  the 
opening  of  the  railroad  to  Binghamton,  in  1849,  will  give  an 
idea  of  how  operations  were  conducted  before  the  days  of 
the  telegraph.     H.  C.  Seymour  was  then  superintendent : 

Conductor ,  with  engine  No will  leave  the 

Delaware  Station  at  6  o'clock  a.m.,  on  the  ....  day  of  . . . .       His 

train  will  consist  of Box  and Flat  Cars,  and  which  he  will 

distribute  as  follows  :  {Blanks  for  instructions.)  —  He  will  take  a  sup- 
ply of  water  for  the  engine  at and On 

arrival  at   the  Callicoon  he  will   expect   to  meet  ....  train  from   the 

West,  which  train  he  will  wait  for  until ,  when,  if  the  train 

has  not  arrived,  he  will  proceed  carefully,  expecting  to  meet  it  at 
any  point.      Upon  arrival   at   Binghamton  he   will   report  to  Agent 

,  and  receive  order  for  his  return. 

Supt. 


EXTRAORDINARY    ACCIDENT    TO    CONDUCTOR     COE 
little's   STOCK    TRAIN. 

In  the  early  days  of  Erie,  live-stock  transportation  was  one 
of  the  railroad's  big  items  of  traffic.  Trains  half  a  mile  long, 
loaded  with  horned  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  and  hogs,  used  to 
pass  over  the  road  two  or  three  times  a  day.  Such  a  thing 
as  a  live-stock  train  is  almost  a  curiosity  nowadays.  Coe  Lit- 
tle was  conductor  of  one  of  the  stock-trains  between  Susque- 
hanna and  Port  Jervis.  He  left  Susquehanna  one  night  with 
f.  long  train  of  cattle  cars.  Those  trains  were  next  to  pas- 
senger trains  in  class,  and  were  run  over  the  road  a-humming. 
Conductor  Little  delivered  his  train  at  Port  Jervis  on  time, 
and  handed  in  his  way-bills,  which  he  had  received  at  Sus- 
quehanna, and  on  which  the  number,  character,  and  con- 
tents of  every  car  in  his  train  were  recorded.  When  the 
agent  at  Port  Jervis  compared  Little's  train  with  his  voucher, 
one  car  was  missing.  The  car  was  entered  on  the  way-bill 
as  having  left  Susquehanna  all  right.  Its  place,  according  to 
the  bill,  was  near  the  middle  of  the  train,  but  it  was  not  in 
the  train  at  all  at  Port  Jervis. 

Conductor  Little  declared  that  every  car  was  in  the  train 


when  he  left  Susquehanna,  for  he  had  checked  the  number 
of  each  one  on  the  way-bill  himself.  He  certainly  had  not 
delivered  the  missing  car  to  anyone  on  the  way,  and  he 
couldn't  see  how  anyone  could  have  sneaked  in  and  stolen 
it,  especially  as  the  train  had  been  on  the  move  pretty  much 
all  the  time  between  Susquehanna  and  Port  Jervis.  A  tele- 
gram was  sent  to  the  agent  at  Susquehanna,  asking  for  infor- 
mation about  the  missing  car.  The  reply  was  that  nothing 
was  known  there  that  could  throw  any  light  on  the  subject; 
quite  the  contrary,  for  the  agent  corroborated  Little's  report. 
When  the  train  left  Susquehanna  the  missing  car  was  part 
of  it. 

During  the  efforts  of  the  puzzled  railroad  men  at  Port 
Jervis  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the  lost  car,  someone  discov- 
ered that  the  car  that  should  have  been  behind  the  missing 
one  was  coupled  to  the  car  that  should  have  been  just  ahead 
of  the  lost  car,  and  without  the  aid  of  a  coupling  pin  at  that, 
the  link  being  broken  in  such  a  way  that  it  had  become  a 
hook,  which  was  fast  in  the  pin-hole  in  the  coupler  of  the 
other  car.  This  certainly  did  not  help  matters.  It  deepened 
the  mystery. 

They  were  still  absorbed  in  efforts  at  Port  Jervis  to  solve 
the  problem,  and  a  car-tracer  was  about  to  be  sent  back  over 
the  road  to  search  for  the  car,  when  a  telegram  came  from 
Chauncey  Thomas,  the  agent  at  Shohola,  sixteen  miles  west 
of  Port  Jervis.  Agent  Thomas  said,  in  effect,  that  somebodv's 
cattle  car  was  astray  in  a  field  along  the  Delaware  River  just 
west  of  Shohola  station,  and  that  he  had  better  come  and 
look  after  it.  The  wrecking  gang  was  sent  up  from  Port  Jer- 
vis, and,  sure  enough,  in  the  middle  of  a  field,  100  feet  or 
more  from  the  railroad,  stood  the  missing  cattle  car,  right  as 
a  trivet,  except  that  its  doors  were  open  and  its  cattle  gone. 
To  get  where  it  was  the  car  had  run  down  a  ten-foot  embank- 
ment, across  a  wagon  road,  and  through  a  stout  rail  fence. 

There  was  only  one  way  to  explain  the  freak  of  the  car  in 
quitting  its  train  so  unceremoniously.  Going  east  along  that 
part  of  the  Erie,  the  track  is  down  grade.  Just  before  reach- 
ing Shohola  the  coupling-pin  that  held  the  car  to  the  one 
ahead  of  it  must  have  broken.  This  divided  the  train  in  two 
parts.  The  head  car  of  the  rear  part  jumped  the  track,  and 
breaking  the  link  that  held  it  to  the  car  behind  it.  went  down 
the  bank,  getting  out  of  the  way  of  the  cars  following  on  the 
track.  When  the  leading  section  of  the  divided  train  got  to 
the  foot  of  the  grade,  its  speed  slackened.  The  following 
section  caught  up  with  it  and  ran  into  the  rear  car,  but  not 
with  force  sufficient  to  do  any  damage  or  attract  attention. 
The  broken  link,  then  a  hook,  happened  to  fall  into  the  pin- 
hole of  the  coupler  ahead  of  it.  The  train  was  thus  re- 
coupled,  and  went  on  to  Port  Jervis  without  the  loss  of  a  car 
from  its  very  centre  having  been  discovered  by  anyone. 

Whether  the  doors  of  the  fugitive  car  were  broken  by  the 
jar  and  jolt  of  its  trip  down  the  bank,  through  the  fence,  and 
across  the  lot,  or  whether  the  cattle  inside  had  kicked  them 
open,  does  not  matter.  The  doors  were  open,  and  the  cat- 
tle were  gone.  It  was  winter,  and  the  Delaware  River,  only 
a  short  distance  away,  was  filled  with  mnning  ice.     The  cat- 


i-M 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


must  nave  been  in  a  panic,  (or  they  had  plunged  into  that 

1   and   made  their  way  across  the  river  into   Sullivan 

County,  N.  V".    Searchers,  accompanied  by  the  drover' who 

owned  them,  found  and  recovered  them  all,  and  not  one  had 

received  injury. 

re  is  no  parallel  to  this  one  in  the  record  of  mishaps 
to  railroad  trains,  and  it  never  ceased  to  be  a  wonder  to  the 
old-time  Erie  trainmen. 

THEY    FORGOT    THE    BABY. 

One  evening  in  the  summer  of  1850,  as  the  train  west  was 
leaving  Barton  Station,  on  the  Susquehanna  Division,  Con- 
ductor C.  L.  Robinson  saw  a  man  and  a  woman,  who  had 
left  the  train  at  Barton,  running  wildly  after  the  train.  They 
yelled  : 

"  Sti  ip  I  stop  !  for  God's  sake  !    We've  forgotten  our  baby  !" 

The  conductor  pulled  the  bell-cord  and  the  train  stopped. 

The  man  rushed  into  one  of  the  cars,  and  there,  sure  enough, 

on  one  of  the  seats  lay  a  chubby  baby,  all  unconscious  of  the 

fact  that  its  parents  had  left  the  car  and  forgotten  it. 

OLD-TIME    ERIE    GRATITUDE. 

One  day  in  the  spring  of  1854,  Mrs.  Silas  Horton,  living 
near  Owego,  waved  a  pair  of  red  flannel  drawers  and  saved 
the  mail  train  on  the  Erie  from  being  dashed  to  pieces  by 
running  over  a  tree  that  had  fallen  across  the  track.  Pres- 
ident Ramsdell  wrote  as  follows  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Horton, 
expressing  the  thanks  of  the  Company,  and  transmitting  a 
dress  for  Mrs.  Horton,  together  with  a  life  pass  for  each  over 
the  road  : 

Office  of  the  N.  Y.  &  E.  R.  R.  Co.,  ) 
New  York,  June  20,  1S54.  f. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Silas  Horton  : 

My  attention  has  been  called  to  an  article  in  the  Binghamton  Re- 
publican, which  is  corroborated  by  the  officers  of  this  Company,  rela- 
tive of  the  noble  and  humane  conduct  evinced  by  you,  on  an  occasion 
when  the  lives  and  safety  of  the  persons  travelling  on  our  mail  train 
were  jeopardized  by  an  obstruction  on  the  road,  and  but  for  your 
active  and  prompt  action,  in  all  probability,  much  suffering  and  loss 
would  have  ensued. 

In  view  of  the  above  facts,  and  for  the  purpose  of  evincing  our 
gratitude  and  appreciation  of  the  valuable  services  rendered, 
and  as  a  slight  testimonial  of  the  respect  and  esteem  of  this  Com- 
pany, I  have  the  pleasure  to  forward  herewith  a  pass  for  each  of 
you,  and  a  dress  for  Mrs.  Horton,  and  respectfully  request  your 
acceptance  of  the  same. 

Allow  me  to  express    the    hope    that    in    your   journeys   over  the 
road  and  through  life,  you  may  find  friends  as  zealous  in  guarding 
you  from  danger  as   you  were  others  on  the  occasion  referred  to. 
Yours  respectfully, 

Homer  Ramsdell,  President. 

DAMAGES  WERE    PROMPTLY   SETTLED    FOR,   FORTY 
YEARS    AGO. 

One  day,  just  before  the  Christmas  holidays  of  1856,  a 
Miss   Belknap,  on  her  way  to  spend  the  festive  season  with 


friends  in  New  York,  was  a  passenger  on  an  Erie  train  from 
Newburgh.  She  had  her  wardrobe  in  a  large  carpet  bag 
(they  were  not  grips  or  satchels  in  those  days),  which  she 
plated  in  the  rack  over  her  seat,  and  not  far  from  one  of  the 
ventilators.  During  the  trip  there  was  a  smell  of  burning 
cloth  in  the  car  that  could  not  be  accounted  for,  although  it 
elicited  considerable  inquiry.  On  arriving  at  Jersey  City,  the 
lady  reached  for  her  carpet  bag,  when  she  found  that  instead 
of  her  presumably  rich  silk  robes  and  fine  laces  and  snowy- 
white  night  gowns,  she  had  a  bag  of  ashes  and  a  mass  of 
black  cinders.  The  whole  of  her  wardrobe  was  burned,  but 
so  confined  had  been  the  fire  that  the  cloth  had  charred  with- 
out blazing  ;  but  the  ruin  was  complete,  and  the  lady  declared 
that  her  visit  was  spoiled,  as  well  as  her  clothes.  Upon  ex- 
amination, the  conductor  concluded  that  the  accident  had 
been  caused  by  a  spark  from  the  locomotive  entering  at  the 
ventilator.  He  calmed  the  lady's  disturbed  mind  by  assuring 
her  that  he  thought  the  Company  would  make  good  her  loss, 
and  asked  her  to  prepare  a  list  of  her  destroyed  property, 
w:ith  an  estimate  of  its  value,  which  she  did.  She  placed 
the  damage  at  §60.  The  conductor  made  a  report  of  the 
case,  and  the  documents  were  presented  at  the  Company's 
office  in  the  Erie  building,  at  the  foot  of  Duane  Street.  The 
claim  was  approved  forthwith,  and  it  was  paid,  the  claimant 
being  delayed  but  a  few  minutes. 


A    CONSIDERATE     AND     GENEROUS      BOARD     OF    DI- 
RECTORS. 

One  day  early  in  August,  1856,  a  girl  named  McGraff, 
through  her  own  carelessness,  was  injured  by  a  locomotive 
near  Sloatsburg,  Rockland,  N.  Y.  Her  parents  being  poor, 
the  attention  of  President  Ramsdell  was  called  to  her  case  by 
a  citizen  of  Goshen.  President  Ramsdell,  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  of  Directors,  mentioned  the  incident,  and  a 
number  of  the  Directors  made  up  a  purse  of  $45  out  of  their 
own  pockets  and  forwarded  it  to  the  McGraff  family,  with  a 
letter  expressing  their  regrets  for  the  mishap.  If  a  board  of 
railroad  directors  of  to-day  should  be  moved  to  such  an  act 
as  that,  people  could  go  to  bed  assured  that  the  millennium 
had  dawned. 

McCALLUM    AND    THE    BAGGAGE     SMASHERS. 

D.  C.  McCallum  was  general  superintendent  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  in  1856.  According  to  the  local 
papers  of  that  day,  the  "baggage  smasher"  was  even  then  a 
terror  to  the  travelling  public,  and  Superintendent  McCallum 
had  the  temerity  to  issue  an  order  that  employees  of  the 
Company  must  handle  the  baggage  of  passengers  with  the 
utmost  care,  under  pain  of  instant  dismissal  if  the  order  was 
disregarded,  travellers  being  requested  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  superintendent  to  any  case  of  "baggage  smashing" 
that  came  under  their  notice.  Such  an  order  as  that  to-day 
would  be  considered  as  a  good  cause  for  a  general  indigna- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


-P5 


(Obverse.) 


Gen'l  Sup't  t 

.  iL^     _  ■ 


-~\ 


"^'1" 


C  S   cb  a  a  a.  e  s 


2  S  a 


NUMBERS   OF    STATIONS 


~3fa    c5~fs   ©  K5 
CO    CO    CD    CO    C 


The  person  accepting  this 

free   Pass   assnmea,  :u   consideration 

therefor,  all  risk  of  accidents,   and   expressly 

/      agrees  tllat  tile  Company  shall  not  bo  linMr  under  any    \> 

■"^*  ''j/i.M'totostancgs,  whether  of  negl  ir  agents  or 

OSherSS'  vy  'fotho"  person7':nr'&TTnr 

to  thE  |irop>riy  of  the  posseager  .ising  this 


u<i  he  also  agrees  tlml  as  for  him,  he  will 

Jiisidertlu-  Company  aseutninon  r  urieis, 
or  liable  to  him  as  buc& 


68 

! 67 

66 
157   65 

156  64 
!55    63 

154    62 

151  60 
149  59 
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(Reverse.) 
A   RIDDLE   FREE    PASS— 1865.      NORTHRUP  COLLECTION. 


426 


BETWEEN   THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


tion  meeting  of  baggage  handlers,  and  as  an  infringement  of 
their  rights,  warranting  them  to  strike  in  a  body  and  demand 


redress. 

I  1    r    THE    CARS    CUT    HIS    HEAD    OFF. 

rles  Ellison,a  young  man  living  in  the  town  of  Monroe, 
Orange  County.  X.  Y.,  August  20,  1N57,  stepped  into  Tur- 
ner's Hotel,  at  Turner's  Station,  intoxicated.  He  called  for 
liquor.     It  was  refused  him. 


eminent  contract  for  carrying  the  mails,  and  a  mail  agent 
travelled  on  the  railroad  from  New  York  to  look  after  them. 
The  first  agent,  in  1841,  was  James  H.  Reynolds,  who  was 
succeeded  by  Leander  Millspaugh.  Tickets  were  sold  in 
New  York  over  the  railroad  and  the  stage  line. 

In  October,  1^45,  the  Erie  itself  made  a  contract  for 
carrying  the  mails.  The  first  agent's  name  was  Robinson. 
The  cars  then  ran  only  as  far  Middletown.  The  agent's 
duties  were  to  receive  and  mail  letters  deposited  in  the  car 

at  the  different  stations,  and  deliver  mail  on  which 

postage  was  prepaid  at  all  regular  stopping  places. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  railway  mail  service  on 

the  Erie. 


THE  ORIGINAL   ERIE   BUILDING   AND  DOCKS — 1 848.      FROM    AN 

"  If  you  don't  let  me  have  a  drink,"  he  said  to  the  bar- 
tender, "  I  will  kill  myself  !  " 

He  was  still  refused.  He  walked  out  to  the  railroad  track, 
waited  until  a  train  approached,  and  when  it  was  near,  placed 
his  neck  across  the  rail.     His  head  was  severed  from  his  body. 

BRAKEMAN  JOHN  GRAY'S  TERRIFIC    FLYING    LEAT. 

November  29,  1859,  as  a  freight  train  was  passing  over  the 
Conawacta  Bridge,  at  I.anesboro,  Pa.,  an  axle  on  one  of  the 
cars  broke,  and  nine  of  the  cars  became  detached  from  the 
locomotive  and  plunged  from  the  bridge,  fifty- two  feet,  to 
the  ground  below.  John  Cray,  of  Port  Jervis,  a  brakeman, 
was  the  only  person  on  that  part  of  the  train.  He  w-as 
standing  on  the  top  of  the  last  car  that  left  the  bridge,  and 
jumped  from  it  at  the  instant  it  was  going  over.  He  landed 
on  the  ground  fifty  feet  beyond  where  the  car  fell,  and  one 
hundred  Eei  1  from  the  point  where  he  made  the  leap — a 
leap  through  the  air.  Instead  of  being  in- 
stantly killed,  he  lived  five  .lavs  with  both  arms  broken,  his 
shoulder  dislocated,  and  his  body  terribly  mangled. 

FIRST     RAILWAY     MAIL    SERVICE. 

Stephen  Sweet,  of  Middletown,  was  agent  of  the  stage 
company  that  ran  in  (  onnection  with  the  railroad,  taking  care 
of  the  mails  and  passengers.     The  stage  line  had   the  gov- 


THE    ORIGINAL    ERIE    BUILDING. 

For  twenty  years  the  Erie's  general  offices  were 
quartered  amply  in  the  building  that  occupies  the 
block  at  West,  Duane,  and  Reade  streets,  New 
York.  That  ground  was  leased  from  the  city  by 
the  Company,  January  1,  1848,  for  a  term  of 
ninety-nine  years.  The  building,  and  the  docks 
along  the  water  front,  were  finished  the  same  year. 

THE    GORGEOUS    GOULD    AND    FISK 

I  M'ARTERS. 

old  print.  The  original  Erie  Building  was  occupied  l>v 
the  general  offices  of  the  Company  until  1869. 
November  7,  1868,  Gould  and  Fisk  purchased  Pike's  Opera 
House,  then  recently  erected,  at  the  corner  of  Twenty-third 
Street  and  Eighth  Avenue,  New  York,  and  the  next  year 
began  fitting  the  building  up  for  the  Erie  headquarters  and 
leased  it  to  the  Company.  "  For  months  past,"  as  a  New- 
York  newspaper  of  August  25,  1S69,  declared  in  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  new  quarters,  "workmen  have  been  industriously 
preparing  the  pilace.  There  are  two  entrances  to  these 
offices,  the  main  one  being  on  Twenty-third  Street.  The 
public  passing  by  on  Eighth  Avenue  will  be  struck  by  the 
magnificence  of  these.  The  ceilings  are  high,  and,  as  well 
as  the  walls,  are  admirably  frescoed. 

"Going  up  the  Twenty-third  Street  entrance,  the  visitor 
finds  the  staircase  grand.  The  woodwork  and  the  walls  of 
marble  are  elaborate.  Arriving  upon  the  second  floor  a  huge, 
admirably  carved  door  swings  open  upon  such  a  spectacle  as 
was  never  before  witnessed  in  any  business  place  ;  in  fact. 
there  are  but  few  palaces  wherein  so  rich  a  coupe  d'ceil could 
be  presented  as  that  of  the  main  offices  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company.  The  carved  woodwork,  the  stained  and  cut  glass 
of  the  partitions,  the  gilded  balustrades,  the  splendid  gas 
fixtures,  and,  above  all,  the  artistic  frescoes  upon  the  walls 
and  ceilings,  create  astonishment  and  admiration  at  such  a 
blending  of  the  splendid  ami  practical.  On  this  main  floor 
are  the  private  offices  of  Mr.  Fisk,  Comptroller  :  Mr. 
Gould,  President;  Mr.  Otis,  the  Secretary  of  the  Company. 
There  is  a  large,  handsome  room  for  the  Board  of  Directors. 
The   Vice-President    and  his    clerks,  the   Counsellor   of  the 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


4^7 


Company,  and  the  General  Superintendent  and  his  clerks 
■occupy  rooms  on  the  same  floor.  The  private  offices  of 
Mr.  Could,  Mr.  Fisk  and  Mr.  Otis  are  fitted  up  superbly. 
In  each  are  every  possible  requirement — telegraphic  com- 
munication with  all  parts  of  the  house — such  desks  as  a 
coquette  might  desire  for  her  boudoir,  so  ornamented  and 
tastefully  arranged  are  they — furniture  of  the  most  com- 
fortable description,  and  elegant  mirrors,  statuary,  etc.  The 
room  for  the  Board  of  Directors  is  also  comfortably  and 
splendidly  furnished.  The  woodwork  and  furniture  were 
made  by  Marcotte,  and  are  rich  and  costly. 

"On  the  third  floor  are  the  offices  of  the  General  Freight 
Agent  and  Ticket  Agent.     These  rooms  are  elegantly  arranged. 

"  1  )n  the  fourth  floor  is  the  Auditor's  Department  and  the 
Engineer's  Department.  There  are  back  of  these  public 
offices,  on  the  fourth  floor,  the  rooms  for  the  janitors  and 
those  of  the  servants  who  reside  in  the  building.  The 
kitchens,  store-rooms  and  pantries  are  back  of  these.  Even 
up  to  the  top  of  the  house  the  rooms  are  airy  and  very  large 
— the  high  ceilings  all  appropriately  frescoed. 

"  There  are  in  the  basement  very  large  and  complete  punt- 
ing offices,  storage  rooms,  telegraphic  departments,  steam 
engines,  boilers  for  heating  the  house  and  running  the  ma- 
chinery. A  most  important  feature  of  these  new  offices  is 
the  safe,  which  has  cost  over  $30,000.  It  is  seven  stories 
high,  each  totally  unconnected,  and  is  built  upon  a  solid 
foundation  of  granite.  Rising  to  the  very  roof  of  the  main 
building,  this  immense  safe  is  so  constructed  that  were  the 
Grand  Opera  House  to  be  burned  to  the  ground,  the  safe 
would  stand.  It  is  reared  within  the  house,  but  in  no  wise  is 
connected  with  it. 

"  Throughout  the  new  offices  are  the  most  complete  arrange- 
ments for  the  comfort  of  those  who  will  occupy  them.  'The 
managers  have  a  dining-room,  the  employees  have  theirs,  and 
a  chef tie  cuisine  of  acknowleged  capacity  will  provide  their 
daily  meals.  Dumb  waiters  will  go  from  the  kitchen  to  every 
floor.  In  short,  nothing  has  been  overlooked  in  rendering 
these  new  offices  as  commodious  as  they  are  magnificent. 

'•  (  in  the  decorations  of  the  rooms  the  highest  praise  can 
be  bestowed.  Garibaldi,  who  executed  the  frescoes,  is  well 
known  here  as  an  artist  of  rare  talent.  In  the  Academy  of 
Music,  in  Booth's  Theatre,  in  the  Grand  Opera  House,  he 
has  given  evidences  of  this  fact,  but  nowhere  more  so  than  on 
the  ceilings  and  walls  of  the  new  Erie  offices  has  he  proved 
how  very  artistic  he  can  be.  Mr.  Fisk,  who  planned  and  has 
superintended  the  arrangement  of  the  palatial  offices  in 
question,  has  certainly  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  result,  there 
being  nowhere  in  this  country  or  in  Europe  anything  of  the 
kind  to  compare  with  these  splendid  rooms." 

In  those  palatial  quarters  the  Erie  offices  were  housed  until 
December,  1875,  when  H.  J.  lewett  had  come  to  the  control 
of  Erie,  and  he  removed  the  offices  back  to  the  original  old 
Erie  Building  in  West  Street.  In  18S0,  the  quarters  being 
too  much  cramped  for  the  increase  in  force  made  necessary 
by  the  increase  in  railroad  and  railroad  business,  the  com- 
pany leased  five  floors  in  the  Coal  and  Iron  Exchange  Build- 


ing, at  Church  and  Cortlandt  Streets.  The  Erie  general  offi- 
ces are  still  in  that  building,  although  much  more  modestly 
housed  than  in  President  Jewett's  time. 

In  1872,  when  Gould  made  his  "  restitution  "  to  the  Com- 
pany, he  included  the  Opera  House  in  the  property  turned 
over  to  the  Erie,  Fisk's  widow  having  relinquished  the  half  • 
interest  her  husband  had  in  the  property  at  Gould's  request. 
The  property  was  reconveyed  to  Gould  in  December,  1881, 
by  the  Company  at  a  valuation  of  $700,000,  being  more  than 
$500,000  less  than  the  Company  had  allowed  him  for  it  in 
1872.  The  consideration  was  a  transfer  to  the  Company  of 
all  Gould's  interest  in  the  Erie  coal  properties. 

FIRST     ERIE    DINING-STATIONS. 

The  first  building  intended  to  be  used  for  dining  pur- 
poses along  the  line  of  the  Erie  was  built  at  what  is  now 
Sterlington,  about  twenty  miles  from  Piermont,  before  the  rail- 
road was  yet  finished  as  far  as  that.  It  was  put  up  by  specu- 
lative persons  connected  with  the  Company,  on  the  belief 
that  after  people  had  travelled  twenty-four  miles  by  boat 
and  twenty  miles  by  rail,  they  would  be  hungry,  and  welcome 
a  spot  where  they  could  get  something  to  eat.  The  building 
was  a  pretentious  affair  architecturally,  but  not  large.  But  it 
proved  that  travellers  did  not  seem  to  have  taken  on  appetite 
enough  after  a  trip  of  that  distance  to  patronize  the  pioneer 
dining-place,  and  it  was  never  used  for  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  built.  The  Peter  'Turner  place,  at  Turner's 
Station,  some  miles  further  on,  was  apparently  just  the 
right  distance  from  New  York  to  have  whetted  the  appetite 
of  the  patrons  of  the  road,  and  their  demands  made  of  this 
place  the  first  dining-station  to  come  into  existence  along 
the  railroad.  For  years  the  wants  of  the  travelling  public- 
were  catered  to  so  sumptuously  and  excellently,  that  Turner's 
became  famous  the  country  over  as  a  dining-station,  in  spite  of 
the  unpretentious,  homely  appearance  of  the  caravansary  where 
the  meals  were  served  ;  and  all  through  trains,  east  and  west, 
that  arrived  there  anywhere  near  a  suitable  mealtime,  stopped 
there  for  meals.  Peter  Turner  died,  and  his  son  James  suc- 
ceeded to  the  famous  old  dining-saloon.  During  Nathaniel 
Marsh's  administration,  the  building  of  an  immense  dining- 
station  at  Turner's  was  begun  by  the  Company,  and  it 
was  completed  during  the  administration  of  President  Ber- 
dell.  It  was  of  brick.  It  was  three  stories  high  and  400 
feet  long,  situated  between  the  east  and  westbound  tracks, 
fifty  yards  east  of  the  old  Turner's  dining-saloon.  The  rail- 
road offices  were  also  in  the  building,  which  was  fitted  up 
sumptuously  as  a  hotel  as  well  as  a  dining-saloon.  The 
dining-room  would  seat  200  guests,  and  the  lunch-counter 
was  of  proportionate  capacity.  There  was  not  another  such 
place  on  the  line  of  any  railroad  in  the  country.  Experi- 
enced hotel  men  at  various  times  leased  it  and  conducted  it, 
but  never  at  a  profit.  It  was  a  favorite  retreat  of  James 
Fisk,  Jr.'s,  who,  with  special  train-loads  of  boon  companions, 
chiefly  of  the  gentler  sex,  was  wont  to  entertain  lavishly 
there  in   his  palmy  days  in  Erie.     The  place  was  called  the 


428 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


Orange  Hotel.  After  the  days  of  Could  and  Fisk,  the  glory 
of  the  famous  dining-place  began  to  wane,  and  it  was  rapidly 
becoming  of  solitude  amid  splendor,  when,  on   the 

night  of  December  26,  1S73,  it  was  completely  destroyed  by 
fire.  The  building  and  its  furnishings  had  cost  ^350,000. 
For  years  its  charred  ruins  disfigured  the  landscape  there- 
about, and,  during  Jewett's  time,  were  at  last  cleared  away. 
To-day  the  spot  is  covered  with  railroad  tracks,  and  not  a 
thing  remains  to  remind  this  generation  of  the  splendor  and 
folly  that  once  ruled  there. 

The  second  dining-saloon  on  the  Erie  was  at  the  Port 
Jervis  station.  It  was  started  soon  after  the  railroad  reached 
there.  Its  first  proprietors  were  J.  W.  Meginnes  and  James 
Lytle.  Lytle  retired  from  the  firm,  and  Meginnes  ran  it 
until  1S57,  when  he  died.  His  widow  conducted  it  a  short 
time,  when  S.  O.  Dimmick  took  it  and  ran  it  until  Port  Jen-is 
was  abandoned  as  a  regular  dining-place  in  1869. 

Xarrowsburg  became  a  dining-place  when  the  railroad 
was  opened  to  Binghamton.  It  was  conducted  by  Major 
Fields,  and  acquired  much  fame  by  the  fact  that  the  grand 
excursion  over  the  railroad,  May  14,  1S51,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  opening  to  Dunkirk,  dined  there  en  route,  on  that 
day.  At  that  dinner,  President  Fillmore  and  members  of  his 
cabinet,  Daniel  Webster  among  them,  and  scores  of  other 
notable  men  of  that  day,  sat  down,  and  made  the  wayside 
dining-hall  echo  with  their  after-dinner  eloquence.  Narrows- 
burg  became  a  famous  Erie  dining-place,  and  was  conducted 
later  by  Commodore  C.  Murray  and  afterward  by  his  sons, 
C.  H.  a/id  H.  C.  Murray,  for  many  years,  when  the  Company 
abandoned  Xarrowsburg  as  a  regular  dining-station. 

Later,  Deposit  became  a  dining-station,  and  Owego, 
Elmira,  Hornellsville,  Olean,  and  Dunkirk  had  large  depot 
dining-saloons  for  many  years  after  1851.  Susquehanna  was 
made  a  leading  and  regular  dining-place  early  in  the  60s, 
and  the  Company  erected  the  immense  and  costly  station 
building  there.  This  dining-saloon  was  one  of  the  notable 
ones  of  the  country  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
The  Erie  dining-saloon  at  Hornellsville  also  became  famous, 
and  is  remembered  to  this  day  by  travellers  for  its  delicious 
waffles. 

The  coming  of  the  dining  and  hotel  cars  on  the  road 
destroyed  the  general  usefulness  of  the  station  dining-saloons. 
They  became  unprofitable,  and  the  greatest  of  them  now 
depend  chiefly  on  their  lunch  counters. 

EVOLUTION  IN  THE   PASSENGER  SERVICE. 

In  May,  1852,  Henry  Fitch  resigned  as  general  ticket 
agent  of  the  Erie.  He  was  succeeded  by  George  L.  Dunlap. 
In  1S57  Mr.  Dunlap  retired  from  the  railroad  business  and 
went  to  Chicago,  where  he  made  a  fortune  in  real  estate,  and 
where  he  still  lives.  He  was  succeeded  by  C.  B.  Greenough. 
In  1  86  2  Mr.  Greenough  left  the  Erie,  and  went  to  Brazil,  from 
the  government  of  which  country  he  had  obtained  liberal  con- 
cessions for  constructing  street  railways.  He  made  a  fortune 
there,  but  died  in  Rio  Janeiro.      Following  Mr.    Greenough 


came  William  R.  P.arr.  When  he  came  to  the  Erie,  Mr. 
Barr  was  and  had  been  for  several  years  general  agent  at 
Buffalo  of  the  Buffalo  and  Erie,  the  Cleveland,  Painesville 
and  Ashtabula,  the  Cleveland  and  Toledo,  and  the  Michigan 
Southern  and  Northern  Indiana  railways,  the  independent 
lines  that  were  subsequently  consolidated  as  the  Lake  Shore 
and  Michigan  Southern.  He  remained  at  the  head  of  the 
Erie  passenger  department  until  June,  1S72,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  John  N.  Abbott,  who  had  been  assistant  general 
passenger  agent  since  1869. 

The  general  passenger  agents  were  not  much  in  evidence 
as  factors  in  the  management  of  the  Company's  business 
until  the  time  of  Barr.  There  had  been  several  serious  rate 
wars  since  the  opening  of  the  railroad  to  Dunkirk,  but  the 
general  passenger  agent's  name  never  appeared  to  indicate 
that  the  head  of  that  department  even  so  much  as  made  a 
suggestion.  The  president,  the  secretary,  the  general 
superintendent,  or  frequently  some  prominent  director, 
usually  figured  as  the  one  in  charge  of  the  business  of  fixing 
rates  or  originating  methods  of  conducting  the  passenger 
department.  The  general  passenger  agent's  name  had  never 
appeared  on  an  official  time-table  until  the  Barr  incumbency 
of  the  office.  Under  Barr  the  individuality  of  the  passenger 
department  was  brought  out  so  that  it  stood  publicly  in 
stronger  contrast  to  the  operating  department,  with  an  indi- 
cation that  it  was  not  subordinate  to  that  department. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  Mr.  Barr's  successor,  John 
X.  Abbott,  had  been  appointed,  that  reform  principles  and 
methods  of  conducting  the  immigrant  business  were  intro- 
duced and  made  effective  in  improving  the  revenues  of  the 
Erie  Company,  safeguarding  the  immigrants  and  commer- 
cially protecting  the  interests  of  the  port  of  Xew  York  against 
unfair  competition  through  other  ports  for  this  valuable 
traffic.  This  wras  accomplished  by  a  master  stroke  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Abbott  in  negotiating  contracts  with  the  leading 
transatlantic  steamship  lines,  in  1S73,  under  which  immi- 
grants should  be  carried  from  their  old  homes  in  Europe  to 
their  new  homes  in  America  upon  as  favorable  fares  and 
conditions  via  the  port  of  Xew  York  as  should  exist  from 
time  to  time  through  any  other  Atlantic  seaport,  and 
were  consigned  to  and  placed  under  the  protecting  care 
of  the  Erie  Company  in  Castle  Garden,  where  they  were 
shielded  from  the  wiles  and  solicitations  of  runners  and 
sharpers,  and,  when  ready  to  start  for  the  West,  instead  of 
being  loaded  upon  baggage  wagons  or  compelled  to  find 
their  own  way  to  the  railway  station,  were  carried  in  a  com- 
modious emigrant  barge  direct  from  Castle  Garden  to  the 
Erie  immigrant  station  and  trains  at  Jersey  City. 

The  Commissioners  of  Emigration  of  the  State  of  New 
York  adopted  resolutions  commendatory  of  this  new,  humane, 
and  protective  system  after  it  had  been  successfully 
inaugurated. 

The  details  of  these  arrangements  were  efficiently  admin- 
istered by  Xicholas  Muller,  who  was  appointed  emigrant 
agent  of  the  Erie  in  1873.  Ih's  alliance  between  the  Erie 
and  the  steamship  lines  continued  until  the  emigrant  busi- 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


429 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


all  the  railroad  lines  was  pooled  in  1SS3,  and  the  other 
lines  may  be  said  to  have  had,  during  all  those  years,  onl) 
such  of  the  immigrant  traffic  as  the  Krie  could  not  carry. 

Emigranl  \gent  Mullerwas  succeeded  in  [880  by  JohnW. 
Romaine,  who  remained  in  office  until  the  pooling  arrangement 
and  independent  management  of  the  busi- 
lut  of  the-  1  hargeof  the  passenger  departments  in 

Improvement  in  the  local  or  suburban  passenger  traffii  was 
under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Abbott,  but  his  efforts 
econded  withany  degreeof  earnestness  by  any  of 
the  managements  until  that  of  John  King.  Since  then  it  has 
been  made  a  spei  ial  point  of  attention,  and  under  the  man- 
agement of  1).  I.  Roberts,  who  became  general  passenger 
agent  in  1891,  this  branch  of  the  Erie's  passenger  traffic  has 
been  brought  to  a  degreeof  importance  that  makes  it  of 
unvarying  anil  increasing  profit  to  the  Company  anil  benefit 
to  the  public. 

James  Buckley  belongs  peculiarly  to  the  history  of  the 
passenger  department  of  the  Erie.  He  has  been  in  its 
sen  ice  more  than  a  generation,  and  for  twenty-five  years  has 
been  its  general  Eastern  passenger  agent,  with  headquarters  at 
New  York. 

Pullman  cars  first  came  on  the  Erie  June  1,  1872,  under 
the  I  >ix  administration,  among  them  hotel  dining-cars.  Pre- 
vious to  that  the  sleeping  and  drawing-room  cars  were  of  the 
Erie's  own  make. 

Air  brakes  were  introduced  on  the  Erie  August  14,  1869. 
They  were  the  Guthrie  vacuum  brakes,  and  were  experimented 
with  successfully  on  the  local  train  known  as  the  "Middle- 
town  Way."  This  was  the  forerunner  of  the  present  system 
of  safety  brakes. 

Lighting  the  cars  with  gas  was  begun  June  15,  1881,  when 
an  experiment  with  the  Pintsch  system  was  successfully  made 
on  a  special  train  run  from  Jersey  City  to  Turner's. 

The  original  Erie  passenger  trains  consisted  of  never  more 
than  three  cars.  The  regular  through  passengers  trains  on  the 
Erie  to-day  (1S98)  average  seven  cars,  and  seventeen  cars 
in  a  train  are  not  unusual. 

I  IKST     TRAIN-WRECKERS. 

During  the  last  week  in  November,  1862,  the  track-walker 
on  the  section  of  railroad  near  Andover,  N.  Y..  on  the 
m  Division,  found  obstructions  on  the  track,  so  placed 
ami  at  Mich  an  hour  that  it  was  evident  they  had  been  put 
there  to  wreck  a  passenger-train.  This  being  reported,  a 
watch  was  set.  and  about  9  o'clock  on  the  night  of  Friday, 
November  20th.  a  few  minutes  before  the  express  train, 
it,  was  due,  two  persons  were  discovered  going 
on  to  the  railroad,  one  of  them  carrying  a  log-chain.  Near  the 
tra<  k  was  a  portion  of  a  wrecked  gravel  <  ar,  having  one  pair 
of  wheels  attached.  The  men  placed  this  on  the  track  over 
a  culvert,  on  a  curve  in  the  road,  and  fastened  it  to  the  ties 
with  this  log-chain.  The  citizens  who  were  on  the  watc  h 
pounced  upon  the  men  and  arrested  them  at  once.  They  were 
committed  to  jail  at  Angelica.  They  proved  tube  George 
Palmer,  a  cabinet-maker,    and   Samuel  Allen,   a  blacksmith. 


Palmer  and  Allen  were  tried  and  convicted  on  the  charge  of 
train-wrecking,  February  3,  1853,  before  County  Judge  Lucien 
P.  Wethcrbv.  They  were  sentenced  to  four  years  in  the  Au- 
burn Penitentiary.  Palmer  was  twenty-five  years  old,  and 
Allen,  twenty-one.  This  was  the  first  attempt  at  deliberate 
train-wre<  king  on  record  in  this  country. 

MEMORABLE    AND    DISASTROUS    STRIKES. 

1854. 

D.  C.  McCallum,  superintendent  of  the  Susquehanna 
1  livision,  drafted  a  code  of  rules  regulating  the  running  of 
trains,  which  he  submitted  to  the  Directors  of  the  Company 
early  in  1S54.  They  were  pleased  with  it,  and  officially 
adopted  it  as  supplementary  to  the  existing  rules.  Charles 
Minot  was  then  the  general  superintendent.  The  McCallum 
rules  were  adopted  March  6,  1854,  and  Minot  was  directed  to 
put  them  in  force.  He  did  not  approve  of  some  of  them. 
He  refused  to  promulgate  the  new  code,  and  resigned. 

Charles  Minot  had  succeeded  James  P.  Kirkwood  as 
general  superintendent  May  1,  1850.  He  was  born  at 
Haverhill,  Mass.  His  father  was  a  judge  of  the  Massachusetts 
Supreme  Court.  Charles  Minot  was  educated  for  the  law, 
but  his  mind  was  of  a  more  practical  bent,  and  he  learned  to 
be  an  engineer  on  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad,  of  which 
railroad  he  subsequently  became  superintendent.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  to  learn  telegraphv,  ami  his  knowledge  of  that 
new  science  stood  him  well  in  his  career  as  superintendent  of 
the  Erie,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  account  of  his  adapting  the 
telegraph  to  the  use  of  the  railroad.  He  came  to  the  Erie 
from  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad.  The  Erie  was  then  in 
operation  as  far  west  as  Elmira. 

Charles  Minot  was  a  large,  fleshv  man,  verv  democratic  in 
his  manner  with  his  men,  meeting  them  always  on  an  ap- 
parent equality.  He  was  a  bluff  and  rude  man  in  his  speech, 
and  hasty  of  temper.  A  peculiarity  of  his  character  was  that 
if  he  summoned  any  of  the  men  to  his  office  to  "  blow  them 
up,"  he  would  deliver  his  pent-up  feelings  on  the  first  person 
who  happened  to  come  in,  although  that  one  was  in  no  w..y 
concerned  in  the  trouble  on  hand,  and  perhaps  knew  nothing 
about  it.  Minot's  mind  relieved,  all  would  be  serene  again, 
and  when  the  man  he  had  summoned  came  in,  he  would  be 
dismissed  without  a  word. 

Superintendent  Minot  was  continually  travelling  over  the 
road.  He  had  no  special  car  or  retainers,  such  as  general 
superintendents  of  to-day  are  sumptuously  equipped  with. 
"  Any  car  is  good  enough  for  me,"  Minot  used  to  say.  He 
frequently  travelled  with  the  pay  car,  to  save  expense.  Until 
one  day  in  the  summer  of  1853,  he  invariably  travelled  with 
his  car  ahead  of  the  engine.  He  acknowledged  that  this 
was  a  dangerous  thing  to  do,  but  he  said  "  he  could  see  things 
better."  On  the  day  in  question,  the  car  jumped  the  rails 
near  Almond  on  the  Western  Division,  at  a  high  embank- 
ment there.  With  him  on  the  car  was  President  Homer 
Ramsdell  and  H.  G.  Brooks.  Minot  was  a  powerful  man. 
He  was  standing  on  the  platform  as  the  car  left  the  track. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


43' 


President  Rainsdell  and  Mr.  Brooks  rushed  for  the  door  to 
escape,  but  they  never  would  have  got  out  but  for  Minn-, 
who  seized  the  president  with  one  hand  and  Brooks  with  the 
other,  dragged  them  through  the  door,  and  jumped  from  the 
car  with  them  just  as  it  toppled  over  the  bank.  That  was  the 
List  trip  Minot  ever  took  over  the  road  with  his  car  in  front 
f  the  locomotive. 
The  democratic  manner  of  Superintendent  Minot  had 
made  him  objectionable  to  a  number  of  the  Directors  long 
before  he  declined  to  enforce  the  McCallum  rules,  among 
them  President  Ramsdell,  so  although  he  had  proved  himself 


Trouble  was  not  long  in  following.  The  engineers  objected 
to  the  new  order  of  things,  particularly  to  Rule  6  of  the  Mc- 
Callum code,  which  declared  that  every  engineer  would  be 
held  responsible  for  running  off  a  switch  at  a  station  where 
he  stopped,  whether  he  should  run  off  before  or  af':er  receiving 
a  signal  to  go  forward  from  a  switchman  or  any  other  person. 
The  engineer,  under  this  rule,  was  expected  to  see  for  himself 
whether  the  switch  was  right  or  not,  and  take  no  person's 
authority  for  the  same  at  stations  where  trains  stopped.  The 
engineer,  however,  had  a  right  to  run  past  stations  where  he 
did  not  stop  at  a  rate  he  was  willing  to  hazard  on  his  own 


CHARLES    MINOT 

AND   STAFF— 

I864. 

H.    B.    SMITH, 

S.    BOWLES, 

H.    C.    FISK.            J.    W.    GUPPY, 

CHAS.    MINOT, 

H.    RIDDLE, 

H.    HOBBS, 

H.    G.    BROOKS, 

Supt.  Susy.  Div. 

Supt.  Buff.  Div. 

SuPt.  Rock   Div.    Asst.  Gen.  Supt. 

Gen.  Supt. 

Supt.  Del.  Div. 

Su/t.  East.  DiV. 

Supt.  West.  Div. 

1  1  apable  railroad  man,  his  withdrawal  in  favor  of  the  strict 
dis  iplinarian,  McCallum,  was  agreeable  to  that  element  in  the 
Board  in  more  ways  than  one — but  it  was  costly  to  the  Erie. 
Minot  went  from  the  Erie  to  the  Michigan  Southern  Railroad, 
as  general  manager,  a  place  he  held  until  December.  1859. 
Then  he  was  recalled  to  the  general  superintendency  of  the 
Erie.  He  remained  at  the  head  of  the  operative  department 
until  December  31,  1:164,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Hugh 
Riddle.  For  a  time  Mr.  Minot  held  an  office  with  the  Com- 
pany known  as  consulting  engineer,  but  he  retired  from  that 
and  returned  to  his  native  place,  where  he  died. 

D.   C.  McCallum    took  charge  as  general  superintendent 
May  1,  1854,  and  his  new  rules  were  at  once  put  in  force. 


account,  the  Company  reserving  the  right  to  decide  whether 
such  running  was  reckless  or  not.  "  The  road  must  be  run 
safe  first  and  fast  afterward,"  the  management  declared. 

The  engineers  also  protested  against  the  alleged  "  posting 
rule  "  of  the  Company,  under  which  notices  of  dismissal  of 
engineers  was  at  once  posted  with  other  railroad  companies 
to  the  injury  of  the  men. 

An  abrogation  of  the  distasteful  rules  was  requested,  June 
15th,  by  a  committee,  consisting  of  John  Donohue,  William 
Schrier,  and  John  C.  Meginnes.  Superintendent  McCallum's 
explanation  and  reply  not  being  satisfactory,  the  engineers 
struck  on  June  17th — the  first  strike  in  the  history  of  t'le 
railroad.  The  .Company  gave  notice  to  all  the  men  that  all 
who  returned  to  work  within  three  days  after  fune  20th  would 


43  2 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


in  the  Company's  employ.  All  others  would  be 
dismissed  from  the  service.  So  few  returned  to  work,  and 
the  Company  not  being  in  condition  to  maintain  a  struggle 
with  its  engineers,  and  the  business  of  the  road  being  at  a 
standstill,  June  24th  Superintendent  McCallum  addressed 
this  letter  to  the  strikers'  committee  : 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad, 

Office  of  General  Superintendent, 

.\i  w  York,  June  24,  1S54. 

To  Joint  Donahue,   Il'm.  Schrier,  John  C.  Meginnes,  Committee. 

1  ,i\  1  1  1  mis':  I  have  explained  Rule  6,  Supplementary  Instructions 
of    May  1  51I1,  as  follows  : 

The  rule  simply  means  this,  that  the  engineer  is  responsible  for  the 
running  off  at  a  switch  at  a  station  where  his  train  stops,  whether  he 
shall  run  off  before  or  after  receiving  a  signal  to  go  forward  from  a 
switchman  or  any  other  person.  But  no  engineer  shall  be  discharged 
under  such  circumstances,  without  a  full  hearing  of  the  case,  or 
unless  ii  ran  be  clearly  shown  that  he  ran  off  through  his  own  careless- 
ness. 

lerence  to  what  I  called  the  Posting  Rules  I  would  again  say 
that  it  has  not  been  extended  except  to  the  several  divisions  of  this 
road,  in  all  of  which  this  Company  has  a  financial  interest,  and  that 
we  have  no  intention  of  extending  it  further. 

Respectfully  yours, 

D.  C.  McCallum, 
General  Superintendent. 

To  which  the  committee  replied  : 

Susquehanna  Depot,  June  2(11/1. 
D.  C.  McCallum.  Esq.,  General  Superintendent  X.   ]'.  £°  E.R.R.: 

At  a  meeting  of  the  engineers  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad, 
held  at  the  United  States  Hotel,  to  hear  the  report  of  the  committee, 
upon  hearing  which  report  and  reading  the  letter  of  D.  C.  McCallum, 
it  was  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  the  letter  of  D.  C.  McCallum.  Esq.,  to  this  com- 
mittee, as  read  before  our  committee  this  day,  in  addition  to  the 
verbal  statement  of  Mr.  McCallum  to  the  committee,  we  decide 
satisfai 

1  hat  we  present  to  our  committee  our  warmest  thanks  for 

the  stant  manner   in  which  they  have  performed  all  the  arduous 

duties  imposed  upon  them. 

Resolved,    That  we  make  every  effort  to  resume  our  work. 

That  the  committee  immediately  inform  Mr.  McCallum  of 
our  action  at  this  meeting. 

John  Donohue,         ) 

Wm.  Schrier,  [•  Committee. 

John  C.  Meginnes,  ) 

It  was  an  easy  matter  to  return  to  work,  and  thus  the  first 
strike  on  the  Erie  was  settled  after  ten  days'  paralysis  of  the 
business  of  the  railroad,  and  a  loss  of  many  thousands  of 
d  'II, us  to  the  Company. 

The  engineer  over  whose  case  the  strike  resulted  was  Ben- 
jamin Hafner  of  the  Eastern  Division.  On  the  evening  of 
June  rothhe  ran  off  a  switch  at  Turner's.  He  was  dismissed. 
After  he  was  dismissed  Hafner  was  sent  for  by  Superintend- 
ent McCallum  to  talk  about  the  incident.  Hafner  refused 
to  go  unless  he  was  reinstated  first.  McCallum  declined  to 
reinstate  him  without  a  consultation.  The  matter  was  taken 
up  by  all  the  leading  engineers  on  the  Delaware  and  Eastern 
divisions,  with  the  above  result. 


Some  of  the  engineers  did  not  join  in  the  strike,  among 
them  foe  Meginnes.  W.  H.  Power  was  then  superintendent 
of  the  Delaware  Division  (division  agent,  it  was  then  called), 
and  he  himself  acted  as  engineer  in  efforts  to  run  a  train 
over  that  division,  and  succeedetl  in  doing  so  in  spite  of  the 
strikers,  who  assembled  in  crowds  at  the  Port  Jen-is  station, 
and  had  compelled  every  engineer  who  attempted  to  go  out 
to  dismount  from  his  engine,  except  Joe  Meginnes,  who 
stuck  to  his  engine  through  it  all.  He  was  opposed  to 
strikes  on  principle. 

1856. 

Notwithstanding  the  assurances  Superintendent  McCallum 
had  given  the  engineers  in  settling  the  strike  in  1854,  they 
professed  to  see  strong  evidences  that  he  was  not  keeping 
faith  with  them.  During  a  little  more  than  two  years  follow- 
ing the  strike  twenty-nine  engineers  had  been  discharged  for 
running  off  switches,  which  convinced  the  engineers  that 
Rule  No.  6  was  being  enforced  in  a  way  that  violated  the 
understanding  of  1S54.  At  last,  one  day  about  the  middle 
of  September,  1856,  Samuel  Tyler,  an  engineer  on  the 
Western  Division,  while  in  the  Hornellsville  yard  with  his 
engine,  was  given  the  "all  right"  signal  by  a  switchman,  and 
moving  his  locomotive  in  answer  to  this  signal,  found  the 
switch  wrong  and  backed  off  of  it.  Samuel  Jillson,  super- 
intendent of  the  Western  Division,  chanced  to  be  there,  saw 
the  mishap,  and  discharged  Tyler  on  the  spot.  This 
brought  the  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  among  the  engineers  to 
a  climax.  A  meeting  at  which  delegates  from  each  division 
were  present  was  held  at  Hornellsville  September  19th,  to  dis- 
cuss  the  situation.  The  result  of  the  meeting  was  the  draft- 
ing of  a  bill  of  grievances,  and  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee to  go  to  New  York  and  lay  it  before  the  Board  of 
Directors.  The  members  of  this  committee  were  William 
Schrier,  John  C.  Meginnes,  John  Hall,  E.  F.  Whalen,  H.  ('.. 
Brooks,  Henry  Belden,  Joseph  York,  I.  C.  York,  Edward 
Tinney,  and  J.  F.  Olmstead. 

They  went  to  New  York  September  24th,  and  met  six  of 
the  Directors,  who  asked  for  a  week's  postponement.  The 
committee  went  the  second  time,  October  1st,  and  were  re- 
ceived  by  other  Directors.  Besides  the  obnoxious  Rule  6  of 
the  McCallum  code,  the  engineers  had  a  grievance  in  the 
fact  that  their  pay  while  their  engines  were  in  shop  under- 
going repairs  had  been  stopped  under  the  McCallum  super- 
intendency,  although  they  were  ready  for  duty,  and  they 
asked  that  it  be  restored.  They  also  asked  that  engineers 
from  other  railroads  travelling  over  the  Erie  be  allowed  the 
same  privilege  as  was  allowed  conductors  of  other  railroads, 
which  was  free  transportation  when  satisfactory  credentials 
were  shown  to  the  train  conductors.  The  engineers  likewise 
took  up  the  cause  of  their  firemen,  and  asked  that  their  pay 
be  advanced  to  Si. 50  a  day. 

The  document  setting  forth  the  grievances  of  the  engi- 
neers was  discussed  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors, 
and  referred  to  a  committee  consisting  of  Richard  Lathers, 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


rJJ 


Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  William  E.  Dodge,  Cornelius  Smith, 
and  E.  J.  Brown. 

October  3d  they  made  a  voluminous  report  to  the  Board, 
disapproving  of  the  petition  of  the  engineers,  and  refusing 
their  requests,  "  the  most  emphatic  of  which,"  said  the  re- 
port, "  seems  to  be  the  abrogation  of  Rule  6,  supplementary 
to  general  instructions  of  March  6,  1854,  said  demand  being 
made  by  the  persons  upon  whom  it  is  intended  to  operate, 
which  is  as  follows  :  '  Every  engineer  will  be  held  account- 
able for  running  off  at  a  switch  at  any  station  where  his  train 
stops,  but  will  not  be  held  responsible  for  running  off  at  a 
switch  at  a  station  where  his  train  does  not  stop.'  " 

In  giving  their  reasons  to  the  Board  why  no  concessions 
should  be  made  to  the  men,  and  in  defending  the  rule  com- 
plained of,  the  committee  said  that  under  the  rule  "  the  en- 
gineers were  instructed  that  switchmen  were  placed  at  stop- 
ping stations  for  their  convenience  only,  and  were  not  to  be 
relied  upon  for  the  safety  of  the  train,  and  that  engineers 
would  be  expected,  in  all  cases,  to  see  that  the  switches  w:ere 
right  before  they  passed  over  them,  and  were  also  especially 
enjoined  to  take  all  the  time  necessary  to  run  safe  ;  in  other 
words,  to  '  run  safe  first,  and  fast  afterwards  ; '  that  they 
should  always  ran  into  stopping  places  under  the  assumption 
that  every  switch  was  out  of  place,  and  a  train  standing  on 

the  main  track In   view  of  this  state  of  things 

we  beg  leave  to  advise  that  you  instruct  our  general  super- 
intendent to  immediately  discharge  from  the  company's 
service  the  ten  engineers  representing  themselves  as  a  com- 
mittee in  this  act  of  insubordination,  and  to  fill  their  places 
with  men  who  are  willing  to  obey  rales,  and  leave  to  the 
proper  authority  the  duty  of  making  them  ;  and  also  to 
cause  to  be  discharged  all  employees  who  refuse  to  serve  the 
Company  under  and  in  complete  obedience  to  the  rules  as 
they  are,  filling  their  places  in  like  manner." 

The  report  of  the  committee  and  the  following  were  made 
public  on  the  same  day  : 

New  York  and  Erie  Railroad, 
Office  of  General  Superintendent, 
October  4, 
Wanted — One  hundred  and  fifty  Locomotive  Engineers,  imme- 
diately.    Applications   to  be  made  to  the  several   Division   Superin- 
tendents, or  at  this  Office. 

D.  C.  McCallum, 

General  Superintendent. 

The  grievance  committee  being  promptly  discharged,  they 
telegraphed  the  fact  to  the  different  divisions,  and  most  of 
the  engineers  along  the  line  quit  work.  The  striking  en- 
gineers published  a  reply  to  the  report  of  the  committee  of 
Directors.  The  following  extract  from  it  throws  much  inter- 
esting light  on  the  methods  of  railroading  on  the  Erie  forty- 
five  years  ago : 

First,  of  rule  sixth,  they  say  this  is  a  rule  of  safety,  etc.  Now  let 
us  say,  as  engineers,  that  this  rule  has  not  made  the  least  particle  of 
difference  in  our  speed  in  approaching  a  station.  We  have  shut  off 
our  steam  at  the  same  points,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  brakemen 


have  applied  their  brakes  just  the  same  as  before  this  rule  went  into 
effect.  We  ask  you  to  loo-  into  this  matter  carefully,  and  see  if  this 
rule  faithfully  executed  would  not  involve  the  Company  in  some  hard- 
ship, if  it  did  not  the  engineers.  We  will  take  some  stations  where 
there  are  from  six  to  ten  switches.  It  is  night,  and  in  the  winter. 
The  switch  lights  have  gone  out  and  we  cannot  see  the  targets.  The 
first  switch  is  a  mile  or  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  the  station.  We 
stop  still  at  that  switch  and  get  off  our  engines  if  we  cannot  see  the 
rail  (which,  of  course,  we  cannot,  if  there  is  from  six  inches  to  a  foot 
of  snow  on  it),  and  feel  to  see  if  the  rails  are  right.  After  satisfying 
ourselves  of  that  fact,  we  jump  on  to  our  engines  again  and  jog  along 
to  the  next  switch,  and  go  through  with  the  same  performance,  and 
so  on  till  we  get  within  the  limits  of  the  station. 

Will  some  practical  man  inform  us  whether  we  are  allowed  the  time 
that  this  fol  de  rol  would  take  up  on  the  time-tables  issued  by  the 
superintendent  ?  And  further,  if  this  were  done,  or  if  we  were  to  run 
slow  enough  over  all  switches  at  all  stations  between  Jersey  City  and 
Dunkirk  to  stop  our  trains  from  running  off  the  track,  providing  those 
switches  were  wrong,  what  kind  of  connections  should  we  make  with 
the  Western  trains  at  Dunkirk?  We  mean,  of  course,  all  stations 
where  our  trains  stop.  For  it  would  be  preposterous  to  suppose  that 
passengers  should  get  injured  if  our  trains  should  run  off  at  the  rate 
of  fifty  miles  an  hour,  at  stations  where  our  trains  do  not  stop. 
Therefore,  there  being  no  danger  of  getting  hurt  at  fifty  miles  an 
hour,  we  are  not  held  responsible.  There  is  no  road  in  this  country 
where  this  rule  coul  '  be  lived  up  to  in  the  light  Mr.  McCallum  holds 
us  responsible,  without  ruining  the  business  of  the  Company.  Now 
we  ask  a  fair  and  impartial  answer  to  this  question.  Do  the  public 
really  think  that  passengers  would  be  likely  to  be  injured  any  less  by 
running  off  the  track  forty  or  fifty  miles  an  hour  at  stations  where  our 
trains  do  not  stop,  than  they  would  by  running  off  five  to  twenty  miles 
an  hour  at  stations  where  our  trains  do  stop  ? 

This  reply  was  signed  by  twenty-five  of  the  leading  en- 
gineers of  the  Western  Division,  eight  from  the  Buffalo  Divi- 
sion, and  twenty-five  from  the  Susquehanna  Division.  So 
few  of  the  men  remained  at  work  that  traffic  on  the  railroad 
came  to  a  standstill,  contrary  to  the  expectation  of  the  Erie 
management.  On  the  6th  of  October,  Superintendent  Mc- 
Callum advertised  that  the  Company  would  pay  a  bonus  of 
$25  to  every  engineer  who  would  resume  work,  and  to  en- 
gineers who  would  come  new  on  the  railroad.  Very  few  re- 
sponses were  received  to  this  offer.  The  result  was  that  soon 
the  engines  were  in  charge  of  all  sorts  of  artisans — stationary 
engineers,  firemen  apprentices,  and  any  who  had  the  least 
smattering  of  knowledge  of  a  locomotive.  Some  competent 
men  came  from  other  railroads  to  take  the  places  of  the 
strikers,  but  not  many.  The  striking  engineers  and  their 
friends  harassed  the  Company  in  many  ways.  There  was 
developed  a  number  of  water  supplies  that  were  so  impreg- 
nated with  grease,  soap,  sal  soda,  or  other  substances  so  en- 
tirely at  variance  with  the  heated  surface  of  the  fire-box  and 
flues  as  to  be  incapable  of  being  kept  in  contact  therewith, 
and  being  repelled  therefrom,  took  the  form  of  ether ;  in 
short,  the  boiler  "  foamed,"  and  if  the  engine  was  in  charge 
of  an  inexperienced  man,  the  crown-sheet  and  flues  would  be 
rained,  while  if  the  attempt,  at  that  period  of  affairs,  to  in- 
ject water  into  it  was  successful,  it  was  an  almost  certain 
thing  that  the  boiler  would  be  blown  into  fragments.  An- 
other peculiarity,  not  noticed  before,  was  developed  :  a  ten- 
dency on  the  part  of  bolts  and  nuts  to  work  loose  where 


434 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


they  "■       mosl   needed  to  be  tight  and  snug  on  the  locomo- 
1  his  failing  particularly  affected  the  set-screws  of  the 
tries,  so  that  an  engine  would  rarely  travel  over  one  or 
two  mi  !  incapacitated.     Almost  every  locomo- 

tive with  which  the  Company  attempted  to  run  trains,  for  a 
inkers  managed  to  disable  in  some  such  way, 
in  spite  of  the  watchfulness  of  those  who  were  put  in  charge 
of  the  Company's  interest,  until  "able-bodied"  engines 
were  the  exception.  The  cost  to  the  Erie  in  this  damage  to 
property  was  enormous. 

After  a  time,  the  Company  persisting  in  its  strike,  although 
,ts  railroad  was  nearly  paralyzed  at  a  critical  time  otherwise 
in  the  Company's  affairs,  many  of  the  old  and  best  engineers 
went  to  other  railroads  throughout  the  country,  where  they 
gave  the  Erie  a  name  that  cost  it  thousands  of  dollars  in  loss 
of  patronage.  One  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  strike  was 
Horatio  G.  Brooks.  He  went  to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Railroad  as  master  mechanic,  and  when  Charles  Minot  re- 
turned to  the  Erie  as  superintendent  in  1859,  Brooks  came 
back  also,  and  became  later  superintendent  of  the  Western 
Division,  and  subsequently  master  mechanic  of  the  entire 
toad.  Most  of  the  other  old  engineers  returned  when  Minot 
was  reappointed.  It  may  be  said  that  the  strike  never  was 
settled,  but  after  six  months  of  almost  constant  disturbance 
and  interruption  to  traffic,  Superintendent  McCallum  re- 
signed. The  loss  to  the  Company  in  actual  outlay  because 
of  this  strike  was  nearly  half  a  million  dollars.  The  damage 
to  the  Company  by  loss  in  traffic  was  incalculable,  and  was 
one  of  the  main  causes  of  its  bankruptcy  in  1859,  it  never 
having  recovered  from  the  direct  and  collateral  consequences 
of  the  unfortunate  conflict. 

Daniel  Craig  McCallum  was  born  at  Renfrewshire,  Scot- 
land, in  1814.  His  father,  Peter  McCallum,  who  was  a  tailor, 
emigrated  to  this  country  in  1822,  and  settled  in  Roch- 
ester, N.  Y.  Not  liking  his  father's  trade,  he  left  home  with 
his  entire  wardrobe  tied  up  in  a  handkerchief.  He  walked 
his  way  to  Eundy's  Lane,  where  he  apprenticed  himself  to 
learn  the  trade  of  carpenter.  He  became  a  skilful  architect, 
designing  St.  Joseph's  Church,  Odd  Fellows  Hall,  the  Man- 
sion House  Block,  the  Waverly  Hotel,  the  House  of  Refuge, 
and  other  prominent  buildings  in  Rochester.  He  developed 
a  strong  taste  for  mechanical  engineering,  and  made  rapid 
strides  in  his  profession.  He  invented  an  inflexible  arch 
truss  for  bridges,  the  use  of  which  on  various  railroads  brought 
him  later  an  income  of  $75,000  a  year. 

He  entered  the  employ  of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Rail- 
road Company  in  r.848,  and  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  Susquehanna  Division  in  October,  1852.  As  stated 
ibove,  he  was  made  general  superintendent  in  May,  1854. 
February  25,  1857,  he  tendered  his  resignation,  because  "a 
respectable  number"  of  the  Directors  differed  with  him  in  re- 
gard to  ••  the  discipline  that  had  been  pursued  in  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  operations  of  the  road."  The  resignation  was 
ai  -  1  pted,  but  the  Hoard  of  Directors  gave  him  a  letter  of  re- 
gret at  parting  with  him,  and  President   Ramsdell  addressed 


him  a  long  personal  letter,  assuring  him,  in  substance,  that  he 
was  not  one  of  the  number  in  the  management  that  did  not 
approve  of  his  discipline. 

Ex-Superintendent  McCallum  devoted  himself  to  his  pri- 
vate business  until  1862,  when,  February  1st  of  that  year,  he 
was  appointed  b)  Secretary  Stanton  military  director  and 
superintendent  of  the  military  railroads  of  the  United  States, 
with  authority  to  take  possession  of  all  railroads  and  rolling 
stock  that  might  be  required  for  the  transportation  of  troops, 
arms,  military  supplies,  etc.  He  ranked  as  a  colonel.  He 
found  only  one  railroad  in  possession  of  the  Government — 
the  one  running  from  Washington  to  Alexandria.  He  speed- 
ily changed  the  state  of  affairs.  His  work  in  establishing 
the  network  of  railroads  that  forwarded  so  materially  the 
efforts  of  McClellan,  Burnside,  Hooker,  Meade,  and  Grant, 
respectively,  in  the  Peninsular  campaign,  at  Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg,  and  other  fields,  belongs  to  the 
history  of  the  Civil  War,  where  it  is  amply  recorded.  Dur- 
ing his  memorable  work  of  hurrying  troops  forward  to  the 
rescue  of  Grant  when  he  was  cornered  at  Chancellorsville, 
he  placed  Gen.  Carl  Schurz  under  arrest  for  officious  med- 
dling with  his  plans.  McCallum  saved  Grant  at  Chancellors- 
ville, and  was  made  a  Brigadier-General  by  Stanton  as  a  re- 
ward for  his  services  on  that  occasion.  General  McCallum 
built  2,105  miles  of  new  railroad  and  twenty-six  bridges,  and 
rebuilt  640  miles  of  old  railroad,  to  meet  the  necessities  of 
the  Union  army  during  the  war,  besides  confiscating  and 
opening  to  the  service  of  the  Northern  generals  the  great  net- 
work of  old  railroads  without  which  our  armies  would  have 
been  powerless  against  the  enemy.  He  expended  $42,000,- 
000  of  the  Government  money  in  his  work,  and  accounted 
for  every  cent  of  it. 

After  the  war,  in  1865,  he  retired  to  private  life,  making 
his  home  at  Glen  Mary,  at  Owego,  a  place  made  famous  by 
Nathaniel  P.  Willis,  who  lived  there  at  one  time,  and  where 
he  built  an  elegant  residence. 

General  McCallum  was  a  poet  of  no  mean  order,  one  of 
his  poems  being  "The  Water  Mill,"  known  everywhere  as  a 
perennially  popular  one,  the  rendering  of  the  refrain  of  which, 
"The  mill  will  never  grind  again  with  the  water  that  is  past," 
has  brought  fame  and  dollars  to  many  an  elocutionist.  When 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  was  building  he 
became  consulting  engineer.  He  subsequently  removed  to 
Brooklyn,  where  he  died,  Dec  ember  27,  1878.  The  intro- 
duction of  iron  bridges  had  relegated  his  wooden  truss  bridge 
to  practical  uselessness  in  railroad  construction,  and  his  in- 
come from  that  source  had  been  reduced  to  a  small  amount 
during  the  later  years  of  his  life,  and  he  left  but  a  modest 
fortune  to  his  family,  which  consisted  of  four  sons  and  two 
daughters. 

1857. 

Tuesday,  December  1,  1S57,  by  order  of  President  Charles 
Moran,  a  reduction  of  wages  and  salaries  of  employees  went 
into  effect,  owing  to  the  hard  times  and  the  critical  condition 
of  the  Company's  affairs. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


435 


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E    K    I    E         II  A.  I   E  W  .V  Y  . 


THIS  PISS   IS   GOOD  OXLY  OX   THE 

Eastern  Division^and  Newburgh  Branch, 

\a<J  if  use  lvrithin  one  week  fru\nd:^^  upon  the  oou.iit^j^^t! 


OLD    ERIE   FREE   PASSES.      NORTHRUP  COLLECTION. 


436 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


There  were  250  laborers  at  the  pier  at  Piermont,  handling 
freight.  They  were  divided  into  night  and  day  gangs,  and 
were  known  as  laborers,  checkers,  tally  clerks,  porters,  and 
stowers.  Their  pay  had  been  >r  per  day.  It  was  reduced 
to  90  cents  for  eleven  hours'  work.  Six  hours  were  reckoned 
half  a  dav's  work.  Steady  men  could  make  from  $25  to  $30 
a  month  at  the  old  wages.  President  Moran  was  getting  a 
salary  of  £25,000  a  year,  and  it  was  current  all  along  the 
railroad  that,  owing  to  financial  straits  the  Company  was  in,  he 
was  taking  no  chances,  but  was  collecting  his  salary, pro  rata, 
every  day.  When  his  order  to  reduce  wages  and  salaries  was 
issued,  inquiry  was  made  by  the  men  as  to  whether  the  presi- 
dent hid  submitted  to  a  reduction  in  his  own  great  stipend. 
When  it  was  learned  that  he  had  not,  the  feeling  was  bitter, 
and  the  laborers  at  the  Piermont  docks  protested  against  the 
cut  in  their  wages  and  quit  work.  The  brakemen  on  that 
division  of  the  railroad  joined  the  laborers,  as  did  the  laborers 
along  the  division.     Traffic  came  to  a  standstill. 

Up  to  Saturday  afternoon,  December  5th,  200  carloads  of 
freight  from  the  West  had  accumulated  at  and  above  Piermont. 
A  few  straggling  trains  only  departed  for  the  West.  They 
had  to  be  loaded  by  the  agents,  clerks,  and  other  non-striking 
employees.  Only  three  or  four  cars  were  sent  by  each  train, 
so  that  they  could  be  easily  controlled  by  the  engineer,  the 
conductor  and  flagmen  acting  as  brakemen.  Hugh  Riddle, 
superintendent,  and  Dispatcher  Watson  themselves  went 
out  on  trains  as  brakemen  to  help  get  them  through. 

The  laborers,  anil  those  whose  interests  were  closely  con- 
nected with  them,  such  as  boarding-house  keepers,  grocers, 
etc.,  constituted  nine-tenths  of  the  population  of  Piermont, 
and  there  was  such  a  combination  among  them  that  no  new 
force  that  might  be  sent  there  to  take  the  places  of  the 
strikers  could  find  a  night's  lodging  or  a  meal.  The  exposed 
situation  of  the  dock,  built  out,  as  it  was,  a  mile  from  the 
shore,  with  its  freight  sheds  and  offices  at  the  extreme  end, 
and  a  railroad  track  running  the  entire  length,  put  it  in  the 
power  of  a  disorderly  and  evil-disposed  gang  to  inflict  almost 
irreparable  injury  on  the  Company. 

Wednesday  evening,  December  2d,  the  steamboat  "  Erie  " 
was  seen  coming  up  the  river,  and  a  rumor  was  circulated 
that  a  new  gang  of  laborers  was  on  board.  Immediately  a 
fish-horn  was  sounded,  and  300  men  swarmed  down  upon  the 
pier  to  prevent  them  from  landing.  It  proved  to  be  300 
emigrants  bound  West.  The  clerks  and  agent,  assisted  by  the 
crew  of  the  boat  and  such  miscellaneous  help  as  was  at  hand, 
transferred  the  baggage  to  the  cars  while  the  strikers  stood  by 
and  jeered  them.  The  train  started  on  its  way  West,  but  it 
hid  proceeded  only  as  f:ir  as  the  water-station,  where  it 
encountered  a  railroad  bar  spiked  across  the  track,  which 
threw  the  locomotive  off  and  down  a  steep  enbankment, 
wrecking  it  badly.  The  cars  narrowly  escaped  a  similar  fate 
by  the  breaking  of  the  coupling,  and  as  there  were  300  emi- 
grants on  the  train,  many  of  them  women  and  children,  this 
narrow  escape  saved  many  lives. 

A  force  was  collected  by  the  Company  along  the  line  of  the 
road  and  sent  to  Piermont,  ostensibly  to  take  the  places  of  the 


strikers,  but  really  for  the  purpose  of  frightening  them  into 
submission.  No  provision  was  made  for  their  protection, 
and  the  result  was  that  they  had  no  sooner  landed  on  the  pier 
than  they  were  attacked  and  driven  off.  Some  were  thrown 
off  the  pier  into  the  river,  anil  would  have  drowned  but  for 
the  aid  of  men  in  boats  who  were  spectators.  The  Company 
called  upon  the  sheriff  of  Rockland  County  to  protect  its 
property  and  disperse  the  strikers.  He  summoned  the 
Piermont  Guards,  who  turned  out  to  the  number  of  twenty- 
five,  in  citizens'  dress,  with  bayonets  fixed  and  supplied  with 
ball  cartridge.  Friday  evening,  December  4th,  the  steamer 
"  Esquimaux  "  arrived  at  the  pier  from  New  York  with  about 
100  men,  escorted  by  twenty-five  Metropolitan  policemen. 
The  sight  of  this  force  ahead  and  the  military  in  the  rear  had 
the  effect  of  cowing  the  strikers,  but  to  avoid  a  collision  the 
police  remained  on  board  the  boat  all  night.  Saturday 
morning  they  landed  and  were  joined  by  the  Piermont  Guards. 
The  martial  array  had  the  desired  effect.  About  half  the 
men  returned  to  work  at  once,  and  at  noon  nearly  all  of 
them  were  back.  The  police,  however,  were  detained  over 
night,  and  the  Piermont  Guards  slept  on  their  arms.  The 
brakemen  held  out  until  Saturday  night,  when  they  gave  in 
and  went  to  work.  The  emigrants  who  had  been  taken  to 
Piermont  by  the  police  to  replace  the  strikers  were  returned 
to  New  York  Sunday.  One  thing  that  had  its  effect  in  con- 
ciliating the  strikers  was  the  declaration  that  President  Moran 
had  been  removed  by  the  Directors,  which  the  men  believed. 
The  strike  cost  the  Company  half  a  million  dollars. 

1859. 

March  15,  1859,  the  dock  laborers  at  Piermont  struck,  not 
for  an  advance  in  wages  nor  against  a  reduction,  but  because 
they  had  not  received  any  pay  at  all  for  three  months.  They 
were  not  the  only  employees  that  were  months  in  arrears,  but 
none  of  the  others  joined  the  strike.  The  Company,  not 
caring  to  have  a  repetition  of  the  costly  experiences  of  1857, 
and  the  strike  being  in  every  way  justifiable,  raised  money 
enough  to  restore  a  measure  of  content  to  the  men,  and 
they  resumed  work  after  being  idle  only  two  days.  But  for 
the  fact  that  the  Company  went  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver 
the  following  August,  President  Moran  retiring,  a  strike  in 
which  the  great  body  of  employees  all  along  the  line  would 
have  joined,  could  not  have  been  avoided  much  longer. 
There  were  then  employees  who  had  not  received  any  pay 
for  seven  months.  The  receivership  restored  confidence 
and  hope.  No  disturbance  of  relations  occurred,  and  within 
three  months  all  arrearages  for  labor,  amounting  to  £500,000, 
were  paid. 

1869. 

May  10th,  one  brakeman  of  the  three  that  made  up 
the  force  of  brakemen  on  each  freight  train  on  the  Eastern 
Division  was  discharged  by  order  from  headquarters.  The 
discharged  men,  and  their  sympathizers  among  the  men  who 
were   not    discharged,  prevented   the    making   up   and  get- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


437 


ting  of  trains  out  of  the  Port  Jems  yard  so  effectually  that 
operations  on  the  division  were  practically  suspended  until 
May  13th,  when  the  objectionable  order  was  rescinded  and 
the  discharged  men  were  reinstated.  A  large  number  of  the 
brakemen  urged  the  opportunity  as  a  good  one  to  continue 
the  strike  until  wages  were  advanced  to  S2  a  day  from  Si. 75, 
but  it  was  not  agreed  to  by  the  majority. 

The  men  who  had  urged  this  strike  for  increased  wages 
continued  to  agitate  the  subject  until  they  carried  the  day, 
and  on  May  28th  the  brakemen  petitioned  the  company  for 
an  advance  in  pay  to  $2  a  day.  No  reply  having  been  received 
to  the  request  by  June  6th,  the  men  struck.  June  7th,  the 
brakemen  on  the  Delaware  Division  joined  them.  This  soon 
blockaded  the  Port  Jervis  yard  with  freight  and  coal  trains. 
Superintendent  Hobbs  endeavored  to  replace  the  strikers 
with  new  men,  but  failed.  The  situation  threatened  became 
so  serious  to  the  Company  that  June  8th  the  demands  of 
the  men  were  acceded  to  and  work  was  resumed.  Before 
the  news  of  the  settlement  of  the  strike  reached  the  other 
division,  the  brakemen  on  the  Susquehanna  and  Western 
divisions  telegraphed  that  they  had  struck  for  S2  a  day,  too. 
The  Company  granted  the  demand  at  once. 

The  brakemen  claimed  that  the  management  also  promised 
not  to  discharge  any  of  the  men  who  had  been  engaged  in  the 
strike ;  but  earlv  in  November,  however,  a  number  of  brake-' 
men  were  discharged,  and  the  men  believed  it  was  because 
they  had  been  concerned  in  the  strike  of  the  previous  May. 
The  action  was  resented,  and  the  Eastern  Division  brakemen 
struck  in  a  body,  November  8th,  demanding  the  reinstate- 
ment of  the  discharged  men.  The  usual  blockade  of  freight 
quickly  followed.  There  was  no  detention  to  passenger 
traffic.  Gould  and  Fisk  both  went  to  Port  Jervis  to  look  after 
the  Company's  interests,  and  several  hundred  men  were 
taken  along  to  replace  the  strikers  in  the  Company's  employ. 
Thev  also  sent  a  strong  force  of  men  from  New  York,  many 
of  them  notorious  "  toughs,"  who,  as  special  deputy  sheriffs 
in  the  employ  of  the  Erie,  acted  in  a  manner  that  brought 
about  collision  between  them  and  the  strikers,  and  the  peace 
of  the  community  was  greatly  disturbed.  The  unfortunate 
situation  continued  until  the  latter  part  of  November,  the  old 
men  being  gradually  replaced  by  new,  when  the  strikers  were 
forced  to  submit.  The  strike  came  to  an  end  November 
30th,  and  the  result  was  the  usual  one — a  great  loss  of  wages 
to  the  men,  without  gaining  any  point,  and  damaging  dis- 
turbance of  the  Company's  business  for  many  days. 

I  li  tober  16th,  the  men  in  the  Port  Jervis  shops  struck 
against  the  irregular  manner  in  which  they  had  been  paid 
their  monthly  wages,  and  demanded  that  the  pay-day  be  fixed 
for  the  15  th  of  every  month  and  their  pay  received  on  that 
tiny.  The  men  in  the  Jersey  City,  Susquehanna,  and  Buffalo 
shops  joined  the  strike.  The  strikers  were  discharged.  The 
Company  soon  found  that  this  was  an  unwise  and  costly 
policy,  and  after  the  shops  had  been  idle  ten  days,  President 
Gould  held  a  conference  at  Port  Jervis  with  a  representative 
from  each  shop,  and  the  demands  of  the  men  were  acceded 
to,  with  a  proviso  that  if  by  any  cause  it  should  happen  that 


it  was  impossible  for  the  Company  to  pay  at  the  15th,  it 
should  be  allowed  ten  days'  grace,  which  the  men  agreed  to. 
This  satisfactory  ending  of  what  threatened  to  be  a  costly 
strike  for  both  employer  and  employee  was  due  to  the 
dignified  and  cool-headed  management  of  the  employers  at 
Port  Jervis :  Gen.  Thomas  Holt,  Stott  Mills,  and  Walter 
Harvey. 

January  12,  1S70,  the  paymaster  did  not  appear  at  the 
Jersey  City  shops.  The  men  did  not  wait  until  the  "  days  of 
grace"  were  up,  but  struck  on  the  13th.  The  time  was  un- 
fortunate for  them,  and  they  were  compelled  to  return  to 
their  work,  such  of  them  as  the  Company  would  take  back. 

1874. 

During  the  winter  the  mechanics  at  the  Susquehanna  shops, 
more  than  1 ,000  in  number,  had  been  working  on  three-quar- 
ter time.  Their  pay  was  much  in  arrears,  and  there  was  no 
fixed  time  for  paying.  February  3d  the  men  stmck  for  their 
back  pay  and  a  regular  pay-day,  and  the  matter  was  quickly 
settled  by  the  Company  fixing  the  15th  of  every  month  as 
pay-day  in  the  future,  and  agreeing  to  give  the  men  their 
February  pay  March  15  th.  The  men  resumed  work.  When 
March  15th  came,  notice  was  posted  at  the  shops  that  in  con- 
sequence of  embarrassment  into  which  the  Company  had 
temporarily  fallen  in  New  York,  it  could  not  pay  until  March 
25  th.  With  the  25  th  of  the  month  came  a  second  notice, 
this  one  to  the  effect  that  the  paymaster  had  begun  paying 
elsewhere,  and  that  those  along  the  line  who  were  paid  first 
the  previous  month  would  be  paid  last  the  current  month, 
and  vice  versa.  A  meeting  of  the  men  was  called  on  March 
26th,  and  the  voice  of  the  meeting  was  that  work  in  the  shops 
should  be  suspended.  It  was.  The  mammoth  steam-gong 
was  sounded,  bells  were  rung,  and  within  fifteen  minutes  every 
sound  of  labor  was  hushed,  and  the  great  buildings  were  de- 
serted. 

The  demand  made  by  the  men  was  the  old  one  of  a  regu- 
lar pay-day,  and  the  further  one  that  regular  apprentices  be 
employed  in  the  shops  instead  of  unskilled  labor,  as  was  then 
the  case,  to  do  the  work  of  mechanics.  They  also  demanded 
their  pay  up  to  date,  anil  time-and-a-half  for  overtime. 

The  monthly  pay  roll  at  Susquehanna  amounted  to  $50,000. 
The  entire  population  of  the  place  depended  on  the  earnings 
of  men  employed  in  the  Erie's  shops,  hence  the  sympathy 
for  the  strikers  was  universal. 

The  Company  refused  the  demands  of  the  men,  and  they 
proceeded  to  compel  acquiescence  by  practically  stopping  all 
traffic  on  the  railroad.  They  took  possessesion  of  the  trains 
as  they  came  into  Susquehanna,  dismantled  the  locomotives, 
and  refused  to  permit  any  trains  to  go  either  East  or  West. 
All  the  Company's  efforts  to  break  the  blockade  were  useless, 
and  by  the  end  of  the  month  there  were  many  disabled 
engines  in  the  roundhouse,  and  1,000  cars  idle  on  sidings. 
The  strikers  had  seized  §200,000  worth  of  the  Company's 
propertv,  and  declared  that  they  would  hold  it  until  the 
company  came  to  terms.     The  sheriff  of  Susquehanna  County, 


438 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


M.  B.  Helme,  was  called  upon  to  restore  the  property  to  the 
Company  and  suppress  the  insurrection.  He  was  powerless, 
as  the  populace  was  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  strikers. 
The  situation  was  such  on  the  28th  of  March  that  the  sheriff 
telegraphed  Governor  Hartranft  for  troops.  The  men  re- 
jei  ted  all  the  propositions  made  by  the  Company,  and  con- 
tinued to  hold  possession  of  its  property  and  prevented  the 
running  of  trains.  Governor  Hartranft  ordered  the  First 
Regiment  of  State  troops,  Col.  Hale  Benson,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  the  Fourth  Division,  under  command  of  Gen.  S.  D.  Os- 
.  of  Wilkesbarre,  to  the  scene  of  the  disturbance.  The 
Philadelphia  troops,  400  men,  arrived  at  Susquehanna  on  the 
29th.  On  the  30th,  General  Osborne's  command  of  1,000 
men  arrived.  Martial  law  was  declared.  The  Company's 
grounds  were  c  leared  of  all  strikers,  and  no  person  was  per- 
mitted to  enter  upon  them  without  a  pass  from  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  troops,  countersigned  by  Superin- 
tendent of  Transportation  1'.  P.  Wright.  The  strikers  were 
awed  by  the  presence  of  the  military,  and  the  railroad  was 
once  more  in  possession  of  the  Company.  The  strike  was 
broken.  The  men  were  all  paid  off  and  discharged.  Business 
had  been  suspended  on  the  railroad  five  days.  The  Com- 
pany found  forty  of  its  locomotives  disabled  in  the  yard, 
with  the  missing  parts  in  possession  of  the  strikers.  The  loss 
to  the  Company  by  the  strike  was  more  than  Si, 000, 000. 

This  was  under  the  Watson  administration,  which  had 
declared  the  railroad  to  be  so  prosperous  in  its  hands  that 
dividends  had  been  paid  on  the  alleged  earnings.  This  had 
aggravated  the  unpaid  strikers  the  more,  and  turned  sympa- 
thy more  generally  toward  them  and  their  cause. 

During  the  Susquehanna  strike  the  Company  was  also 
greatly  harassed  by  a  strike  of  the  freight  handlers  at  New 
Yoik  and  Jersey  City,  which  was  to  secure  an  advance  in  pay 
from  seventeen  and  a  half  cents  an  hour  to  twenty  cents  an 
hour,  and  twenty-five  cents  an  hour  overtime.  This  brought 
freight  shipments  to  a  standstill.  The  Company  put  new 
men  on  under  protection  of  the  police,  and  on  the  28th,  the 
new  men  having  begun  to  do  the  work  fairly  well,  the  strikers 
surrendered.  The  Company  took  back  some  and  discharged 
others,  retaining  many  of  the  new  men. 

1877. 

July  rst  the  brakemen,  yardmen,  and  trackmen's  wages 
were  reduced  10  percent.  A  committee  representing  the 
men  was  sent  to  headquarters  with  grievances,  and  requested 
ration  of  the  wages  to  the  former  rate.  President 
Jewett  ordered  the  discharge  of  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee from  the  Company's  employ.  A  meeting  of  the 
employees  concerned  was  held  at  Hornellsville  at  midnight, 
July  icjth,  and  a  strike  was  ordered.  It  began  immediately. 
The  men  demanded  $2  a  day  for  brakemen,  S2.25  for  head 
switchmen,  .m  . 50  for  yard  brakemen,  $1.40  lor  section  trai  k- 
men,  a  restoration  of  the  monthly  passes  to  brakemen  and 
pisses  for  switc  hmen  and  trackmen,  and  free  occupancy  of 
the  Company's  grounds   for  dwellings  of  the  men,  the  Com- 


pany having  ordered  that  rent  should  be  paid  for  land  occu- 
pied by  the  shanties  of   the  switc  hmen  and  trackmen. 

From  the  20th  until  the  25th  of  July  all  through  business 
and  all  local  business,  except  on  the  Delaware  and  Eastern 
divisions,  was  suspended  on  the  railroad.  General  Superin- 
tendent E.  S.  Bowen  and  other  officers  of  the  Company 
succeeded 'in  reaching  Hornellsville  by  special  train  at  9  :  30 
i\m  of  the  20th.  The  Hornellsville  yard  and  shops  were  in 
entire  possession  of  the  strikers.  All  trains  that  had  arrived 
at  Hornellsville  had  been  at  once  taken  in  charge  by  the  men 
and  side-tracked.  The  men  on  the  Western  Division  joined 
the  strike.  At  Hornellsville  400  strikers  congregated.  There 
were  150  at  Salamanca.  The  strike  was  engineered  and  man- 
aged by  a  little  red-headed,  freckled-faced  man  named  Bar- 
ney J.  Donohue,  who  was  not  an  employee  of  the  Company. 
The  strikers  patrolled  the  Hornellsville  yard,  and  permitted 
no  one  to  work  therein.  All  trains  from  Dunkirk  and  the 
West  were  stopped  at  Salamanca.  The  last  train  to  arrive 
from  the  West  was  got  through  on  the  21st  by  the  strategy  of 
Engineer  Dan  Chapman.  Passengers  for  the  West  were  sent 
by  the  Rochester  Division  at  first,  but  on  the  21st  the  men  in 
the  Corning  yards  prevented  any  other  trains  going  that  way. 
Then  the  passengers  were  sent  from  Elmira  by  way  of  the 
Northern  Central  Railroad. 

Sheriff  Sherwood,  of  Steuben  County,  being  unable  to  put 
the  Company  in  possession  of  its  railroad  and  property  at 
Hornellsville,  notified  Governor  Robinson,  who  ordered  the 
Fifty-fourth  Regiment,  of  Rochester,  to  the  scene.  It  arrived, 
400  strong,  in  command  of  Col.  George  E.  Baker,  Sunday 
evening,  the  21st,  at  6  :  30,  hooted  and  reviled  by  the  strikers. 
The  Tenth  Battalion,  Colonel  Smith,  and  Battery  A  of  the 
Twentieth  Brigade,  Captain  Walker,  were  ordered  from 
Elmira  to  Hornellsville,  and  arrived  the  same  evening.  The 
militia  formed  and  cleared  the  tracks,  and  the  Hornellsville 
yard  became  virtually  under  martial  law.  Strong  guards  were 
placed  about  it,  with  orders  to  permit  no  one  to  enter  the 
lines  without  a  pass.  The  battery  was  stationed  in  Loder 
Street,  commanding  the  Company's  property.  It  was  soon 
discovered,  however,  that  a  majority  of  the  militia  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  strikers.  There  being  a  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  conductors  and  engineers  to  aid  in  getting  trains 
out,  Barney  Donohue  notified  them  that  they  would  do  so 
at  their  peril,  as  the  tracks  had  been  "  fixed  "  by  the  strikers, 
notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the  military. 

General  Brinker  and  Gen.  J.  B.  Woodward,  and  William 
Wallace  MacFarland,  of  the  Erie  counsel,  got  through  from 
New  York  to  Hornellsville  on  the  21st,  arriving  there  at  11 
o'cloi  k  p.m.  That  day  an  express  train  left  New  York  at  1  1 
a.m.  Gen.  I).  D.  Wiley,  Chief  of  Ordnance,  was  a  passen- 
ger on  the  train.  The  train  was  abandoned  at  Elmira.  A 
special  train  was  made  up  there,  and  General  Wiley,  with 
ammunition  and  supplies,  succeeded  in  reaching  Hornells- 
ville on  it  at  3  :  25  on  the  morning  of  the  22cl.  An  express 
train  from  the  East,  carrying  the  United  States  mail,  but  no 
passengers,  got  to  Hornellsville  at  9  o'clock  a.m.  of  the  ^  1  st 
(Sunday).      Superintendent   Bowen   resolved    to   send    it   on 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


439 


West  under  military  escort.  The  train  started  at  10  o'clock. 
Captain  Sullivan  of  Company  D,  One  Hundred  and  Tenth 
Battalion,  was  detailed  with  forty  men  to  guard  the  train  and 
prevent  the  strikers  from  capturing  it.  A  sergeant  and  four 
men  were  placed  on  the  locomotive,  and  two  guards  were 
stationed  on  the  platform  of  each  car.  The  rest  of  the 
detachment  were  scattered  through  the  cars.  The  guns  were 
loaded,  and  the  men  had  orders  to  fire  on  any  attacking 
party.  The  train  consisted  of  two  passenger  coaches,  a  bag- 
gage car  and  a  postal  car,  and  was  in  charge  of  Conductor 
Hiram  Hurty  and  Engineer  David  E.  Carey,  whose  fireman 
was  Matt  Dewey. 

Half  a  mile  west  of  Hornellsville  depot  the  railroad  begins 
the  ascent  of  a  heavy  grade.  The  strikers  had  covered 
the  rails  at  that  point,  and  a  long  way  up  the  grade, 
with  soft  soap,  and  had  collected  in  vast  numbers  there. 
There  were  scores  of  detained  passengers  at  Hornellsville, 
and  word  was  sent  to  them  that  a  train  was  going  out,  but 
only  fourteen  ventured  aboard  the  train. 

The  train  pulled  out  of  the  yard  and  was  travelling  rapidly 
when  the  engine  struck  the  soaped  rails.  Then  the  wheels 
slipped,  and  labored  up  the  grade  very  slowly.  The  500  as- 
sembled strikers,  and  their  women  and  children,  yelled  like 
demons.  They  poured  on  to  the  track  in  front  of  the  train, 
and  large  torpedoes  were  placed  on  the  rails  to  lift  the  loco- 
motive and  still  further  check  it.  Engineer  Carey  spurted 
sand  and  pounded  ahead.  The  strikers  swarmed  on  the 
locomotive,  clambered  on  the  steps  of  the  cars,  and  clung  to 
the  railing  in  spite  of  the  guards,  many  of  whom  were  pale 
with  fright.  Beyond  a  feeble  attempt  at  presenting  bayonets 
the  soldiers  did  not  resist  the  strikers  at  all,  and  the  men, 
with  wild  shouts,  pushed  them  aside  and  soon  had  posses- 
sion of  the  train.  Setting  the  brakes  on  the  passenger  cars, 
they  uncoupled  them  from  the  baggage  car,  and  the  engine, 
mail  car,  and  baggage  car  went  on.  Engineer  Carey  stopped 
and  backed  down  again,  hoping  to  be  able  to  recover  the 
rest  of  his  train,  but  the  strikers  swarmed  about  him  and 
told  him  that  if  he  did  not  proceed  he  would  never  leave  that 
yard  again.  Seeing  that  resistance  was  useless,  he  went  on. 
The  strikers  then  drove  the  guards  from  the  car,  smashed  the 
brake  wheels  with  axes,  ordered  the  passengers  out  of  the 
cars,  and  started  the  cars  down  the  grade  into  Hornellsville 
yard  at  a  terrible  rate,  regardless  of  the  consequences. 
I  ngineer  Dan  Chapman  was  in  the  yard  and  threw  open  a 
switch  in  time  to  turn  the  flying  cars  off  the  main  track, 
thus  saving  a  disastrous  smash-up  at  the  depot.  The  strikers 
took  the  soldiers  prisoners,  and  marching  them  back  to  the 
yard,  delivered  them  up  to  their  comrades  with  derisive 
hoots  and  jeers.  An  effort  to  send  a  train  out  over  the 
Buffalo  I  >ivision  under  a  strong  guard  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Regi- 
ment also  failed.  The  strikers,  emboldened,  captured  a  loco- 
motive at  the  depot,  where  it  was  being  made  readv  to  make 
an  effort  to  take  a  train  East,  in  charge  of  a  posse  of  deputy 
sheriffs,  and  ran  it  to  the  bridge  east  of  town,  where  they 
drew  its  fire,  and  let  the  water  out  of  the  boiler.  Barney 
Donohue    then    issued   an  "  order "  to  the    vardmaster  and 


all  conductors  and  engineers  that  unless  they  ceased  aiding  in 
the  making  up  of  trains  their  lives  would  be  the  forfeit. 

Late  Sunday  afternoon  (the  21st)  the  Seventy-fourth  Regi- 
ment of  Buffalo,  300  strong,  in  command  of  Colonel  Rick- 
art,  arrived  at  Hornellsville,  after  being  held  up  by  the  strikers 
several  hours  near  Hornellsville.  An  order  was  also  issued 
to  the  Twenty-third  Regiment,  of  Brooklyn,  to  proceed  to 
the  scene.  Governor  Robinson  issued  a  proclamation  declar- 
ing the  strike  a  riot,  warning  all  to  desist,  and  calling  upon 
all  good  citizens,  and  all  authorities,  civil  and  military,  to  aid 
in  suppressing  it.  The  authorities  of  Hornellsville  issued  a 
proclamation  forbidding  the  sale  of  intoxicants,  and  warning 
citizens  to  keep  aloof  from  the  turbulent  scenes.  Receiver 
Jewett  posted  the  offer  of  a  reward  of  S500  for  information 
that  might  lead  to  the  arrest  and  conviction  of  any  one  tam- 
pering with  the  Company's  property.  Hornellsville  was 
threatened  with  a  reign  of  terror. 

A  strong  detachment  of  the  Twenty-third  Regiment  left 
New  York  under  Colonel  Rodney  C.  Ward,  at  eleven  o'clock 
a.m.  of  Monday,  the  23d.  No  trouble  was  met  until  the 
train  arrived  at  Susquehanna.  From  that  point  on  the  train 
had  to  fight  its  way.  When  the  Twenty-third  marched  into 
Hornellsville  toward  evening  of  that  day,  having  left  the  cars 
at  the  bridge  east  of  the  town,  the  bearing  of  the  men  at  once 
impressed  the  strikers.  There  was  no  hooting.  In  fact,  a 
strange  silence  prevailed.  The  Twenty- third  was  placed  on 
guard  in  the  Company's  yard  that  night.  Strikers  attempted 
to  pass  through  the  lines,  as  they  had  been  doing,  unchal- 
lenged. The  first  one  who  attempted  it  was  challenged  by 
the  guard.  The  man  paid  no  attention  to  it,  but  kept  on  his 
way.  Instantly  a  bullet  from  the  sentinel's  gun  whistled  over 
his  head,  and  he  quickly  retreated  and  disappeared.  From 
that  moment  a  change  came  over  the  spirit  of  the  strikers. 

July  23d,  Matthew  Bemus  and  Miles  W.  Hawley,  Hornells- 
ville lawyers,  were  engaged  by  the  strikers  to  endeavor  to 
bring  about  a  settlement.  A  committee,  with  Barney  Dono- 
hue at  its  head,  requested  an  interview  with  Superinten- 
dent Bowen.  It  was  granted,  and  was  held  in  the  super- 
intendent's private  car.  There  were  present  also  Mr.  Haw- 
lev,  Mr.  MacFarland,  William  Pitt  Shearman,  assistant  to 
the  receiver,  Chief  Engineer  Chanute,  and  others.  Donohue 
delivered  his  ultimatum,  which  was  the  original  demands 
of  the  strikers.  Mr.  MacFarland  called  the  attention  of  the 
committee  to  the  fact  that  as  the  property  of  the  Company 
was  in  custody  of  the  courts,  being  under  a  receivership,  they 
were  in  serious  contempt  of  court,  which  was  a  violation  of  a 
strict  penal  statute.  He  counselled  the  men  to  return  to 
their  allegiance  and  trust  to  the  magnanimity  of  the  Com- 
pany's officials,  as  no  concessions  would  be  made.  As  Mr. 
MacFarland  spoke  as  with  the  voice  of  Receiver  Jewett  him- 
self, the  momentary  hope  of  a  settlement  was  dispelled. 

The  strikers  had  had  their  headquarters  in  a  hall  opposite 
the  Erie  depot,  but  on  the  23d  changed  to  the  Nichols 
House,  in  the  central  part  of  the  village.  While  Barney 
Donohue  was  at  supper  that  evening  at  the  Nichols  House, 
he  was  arrested  by  Sheriff  Sherwood  on  a  warrant  sworn  out 


44Q 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


by  Receiver  Jewett,  and  issued  by  Judge  Donahue  of  the  New 
York  Supreme  Court,  on  a  charge  of  contempt  of  court.    The 

arrest  was  made  so  quietly  that  Don. 'hue  was  in  the  lock-up 
before  more  than  half  a  dozen  of  the  strikers  knew  it.  1  [e  was 
held  in  default  ol  $2,500  bail  to  answer  the  (harm-,  July  27th. 

At  7  o'clock  \.m.,  July  24th,  a  train  with  two  locomotives 
and  with  four  picked  men  from  the  Twenty-third  Regiment  on 
each  locomotive,  and  the  rest  of  the  command  escorting  it, 
the  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Battalion  being  in  the  coaches, 
uted  East.  It  was  in  charge  of  Conductor  Ryerson  H. 
Stewart,  and  Engineers  DeYVitt  and  Frisbee.  The  Twenty- 
third  escorted  the  train  four  miles  and  returned.  At  Corning 
the  strikers  had  thrown  freight  cars  across  both  tracks,  and 
spiked  the  switches.  The  train  arrived  there  at  12.30,  and 
found  a  train  there  from  New  York,  which  had  fought  its 
way  through  with  128  more  men  from  the  Twenty-third  Regi- 
ment. By  the  aid  of  the  soldiers  the  obstructions  were  re- 
moved, and  both  trains  got  away  from  Corning  after  a  strug- 
gle of  two  hours  with  the  strikers.  The  west-bound  train  had 
to  fight  its  way  all  the  way  to  Hornellsville,  and  reached  there 
only  by  Major  Barnes  ordering  a  detachment  of  the  troops, 
under  Captain  Williams,  to  march  ahead  of  the  train  on  the 
double  quick  and  disperse  the  strikers  who  were  tearing  up 
the  track,  with  order  to  fire  if  resisted.  'When  the  strikers 
were  overtaken  by  the  soldiers,  and  the  latter  halted  and  drew 
up  in  line,  they  broke  and  fled  to  the  woods  and  did  not  ap- 
pear again. 

July  25th,  the  strike  was  settled  on  the  basis  of  an  agree- 
ment drawn  up  by  Messrs.  Bemus  and  Hawley,  which  was 
that  the  men  should  acquiesce  in  the  10  per  cent,  reduction 
in  wages  ;  the  discharged  grievance  committee  to  be  reinstated 
at  the  option  of  the  superintendents  of  the  divisions  where 
the  dismissals  occurred  ;  brakemen  to  go  to  work  at  the  wages 
received  previous  to  July  1st ;  none  of  the  employees  engaged 
in  the  strike  to  be  proceeded  against  or  discharged  unless 
they  had  destroyed  property,  and  the  case  of  Donohue  to  be 
left  to  his  counsel  and  the  Erie  counsel  for  settlement.  The 
terms  of  settlement  were  agreed  to  just  before  midnight,  and 
at  daylight  on  the  26th  all  military  surveillance  was  removed. 
There  was  great  rejoicing  at  Hornellsville  over  the  result,  for 
the  place  had  been  cut  off  from  communication  with  the  out- 
side world  since  Friday,  July  19th,  and  business  had  been 
practically  suspended  during  the  strike. 

The  condition  of  affairs  on  the  railroad  had  never  been  so 
blocked  and  muddled  as  the  one  in  which  the  strike  left  it. 
The  direct  cost  to  the  Company  was  $300,000,  and  the  loss 
sustained  by  the  week's  suspension  of  business  was  over 
Si,ooo,ooo.  It  was  a  week  after  the  strike  before  operations 
had  resumed  their  regular  order. 

Barney  Donohue  was  taken  to  New  York  to  be  punished. 
During  four  months  Receiver  Jewett,  or  his  advisers,  made 
an  unnecessary  exhibition  of  Erie  in  the  proceedings  that 
were  persisted  in  against  Donohue,  always  before  Judge 
Donahue.  The  strike  leader,  who  had  none  of  the  qualities 
of  a  leader,  and  was  simply  an  ignorant  and  entirely  im  om- 
petent  man  whose  assurance  alone  had  made  him  the  head 


of  the  Hornellsville  strike,  was  lifted  into  undue  prominent  e 
by  the  proceedings,  and  made  a  martyr  of  in  the  eyes  ol 
labor  throughout  the  land.  He  was  ably  defended  by  Roger 
A.  1'ryor,  and  was  accorded  the  dignity  of  being  sent  to 
Ludlow  Street  Jail  for  refusing  to  answer  certain  questions. 
He  was  subsequently  released  without  having  answered,  L\ 
the  same  judge  who  committed  him.  This  was  on  August 
j  2d,  when  he  was  arrested  by  the  Sheriff  of  Steuben  County 
and  taken  to  Bath  Jail.  October  13th,  he  was  indicted  on 
a  charge  of  conspiracy,  and  December  12th,  five  months 
after  his  arrest  at  Hornellsville,  he  pleaded  guilty,  and  was 
sentenced  to  three  months'  imprisonment  in  the  Steuben 
County  Jail.  If  that  rational  proceeding  had  been  taken  at 
the  start,  his  punishment  would  have  been  more  severe,  and 
deservedly  so. 

MISCELLANEOUS    NOTES    OF    INTEREST. 

Strawberry  Trains.  —  In  the  early  years  of  the  Erie 
the  region  in  Rockland  County,  X.  Y.,  and  Bergen  Countv, 
N.  J.,  adjacent  to  the  eastern  section  of  the  railroad,  made 
an  important  traffic  for  the  road  in  the  shipment  of  small 
fruits,  particularly  strawberries,  that  region  then  supplying 
largely  the  demands  of  New  York  City  in  those  fruits.  In 
1S46  a  fmit  train  was  put  on  during  the  berry  season,  between 
Suffem  and  Piermont,  running  between  these  points  with  the 
milk  train  from  Middletown.  It  carried  400,000  baskets  oi 
strawberries  that  season.  In  1S47  this  train  consisted  of  nine 
8-wheel  cars,  and  on  every  trip  "  was  loaded  to  the  top  with 
strawberries  and  milk.  Some  trips  So,ooo  baskets  of  berries 
were  carried."  Two  cars  of  the  train  were  needed  to  carry 
the  berry-growers,  who  went  to  New  York  to  dispose  of  their 
berries.  The  business  was  larger  yet  in  184S,  and  was  a 
great  factor  in  the  Erie's  local  traffic  until  Southern  New 
Jersey  and  Long  Island  became  the  great  berry  producers. 

Some  Memorable  Snows  and  Floods. — Deep  snows 
and  disastrous  floods  were  regular  disturbers  of  traffic  on  the 
Erie  during  its  early  years,  particularly  on  the  Western  Divi- 
sion, where  the  high  country  of  Chautauqm  Countv,  between 
Little  Valley  and  Dunkirk,  seemed  to  constantly  invite  snow 
blockades.  In  the  winter  of  1852-3  that  region  had  a  snow- 
fall of  four  feet  and  a  half  on  the  level  ;  in  1S53  three  feet 
and  a  half,  and  in  1855-6  six  feet  and  a  half.  In  1852  the 
drifts  on  the  western  end  of  the  Western  Division  were  thirty 
feet  high.  It  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  passenger 
trains  to  be  snowbound  a  week  at  a  time  within  two  hours  of 
Dunkirk.  Ten  locomotives  and  500  men  were  unable  to  keep 
that  portion  of  the  track  clear  for  trains  during  the  second 
week  of  January,  1852,  and  all  that  time  a  train-load  of  pas- 
sengers lay  in  the  drifts.  On  one  occasion,  during  the  winter 
of  1855-6,  train  No.  4,  with  five  engines  attached,  was  nine 
days  getting  over  the  Western  Division. 

June  17,  1S57,  the  day  express  was  four  hours  going  from 
Addison  to  Hornellsville,  because  of  a  sudden  and  terrific 
rain  which  inundated  that  part  of  the  railroad  for  twenty-five 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIK 


44r 


miles  east  of  Hornellsville,  and  covered  the  tracks  in  many 
places  two  or  three  feet  with  gravel  washed  from  the  hillsides. 
Captain  Ayres  was  conductor  of  the  train,  and  De  Bruce 
Goodell  engineer.  Captain  Avers  marched  ahead  of  his  train 
a  great  part  of  the  distance,  frequently  for  a  mile  or  more  in 
water  up  to  his  waist,  to  discover  any  danger  that  might  lurk 
in  the  way.  When  the  train  reached  Hornellsville  the  passen- 
gers held  a  meeting  at  the  Osborne  House  and  passed  reso- 
lutions of  thanks  to  the  conductor,  engineer,  and  trainmen. 
Hon.  Benjamin  Chamberlain  of  Randolph,  X.  V..  was  chair- 
man of  the  meeting. 

The  winter  of  1X5  7  was  particularly  disastrous  to  the  Erie 
on  the  Delaware  Division.  There  were  extraordinarily  deep 
snows,  and  heavy  ice  in  the  Delaware  River.  February  2d  the 
ice  went  out  with  a  big  flood,  and  carrieil  away  the  railroad 
bridge  east  of  Narrowsburg,  N.  V.  The  river  froze  up  again, 
and  another  flood  came  February  18th.  The  railroad  bridge 
that  the  previous  flood  had  demolished  was  well  along  toward 
restoration,  but  most  of  the  new  one  was  carried  away  by  the 
second  flood.  A.  J.  Hardenbergh,  bridge  foreman,  was  on 
the  work  next  to  the  Pennsylvania  bank  when  the  flood  came, 
and  the  timber  broke  up  and  crashed  away  behind  him  as  he 
ran  for  the  shore,  his  feet  being  scarcely  lifted  from  one  tim- 
ber before  that  timber  would  fall  before  the  flood.  His  es- 
cape was  miraculous.  Pending  the  replacing  of  the  railroad 
bridge  below  Narrowsburg,  through  traffic  over  the  Erie  was 
virtually  suspended.  Local  passengers  were  ferried  across  the 
Delaware.  Live-stock  was  a  great  item  of  traffic  on  the  Erie 
in  those  days.  While  the  bridge  was  gone,  cattle,  sheep  and 
hogs  were  unloaded  at  Narrowsburg  and  driven  through 
Wayne  County,  Pa.,  to  the  junction  of  the  Honesdale  and 
Mist  Hope  turnpike,  sixteen  miles,  and  thence  back  over  that 
turnpike  to  Mast  Hope,  a  total  distance  of  thirty- five  miles, 
where  they  were  reloaded  on  cars  in  waiting  at  that  place  for 
them. 

March  17,  1S75,  the  great  iron  bridge  at  Sawmill  Rift,  the 
original  point  of  entry  into  Pennsylvania,  was  carried  away 
by  the  great  ice  block  caused  by  t\e  unprecedented  jam  in 
the  Delaware  River  at  Sim's  Cliff,  below  Port  Jervis.  For 
weeks  before  the  catastrophe,  foreseeing  the  danger,  Chief 
1  1  igineer  Chanute  of  the  Erie  had  a  force  of  men  at  work 
blasting  the  ice  in  the  gorge  with  nitro-glycerine,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  weakening  it,  so  that  when  the  great  pack  from  up 
the  river  came  down  it  would  force  a  passage  through  the 
jam  and  avert  the  danger.  This  was  not  effected,  and  the 
ice  coming  down  from  up  stream  was  stopped  at  the  Port 
Jervis  gorge,  and  piled  up  thirty  to  fifty  feet  high  between 
Port  Jervis  and  the  Sawmill  Rift  bridge,  lifting  that  bridge 
from  its  foundations  and  bearing  it  away.  During  the  replac- 
ing of  this  bridge  with  the  present  one,  all  through  traffic  of 
the  Erie  was  by  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western 
Railroad  between  New  York  and  Great  Bend,  Pa. 

The  great  blizzard  of  March,  1888,  blocked  the  Eastern 
Division  of  the  Erie  so  that  the  traffic  was  entirely  at  a 
standstill  five  days.  Trains  were  stalled  at  many  points  be- 
tween Jersey  City  and  Port  Jervis,  all  effort  to  extricate  them 


being  fruitless,  and  much  hardship  resulted  both  to  passen- 
gers and  employees.  The  track  was  covered  with  drifted 
snow  that  was  frequently  fifty  feet  deep.  No  early  snow 
blockade  in  the  history  of  the  railroad  was  as  complete  as 
this ;  for,  with  all  the  modern  appliances,  greater  experience 
in  railroading,  and  the  more  powerful  machinery,  the  railroad 
was  utterly  at  the  mercy  of  the  storm  and  its  sequences  for 
nearly  a  week,  and  it  was  a  week  longer  before  the  demoral- 
ized and  disorganized  condition  of  affairs  on  the  railroad 
could  lie  restored  to  its  old-time  system  and  order.  The 
blockade  was  all  along  the  line  and  its  branches  for  150 
miles.  At  and  near  Chester,  N.  V.,  five  trains  were  stalled 
from  Monday  morning  until  Friday  night,  the  long,  deep  cut 
at  the  station  being  filled  with  snow  from  bottom  to  top,  its 
entire  length.  The  cut  is  300  feet  long  and  forty  feet  deep. 
The  cost  and  loss  to  the  company  of  that  great  obstruction 
to  its  business  was  Sr, 000,000.  The  blockade  lasted  from 
March  12th  to  March  17th,  before  one  train  could  be  moved 
over  the  Eastern  Division. 

From  early  Sunday  morning,  October  3,  1869,  until  day- 
light the  next  morning,  rain  fell  in  such  incessant  torrents  in 
the  Delaware  Valley  that  for  miles  on  the  Delaware  Division 
of  the  Erie  the  track  was  buried  from  three  to  eight  feet 
deep  by  land  and  rock  slides  from  the  hills.  The  heaviest 
slide  was  at  Middaugh's  Switch,  six  miles  west  of  Port  Tervis. 
Between  Hankins  and  Callicoon  100  feet  of  the  road-bed  was 
washed  into  the  Delaware  River,  which  was  a  raging  flood. 
Near  Pond  Eddy  two  sections  of  road-bed  were  washed  out, 
leaving  chasms  sixty  feet  wide  and  fifty  feet  deep.  The 
east  abutment  and  one  pier  of  the  railroad  bridge  across  the 
Delaware  east  of  Narrowsburg  were  destroyed  by  the  flood. 
The  railroad  was  tied  up  until  October  9.  Temporary  tres- 
tles were  thrown  across  the  big  washouts,  and  a  fern'  was 
established  across  the  river  at  the  wrecked  bridge  east  of 
Narrowsburg.  Three  hundred  emigrants  and  hundreds  of 
passengers  were  stalled  at  Port  Jervis  pending  the  repairs, 
and  were  fed  and  lodged  by  the  Company. 

some    dreadful    disasters    of    the    rail    in 
erie's  history. 

At  King  &  Fuller's  Cut. — Frank  Evans  of  New  York, 
a  survivor  of  this  terrible  catastrophe,  recalls  for  the  author 
these  recollections  of  it:  "  It  was  about  the  middle  of  fuly, 
in  1864,"  says  Mr.  Evans.  "  I  was  in  the  Union  Army,  ami 
was  one  of  a  guard  of  125  soldiers  who  were  detailed  to 
take  a  lot  of  Confederate  prisoners  from  Point  Lookout,  Ya.. 
to  the  prison  camp  at  Elmira,  X.  Y.,  which  had  just  been  made 
ready  to  receive  them.  There  were  10,000  prisoners  in  all 
to  be  transferred,  and  this  lot  was  the  first  installment  to  be 
moved.  There  were  about  800  of  them.  We  came  on  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  to  Jersey  City,  and  the  prisoners  were 
transferred  to  the  Erie  train  by  boat.  The  train  was  made 
up  of  emigrant  cars,  box  cars,  and  all  sorts  of  odds  and  ends 
of  cars,  and  was  a  long  one.  Two  guards  were  stationed  on 
the  platform  at  each  end  of  each  car.     We  got  started  from 


44- 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Jersey  City  about  5  o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  was  one  of 
the  guards  stationed  well  hack  on  the  train,  and  a  lucky 
thing  it  was  for  me  that  I  was  so  stationed.  We  passed 
through  the  little  village  of  Shohola  early  in  the  afternoon, 
going  something  like  twenty-five  miles  an  hour.  We  had 
run  a  mile  or  so  beyond  Shohola,  when  the  train  came  to  a 
stop  with  a  suddenness  that  hurled  me  to  the  ground,  and 
instantly  a  crash  and  roar  that  rivalled  the  shock  of  battle 
rose  and  filled  that  quiet  valley.  This  lasted  but  a  moment. 
It  was  followed  by  a  second  or  two  of  awful  silence,  and 
then  the  air  was  filled  by  most  appalling  shrieks  and  wails 
and  cries  of  anguish. 

"  As  soon  as  I  recovered  from  the  confusion  caused  by  the 
shock  and  the  fall,  I  did  not  need  to  be  told  that  our  train 
had  met  with  some  frightful  mishap.  I  hurried  forward. 
On  a  curve  in  a  deep  cut  we  had  met  a  heavily-laden  coal 
train,  travelling  nearly  as  fast  as  we  were.  The  trains  had 
come  together  with  that  deadly  crash.  The  two  locomotives 
were  raised  high  in  air,  face  to  face  against  each  other,  like 
giants  grappling.  The  tender  of  our  locomotive  stood  erect 
on  one  end.  The  engineer  and  fireman,  poor  fellows,  were 
buried  beneath  the  wood  it  carried.  Perched  on  the  reared- 
up  end  of  the  tender,  high  above  the  wreck,  was  one  of  our 
guards,  sitting  with  his  gun  clutched  in  his  hands,  dead  1 
The  front  car  of  our  train  was  jammed  into  a  space  of  less 
than  six  feet.  The  two  cars  behind  it  were  almost  as  badly 
wrecked.  Several  cars  in  the  rear  of  those  were  also  heaped 
together. 

"  In  a  very  short  time  a  score  of  people  arrived  from  the 
village,  and  the  work  of  removing  the  dead  and  rescuing  the 
wounded  began.  There  were  bodies  impaled  on  iron  rods 
and  splintered  beams.  Headless  trunks  were  mangled  be- 
tween the  telescoped  cars.  From  the  wreck  of  the  head  car 
thirty-seven  of  the  thirty-eight  prisoners  it  contained  wore 
taken  out  dead.  The  remaining  prisoner  was  found  alive 
and  uninjured,  surrounded  by  debris,  like  a  nut  kernel  in  its 
shell.  Three  of  the  four  guards  on  the  car  were  also  taken 
out  dead.  The  fourth  one  was  the  one  who  sat  dead  on  top 
of  the  upturned  tender.  From  the  wrecked  cars  thirty-three 
of  the  guards  were  taken,  twenty  of  whom  were  dead. 
Fifty  or  more  of  the  prisoners  were  killed,  and  at  least  100 
or  more  wounded,  a  number  of  the  wounded  dying  soon 
after  they  were  removed  from  the  wreck.  The  fireman  of  the 
coal  train  was  instantly  killed.  His  engineer  escaped  by 
jumping.  The  engineer  of  our  train  was  caught  in  the 
awful  wreck  of  his  engine,  where  he  was  held  in  plain  sight, 
with  his  back  against  the  boiler,  and  slowly  roasted  to  death. 
With  his  last  breath  he  warned  away  all  who  went  near  to  try 
and  aid  him,  declaring  that  there  was  danger  of  the  boiler 
exploding  and  killing  them.  Taken  all  in  all,  that  wreck  was 
a  scene  of  horror  such  as  few,  even  in  the  thick  of  battle, 
are  ever  doomed  to  be  a  witness  of.  And,  as  we  heard  dur- 
ing the  day,  it  was  all  caused  by  a  wrong  order  given  to  the 
engineer  of  the  coal  train  by  a  drunken  despatcher  some- 
where up  the  road.  If  we  could  have  got  at  him  we  would 
have  made  short  shrift  of  him. 


"  We  were  until  night  getting  the  dead  and  wounded  out 
of  the  wreck  and  things  in  shape  to  proceed  on  our  journey. 
A  coroner  held  an  inquest,  and  the  dead  were  all  buried  in 
one  great  trench  dug  by  order  of  the  railroad  officials,  be- 
tween the  railroad  and  the  river,  which  was  a  few  hundred 
yards  distant.  The  bodies  were  put  into  pine  boxes,  each 
dead  Union  soldier  having  a  box  to  himself.  The  dead  pris- 
oners were  buried  four  in  a  box.  We  did  not  get  on  our  way 
until  next  morning,  and  left  many  of  the  wounded  at  Shohola, 
taking  a  number  of  them  with  us." 

That  frightful  accident  occurred  about  2  p.m.,  Friday,  July 
15,  1864.  The  cause  of  the  accident  was  a  drunken  tele- 
graph operator  at  Lackawaxen,  Pa.,  four  miles  west  of  the 
scene  of  the  disaster.  His  name  was  Duff  Kent.  He  had 
been  carousing  the  night  before,  and  was  under  the  influence 
of  liquor  at  his  post  when  Conductor  John  Martin,  of  a  coal 
train  that  had  come  in  off  the  Hawley  Branch  of  the  Erie, 
eastbound,  asked  him  if  the  road  was  clear  for  him  to  go 
ahead.  Kent  said  it  was,  although  the  train  that  carried  a 
flag  ahead  of  the  extra  having  the  prisoners  aboard  had  left 
the  station  on  its  way  west  but  a  short  time  before,  and  Kent 
had  been  informed  that  the  train  bearing  the  prisoners  was 
on  the  road.  This  train  should  have  left  Jersey  City  at  4.30 
a.m.,  Friday,  July  15th,  but  was  delayed  an  hour  or  more  by 
the  captain  of  the  Union  guard  returning  to  the  vessel  on 
which  the  prisoners  had  been  brought  from  City  Point,  to 
look  for  three  of  the  prisoners  who  had  escaped.  When  Con- 
ductor Martin  got  the  word  from  Kent,  his  train  started  east. 
It  consisted  of  fifty  loaded  cars.  At  King  &  Fuller's  cut 
(so-called  from  the  contractors  who  made  it),  a  mile  west  of 
Shohola,  the  train  was  going  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an 
hour,  and  in  that  cut  met  the  extra  train,  with  its  load  of  833 
Confederate  prisoners  and  150  Union  guards,  travelling  twenty 
miles  an  hour.  The  cut  is  a  long  one,  on  a  curve.  Neither 
engineer  could  see  the  track  fifty  feet  ahead  of  him.  Neither 
knew  of  the  other's  presence  there  until  they  came  face  to 
face.  The  engineer  of  the  coal  train,  Samuel  Hoitt,  had  time 
to  jump  from  his  locomotive.  He  escaped  with  but  slight 
injury.  His  fireman,  Philo  Prentiss,  was  crushed  to  death. 
The  engineer  of  the  passenger  train  was  William  Ingram, 
whose  cool  bravery  in  the  face  of  a  horrible  death  is  described 
above  by  Mr.  Evans.  His  fireman  was  Daniel  Tuttle.  Both 
were  buried  in  the  debris  of  the  locomotive,  the  fireman  being 
instantly  killed.  G.  M.  Boyden,  a  brakeman  on  the  coal 
train,  was  also  killed. 

An  inquest  was  held  at  Shohola,  by  Justice  Thomas  J. 
Ridgway  and  a  jury.  It  exonerated  every  one  from  any 
blame,  although  the  criminal  carelessness  that  had  caused  the 
slaughter  was  well  known.  Kent  was  not  molested  ;  but  on 
the  very  night  following  the  accident,  and  while  scores  of  his 
victims  lay  dead,  and  scores  more  were  writhing  in  agony,  he 
attended  a  ball  at  Hawley,  and  danced  until  daylight.  Next 
day,  however,  he  disappeared,  the  voice  of  popular  indigna- 
tion becoming  ominous,  and  he  never  was  seen  or  heard  of 
in  that  locality  again. 

The  trench  in  which  the  dead  were  buried  was  seventy-six 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


443 


feet  long,  eight  feet  wide,  and  six  deep.  The  official  report 
of  the  killed  that  were  buried  places  the  number  at  fifty-one 
Confederates  and  nineteen  Union  soldiers.  The  wounded, 
some  of  whom  died  later,  numbered  123.  This,  at  that 
time,  was  the  most  horrible  and  disastrous  railroad  accident 
on  record.  The  common  grave  of  its  unfortunate  victims 
was  in  time  washed  away  by  floods,  and  the  bones  of  those 
it  contained  were  carried  along,  year  by  year,  until  at  last  the 
ground  was  left  tenantless  of  its  dead. 

At  Carr's  Rock. — Wednesday  morning,  April  15,  1868, 
eastbound  express  train  No.  12  passed  Lackawaxen,  on  the 
Delaware  Division,  at  twelve  minutes  past  three  o'clock.  The 
train  was  forty  minutes  late.  There  were  nine  cars  in  the 
train,  the  three  rear  cars  being  sleeping-coaches.  Jasper  B. 
Judd  was  the  conductor,  Henry  Green  the  engineer.  The 
Delaware  Division  had  then  but  a  single  track.  The  rails 
were  of  iron,  and  of  poor  quality.  When  the  railroad  was 
built  through  that  region,  a  wild  mountain  creek  joined  the 
Delaware  at  the  mouth  of  a  deep  valley,  midway  between 
Shohola  and  Pond  Eddy.  A  high  jutting  rock  on  one  side 
of  the  valley  was  known  as  Carr's  Rock,  and  the  stream  was 
called  ( 'arr's  Rock  Brook.  The  railroad  was  carried  across  the 
creek  and  its  valley  by  filling  in  the  latter  and  by  the  construc- 
tion of  a  culvert  of  heavy  masonry.  The  embankment  and 
culvert  were  fifty  feet  above  the  creek,  the  fall  being  per- 
pendicular at  the  culvert,  and  steep  elsewhere,  the  Delaware 
River  being  about  100  feet  from  the  foot  of  the  embankment. 
The  railroad  curves  sharply  at  this  point. 

The  engineer  was  running  to  make  up  lost  time.  He  had 
passed  an  eighth  of  a  mile  beyond  Carr's  Rock,  when  he  dis- 
covered that  he  had  lost  part  of  his  train.  The  conductor, 
who  was  in  the  front  passenger  car,  had  made  the  discovery 
Before  that,  and  going  back  through  the  train  found  that  the 
sleeping-cars  were  not  there.  They  had  been  thrown  from 
the  track,  and  hurled  over  the  high  embankment  and  culvert. 
As  was  learned  later,  or  as  was  gathered  from  the  evidences 
•on  the  track,  a  rail  250  yards  or  more  west  of  the  culvert  had 
been  broken  by  the  locomotive  of  the  train,  but  the  broken 
rail  had  kept  in  place  until  all  the  cars  but  one  ahead  of  the 
first  sleeper  had  passed  over  it.  When  the  forward  wheels  of 
that  car  struck  it,  a  section  of  the  broken  rail  was  displaced. 
Failing  to  mount  the  safe  rail  ahead  of  it,  the  truck  went  off 
mi  the  ties.  The  rear  truck  remained  on  the  rails,  however, 
as  did  the  following  cars.  The  forward  truck  ran  along  on 
the  ties  700  feet  without  the  mishap  having  been  discovered 
by  the  conductor  or  engineer.  The  passengers  in  the  de- 
railed car  were  awakened  by  its  jolting  over  the  ties,  and 
one  pulled  the  bell-rope.  If  the  track  had  been  straight  the 
derailed  car  would  doubtless  have  followed  on  safely  until  the 
accident  had  been  discovered  and  the  train  stopped,  but 
when  the  wheels  of  the  truck  met  the  beginning  of  the 
sharp  curve  it  failed  to  respond  to  the  change  in  direction, 
and  kept  straight  on.  The  coupling  to  the  car  ahead  was 
broken.  The  cars  behind  the  derailed  one  followed  it  from 
'he  rails  to  the  verge  of  the  precipitous  bank   and  culvert. 


As  the  cars  hung  over  the  gulf,  the  coupling  of  the  second 
and  third  cars  broke.  The  first  one  plunged  from  the  culvert, 
but  was  carried  by  its  momentum  to  the  far  side  of  the  creek, 
where  it  crashed  in  ruin,  carrying  instant  death  to  many  of  its 
helpless  occupants.  The  second  car  rolled  over  and  over 
down  the  steep  and  rocky  slope,  its  sides  splitting  open  and 
its  roof  being  torn  away  in  the  frightful  descent.  The  third 
car  fell  bottom  side  up  to  the  bottom  of  the  steep,  partiallv 
in  the  creek,  and  the  fourth  car  fell  near  it. 

When  the  discovery  that  something  was  wrong  was  made 
by  the  engineer  and  conductor,  and  the  train  was  backed 
to  the  scene  of  the  catastrophe,  the  last  sleeper  was  in  flames, 
lighting  up  fitfully  the  awful  wreck  of  the  other  cars,  from 
which  rose  most  appalling  shrieks  and  groans,  and  making 
the  darkness  of  the  wild  surroundings  more  intense. 

When  the  first  shock  of  the  horrible  casualty  was  over, 
Conductor  Judd  and  his  trainmen,  aided  by  the  passengers 
from  the  cars  that  were  not  wrecked,  and  such  of  those  as 
had  escaped  with  their  lives  from  the  cars  that  had  plunged 
from  the  bank  and  culvert,  hastened  to  the  aid  of  the 
injured  and  to  the  rescuing  of  the  living  who  were  held  fast 
in  the  tangled  debris  of  the  wreck.  The  records  of  the 
sleeping-car  company,  as  was  subsequently  learned,  showed 
that  berths  had  been  sold  to  twenty-three  persons  for  that 
trip  in  the  car  that  caught  fire.  But  two  persons  were  saved 
alive  from  that  car,  and  the  charred  remains  of  what  were 
believed  to  be  those  of  six  others  were  all  that  were  left  to 
show  what  had  become  of  the  remaining  twenty-one.  In  the 
first  car  that  went  into  the  gulf  nearly  every  passenger  was 
killed.  The  car  that  fell  into  the  creek  caught  fire  ;  all  the 
part  that  was  out  of  the  creek  was  burned. 

A  train  with  physicians  and  other  aid  aboard  was  hurried 
to  the  scene  of  the  dreadful  catastrophe  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment,  and  the  dead  and  injured  were  taken  to  Port  Jervis. 
The  injured  were  cared  for  tenderly  at  the  various  hotels 
and  at  private  residences,  by  volunteer  nurses,  and  by  the 
five  physicians  of  the  place,  and  five  sent  from  New  York  by 
the  Company.  The  dead  were  laid  out  in  the  ladies'  waiting- 
room  of  the  depot  to  be  identified  and  taken  away  by  rela- 
tives or  friends.  The  unidentified  remains  were  buried  in 
one  grave  in  Laurel  Grove  Cemetery. 

The  death  list  of  this  most  sickening  tragedy  of  the  rail  is 
as  follows  : 

Ephraim  Hoyt  and  wife,  Chenango  Forks,  N.  V. ;  Mary  E. 
Cobb,  Honesdale,  Pa.  ;  Eneas  Blossom,  proprietor  of  the  Erie 
dining-saloon  at  Susquehanna,  Pa.  :  a  child  of  D.  B.  Tisdell, 
of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  :  H.  Blonvin,  Urbana,  N.  Y.  ;  I.  S.  Dunham, 
Binghamton,  N.  Y. ;  C.  K.  Loomis,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  ;  Elijah 
Knapp,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.  ;  Thomas  Purinton,  New  York  ;  Mrs. 
A.  P.  Snow  and  child,  of  Iowa ;  Tobias  Erlich,  Hornellsville, 
N.  Y. ;  Philip  Richter,  Hoboken,  N.  J. ;  J.  Melvin,  Buffalo  ; 
A.  E.  Brown,  Bath,  N.  Y.  ;  Ferdinand  Sausse,  Paris;  Mrs. 
John  Decker,  of  Binghamton  (among  those  burned  to  death)  ; 
F.  X.  Horton  of  Salem,  Wis. ;  A.  L.  Oliver  of  New*  York  ;  four 
unidentified,  and  those  supposed  to  have  been  entirely  con- 
sumed in  the  rear  sleeper  ;  a  total  of  forty  dead. 


444 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


The  wounded  were  seventy-five,  some  of  whom  never  re- 
covered entirely  from  the  effects  of  their  injuries.  Among 
the  wound  harles  VV.  Douglas,  superintendent  of  the 

Delaware  Division,  and  Charles  S.  Fairman,  editor  of  the 
Elmira  Advertiser. 

A.  coroner's  jury  held  an  inquest  at  Port  Jervis,  N.  Y., 
lulv  17th,  and  another  one  mad  0-i   died    investigation  in 

Pike  County,  Pa.,  where  the  disaster  occurred.  This  latter 
inquest  held  nobody  nor  anything  to  blame  for  the  catas- 
trophe. The  Port  Jervis  inquest  found  that  it  was  due  to  a 
broken  rail  over  which  the  train  was  being  run  at  too  great 

connection  with  this  accident,  the  reader  will  find  it 
interesting  to  refer  to  the  report  of  General  Superintendent 
Hugh  Riddle,  made  to  the  Company  some  weeks  before  the 
Can's  Rock  horror  ("Administration  of  John  S.  Eldridge," 
luges  156-157  1. 

In  August,  1869,  this  most  melancholy  tragedy  was  brought 
sensationally  before  the  public  by  one  of  those  unusual  move- 
ments peculiar  to  the  Gould  and  Fisk  regime.  A  number 
of  the  passengers  injured  at  Carr's  Rock  had  declined  to  ac- 
cept the  terms  of  settlement  offered  by  the  Company,  and 
had  brought  suit  to  recover  heavy  damages.  Among  these 
passengers  were  Stephen  Sweet,  of  Middletown,  and  C.  C. 
D\ke,  of  Brooklyn,  both  of  whom  had  been  seriously  hurt  in 
the  accident.  The  general  verdict  that  the  disaster  was  due 
to  a  broken  rail  and  the  reckless  speed  at  which  the  train 
was  running  had  not  been  questioned  by  any  one,  either  in 
or  out  of  the  Erie  management.  In  the  winter  of  1S68-69, 
derailing  of  trains  was  so  frequent  that  the  management 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the  work  of  train-wreck- 
ers, and  the  Company  offered  a  reward  of  $2,000  for  in- 
formation that  would  lead  to  the  arrest  and  conviction  of  any 
one  concerned  in  such  a  crime.  May  28,  1S69,  a  half-de- 
mented, dissolute  character,  named  James  Bovven,  informed 
the  Erie  watchman  at  Stairway,  seven  miles  west  of  Port  Jervis, 
that  he  had  surprised  a  man  tampering  with  the  rails  at  a  dan- 
gerous spot,  and  recognized  him.  The  watchman  went  with 
Bowen  to  the  spot  and  found  a  rail  loosened.  Bowen  said 
the  man  who  had  tampered  with  the  rail  was  James  Knight, 
who  was  a  well-to-do  and  reputable  farmer  living  in  that 
\  icinity.  Knight  was  arrested,  and  Bowen's  charge  was  found 
to  be  groundless,  and  he  was  himself  arrested  on  charge 
of  being  the  one  who  had  tampered  with  the  rail.  He  was 
1  in  jail  at  Milford,  Pa.,  where,  on  June  2d,  as  was 
announced  in  the  New  York  papers  fune  23d,  he  made  a 
confession,  declaring  that  he  had  displaced  the  rail  and  made 
the  charge  against  Knight  in  hope  of  convicting  him  and 
obtaining  the  $2,000  reward.  The  New  York  papers  also  in- 
timated that  bowen  had  been  guilty  of  wrecking  the  train  at 
Carr's  Rock  in  [868.  This  intimation  was  fiercely  assailed 
by  the  local  papers,  until  it  was  in  turn  intimated  to  them 
that  this  opinion  was  not  only  shared  by  the  management, 
but  had  originated  with  it,  whereupon  the  broken  rail  and 
undue  speed  verdict  of  Carr's  Rock  was  rejected  and  the 
new  theory  accepted.      The  result  was  that  on  August  iSth 


it  was  made  public  that  James  Bowen's  conscience  had  har- 
assed him  so  that  he  had  sent  for  the  local  Erie  officials 
and  attorney,  August  17th,  and  said  that  he  had  something 
to  tell  them.  They  went  to  Milford,  where  thev  bethought 
them  that  it  would  be  well  to  have  some  one  else  hear  what 
James  Bowen  had  to  say,  and  selected  as  such  witnesses  sue  h 
substantial  citizens  as  the  district-attorney  of  Pike  C(  mnty,  and 
an  ex-associate  judge  and  two  ex-sheriffs.  In  the  presence 
of  these  officers  and  ex-officers,  Bowen  confessed  that  he  had 
fixed  the  rail  that  threw  the  train  off  the  track  with  such  ter- 
rible results  at  Carr's  Rock,  that  night  in  April,  1S6.S.  The 
confession,  as  given  to  the  press,  was  an  incoherent,  ram- 
bling statement,  just  such  a  one  as  an  irresponsible,  weak- 
minded  man  like  Bowen  would  make,  but  the  substance  of 
it  had  been  suggested  to  him,  and  by  making  it  he  expei  ted 
to  be  leniently  dealt  with  by  the  court,  although  the  Erie 
officials  were  particular  to  announce  that,  before  they  knew 
what  Bowen  had  it  in  his  mind  to  say,  they  had  warned  him 
that  he  would  say  it  at  his  peril,  and  must  not  expect  any 
leniency  from  them.  This  confession  was  published,  and  poor 
old  Bowen  (he  was  then  over  sixty)  was  denounced  far  and 
wide  as  "  The  Fiend  Bowen."  When  he  came  into  court  to 
get  his  expected  light  sentence,  Judge  George  R.  Barrett 
sentenced  him  to  ten  years  in  the  Eastern  Penitentiary,  and 
to  pay  a  fine  of  Si 0,000. 

But  the  evidence  of  this  "confession,"  introduced  in  the 
proceedings  of  Sweet,  Dyke,  and  others  for  damages  against 
the  Erie,  to  show  that  the  Carr's  Rock  disaster  was  the  work 
of  a  train-wrecker  and  not  the  result  of  any  dereliction 
of  duty,  availed  nothing.  The  plaintiffs  obtained  verdicts 
against  the  Company,  and  collected  damages,  Sweet  for 
Si 0,000  and  Dyke  for  S2o,ooo.  Bowen  served  out  his  sen- 
tence (with  the  exception  of  paying  the  fine)  for  a  crime  he 
never  committed,  and  returned  to  Pike  County,  where  he  died 
in  1S95.  Carr's  Rock  is  now  known  as  Parker's  Glen,  and  a 
sparkling  fountain  playing  in  the  gulf  below  the  culvert  marks 
the  spot  where  that  horror  was,  more  than  thirty  vears  ago. 

At  Mast  Hon:. — On  the  night  of  July  14,  iN6q.  Con- 
ductor Judson  D.  Brown's  freight  train,  bound  west  on  the 
Delaware  Division,  pulled  upon  the  switch  at  Mast  Hope,  Pa., 
to  wait  for  the  passing  of  express  train  No.  3,  which  left  Jer- 
sey City  at  6  130  p.m.,  and  was  due  to  pass  Mast  Hope  at  a 
few  minutes  before  midnight.  The  engineer  of  the  freight 
train  was  James  Griffin.  The  express  train  was  in  charge  of 
Conductor  Henry  Smith.  Charles  Coffey  was  engineer.  The 
train  approached  Mast  Hope  at  its  usual  high  rate  of  speed. 
The  engineer  sounded  his  whistle  as  usual.  Mast  Hope  was 
not  a  stopping  place  for  the  express.  As  he  wis  whizzing  by 
the  station  Engineer  Coffey  was  horrified  to  see  the  locomo- 
tive of  the  freight  train  pulling  out  on  the  main  line  directly 
in  his  path.  He  had  barely  time  to  think  before  his  loco- 
motive had  plunged  into  the  freight  locomotive,  and  was 
turned  completely  round.  The  collision  was  frightful.  How 
Coffey  or  his  fireman,  Perry  Hoyt,  escaped  instant  death  is 
one  of  the  miracles  of  railroad  life.     The  coals  from  the  fire- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


445 


box  of  the  locomotive  set  fire  to  the  wrecked  car  next  to  it. 
The  flames  spread  rapidly.  The  depot  building  caught  fire 
from  the  burning  cars  and  was  destroyed.  Nine  persons  were 
burned  to  death  in  the  cars,  among  them  the  Rev.  Benjamin 
B.  Halleck,  a  Universalist  minister  of  New  York.  He  was 
unhurt  by  the  smash-up,  but  was  held  fast  under  his  seat,  in 
plain  sight  of  those  who  were  doing  all  they  could  to  rescue 
him.  Among  these  was  his  brother-in-law,  who  had  escaped 
from  the  car.  It  was  impossible  to  save  him.  He  coolly  gave 
dire<  tions  as  to  the  best  way  to  extricate  him,  as  the  flames 
closed  in  about  him,  and  he  met  his  awful  death  without  a 
murmur  or  a  groan.  The  dead,  besides  Mr.  Halleck,  were  an 
unknown  family  of  five — father,  mother,  and  three  children, 
immigrants — Daniel  Baer,  and  three  other  passengers,  who 
were  burned  beyond  recognition.  The  number  of  the  injured 
were  ten. 

Engineer  Griffin  disappeared  after  the  disaster,  and  was 
arrested  at  Salamanca,  N.  V.,  July  16th.  He  was  held  by 
the  coroner  on  the  charge  of  manslaughter.  He  was  unable 
to  explain  how  or  why  he  pulled  his  engine  out  on  the  main 
tin  k  ahead  of  the  express,  except  on  the  theory  that  he  had 
fallen  asleep  on  his  engine  while  waiting  on  the  switch,  was 
aroused  by  the  whistling  of  the  passenger  train,  and,  while 


yet  confused  and  half  asleep,  had  started  his  engine  un- 
consciously. He  was  tried  at  Milford,  Pa.,  at  the  Septem- 
ber term  of  court  following.  He  was  defended  by  the  Hon. 
George  W.  Woodward,  ex-Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  other  eminent  counsel,  and  was  acquitted, 
so  greatly  to  the  indignation  of  Judge  George  R.  Barrett,  the 
presiding  judge,  that  he  addressed  the  jury,  after  its  verdii  t, 
in  scathing  terms,  discharged  it,  and  declared  that  its  mem- 
bers were  unfit  to  try  causes  in  any  court. 

Engineer  Coffey  suffered  so  from  nervous  shock  of  the 
collision  that  it  was  years  before  he  could  bring  himself  to 
run  an  engine  again.  He  at  last  conquered  his  aversion,  and 
is  to-day  one  of  the  most  fearless,  as  he  is  one  of  the  oldest, 
engineers  in  the  Erie  employ.  He  runs  an  express  train  on 
the  Susquehanna  Division. 

Engineer  Griffin  was  but  twenty-five  years  old  when  the 
accident  occurred.  His  hair  was  very  dark.  Within  a  year 
his  hair  was  almost  snow  white.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  he 
was,  after  two  or  three  years,  taken  back  into  the  Erie's 
employ,  and  is  in  their  employ  to-day. 

Conductor  Judson  D.  Brown,  of  the  freight  train,  is  a  pas- 
senger conductor  on  the  Erie.  Henry  Smith,  conductor  of 
the  fated  passenger  train,  is  in  business  at  \\  ellsboro,  Pa. 


v     ul  ERIE  RAILWAY-EMPLOYES'  TRIP  PASS 

\!  "~         Valid  only  if  used  within  TIIKKE  DAYS  from  <l«(c. 


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FROM   THE   NORTH  RUP   COLLECTION. 


UNDER  THE  LEGISLATIVE  PROBE. 


LAYING  ERIK  BARK. 


Insinuations  and  Charges  Against  the  Management  Inquired  into  as  Long  Ago  as  1S41 — Not  Proven,  Exoneration  Follows — The  Search  for 
the  Truth  in  the  Days  of  Daniel  Drew  that  Kept  the  New  York  Legislature  Busy — Bribery  and  Corruption  Charged  in  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1S6S — How  the  Action  of  a  Senator  Who  Had  Helped  Investigate  Erie  Led  to  an  Investigation  of  Himself — The  Committee 
Scores  Erie,  but  the  Legislature  Changes  Its  Mind  and  Passes  the  Erie  Bill — After  the  Classification  Bill  in  1S70,  1S71,  and  1S72 — 
Seeking  Truth  About  the  Watson  Dividend  of  1S73 — Erie  Secrets  Come  to  Light — The  Hepburn  Investigation  of  1879  Throws 
Light  on  Various  Things. 


1 84I. 

There  having  been  for  months  rumors  afloat  that  Erie 
affairs  were  being  conducted  after  questionable  methods 
(•■  Second  Administration  of  Eleazar  Lord,"  page  50),  the 
matter  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  New  York  Legis- 
lature, and  on  February  4,  1841,  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Railroads,  composed  of  Erastus  D.  Culver,  of 
Washington  County  ;  Jonathan  Aiken,  of  Dutchess  County  ; 
William  C.  Pierpont,  of  New  York  ;  Seth  C.  Hawley,  of 
Erie,  and  Reuben  Howe,  of  Montgomery  County.  The 
matters  to  be  investigated  were  whether  the  Company  had 
made  contracts  or  purchases  of  material  at  larger  prices 
than  the  work  could  have  been  agreed  upon  in  consideration 
of  the  contractors  subscribing  to  the  stock  ;  whether  the 
stock  had  had  any  market  value  during  the  past  year  ; 
whether  any  cash  payment  had  been  made  in  stock  on  gen- 
eral call  ;  whether  the  interest  on  State  stocks  was  paid 
with  money  obtained  by  selling  the  stock  ;  whether  the 
Company  had  sold  the  State  stock  loaned  to  it  at  less  than 
its  par  value  ;  and  whether  the  Company  had  in  any  way- 
evaded  the  fair  intent  of  the  law  requiring  it  to  expend  a 
certain  proportion  of  its  own  money  before  being  entitled  to 
the  credit  of  the  State. 

The  Committee  made  its  report  May  8th,  exonerating  the 
1  >tii.  1  is  of  the  Company  from  the  charges  and  insinuations 
that  brought  about  the  investigation.  The  report  made  165 
printed  pages,  and  included  many  tables  and  long  statements 
trious  officers.  The  report  was  not  satisfactory  to 
the  opponents  of  the  railroad,  and  Assemblyman  Arphaxad 
Ixjomis.  of  Herkimer  County,  moved  that  it  be  recommitted 
to  the  committee,  with  instructions  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  pro- 
hibit the  further  issuing  of  stocks  to  the  Company  until  the 
further  order  of  the  Legislature.  Assemblyman  Andrew  G. 
Chatfield,  of  Steuben  County,  moved  that  the  matter  be  re- 
ferred to  a  select  committee  for  further  action.  The  matter 
was  finally  settled  May  --4th,  by  the  appointment  of  a  select 
committee  of  three,  on  the  following  resolution  offered  by 
Mr.  Chatfield  : 


Resolved,  That  the  report  of  the  Standing  Committee  on  Rail- 
roads upon  the  petitions  praying  for  further  aid  to  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company,  together  with  the  remonstrances  against  the 
same,  and  the  petitions  for  the  speedy  construction  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  by  the  State,  communicated  to  this  House  on  the 
22d  of  May  instant,  be  referred  to  a  Select  Committee  of  three  mem- 
bers, to  be  appointed  by  ballot,  who  shall  have  power  to  send  for  per- 
sons and  papers,  with  instructions  to  inquire  into  the  management  of 
•-.lid  Company  and  its  officers  ;  to  sit  during  the  recess  of  the  Legis- 
lature, at  such  times  and  places  within  this  State  as  they  shall  deem 
proper,  and  to  report  to  the  next  Legislature. 

The  select  committee  of  the  Assemby  thus  appointed  con- 
sisted of  Andrew  G.  Chatfield,  of  Steuben  County,  chairman  ; 
George  G.  Graham,  of  Ulster;  and  William  B.  Maclay,  of 
New  York. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  committee  was  at  the  office  of  the 
Company  in  New  York  City,  July  29,  1841,  where  it  exam- 
ined the  books  and  took  the  testimony  of  the  officers  and 
agents  of  the  Company.  September  23d,  the  committee 
met  at  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  where  it  was  in  session  until  October 
1  st,  the  first  meeting  day  being  the  day  the  railroad  was 
opened  between  Piermont  and  Goshen. 

October  2d,  the  committee  met  at  Piermont,  and  returned 
to  Coshen,  October  4th,  where  it  prosecuted  its  investiga- 
tion until  October  7th,  when  it  adjourned  to  meet  at  Monti- 
cello,  N.  Y.,  October  nth,  remained  there  two  days,  and 
met  at  Bethel,  Sullivan  County,  N.  Y.,  October  13th.  It  was 
in  session  there  one  day,  and  adjourned  to  meet  at  Bingham- 
ton,  October  18th.  On  the  20th  it  adjourned  to  Owego, 
where  the  investigation  occupied  nine  days,  the  chief  subject 
being  the  difficulty  over  the  location  of  the  route  through 
Owego  and  the  place  where  the  depot  was  to  be.  From 
Owego  the  committee  went  to  Elmira,  where  it  met  on  the 
29th,  and  continued  in  session  until  November  2d.  It  ad- 
journed from  Elmira  to  Corning,  where  its  session  began 
November  4th  and  ended  on  the  6th,  resuming  at  Addison, 
N.  Y.,  on  the  Sth.  From  Addison  the  committee  visited 
Rathbonsville  on  the  9th  ;  Hornellsville  on  the  10th  and 
nth;  Phillipsburg,  Allegany  County,  the  13th;  Cuba  and 
Olean  the  15th  ;  Randolph  the  17th;  Dunkirk  the  19th  and 
20th.     From  Dunkirk  the  committee  adjourned  to  New  York, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


447 


where  it  met  on  December  13th  and  remained  in  session 
until  December  30th. 

The  committee  made  its  report  to  the  Legislature,  Jan- 
uary 1 8,  1842.  The  report  was  exhaustive,  and  occupied, 
with  the  testimony,  exhibits,  reports  of  engineers,  etc.,  699 
pages  of  Vol.  III.  of  Senate  Documents  for  1842.  The  com- 
mittee employed  James  Seymour,  a  prominent  civil  engineer, 
to  pass  over  the  entire  route  of  the  railroad  and  report  on  its 
affairs.      His  report  made  thirty  printed  pages. 

The  committee's  report  not  only  exonerated  the  manage- 
ment on  all  the  allegations,  but  commended  it  for  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  had  prosecuted  the  work,  as  follows  :  "  The 
result  of  this  investigation  not  only  exonerates  the  Company, 
its  officers,  and  its  agents  from  everything  like  a  charge  of 
fraud  or  mismanagement  or  attempt  to  evade  the  law,  but  it 
proves,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  are  justly  entitled  to  the 
confidence  which  the  Legislature  has  heretofore  reposed  in 
them.  Instead  of  being  liable  to  censure,  the  Company  is 
entitled  to  approbation." 

1868. 

While  the  contest  between  Daniel  Drew  and  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt  for  possession  of  the  Erie  Railway  (•'  Administra- 
tion of  John  S.  Eldridge,"  pages  148-160)  was  at  its  height, 
the  Xew  York  Legislature  took  cognizance  of  it.  A  bill 
seeking  to  legalize  the  action  of  the  Erie  Directory  in  over- 
issuing stock  was  introduced  in  the  Assembly,  and  it  was 
defeated  March  31st,  by  an  overwhelming  vote.  Pending 
further  action  on  the  bill,  the  Senate  had  taken  hand  in  Erie 
affairs  on  another  line  of  procedure. 

March  5  th,  Senator  James  F.  Pierce,  of  the  Second  Dis- 
trict, offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  in  the 
Senate  : 

Whereas,  Grave  charges  have  been  made  in  the  newspapers  and 
before  the  Supreme  Court,  in  reference  to  the  management  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  and  that  the  general  management  of  the  said 
(  ompany  is  controlled  by  persons  who  systematically  make  use  of 
their  positions  to  depreciate  and  destroy  the  value  of  the  stock  of  said 
Company,    and    that   the  Directors  of   such  Company  have  issued  a 

amount  of  the  stock  of  such  Company  than   such  Company  is 
entitled  to  issue  by  law,  therefore 

>v/.  That  a  committee  of  three  Senators  be  appointed  to  ex- 
amine into  the  condition  of  such  Company  and  into  the  said  charges, 
witli  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers,  said  investigation  to  be 

ted  without  expense  to  the  State. 

On  motion  of  Senator  Henry  W.  Genet,  of  Xew  York,  the 
following  addition  was  made  to  Senator  Pierce's  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  said  committee  be  directed  to  report  the  testimony 
taken,  and  the  result  of  their  deliberation,  within  twenty  days  from 
the  adoption  of  this  resolution. 

The  preamble  and  resolutions  were  agreed  to. 

March  6th,  on  motion  of  Senator  Abner  C.  Mattoon,  the 
number  of  the  committee  was  increased  from  three  to  five, 
and  such  a  committee  was  appointed  as  follows : 


James  F.  Pierce,  of  the  Second  District ;  John  J.  Bradley, 
of  the  Seventh  District ;  Abner  C.  Mattoon,  of  the  Twenty- 
first  District;  Orlow  AY.  Chapman,  of  the  Twenty-fourth 
District ;  Wolcott  J.  Humphrey,  of  the  Thirtieth  District. 

The  committee  met  at  62  Broadway,  Xew  York,  March  io, 
186S,  and  at  the  Delavan  House,  Albany,  March  13th,  19th, 
24th,  25th.  The  witnesses  examined  were  Horatio  X.  Otis, 
Secretary  of  the  Company;  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  of  the  Erie 
Directory;  David  Groesbeck,  Daniel  Drew's  broker;  Gen.  A. 
S.  Diven,  Vice-President  of  the  Company;  Henry  R.  Pier- 
son,  of  the  Erie  Directory ;  William  G.  Edwards,  cashier  of 
Bloodgood  &  Co.,  of  Wall  Street ;  James  M.  Cross,  a  con- 
tractor of  Xewark,  X.  J.  Jay  Gould,  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  Homer 
Ramsdell,  Daniel  Drew,  John  S.  Eldridge,  President  of  the 
Erie  :  Henry  Thompson,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  John  S.  Hilton, 
William  Belden,  of  Fisk  &  Belden  ;  Henry  M.  Smith,  of 
Smith.  Gould,  Martin  &  Co.,  were  subpoenaed  as  witnesses, 
but  failed  to  appear,  nor  could  they  be  found  by  the  Ser- 
geant-at-Arms  of  the  Senate.  Copies  from  the  minutes  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  bearing  on  the  matter  to  be  investi- 
gated, copies  of  contracts  with  Daniel  Drew,  of  the  lease  of 
the  Buffalo,  Bradford  and  Pittsburg  Railroad,  the  agreement 
with  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  to 
guarantee  the  bonds  of  that  company,  and  of  the  proceedings 
that  led  up  to  that  agreement,  and  the  statement  of  President 
Eldridge  justifying  the  matter  that  had  led  to  the  investiga- 
tion, were  also  part  of  the  testimony. 

April  1st  two  reports  were  submitted  to  the  Senate,  a  ma- 
jority report  signed  by  Senators  Pierce,  Bradley,  and  Mattoon, 
and  a  minority  report  signed  by  Senators  Chapman  and 
Humphrey.  The  majority  report  scored  the  methods  of 
Gould,  Fisk,  Drew,  Eldridge,  and  the  others  of  the  existing 
Erie  management  in  their  manipulating  of  the  Erie  stock 
and  its  over-issue,  declared  that  they  were  acting  in  violation 
of  law  and  morals,  and  denounced  their  acts  in  scathing 
terms.  "Justice  demands,"  said  the  report,  "that  these 
agents  should  be  removed,  but  as  the  courts  have  ample  power 
over  them,  the  committee  have  not  deemed  it  necessary  to 
introduce  a  bill  for  the  purpose.  The  committee,  however, 
believe  that  some  legislation  is  necessary  to  prevent  similar 
practices  in  future,  and  they  accordingly  ask  the  adoption  of 
the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  frauds  and  abuses  developed  by  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  management  of  the  present  directors  and  officers  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company,  demand  that  increased  penalties  for  such  of- 
fences shall  be  imposed  for  the  protection  of  stockholders  and  the  com- 
munity, and  that  the  special  committee  conducting  such  investigation 
be,  and  they  hereby  are,  instructed  to  report  a  bill,  making  it  a  feloni- 
ous offence  for  any  director  or  officer  to  fraudulently  issue  stock  of  the 
Company  in  which  he  holds  such  trust,  or  to  convert  to  his  own  use 
or  purposes  the  proceeds  of  stock  or  bonds,  or  to  fraudulently  take  or 
carry  away  to  another  State,  or  with  like  intent  to  keep  and  retain 
therein,  to  evade  legal  process  in  this  State,  the  moneys  or  effects  of 
such  Company. 

The  minority  report,  which  would  have  been  the  majority 
report   but  for  the  fact  that  Senator  Mattoon  withdrew  his 


448 


BETWEEN1    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


consent  from  it  at  the  eleventh  hour  and  signed  the  Pierce 
and  Bradley  report,  simply  declared  that  the  charges  against 
the  management  had  not  been  established,  and  that  it  had 
done  no  a<  t  that  it  had  not  the  legal  right  to  do.  Leave  was 
given  Senator  Chapman  to  report  to  the  Senate  the  bill  sub- 
mitted with  the  minority  report,  and  the  bill  reported  was 
entitled  "  An  Act  in  relation  to  the  Erie,  New  York  Central, 
Hudson  River,  and  Harlem  Railway  Companies."  It  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 

The  sensation  that  these  two  reports  made  was  increased 
by  an  editorial  paragraph  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  written 
by  Horace  Greeley  himself,  as  follows : 

Senator  Folger  really  mean  to  scout  investigation  as  needless? 
Does  he  not  know  that  quite  a  number  of  his  fellow  Senators  have 
sold  their  votes  in  the  Drew-Vanderbilt  quarrel,  some  of  them  more 
than  once  ?  Can  he  not  lay  his  hand  at  once  on  the  Senator  who  is 
currently  reported  to  have  sold  his  vote  and  influence  first  to  one  side 
for  Sr5,ooo,  and  then  to  the  other  for  §20,000,  insisting  that  he  must 
have  $1,000  extra  for  his  son?  Is  he  not  morally  certain  that  more 
than  $100,000  have  been  paid  to  influence  corruptly  the  action  of  Sen- 
ators in  the  premises? 

There  could  be  only  one  Senator  to  whom  this  charge 
could  apply,  but  before  he  had  taken  any  public  notice  of  it, 
Senator  Matthew  Hale,  on  April  <Sth,  offered  a  preamble  and 
resolutions,  which,  after  warm  debate,  were  amended  and 
presented  in  the  following  form  on  April  10th  : 

Whereas,  It  has  been  charged  that  large  sums  of  money  have 
been  improperly  and  corruptly  expended  by  or  on  behalf  of  persons  in- 
terested in  the  passage  or  defeat  of  certain  measures  relating  to  the  Erie 
Railway  Company,  in  order  to  influence  or  attempt  to  influence  legis- 
lative action  in  supporting  or  opposing  such  measures  :  and,  whereas, 
reports  are  cunent  that  said  parties,  or  some  of  them,  have  been  or 
are  now  attempting  to  influence  Senators  by  corrupt  and  unlawful 
mean'-  ;  and,  whereas,  such  reports,  whether  true  or  false,  tend  to 
bring  this  body  and  the  whole  Legislature  into  discredit  and  public 
contempt  ;  therefore, 

red,  That   this  body  ought,  in  justice   to  its  own  reputation, 

and  in  order  that  corruption  and  briber)',  if  they  exist,  may  be  exposed 

and  punished,  and  that  calumny  and  slander,  if  such  charges  and  re- 

are  false,  may  be  refuted  and  silenced,  to  investigate  as  to  the 

truth  d  of  such  charges  and  reports. 

Resolved,  further.  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the 
President,  with  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers,  to  inquire  and 
ascertain  whether  any  party  or  parties  interested  in  supporting  or  op- 
posing any  measures  relating  to  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  had, 
either  in  person  or  by  agent,  directly  or  indirectly,  paid  or  offered  to 
pay  any  member  or  members  of  the  Senate,  during  the  present  session, 
or  other  valuable  thing  to  influence  his  or  their  vote  or 
action,  in  Senate  or  committee. 

tor  John  O'Donnell,  of  the  Eighteenth  District,  who 
championed  the  Erie  interests  in  this  affair,  moved  to  amend 
by  striking  out  the  word  "  Erie  "  wherever  it  occurred,  and 
inserting  in  lieu  thereof  the  words  "  railroad  companies,"  and 
the  motion  prevailed  by  a  vote  of  17  to  13. 

April  nth,  the  preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted  bv 
a  unanimous  vote.  Senators  Matthew  Hale,  of  the  Sixteenth 
District  :   Richard  Crowley,  of  the  Twenty-ninth,  and   Lewis 


A.  Edwards,  of  the  Eirst,  were  appointed  the  special  com- 
mittee to  conduct  the  investigation. 

May  1st,  Senator  Hale  submitted  the  following  to  the 
Senate  : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  : 

Your  Committee,  appointed  pursuant  to  resolution  adopted  April 
10,  186S,  to  inquire  as  to  the  use  of  money,  etc.,  to  influence  the 
action  of  Senators  upon  measures  relating  to  railways,  respectfully 
report : 

That  they  had  commenced  such  investigations  and  diligently  prose- 
cuted the  same,  so  far  as  time  and  their  other  necessary  duties  would 
permit,  but  have  been  unable  to  accomplish  the  same.  This  failure  to 
accomplish  the  work  entrusted  to  your  Committee  results  in  a  great 
measure  from  inability  to  obtain  the  attendance  of  some  witnesses 
deemed  material  in  such  investigation.  Some  of  those  witnesses,  your 
Committee  have  reason  to  believe,  have  left  the  State  temporarily,  or 
concealed  themselves  within  it,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  the  service 
of  process  to  compel  such  attendance,  thinking  that  the  approaching 
adjournment  will  terminate  the  powers  of  vour  Committee. 

Your  Committee  are  of  the  opinion  that  a  report  of  the  testimony 
taken  in  the  present  incomplete  stage  of  the  investigation  would  do 
injustice  to  some  parties  referred  to  by  witnesses,  and  would  perhaps 
defeat  the  object  of  the  investigation.  They  are,  therefore,  compelled 
to  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  accompanving  resolution. 

The  resolution  was  one  authorizing  this  Committee  to  sit 
during  the  recess  of  the  Legislature,  with  the  same  powers 
and  effect  as  during  the  session,  and  to  report  at  the  next 
regular  session  of  the  Legislature.  It  was  carried  by  a  vote 
of  j  4  to  1,  Senator  Genet  voting  in  the  negative. 

The  action  of  Senator  Hale  on  April  8th  toward  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  special  committee  of  investigation  was 
prompted  by  occurrences  in  the  Assembly  on  Wednesday, 
April  1  st.  Immediately  after  the  vote  accepting  the  report  of 
the  Railroad  Committee  averse  to  the  bill  legalizing  the  acts 
of  the  Directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  Assemblyman 
Elijah  M.  K.  Glenn,  of  Wayne  County,  rose  to  a  question  of 
privilege  and  offered  the  following  : 

Assembi.v  Chamber,  April  1,  1S68. 

To  the  Hon.  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  : 

I,  E.  M.  K.  Glenn,  a  member  of  this  House,  from  my  seat  in  this 
House  do  charge  as  follows  : 

1st.   I  charge  that  the  report  on  the  Erie  Railroad  bill  was  bought. 

2d.  I  charge  that  a  portion  of  the  vote  on  this  floor,  in  adopting 
the  said  report,  was  bought. 

3d.  I  charge  that  members  of  this  House  were  engaged  in  buying 
their  fellow  members. 

Mr.  Glenn  moved  by  resolution  that  the  Speaker  appoint  a 
committee  of  five  to  investigate  the  charges. 

The  Speaker  appointed  Augustus  G.  S.  Allis,  of  Onondaga 
Countv  ;  lames  R.  Button,  of  Cattaraugus  County  ;  James  I  >. 
Lasher,  of  Oswego  County  :  Lewis  P.  Dayton,  of  Erie  County, 
and  Alexander  Frear,  of  New  York,  as  the  committee. 

Mr.  Glenn  asked  for  and  was  granted  leave  of  absein  e  foi 
a  week.  On  his  return,  he  presented  a  communication  to 
the  Assembly,  April  9th,  in  which  he  formally  charged  As- 
semblyman  Frear,  in  conjunction   with    Mark    M.  Lewis,  of 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


449 


Albany,  with  having  offered  him  S500,  on  March  27th,  to  in- 
fluence his  vote  on  the  Erie  bill,  and  asked  that  Mr.  Frear  be 
relieved  from  serving  on  the  investigating  committee. 

Mr.  Frear  offered  his  resignation  as  one  of  the  committee, 
but  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  committee  itself  to  investi- 
gate, and  report  whether  any  action  on  it  was  necessary. 
The  committee  took  immediate  action,  and  April  10th  re- 
[Kirted  that  "  the  evidence  does  not  furnish  any  justification 
for  the  charges  made  by  Mr.  Glenn  against  Mr.  Frear,  ami 
we  have  unanimously  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  testi- 
mony exonerates  him  from  this  charge,"  and  that  his  request 
to  be  excused  from  serving  on  the  committee  be  denied. 

The  report  was  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  Assembly, 
and  Mr.  Frear  addressed  the  House.  In  the  course  of  his 
remarks  he  said  : 

I  became  satisfied,  on  investigating  the  facts,  that  the  acts  of  the 
confederated  Erie  Directors — trustees  as  they  were — constituted  a  high- 
handed fraud  upon  the  rights  of  stockholders,  and  a  violation  of  the 
common  principles  of  honesty,  which,  if  committed  by  men  of  humbler 
means  and  station,  would  have  subjected  them  undoubtedly  to  punish- 
ment at  the  criminal  bar  ;  and  I  stood,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say, 
prominently  among  eighty-two  members  of  this  Mouse  against  the 
audacious  attempt  of  these  stock-jobbing  conspirators  to  secure  the 
sanction  of  legislative  aid  to  such  palpable  frauds  and  atrocious  viola- 
tions of  trust.  .  .  .  It  is  a  painful  thing  to  recognize  from  the 
testimony  that  the  immediate  prompter  of  this  accusation  is  an  old 
man,  who  seems  to  have  outlived  everything  but  his  malignity.  The 
member  from  Wayne  stands  without  any  justification,  except  the  in- 
firmities of  mind  and  body.  .  .  .  Under  other  circumstances  it 
might  have  been  due  to  the  dignity  of  this  House  that  the  member 
from  Wayne  should  have  been  subjected  to  the  judgment  of  his  fellow 
member';  for  an  offence  which  nothing  but  his  weakness  palliates.  As 
it  is.  I  leave  his  ease  and  mine  in  your  hands,  and  to  the  consideration 
of  an  intelligent  community. 

Assemblyman  Lawrence  D.  Kiernan,  of  New  York,  moved, 
inasmuch  as  the  charges  against  Mr.  Frear  had  not  been 
established,  and  had  evidently  been  made  wantonly,  that  Mr. 
Glenn  be  brought  before  the  bar  of  the  House  and  publicly 
censured.  The  resolution  was  carried,  but,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Frear,  all  action  in  the  matter  was  postponed  until  the  final 
report  of  the  investigating  committee  had  been  made. 

April  irth  Mr.  Glenn  tendered  his  resignation  as  Member 
of  Assembly,  and  the  record  makes  no  further  mention  of  the 
matter. 

The  witnesses  examined  by  the  investigating  committee 
were  Mr.  Glenn,  who  appeared  at  the  morning  session,  but 
lined  to  answer  a  subpcena  to  attend  in  the  afternoon. 
His  testimony  was  rambling,  and  established  nothing;  Mark 
M.  Lewis,  of  Albany,  an  optician  and  lobbyist  ;  Assemblyman 
Frear,  who  denied  absolutely  the  charges  of  Mr.  Glenn; 
Assemblyman  Henry  Rav,  of  Ontario  County  ;  Assemblyman 
Luke  Ranney,  of  Onondaga  County,  and  Assemblyman 
Augustus  A.  Brush,  of  Dutchess  County. 

April  1st  Mr.  Chapman,  from  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Railroads,  reported  a  bill  entitled,  "  An  Act  in  relation  to  the 
Erie,  New  York  Central,  Hudson  River,  and  Harlem  Railway 
Companies,"  which   was   referred  to   the  Committee  of  the 

2q 


Whole.  April  nth  it  was  made  the  special  order  for  Tues- 
day, April  14th,  and  to  be  continued  the  special  order  there- 
after until  disposed  of.  This  was  an  act  legalizing  the 
over-issue  of  Erie  stock  and  the  other  transactions  of  the 
management  that  had  led  to  the  investigation. 

April  17th  Walcott  J.  Humphrey,  of  the  Thirtieth  Dis- 
trict, reported  from  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  in  favor  of 
the  passage  of  the  bill,  and  the  report  was  agreed  to,  and 
April  iSth  the  bill  was  passed  on  avote  of  17  to  12.  Among 
those  who  voted  for  the  Erie  bill  was  Senator  Mattoon,  who 
had  deserted  the  minority  of  the  Investigating  Committee 
and  signed  the  caustic  anti-Erie  report  of  the  majority. 

April  21st,  in  the  Assembly,  on  motion  of  William  C. 
Bentley,  of  Otsego  County,  the  bill  went  to  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole,  and  the  same  day  it  was  reported  favorably  and 
passed,  the  negative  votes  being  W.  S.  Andrews,  of  Kings ; 
James  Irving,  of  New  York  ;  Alembert  Pond,  of  Saratoga 
County  ;  Alpheus  Prince,  of  Erie  County  ;  Robert  Stewart, 
of  Madison  County. 

Among  those  voting  for  the  Erie  bill  in  the  Assembly  was 
Frear,  who  had  shown  such  righteous  indignation  over  the 
mere  fact  that  the  Erie  should  have  come  to  the  Legislature 
and  asked  for  aid. 

The  Hale  Investigating  Committee  held  meetings  as 
follows  : 

1868.  At  the  Capitol,  Albany,  April  iSth,  20th,  22d,  23d, 
29th,  30th  ;  May  28th,  29th,  30th  ;  June  2d,  9th,  12th,  when 
it  adjourned  subject  to  call  of  chairman.  The  next  meetings 
were  December  15th,  16th,  17th,  22d,  at  Albany. 

1S69.  At  Congress  Hall,  Albany,  January  4th,  25th; 
February  16th,  22d. 

The  following  were  the  principal  witnesses  examined  by 
the  committee  : 

John  B.  Dutcher,  Abram  Van  Yechten  (lobbyist),  Hugh  J. 
Hastings,  Jay  Gould,  Cornelius  Yanderbilt,  Jr.,  Charles  C. 
Clark  (Treasurer  of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company), 
Thomas  G.  Alvord,  Dyer  D.  S.  Brown  (editor  of  the  Roches- 
ter Democrat),  Horace  Greeley,  Thomas  C.  Fields  (ex-Sena- 
tor), Senator  Abner  C.  Mattoon,  Ashbel  N.  Cole,  Julien  T. 
Williams,  M.D.  (ex- Assemblyman),  Senator  O.  W.  Chapman, 
John  Wan  Yalkenburg  (lobbyist),  Senator  Abiah  W.  Palmer, 
John  Flavel  Mines  (newspaper  correspondent),  Louis  F. 
Payne  (lobbyist  and  harbor-master). 

May  5  th,  Senator  Edwards  resigned  from  the  Hale  Investi- 
gating Committee,  and  Senator  Asher  P.  Nichols,  of  the 
Twenty-first  District,  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

In  the  course  of  the  investigation  it  was  brought  out  that 
during  the  interesting  legislation  on  the  Erie  bill  there 
had  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Erie,  Hamilton  Harris, 
Lyman  Tremain,  and  Peter  Cagger,  of  Albany,  and  John 
Ganson,  of  Buffalo,  as  counsel,  and  Hugh  J.  Hastings,  Julien 
T.  Williams,  Dyer  D.  S.  Brown,  as  lobby  agents.  The  Yander- 
bilt lobbyists  were  Abram  Van  Yechten,  John  B.  Dutcher, 
ami  John  Van  Yalkenburg.  George  Bliss,  Jr.,  acted  as  coun- 
sel in  opposition  to  the  bill.     Gen.  A.  S.  Diven,  Yice-Presi- 


45" 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


dent  of  the  Erie,  had  general  charge  of  legislation  in  the 
interest  of  1 

lav  Could  in  his  testimony  said  that  the  Company  had 
about   fifty  lawyers  employed  during   the    procuring   of  the 

legislation  or,  the  Erie  bill,  and  that  between  $25,000  and 
$50,000  had  been  used  by  the  Company  at  Albany.  He  had 
told  all  persons  who  had  come  to  him  and  said  the)  could 

influence  votes  that  the  bill  must  be  passed  on  its  merits,  and 
that  if  it  did  not  pass  he  would  go  home  without  it. 

Louis  F.  Payne  was  introduced  to  him,  he  said,  by  a  letter 
from  I.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  who  recommended  him,  and,  on 
s  representation  of  what  he  had  clone  for  the  Erie  in 
the  legislation  of  the  past  winter,  and  what  he  could  do  still. 
Gould  gave  him  55,000.  One  thing  that  Payne  declared  h< 
could  do  was  to  influence  the  vote  of  Senator  Abiah  W. 
Palmer,  of  Dutchess  County  (in  Payne's  district),  a  disposi- 
tion of  himself  which  Senator  Palmer,  under  oath,  declared 
Payne  could  not  make,  and,  indeed,  would  not  have  dared  to 
attempt.  The  day  after  Gould  had  paid  Payne  the  $5,000 
he  received  a  letter  from  headquarters  at  Xew  York,  telling 
him  that  they  "  had  sent  up  this  man,  who  represented  that 
he  could  do  great  things,"  and  the  letter  said  at  the  bottom, 
"  Pay  him  nothing.  He  has  been  compensated."  Then 
Gould  learned  that  Erie  Director  Henry  Thompson  had 
already  paid  Payne  $5,000,.  "and,"  said  he,  "  I  saw  I  had 
been  swindled.  He  told  me  he  was  making  $25,000  or 
$30,000  a  year,  and  being  up  here  had  injured  him  to  that 
amount.  He  wanted  more  than  that  ($5,000),  but  I  told 
him  $5,000  was  more  than  I  could  earn  in  a  year."  After 
Gould  discovered  that  he  had  duplicated  Payne's  pay,  he 
said  he  met  him  at  the  Delavan  House  and  told  Payne  that 
he  (Payne)  had  obtained  the  money  unfairly,  and  demanded 
that  he  return  the  $5,000.  "  He  (Payne)  said  he  would  be 
damned  if  he  would." 

Payne  in  his  testimony  declared  that  the  amount  was 
for  his  personal  services,  and  that  he  had  been  sent  for 
by  Director  Thompson  of  the  Erie,  and  solicited  to  go  to 
Albany  to  assist  in  the  passage  of  the  Erie  bill,  but  he  refused 
to  do  so  until  he  was  paid  for  his  past  services.  Thompson 
paid  the  amount.  Payne  said  he  was  unable  to  say  to  the 
committee  of  just  what  service  he  was  to  be  to  the  Company. 

February  16,  1869,  Thomas  Murphy,  ex-Senator,  and 
subsequent!)  <  '<>lle<  tor  of  the  Port  of  New  York  under  Presi- 
dent Grant,  in  telling  what  he  knew  about  Erie  affairs  as 
regarded  legislation,  swore  that  one  evening,  at  a  meeting  at 
the  Union  League  Club  in  Xew  York,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  raise  money  to  aid  the  Republican  party  in  the  campaign  of 
it  was  stated  that  the  Erie  Railway  Company  had 
contributed  $100,000  to  the  Democratic  party.  Senator 
Murphy  was  deputed  by  the  Republican  State  Committee  to 
call  on  Gould  and  see  if  he  would  not  help  that  party,  too. 
William  Leiden,  James  Fisk's  partner,  accompanied  him. 
He  fust  saw  Fisk.  He  told  Fisk  the  Republican  party  had 
saved  the  Erie  in  1868,  and  asked  for  Si 00,000.  Fisk  said 
he  must  see  Could,  who  soon  came  in.  Could  informed 
Senator  Murphy  that  Vanderbilt  had  told  him  that  he  (Van- 


derbilt)  had  not  aided  either  party,  and  that  he  (Gould) 
intended  to  pursue  the  same  policy.  Murphy  insisted,  and 
then  Gould  said  he  had  already  given  something  to  the 
Republican  party — $20,000  to  Governor  Fenton,  through 
Hamilton  Harris.  Subsequently  Director  Henry  Thompson 
told  Senator  Murphy  that  he  was  present  when  the  S2o,ooo> 
in  two  checks  of  $10,000  each,  was  paid  to  Harris,  who  said 
that  the  Erie  bill  would  be  signed  within  two  or  three  hours 
from  that  time  ;  and  it  was. 

This  implication  that  Governor  Fenton  had  been  bribed 
to  sign  the  Erie  bill  was  another  sensation  in  the  affair.  Jay 
Gould,  on  February  2 2d,  appeared  voluntarily  before  the 
committee  and  denied  all  of  Murphy's  story  about  the  pay- 
ment of  $20,000  to  Harris  for  Covernor  F>nton.  James 
Fisk,  Jr.,  corroborated  him,  and  Hamilton  Harris  swore  that 
he  never  received  $20,000  or  any  other  amount  from  Jay 
Gould  for  Covernor  Fenton.  That  settled  the  Fenton  inci- 
dent. 

Erie  Director  Henry  Thompson  told  the  committee, 
February  16th,  that  Luther  Caldwell,  of  Elmira,  who  was  con- 
nected with  the  press  of  the  State,  represented  that  he  could 
render  great  service  to  the  Erie  legislation  thereby,  and 
Thompson  gave  him  over  $60,000  to  be  used  in  such  service 
for  the  Erie  bill.  Subsequentlv  Thompson  gave  Jay  Gould 
an  order  on  Caldwell  to  repav  the  money  to  him  at  Albany. 
In  regard  to  this,  Gould  testified  that  Thompson  had  given 
him  a  sealed  envelope  addressed  to  Caldwell,  without  stating 
what  it  contained.  Gould  left  it  at  the  Delavan  House  for 
Caldwell,  and  never  heard  any  more  about  it.  This  was  the 
or  ler  for  the  money  Thompson  had  given  Caldwell,  and  that 
was  the  last  the  money  was  ever  heard  of  by  the  Erie  man- 
agers, except  that  it  was  refunded  to  Thompson  from  the  Erie 
treasury,  thus  doubling  the  cost  cf  the  transaction  to  the 
Company. 

After  the  defeat  of  the  Erie  bill  in  the  Assembly,  March 
31,  1868,  Gould  said  the  Company  had  concluded  to 
abandon  legislation,  but  Senator  Mattoon  came  to  Jersey 
City  with  the  report  signed  by  Senators  Chapman  and 
Humphrey,  and  his  statement  was  that  it  was  to  be  the 
majority  report,  and  that  it  would  be  no  more  than  an  a<  t 
of  justice  to  the  committee  that  some  representative  of  the 
Erie  should  go  to  Albany  and  explain  away  the  popular 
prejudice  against  the  Company  ami  the  bill  it  asked  for. 
"  That  was  one  thing  that  induced  me  to  come  up,"  said  Could. 
"  It  was  Saturday  before  the  report  was  made.  I  got  the 
report  printed  for  him.  He  said  I  ought  to  come  up.  1 
came  up.  I  met  him  ....  two  or  three  times.  He 
seemed  to  be  friendly  to  us.  I  was  perfectly  astounded 
when  I  heard  he  had  signed  the  other  report.  He  explained 
to  me  that  he  had  not  read  the  other  report  at  the  time  he 
saw  me,  and  reading  that  report  had  changed  his  mind." 
("Administration  of  John  S.  Eldridge,"  pages  152-155.) 

Senator  Mattoon  denied  all  the  charges  against  him.  He 
denied  Gould's  story  of  the  report,  and  said  he  had  never 
had  a  copy  of  it  in  his  possession.  He  went  to  Jersey  City 
at   the    request  of    Daniel    Drew  simply    to   give    the    Erie 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


451 


people  advice  on  the  best  way  to  carry  their  bill,  he  being  in 
favor  of  it.  He  was  in  favor  of  the  Erie  because  they  had 
perfected  a  freight  arrangement  by  which  a  great  reduction 
in  the  carrying  of  flour  from  Oswego  via  that  railroad  had 
been  effected  which  was  beneficial  to  his  constituents. 

General  Diven's  testimony  was  that  Mattoon  came  to  the 
office  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  with  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion to  Auditor  Hilton,  and  was  introduced  to  Directors  Gould, 
Drew,  and  Thompson,  and  President  Eldridge.  Mattoon  said 
the  object  of  moving  for  the  investigation  was  mercenary,  and 
that  he  intended  to  prevent  its  success. 

Senator  Chapman  said  that  he  and  Humphreys  were  at 
Senator  Pierce's  room  at  the  Delavan,  and  he  read  the  sub- 
stance of  the  report  he  had  drawn.  They  said  they  could 
not  subscribe  to  all  it  protested,  and  they  subsequently  drew 
up  a  report  embodying  their  views.  This  they  submitted  to 
Senator  Mattoon,  and  he  approved  of  it,  and  agreed  to  sign 
it,  but  he  afterward  signed  the  report  drawn  by  Senator 
Pierce,  thus  making  that  one  the  majority  report. 

Iiiniel  Drew  testified  before  the  Investigating  Committee 
that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  any  money  being  paid  out  of 
the  treasury  of  that  Company  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
curing legislation  ;  but  he  testified  that  Mr.  Eldridge,  the 
President  of  the  road,  drew  out  $500,000  before  the  session 
of  the  Legislature,  ostensibly  for  purposes  of  litigation, 
which  was  charged  on  the  books  of  the  Company  to  Presi- 
dent Eldridge  individually,  and  which  had  not  been  ac- 
counted for  when  he  (Drew)  retired  from  the  office  of  treas- 
urer of  the  Company  in  July,  r868,  and  that  no  money 
other  than  that  had  been  drawn  out  of  the  treasury  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  the  Company  at  Albany. 

The  committee,  in  its  report  made  to  the  Senate  March 
10,  1869,  did  not  seem  to  agree  with  Mr.  Drew  on  that  sub- 
ject. "It  is  evident,"  the  report  declared,  "that  large 
amounts  of  money  were  actually  paid  for  various  purposes. 
Mr.  Gould  paid  $5,000  to  Louis  A.  Payne,  and  $2,000  to 
some  person  (he  thinks  his  name  was  William  King)  for  Mr. 
I ).  D.  S.  Brown,  of  Rochester,  and  something  more  than 
$25,000,  and  he  thinks  less  than  $50,000,  not  including 
payment  by  draft,  to  counsel  and  agents.  Mr.  Thompson 
paid  $5,000  to  Payne,  and  upwards  of  $60,000  to  Luther 
Caldwell,  which  was  refunded  to  him  by  the  Erie  Railway 
Company.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  large  sums  of  money 
did  come  from  the  treasury  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 
which  were  expended  for  some  purpose  in  Albany  for  which 
no  vouchers  seem  to  have  been  filed  in  the  office  of  the 
Company.  The  objects  of  the  expenditure  cannot  be 
learned  from  the  books  of  the  Company.  The  testimony  of 
Mr.  Drew  shows  where  these  funds  may  have  come  from. 
Whether  the  creation  of  so  large  a  fund  as  that  intrusted 
to  Mr.  Eldridge  in  this  instance,  the  expenditure  of  which 
is  left  entirely  to  the  discretion  of  a  single  individual,  and  for 
which  no  vouchers  or  accounts  are  required,  is  usual  with 
railroad  companies,  your  committee  are  not  informed.  Mr. 
Eldridge  being  a  citizen  of  and  in  another  State,  his  attend- 
ance before  your  committee  could  not  be  compelled.     He 


was  invited  by  letter  to  appear  and  testify,  but  the  invitation 
was  not  responded  to. 

"  The  testimony  leaves  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  your 
committee  that  large  sums  of  money  were,  in  fact,  furnished 
with  the  intent  that  they  should  be  used  for  the  purposes  of 
influencing  legislation  unlawfully.  In  the  only  cases  in 
which  your  committee  have  been  able  to  obtain  any  direct 
evidence,  the  moneys  so  furnished  were  not,  in  fact,  used  for 
the  purpose  intended,  but  went  to  enrich  members  of  the 
lobby.  Mr.  Caldwell  himself,  after  several  unsuccessful 
efforts  to  procure  his  attendance,  appeared  before  your  com- 
mittee on  the  day  preceding  the  commencement  of  the 
present  session  of  the  Senate.  In  reply  to  a  question 
whether  he  received  any  money  from  any  officer  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  to  be  used  in  securing  the  passage  of  the 
bill,  he  answered  in  the  negative.  A  question  whether  he  re- 
ceived money  from  such  source  for  any  purpose,  he  declined 
to  answer  '  till  he  had  time  for  reflection.'  The  question 
whether  he  knew  of  money  being  paid  by  any  person 
interested  for  or  against  the  bill,  to  any  one  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  the  vote  of  any  Senator,  and  whether  he 
received  money  from  any  party  interested  in  opposing  the 
bill — he  said  he  could  decide  whether  he  would  answer  these 
questions  by  the  next  morning,  and  the  committee  adjourned 
to  the  next  morning  to  give  him  the  desired  opportunity  for 
'  reflection.'  Your  committee  were  in  attendance  the  next 
day  at  the  appointed  hour  and  place,  but  Mr.  Caldwell  did 
not  appear,  nor  has  he  since  been  before  them,  and  on  in- 
quiry your  committee  have  been  informed  that  he  is  spend- 
ing the  season  in  some  of  the  Southern  States. 
The  conviction  is  forced  upon  the  minds  of  your  committee 
that  some  persons  interested,  both  for  and  against  the  bill, 
were  furnishing  money  from  some  source  with  the  intent  and 
for  the  purpose  of  corruptly  and  unlawfully  influencing  leg- 
islation." 

The  committee  went  no  deeper  into  an  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject than  that,  and  no  one  was  censured  nor  was  any  charge 
reported  as  legally  sustained.  The  scandals  had  simply  come 
as  delectable  morsels  for  the  newspapers  to  serve  to  their 
readers,  and  as  texts  for  more  or  less  platitudinous  editorial 
comment. 

1870 — 187 1  — 1872. 

The  time  of  the  New  York  Legislature  was  largely  taken 
up  in  these  years  by  the  discussion  and  consideration  of  meas- 
ures set  afoot  by  the  opposition  to  the  Gould  management  for 
the  purpose  of  repealing  the  Classification  Act  of  1S69,  as 
it  was  impossible  to  get  Erie  out  of  the  hands  of  that  man- 
agement by  any  regular  process  so  long  as  that  law  was  in 
force.  ("Administration  of  Jay  Gould,"  pages  174,  176.) 
The  petitioners  for  the  repeal  were  defeated  in  rSyo  and 
1S7 1,  so  completely  had  the  Erie  management  the  control  of 
the  Legislature  in  hand.  Whether  the  repeal  would  have 
been  effected  in  1872,  if  it  had  not  been  that  the  dethrone- 
ment of  Jay  Gould  was  accomplished  while  action  on   the 


1- 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


measure  was  pending  in  the  Legislature  that  year,  is  a  ques- 
tion. ("Administration  of  Jay  Gould,"  pages  182-200.) 
li  was  before  the  committee  having  the  matter  in  charge  in 
1872  that  Thomas  C.  Shearman,  oi  Erie  counsel,  made  his 
explanation  of  how  the  cost  of  the  old  New  York  and  Krie 
Railroad,  the  affairs  of  which  had  been  closed  out  by  the 
mization  in  1861,  and  which  cost  had  been  reported 
1  years  at  $38,964,728,  was  advanced  to  $86,626,350 
in  1870.  According  to  Mr.  Shearman,  the  addition  of  the 
$47,661,622  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  blanks  furnished 
by  the  State  to  railroad  companies  for  making  out  their 
annual  reports  to  the  State  Engineer  had  no  room  on  them 
for  the  auditor  to  charge  the  expenses  that  increase  repre- 
sented, and  so  he  had  no  recourse  but  to  charge  it  to  the 
New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  !  "  To  which,"  said 
Mr.  Shearman,  "it  was  probably  as  appropriate,  to  say  the 
least,  as  it  would  be  under  any  other  specific  item  of  the 
account."  "The  auditor  of  the  Company,"  remarked  Mr. 
Shearman,  "  of  his  own  motion,  selected  as  the  most  reason- 
able item  for  this  purpose  the  charge  entitled,  'New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company  '  !  " 

And  so  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  stands 
of  record  as  having  expended  nearly  $40,000,000  more 
money  than  it  did  expend  in  building  and  equipping  its  rail- 
road, simply  because  the  auditor  of  the  Erie  Railroad  Com- 
pany had  no  room  on  the  report  blank  to  indicate  what  that 
amount  of  expenditure  really  did  represent,  and  there  is  no 
record  at  all  of  what  was  actually  done  with  that  vast  sum  of 
money,  or  the  amount  it  actually  represented  in  cash.  To 
this  day  that  false  charge  to  the  old  Erie  construction  ac- 
count figures  in  the  Company's  reports. 

The  Classification  Act  was  repealed  March  14,  1872. 

1873- 

Rumors,  which  the  newspapers  of  the  day  had  given  prom- 
inence to  and  claimed  stability  for,  that  a  dividend  on  Erie 
stock  was  to  be  declared,  and  that  it  could  not  be  an  honest 
one  ("Administration  of  Peter  H.Watson,"  pages  219-221), 
called  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  Erie  affairs  again. 
At  the  session  of  1873,  February  17th,  in  the  Assembly, 
Isaac  II.  Babcock,  of  Niagara  County,  offered  the  following: 

WHEREAS,  It  is  well  known  that  a  large  majority  of  the  stock  now 
outstanding  against  the  Krie  Railroad  Company  was,  by  a  corrupt 
collusion  of  its  officers,  fraudulently  issued,  and  that  there  never  was 
.  ent.  on  the  par  value  of  such  stock  paid  into  the  treasury  nor 
expended  by  it  on  its  property  for  the  public  welfare,  owing  to  such 
corrupt  action  of  its  officers  ;  and, 

W  HEREAS,  The  original  purchasers  of  said  stock  did  not  pay  more 
than  the  above-named  amount  for  the  same,  thereby  implicating  them- 
selves with  those  who  perpetrated  the  fraud  ;  and, 

Win  11  AS,  It  has  been  made  public  that  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
that  I  ompany  have  declared  a  dividend  on  the  entire  amount  of  stock 
outstanding  against  it,  which  dividend  is  limited  only  in  consequence 
of  the  earnings  of  its  road,  and  not  in  consideration  of  the  manner 
in  which  such  stock  was  issued  ;  and, 

Win  i;i    .   ,     The  practical  effect  of  allowing  dividends  to  be  paid  on 


such  stock  would  be  to  recognize  and  encourage  fraud,  to  paralyze  the 
industries  of  an  innocent  people  living  tributary  to  the  line  of  the  road 
that  Company  represents,  by  imposing  additional  burdens  on  them  for 
its  use  ;  to  levy  unjust  and  oppressive  burdens  on  the  commerce  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  on  whose  commercial  supremacy  the  welfare  of  the 
Stale  so  largely  depends  ;  to  increase  the  cost  of  living  by  increasing 
the  cost  of  transporting  the  necessaries  of  life  between  producers  and 
consumers;  and,  finally,  to  enrich  adventurers,  gamblers,  and  specu- 
lators, as  against  good  morals,  the  welfare  of  the  people,  and  public 
policy  ;  therefore, 

Resolved  (if  the  Senate  concur),  That  the  Attorney-General  of  this 
State  be  and  is  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  commence  proceed- 
ings against  the  officers  and  directors  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company, 
restraining  them  from  paying  said  dividend  or  any  other  dividends  on 
the  fraudulently  issued  stock  of  said  Company,  such  proceedings  to 
be  brought  immediately  in  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction  ;  and 
in  case  the  decision  of  such  court  shall  be  in  favor  of  the  payment  of 
such  dividend,  then  such  case  to  be  brought  immediately  thereafter 
before  the  Court  of  Appeals  for  its  adjudication  and  decision. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  instituted  under  these  resolutions 
shall  take  precedence  over  all  other  cases  on  the  calendar  of  the  court 
or  courts  wherein  such  proceedings  are  held. 

Resolved,  That  the  Attorney-General  be  and  is  hereby  authorized  to 
employ  such  additional  counsel  as  he  may  deem  necessary  in  prosecut- 
ing the  duties  hereby  imposed. 

March  10th,  on  Mr.  Babcock's  motion,  the  following  was 
substituted  for  his  resolution  authorizing  action  by  the  Attor- 
ney-General : 

And,  whereas,  It  has  been  currently  reported  and  charged  in  the 
public  prints  and  elsewhere,  that  a  large  and  improper  expenditure  of 
money  was  made  by  the  foreign  stockholders  and  officers  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company  in  the  transfer  of  the  management  of  that  Com- 
pany, in  the  year  1872,  and  that  by  corrupt  contract  for  the  negotia- 
tion of  its  bonds  the  agents  of  said  foreign  stockholders  have  since 
been  indirectly  reimbursed  out  of  the  treasury  of  said  Company,  and 
that  a  large  sum  was  used  to  influence  legislation  connected  with  said 
road  in  the  same  year  ;  and  that  other  gross  irregularities  on  the  part 
of  said  road  and  its  managers  were  committed,  have 

Resolved,  That  the  Attorney-General  of  this  State  be  and  is  hereby 
directed  to  report  to  this  House  within  twenty  days,  whether  in  his 
opinion  the  dividends  so  declared  upon  the  aforesaid  fraudulently- 
issued  stock  of  said  Company  can  be  legally  paid  out  of  the  treasury, 
and  whether  the  said  Erie  Railway  Company  may  not  be  restrained  by 
the  courts  from  paying  such  dividends,  or  any  other  dividend,  upon 
any  stock  thus  fraudulently  created. 

Resolved,  That  a  select  committee  of  five,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
speaker,  be  and  they  are  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  investigate 
said  improper  and  corrupt  acts,  and  to  report  thereon  to  this  House, 
within  thirty  days  ;  and  that  said  committee  be  authorized  to  send  for 
persons  and  papers. 

The  Speaker,  March  12th,  appointed  the  following  special 
committee,  under  the  resolution  :  Isaac  H.  Babcock,  of  Nia- 
gara County;  Cyrello  S.  Lincoln,  of  Ontario  County;  Wil- 
liam  S.  Opdyke,  of  New  York  ;  Charles  Crary,  of  New  York  ; 
Jacob  B.  Carpenter,  of  Dutchess  County.  March  20th,  Mr. 
Opdyke  resigned,  and  Amherst  Wight,  Jr.,  of  Westchester 
County,  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

April  9th,  Mr.  Babcock  presented  a  partial  report,  in  which 
he  said  that  the  committee  had  been  unable  to  complete  its 
labors  within  the  time  allowed  bv  the  resolution,  and  recon  ■ 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


453 


mended  the  adoption  of  the  following  preamble  and  resolu- 
tion : 

Whereas,  The  special  committee  appointed  to  investigate  theaffairs 
of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  or  its  officers,  and  to  ascertain  and  report 
whether  said  Company  or  its  officers  have  been  guilty  of  any  unlawful 
or  corrupt  practices  with  regard  to  legislation  during  the  year  1S72, 
has  fully  investigated  the  present  management  of  said  Company  and 
the  proceeding  upon  which  the  dividend  recently  declared  by  said 
Company,  was  declared  and  paid  ;  but  it  appears  by  the  books  of  the 
Company  produced  in  evidence  before  the  committee,  that  large  sums 
of  money  were  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  Company  during  the 
years  1869,  1870,  and  1S71,  as  it  is  supposed  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
fluencing legislation  during  these  years,  and  the  committee  have  reason 
lo  believe  that  evidence  can  be  procured  of  the  payment  of  large 
amounts  which  it  is  alleged  were  used  to  influence  the  votes  of  Senators 
and  Members  of  Assembly  during  the  year  1S72,  but  they  have  been 
unable  to  procure  the  attendance  of  witnesses  who  are  said  to  have 
direct  knowledge  of  such  payments,  and  it  will  be  impossible  to  pro- 
cure such  attendance  during  the  time  allowed  for  the  investigation  ; 
therefore. 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  be  and  are  hereby  authorized  and 
instructed  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  regarding  all  payments 
made  by  the  Erie  Railway  Company  during  the  years  above  named  for 
the  purpose  of  influencing  or  controlling  legislation,  whether  such 
payments  were  made  to  Senators,  Members  of  Assembly  or  other  per- 
50ns  for  such  purposes,  and  to  ascertain  and  report  with  regard  to  all 
other  unlawful  or  corrupt  measures,  by  or  on  behalf  of  said  Company, 
its  officers,  agents,  or  employees,  to  influence,  control,  or  defeat  legis- 
lation, and  that  the  time  for  such  committee  to  make  such  investiga- 
tion and  report  thereon  be  extended  until  further  direction  of  this 
Assembly. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Weed,  April  23d  was  fixed  as  the  limit 
of  the  investigation.  April  10th,  Mr.  Babcock  stated  that 
William  M.  Tweed,  Jay  Gould,  and  John  B.  Dutcher  had  re- 
fused to  pay  any  attention  to  subpoenas  served  on  them  to 
appear  before  the  committee  and  testify,  and  moved  that  they 
be  arrested  by  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  and  brought  before  the 
House,  ami  show  cause  why  they  should  not  be  punished  for 
contempt.  Tweed  and  Dutcher  were  declared  in  contempt 
of  the  House,  but,  May  16th,  on  motion  of  James  W.  Husted, 
Dutcher  was  purged  of  his  contempt. 

The  committee  had  meetings  as  follows  :  Albany,  March 
18th  and  19th.  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York,  March  21st, 
22(1.  24th.  25th.  Erie  Railway  office,  New  York,  March  25th, 
for  the  purpose  of  continuing  examination  of  the  books  and 
papers  of  the  Company.  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  March  28th, 
during  the  day  ;  in  the  evening  at  the  residem  e  of  Frederick 
A.  Lane  to  take  his  testimony,  he  being  confined  to  his  room 
by  illness.  March  25  th,  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  and  the 
Erie  Railway  office,  where  President  Watson  and  Auditor 
Dun  111  were  examined.  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  March  31st; 
April  1st,  zd,  3d,  5 th,  7th,  8th.  Albany,  April  nth,  15th, 
16th,  17th.  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  April  19th,  21st,  22d. 
Albanv,  April  23d.  Taking  of  testimony  closed  that  day. 
Following  were  the  principal  witnesses  examined  : 

lav  Could,  l'eter  H.  Watson,  President  of  the  Companj  ; 
S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  Erie  Director  and  counsel,  and  counsel  for 
the  Atlantic   and  Great  Western  Railroad  Company  :   Oliver 


Hazard  Perry  Archer,  late  Yice-President  of  the  Company, 
and  one  of  those  who  had  joined  against  Gould  in  March, 
1872;  Justin  I).  White,  ex-Treasurer  of  the  Company,  and 
Svlvanus  H.  Dunan,  Auditor  of  the  Company  ;  W.  Archdall 
O'Doherty,  late  close  friend  of  James  McHenry  ;  Homer 
Ramsdell,  ex- President  of  the  Companv  and  a  Director; 
Henry  Thompson,  ex-Erie  Director,  who  was  in  the  1872 
conspiracy  against  Gould ;  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Erie 
Director,  ex-Yice- President  and  ex-General  Manager  of  the 
Company  ;  Francis  C.  Barlow,  Attorney-General  of  the  State 
of  New  York;  Henry  X.  Sherwood,  who  succeeded  William 
M.Tweed  in  the  Erie  Director)' in  December,  187 1  ;  Giovani 
P.  Morosini,  Auditor  of  the  Company  under  Gould  ;  Samuel 
J.  Tilden,  who  appeared  in  behalf  of  himself,  to  deny  that  he 
had  ever  received  a  fee  of  $20,000  from  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  ;  A.  I).  Barber  and  Abram  Yan  Yechten,  lobbyists; 
John  Taylor  Johnston,  John  J.  Cisco,  and  John  Y.  L.  Pruyn, 
Erie  Directors ;  Senator  E.  M.  Madden,  of  Orange  County, 
who  explained  that  the  $4,000  Gould  gave  him  was  to  pay 
his  election  expenses  ;  Matthew  Hale,  of  Albany  ;  Chaum  ey 
M.  Depew,  then  counsel  for  the  Xew  York  Central  Railroad 
Company,  who  admitted  ignorance  of  the  inner  working  of 
legislation  at  Albany  :  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  who  was  after 
Attorney-General  Barlow  ;  James  J.  Kelso,  Superintendent  of 
Police  of  Xew  York  ;  Thomas  G.  Alvord,  Joseph  Seligman, 
William  Belden,  Colonel  Fisk's  old-time  partner ;  Hamilton 
Harris,  of  Albany,  who,  being  a  lawyer,  explained  easily  why 
he  received  so  much  Erie  money;  Gen.  George  H.  Sharpe, 
ex-United  States  marshal,  who  was  examined  as  to  his  services 
during  the  "Sickles  coup"  of  1872. 

The  first  matter  to  be  taken  up  by  the  committee  was 
whether  the  dividend  declared  upon  the  stock  of  the  Com- 
pany in  February,  1873,  was  Pa'd  out  °f  tne  net  earnings  of 
the  road. 

histin  D.  White,  who  had  been  Treasurer  of  the  Company 
until  March  17,  1873,  testified  that  there  was  no  money  to 
pay  the  interest  that  had  matured  ($800,000),  and  that  the 
money  with  which  the  dividend  was  paid  in  February,  1873, 
came  from  Bischoffscheim  &  Goldschmidt,  of  London,  being 
the  proceeds  of  bonds  negotiated  by  them  ;  and  Giovani  P. 
Morosini,  ex-Auditor  of  the  Company,  swore  that  the  net 
earnings  of  the  Companv  for  the  first  six  months  of  the 
year  1872  were  $377,885,  although  Mr.  Watson's  auditor, 
Svlvanus  H.  Dunan.  had  reported  the  earnings  for  the  same 
six  months,  upon  which  the  dividend  for  February,  1873, 
was  made  up,  as  $2,387,610. 

The  second  subject  of  investigation  was  the  improper  use 
of  money  in  the  transfer  of  the  management  of  the  Com- 
panv in  1872,  and  as  to  reimbursements  on  that  or  othc 
counts  of  such  expenses  from  the  Company's  treasury.  It 
had  been  charged  in  the  public  prints  that  the  then  Attorney- 
General,  Francis  C.  Barlow,  had  been  in  the  pay  of  the  Erie, 
and  that  he  hail  then  accepted  a  retainer  of  $10,000  from 
Daniel  F.  Sickles,  to  which  was  subsequently  added  $2,000, 
to  proceed  with  measures  looking  to  the  ousting  of  the  Gould 
management,  anil   the   Heath  ami    Raphael   party  increased 


454 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


the  amount  by  {1,500.  General  Barlow  testified  that  this 
money  was  placed  in  his  hands  to  employ  special  counsel 
and  for  disbursements. 

He  had  disbursed  of  the  money  placed  in  his  hands  all 
but  $3,307. 19,  which  he  returned  by  check  to  General 
Sickles,  although  the  General  solicited  him  to  retain  it. 
Mr.  Smith  retained  by  the  Attorney-General  was  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  but  the  Attorney-General  swore 
that  he  had  not  employe. 1  him  because  of  that. 

Thomas  ('..  Shearman  had  charged  that  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral, while  professedly  carrying  on  a  suit  in  the  interest  of 
'  rie  stockholders,  was  secretly  receiving  a  large  sum 
from  Could  and  Fisk,  under  a  mysterious  contract  by  which 
?3,ooo  a  month  was  to  be  paid,  with  the  understanding  that 
no  harm  was  to  result  to  them  from  the  proposed  suits,  and 
which  accounted  for  the  delay  in  the  Legislature  and  the 
.  and  that  he  had  written  a  letter  demanding  $100,000 
Erom  General  Sickles  for  his  services  in  the  Erie  overthrow. 
Several  witnesses  denied  this,  as  did  correspondence  between 
Sickles  and  the  Attorney-General — which  Shearman  declared 
had  originated  since  the  charges  were  made — and  the  com- 
mittee believed  the  Attorney-General's  story,  stating  in  their 
report  that  they  "  cannot  resist  the  conclusion  that  the  whole 
(the  charges)  was  a  fabrication,  and  that  the  parties 
giving  currency  to  the  tale  had  probably  been  grossly  deceiv- 
ing one  another." 

The  committee  went  also  into  the  matter  of  the  overthrow 
of  the  Gould  management. 

The  third  matter  that  occupied  the  committee  in  its  in- 
vestigation was  as  to  payment  of  money  to  influence  legisla- 
tion connected  with  the  Company,  and  other  irregularities. 
"The  testimony  of  several  witnesses  was  taken  on  this  sub- 
ject." said  the  committee,  "  and  although  the  information 
acquired  was  not  as  spec  ific  as  could  be  asked,  enough  was 
obtained  to  show  that  the  railroad  companies  have  been  in 
the  habit  of  spending  large  sums  from  year  to  year  either  to 
procure  or  reject  the  passage  of  bills.  ...  It  appears 
conclusive  that  a  large  amount — reported  by  one  witness  at 
$100,000 — was  appropriated  for  legislative  purposes  by  the 
railroad  interests  in  1872,"  and  Krie's  proportion  of  it  was 
£31 1.000. 

It  was  in  evidence  that  it  had  been  the  custom  of  the 
managers  of  the  Krie  Railway  Company,  from  year  to  year  in 
the  past,  to  spend  large  sums  to  control  elections  and  to  in- 
fluence legislation.  In  the  year  1868  more  than  Si, 000,000 
was  disbursed  from  the  treasury  for  "  extra  and  legal  services." 

I  i\  Could  was  examined  on  this  point,  and  admitted  the 
payment,  during  three  years  prior  to  1S72,  of  large  sums  to 
A.  1).  Barber,  William  M.Tweed,  and  others,  and  also  large 
sums  drawn  by  himself  which  might  have  been  employed 
to  influence  legislation  or  elections.  These  amounts  were 
(barged  in  what  was  known  as  "the  india-rubber  account" 
(probably  because  of  its  elasticity).  "The  memory  of  this 
witness  was  verj  e  as  to  details,"  the  committee's  re- 

port declared,  "  and  he  could  only  remember  large  transac- 
tions;  but  he  could  distinctly  recall   that  he  had  been  in  the 


habit  of  sending  money  into  the  numerous  districts  all  over 
the  State,  either  to  control  nominations  or  elections  for 
Senators  anil  Members  of  Assembly.  He  considered  that, 
as  a  rule,  such  investments  paid  better  than  to  wait  until  the 
men  got  to  Albany,  and  added  the  significant  remark,  in  re- 
ply to  a  question,  that  it  would  be  as  impossible  to  specify 
the  numerous  instances  as  it  would  to  call  to  mind  the  num- 
ber of  freight  cars  sent  over  the  Erie  road  from  day  to  day." 
According  to  Mr.  Gould,  his  operations  extended  into  four 
different  States.  It  was  his  custom  to  influence  both  nomi- 
nations and  elections.  "  When  the  Legislature  is  Republican, 
I  am  a  Republican,"  said  he.  "  When  it  is  Democratic  I  am 
a  Democrat,  but  I  am  always  an  Erie  man." 

John  H.  Comer,  who  had  been  private  secretarv  to  James 
Fisk  (and,  after  Fisk's  death,  to  Vice-President  O.  H.  P. 
Archer,  who  succeeded  Fisk  in  the  Erie  management),  and 
attorney  and  agent  for  Fisk's  executrix,  Mrs.  Fisk,  said  that 
Jay  Gould  made  a  claim  upon  him  in  February,  1S72,  and 
renewed  it  in  March  after  his  removal  from  the  Erie  manage- 
ment, to  refund  from  the  Fisk  estate  $2,000,  which  was  one- 
half  of  $4,000,  he  said,  that  had  been  paid  to  Senator  E.  M. 
Madden,  of  Orange  County,  for  influencing  legislation.  He 
was  present  at  Fisk's  office  one  time  when  $2,500  was  paid 
to  Van  Vechten,  and  another  time  when  $4,000  was  paid  to 
him. 

William  Belden,  who  had  been  Gould  and  Fisk's  broker  in 
the  great  gold  speculation  of  1869  that  culminated  in  Black 
Friday,  in  which  his  sen-ices  saved  them  from  the  most  seri- 
ous consequences,  told  of  a  contract  he  was  to  have  in  De- 
cember, 1 S 7 1 ,  for  transporting  coal  over  the  Erie  and  the 
storage  of  it  free  in  the  Erie  yards,  whence  he  could  sell  it, 
because  of  these  privileges,  and  make  75  cents  a  ton  more 
than  any  other  dealer ;  but  as  Gould  and  Fisk  were  too  busy 
at  the  time  to  draw  up  the  contract,  they  made  one  with  him 
by  which  they  were  to  pay  him  $3,000  a  month,  in  prospect- 
ive profit  on  the  coal  deal,  in  lieu  of  the  other  contract,  to 
compensate  him  for  the  loss  their  lack  of  time  in  placing 
the  privileges  of  the  Erie  at  his  service  might  subject  him  to. 
He  said  he  was,  to  perform  services  for  them  for  the  time, 
but  he  could  not  remember  any  sen  ice  he  ever  performed 
for  the  $3, 000  monthly  that  he  drew  regularly,  except  some 
errands  at  the  Opera  House  when  the  Gould  management  was 
under  fire,  March  n,  1872,  and  services  in  connection  with 
bringing  about  a  meeting  between  Gould  and  the  confidence 
man,  Lord  Gordon-Gordon.  ("  Administration  of  Jay  ( lould," 
pages  183  to  1S6.)  George  Hays  was  a  partner  with  Belden 
in  this  remarkable  prospective  coal  contract.  Gould,  Comer 
said,  claimed  that  this  contract  was  simply  a  cover  by  which 
the  money  was  paid  to  Attorney-General  Barlow  for  efforts 
to  keep  him  (Gould)  in  power.  The  Fisk  estate  paid  two 
monthly  installments,  and  then  Comer  refused  to  pay  any 
more,  on  the  ground  that  if  it  was  to  keep  Gould  in  power. 
Fisk  was  not  a  sharer  in  the  success  of  that,  as  he  was  dead 
and  was  not  liable.  Thomas  G.  Shearman.  Gould's  confiden- 
tial counsel,  had  said  to  him,  on  being  asked  by  him  whether 
it  was  true  about  the  monev  being  for  Barlow  : 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


455 


"  Don't  ask  me  any  questions  about  it  !  Pay  it !  It  is  all 
right ! " 

Ex-Auditor  Dunan  (the  Erie  dividend  having  been  de- 
clared and  paid  before  the  investigation  began)  showed  how 
entirely  proper  the  dividend  was ;  how  it  had  been  honestly 
earned,  producing  convincing  figures  to  that  effect  from  the 
books  of  the  Company.  His  testimony  certainly  did  not  fore- 
shadow the  sensation  he  was  to  create  a  few  months  later, 
by  officially  declaring  that  the  dividend  was  a  cheat  and  a 
fraud.  ("Administration  of  Peter  H.  Watson,"  pages  223- 
227.) 

President  Watson's  statement  to  the  committee  defended 
his  policy  and  showed  how  he  was  entirely  justified  in  declar- 
ing the  dividend,  because  the  railroad  had  earned  the  money 
with  which  it  was  paid.  Mr.  Watson  threw  somewhat  of 
light  on  the  methods  of  a  previous  management  in  the 
matter  of  dealing  with  legislation,  by  producing  some  leaves 
that  had  been  torn  from  an  Erie  Railway  account  book,  show- 
ing disbursements  for  legal  services  rendered,  which  he  had 
found  in  the  office.     The  leaves  bore  entries  as  follows  : 


James  Fisk,  Jr.,  March  to  December,    1863,   six  items, 

legal  and  incidental Si  17,400  43 

Daniel  Drew,  March,    1S6S,  incidental  expenses 52,600  00 

Jay  Gould,  June  1,  i36S,  incidental  expenses 24,000  00 

March  31st,  incidental  expenses 21,600  00 

26th,  injunction 1,80000 

June  10th,  legal  expenses 20,000  00 

July  10th,  extra  expenses 347,000  00 

30th ,  expenses 10,000  00 

"        December  1st,  legal  expenses 7, 000  00 

"          3 1st,  expenses 500  00 

$4^4,600  00 

1S6S. 

Hamilton  Harris,  legal  expenses,  four  items,  March  to 

December $26,000  00 

YVm .   M  .  Tweed,  November  25th,  legal  expenses 20,000  00 

December  1st 5, 500  00 

4th 4,50000 

Peter  B.  Sweeny 150,00000 

Taylor's   Hotel,  April  and  July $6,41075 

Henry  Thompson,   July  30,  1S68,   extra  expenses   and 

services    $159,000  00 

YVm.  H.  Vanderbiit,  August  5,  1S6S,  expenses 18,950  00 

M.  P.  Bemus,  January  11,  1869,  services  and  expenses.  1,000  00 

A.  1'.   I'.arber,  May  12,  1869,  legal  expenses 4,00000 

Hamilton  Harris,  January  to  July,  1S69,  legal  expenses  22,443  32 

Win.  M.  Tweed,  January  to  June,  expenses 27,912  S6 

.Samuel  J.    Tilden,   January   to   February,    1369,    legal 

services 20,000  00 

A.  Van  Vechten,  March  Sth,  legal  expenses 2,500  00 

"         May  1 2th,       "           "          2,50000 

A.  D.  Barber,  March  4,  1S70,  legal  expenses $1,000  60 

"         May    19,     "       expenses 46,00000 

"        June     9,     "             "          4.70050 

$5  1.700  50 


Thos.  C.  Fields,  retainer,  December  31,  1869 $500  00 

"  "  "         April  8,  1870 2,50000 

$3,000  00 
James  Fisk,  Jr.,  November,    1S69,  to  June,  1S70,   legal 

expenses  and  contingencies $22,000  00 

Jay   Gould,  October   22,   1S69  (marked    Senator  Hum- 
phrey)   $5,00000 

S.  H.  Hammond,  March  2S,  1S70 2,500  00 

A.  H.  Barber,  April  23d 2,500  00 

Jay  Gould,  September  3d  ("  a   Senator") $1,00000 

"         "      legal  expenses 100,000  00 

"         "      September  gth,  legal  expenses 50,00000 

"         "                         gth,     "            "       44,00000 

$195,000  00 

Hamilton  Harris,  December,  1869,  to  May,  1870 S20,ooo  00 

James  O'Brien,  February  24,  1S70 $2,50000 

Delavan  House,  March  25,        "     377  75 

June  12,  "      34760 

YVm.  M.  Tweed,  December  9,  1S69,  legal  expenses.  . . .      $25,000  00 

"  "       April  8,  1870 12,00000 

"  "      June  4,      "      10,75000 

$57,750  00 

A.  Yan  Vechten,  January  21,  1S70,  legal  expenses $2,500  00 

"         April  2S  "         "  "  2,50000 

"        Septembers,  "         "         "         2,50000 

$7,500  00 

Jay  Gould,  October  4,  1S70,  legal  expenses $1,000  00 

25,  "         "  "       500  00 

$1,500  00 
Hugh  J.  Hastings,  April  25,  186S,  legal  expenses $15,00000 

Another  significant  exhibit  that  figured  in  the  develop- 
ment of  this  uncovering  of  Erie  secrets  was  a  voucher  pre- 
sented on  April,  1S71,  to  Justin  D.  White,  Treasurer  of  the 
Company,  as  follows  : 

Erik  Railway  Company,   1871. 
To   Wm.  M.    Tweed,  Cr. 

For  legal  disbursements,  as  per  order  J.  G $35,000 

Approved — James  Fisk,  Jr., 

Comptroller,  for  the  President. 

Dated  April  25,  1S71. 

Received  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  the  sum  of  thirty-live 
thousand  dollars  ($35,000)  in  full  for  the  above  account. 

Wm.  M.  Tweed, 

per  A.  V. 
Interest — "  Treasurer's  Office,  paid   March    11,  1S72.      Erie    Rail- 
way Company." 

The  conclusions  of  the  committee,  after  digesting  the  testi- 
mony it  had  obtained,  are  incorporated,  as  a  matter  pertain- 
ing to  the  regular  story  of  that  management,  in  Part  II.  of  the 
"  Administration  of  Peter  H.  Watson,"  pages  220,  221  ;  but 
this  paragraph  from  the  report,  relating  to  the  mysterious  dis- 


456 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


bursement  of  money  at  Albany  by  the  Company's  represent- 
atives, is  a  particularly  fitting  closing  to  this  record  : 

say  that  no  portion  of  this  money  was  disbursed  to 
individual  members  would  be  to  attach  undue  credit  to  the 
conversational powers  of  the  men  having  it  in  chai 

1879. 

In  response  to  a  memorial  adopted  by  the  New  York  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  February  6,  [879,  and  addressed  to  the 
Assembly  of  that  State,  charging  that  the  managers  of  the 
railroads  of  the  State,  particularly  those  of  the  Erie  and  the 
New  York  Central,  were  abusing  the  trusts  vested  in  them  by 
unjust  discriminations  in  rates,  by  subordinating  the  rights  of 
stockholders  to  private  interests  which  the  privileges  of  their 
companies  were  employed  to  enhance,  and  by  other  acts  in- 
consistent with  the  honest  exercise  of  authority  in  the  opera- 
tion of  the  public  highways,  a  special  committee  of  five  (in- 
creased to  nine,  March  12th),  was  appointed,  on  motion  of 
Mr.  Hepburn,  February  28th,  to  investigate  the  charges. 
The  committee  consisted  of  A.  B.  Hepburn,  H.  L.  Duguid, 
(ames  Low,  William  L.  Noyes,  James  \Y.  Wadsworth,  Charles 
S.  Baker,  James  W.  Husted,  George  I..  Terry,  and  Thomas 
A.  Grady.  The  committee  began  the  taking  of  testimony  at 
New  York,  June  12th.  It  held  sessions  also  at  Albany,  Roch- 
ester, Buffalo,  Ogdensburg,  Utica,  and  Saratoga.  The  inves- 
tigation was  closed  December  19th. 

March  26th,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of 
Trade  and  Transportation  of  New  York  submitted  to  the 
committee  in  detail  the  charge  of  maladministration  against 
the  railroad  managers.  This  was  in  response  to  a  letter  sent 
by  the  committee  to  those  bodies,  and  to  different  represent- 
ative organizations  throughout  the  State,  requesting  them  to 
appear  before  the  committee  and  prefer  charges  in  order  that 
it  might  determine  therefrom  what  course  to  pursue.  The 
charges  of  the  New  York  bodies  were  generally  accepted  as 
covering  the  whole  ground.  The  charges  were  read  by  Fran- 
cis B.  Thurber,  and  were  signed  by  Jackson  S.  Schultz,  Ben- 
jamin B.  Sherman,  Francis  1!.  Thurber,  Charles  C.  Dodge, 
Jacob  Wendell,  and  Benjamin  G.  Arnold,  as  a  committee. 
The  charges  were  replied  to  by  Hugh  J.  Jewett,  President  of 
the  Erie,  and  William  H.  Vanderbilt,  President  of  the  New 
York  Central,  in  a  joint  letter  addressed  to  the  investigating 
committee,  reviewing  the  charges  and  taking  general  issue 
with  them.  Upon  the  issue  thus  formed  the  committee  pro- 
ceeded with  the  investigation.  The  New  York  commercial 
bodies  prepared  and  supplied  the  evidence,  and  suggested 
the  witnesses.  Their  counsel  was  Simon  Sterne,  of  New  York. 
The  manufacturing  and  agricultural  interests  in  the  interior 
of  the  State  were  represented  by  J.  H.  Martindale,  of  Roch- 
ester. Ex-Judge  William  D.  Shipman  appeared  for  the  Erie, 
and  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  Frank  Loomis,  and  A.  P.  Laning 
for  the  New  York  Central.  The  entire  answer  of  the  railroad 
companies  was  submitted  by  George  R.  Blanchard,  First  Vice- 
President  of  the  Erie,  and  this  effort  st.mds  to-day  as  one  of 
the  clearest,  most  cogent,  and  thorough   expositions  of   the 


transportation  question  and  of  the  rights  and  moral  powers 
of  railroad  corporations,  from  the  corporation  standpoint,  in 
the  entire  literature  of  railroads. 

The  witnesses  examined  by  this  committee  formed  an 
array  of  railroad  and  corporation  magnates  and  celebrities 
never  before  summoned  to  give  their  testimony  in  the  pres- 
ence of  any  body  or  tribunal.  The  issues  thai  brought  the 
Erie's  attairs  particularly  into  the  investigation  called  for  the 
presence  and  testimony  of  President  Jewett,  First  Vice-Presi- 
dent Blanchard,  S.  I,.  M.  Barlow,  Chief  Engineer  <  ><  tave 
Chanute,  Auditor  Stephen  Little,  ex- Treasurer  William  Pitt 
Shearman,  General  Freight  Agent  Royal  C.  Vilas,  ( len.  A.  S. 
1  hven,  Col.  George  T.  Balch  and  Joseph  \Y.  Guppy,  two  old 
ex-employees  of  the  Erie,  both  of  whom  had  held  close  con- 
fidential relations  with  different  managements.  Collateral 
issues  which  involved  the  discrimination  charge  against  the 
railroads  were  represented  as  witnesses  by  John  D.  An  hi  old, 
Jabez  A.  Boswick,  and  Henry  H.  Rogers,  all  Standard  Oil 
Company  magnates,  and  Josiah  Lombard,  of  Lombard,  Avers 
&  Co.,  oil  refiners.  William  H.  Yanderbilt,  Webster  Wagner, 
of  the  Wagner  Palace  Car  Company  :  James  H.  Rutter,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Central ;  Alexander  E.  Orr,  and  Edwin  D. 
Worcester,  were  other  prominent  witnesses. 

The  testimony,  arguments  of  counsel,  and  report  of  the 
committee  fill  five  large  volumes  of  the  legislative  records  oi 
New  York  State.  The  testimony  of  more  than  100  persons 
was  taken,  that  of  Vice-President  George  W.  Blanchard 
alone  making  851  pages,  and  that  of  President  Jewett  146 
pages  in  the  report. 

All  of  the  Erie  dirty  linen  of  years  past  was  rewashed 
l>v  the  investigation,  and  it  was  shown  that  a  large  quantity 
of  new  had  been  added  to  the  heap.  The  history  of  the 
most  of  it  is  virtually  covered  in  the  chapters  in  this  book 
giving  the  story  of  Erie  during  those  years.  The  committee's 
report,  which  was  made  January  22,  18S0,  sustained  the 
charges  of  the  commercial  bodies,  although  Senator  Grady 
submitted  a  minority  report  embodying  the  views  of  the  rail- 
road managers.  The  result  of  the  investigation  was  the  pass- 
ing of  a  law  regulating  the  voting  of  railroad  shares  by  proxy, 
so  that  they  must  be  proxies  executed  three  months  before 
an  election  ;  a  law  prohibiting  discrimination  in  rates,  and  the 
law  establishing  the  Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners,  and 
a  law  prescribing  and  regulating  the  form  and  substance  of 
reports  to  be  made  by  the  companies  to  the  State  engineer, 
an  important  and  timely  enactment  has  resulted  not  only 
in  the  putting  on  record  of  railroad  statistics  invaluable,  but 
in  hedging  railroad  corporations  about  by  many  wise  re- 
strictions. 

Among  the  testimony  in  regard  to  the  recent  transactions 
of  the  Erie  management  that  the  Hepburn  investigating  com- 
mittee brought  out  was  that  in  relation  to  one  of  Mr.  Jewett's 
first  official  acts  after  taking  charge  of  the  Company.  Octo- 
ber 1,  1874,  so  the  testimony  ran,  the  Erie  became  a  party 
with  the  Standard  Oil  Company  in  hauling  crude  oil  from 
the  wells  to  the  Cleveland  refineries,  150  miles,  and  then  car- 
rying  the  refined  oil  from  Cleveland  to  New  York  at  the  same 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


45  7 


rate  crude  oil  was  charged  from  the  mouth  of  the  wells — a 
voluntary  haul  of  300  miles  for  nothing. 

Previous  to  this,  in  1S72,  during  the  Watson  administration, 
the  Erie  had  agreed  to  pay  a  rebate  to  the  South  Improve- 
ment Company,  of  which  the  Standard  Oil  Company  was  the 
sun  essor,  on  all  oil  shipped,  and  if  any  competitor  got  the 
same  rate,  the  same  reduction  was  to  be  made  on  the  net  rate 
of  the  South  Improvement  Company,  the  rates  being  thus 
managed  so  that  the  rivals  would  be  compelled  to  pay  full 
rates,  or  alwavs  more  than  the  South  Improvement  Companv. 

August  1,  1S75.  the  Erie  agreed  to  let  the  Standard  •  >il 
Company  have  the  lowest  net  rate  to  other  parties,  and  to 
pay  the  Standard  10  per  cent,  rebate  on  all  shipments.  The 
Erie,  in  1S77,  joined  hands  with  the  Standard  Oil  Company 
to  fight  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  and  force  it  to 
close  out  the  Empire  Transportation  Company,  a  rival  to  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  as  a  shipper  and  refiner  of  oil.  The 
light  lasted  until  October,  when  the  Standard  and  its  railroad 
allies  won,  the  great  oil  company  not  only  crushing  its  rival, 
but  gaining  control  of  the  terminal  facilities  for  oil  at  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore,  and  becoming  dictator  to  the  railroads. 
In  1S79,  to  harass  the  Tidewater  Pipe  Line  Company,  another 
projected  rival  of  the  Standard,  the  Erie  and  the  other  rail- 
roads reduced  the  rates  on  oil  as  low  as  fifteen  cents  a  barrel 
to  the  Standard,  from  the  open  rate  of  Si. 15,  and  allowed  a 
mileage  that  reduced  the  amount  received  by  the  railroads  to 
ten  cents  a  barrel. 

It  was  also  elicited  that  Jay  Gould  made  a  twenty-year 
lease,  February  1,  1^70,  with  the  National  Stock  Yard  Com- 
panv at  Weehawken  to  handle  all  the  live  stock  transported 
by  the  Company.  Charles  S.  Robinson  was  president  of  the 
Stock  Yard  Company,  and  John  H.  Comer,  Fisk's  private 
secretary,  was  secretary.  The  same  day  Gould  made  an 
agreement  that  the  Erie  Railway  Company  would  advance 
such  money  from  time  to  time  as  the  National  Stock  Yard 
Company  might  require  for  the  purpose  of  completing  and 
fitting  its  yards  for  use.  Not  more  than  $100,000  were  to  be 
advanced,  for  which  the  Railway  Company  accepted  first 
_ age  bonds  issued  by  the  Stock  Yard  Company.  This 
company  also  leased  stock  yards  at  Deposit,  N.  Y.,  and  Buf- 
falo. By  an  order  of  Judge  Donahue,  July  29,  1875,  Receiver 
lewett  was  permitted  to  cancel  the  contract  with  the  National 
Stock  Yard  Company  by  purchasing  all  the  outstanding  stock 
held  by  Charles  Robinson,  at  the  rate  of  $50,000  worth  of  the 
first  mortgage  bonds  of  the  Stock  Yard  Companv  for  3,623 
shares,  also  buying  1,822  shares  of  the  Stock  Yard  Company 
held  by  the  widow  of  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  for  $5,000  of  the  first 
mortgage  bonds  of  that  company.  January  28,  1876,  Re- 
ceiver  Jewett   leased   all    the    Company's    stock  yards  and 


facilities  to  John  R.  McPherson,  of  New  Jersey  (United  Mates 
Senator),  who  took  chargeof  the  unloading,  care,  and  handling 
of  the  live  stock  transported  by  the  Erie,  which  paid  him 
yardage  charges  of  forty-five  cents  per  head  for  cattle,  six 
cents  for  sheep,  and  eight  for  hogs,  and  from  $45  to  $50  per 
ton  for  hay,  besides  Si  per  car  for  unloading. 

The  arrangement  the  Erie  had  with  the  Car  Trust  of  New 
York  was  also  gone  into  by  this  investigating  committee. 
This  Car  Trust  was  formed  in  1878.  'The  parties  to  it  H 
John  Lowber  Welsh,  of  Philadelphia;  Homer  Ramsdell.  0 
Newburgh,  N.  Y.  :  John  A.  Hardenbergh  and  George  R. 
Blanchard,  of  New  York,  and  Clement  R.  Woodin,  of  B 
wick,  Pa.,  of  the  first  part,  and  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and 
"Western  Railroad  Company  of  the  second  part.  Welsh  and 
Ramsdell  were  Directors  in  the  latter  company  :  1  [ardenbergh 
was  its  purchasing  agent,  and  Blanchard  was  its  first  vice- 
president.  Woodin  was  a  car-builder.  The  capital  stock  of 
the  Car  Trust  was  S3, 000,000.  Its  purpose  was  the  buying, 
selling,  and  leasing  railroad  cars,  to  be  sold  or  leased  to  com- 
panies owning  or  operating  railroads.  'The  business  of  the 
Trust  was  to  be  conducted  by  trustees,  who  were  Edwin  I  >. 
Morgan  and  Alfred  W.  Morgan,  of  New  York.  The  special 
business  of  the  Trust  seems  to  have  been  the  leasing  of  1 
to  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Company, 
and  had  leased  that  Company  3,000  freight  cars  and  500 
gondola  cars  on  August  1,  1879,  for  five  years,  the  rent  for 
them,  which  was  to  be  6  per  cent,  of  the  principal  of  all  the 
shares  of  the  Trust  Company  then  outstanding,  besides 
$69,730,  was  to  be  paid  in  quarterly  payments.  The  Railn 
Companv  was  compelled  by  the  lease  to  keep  the  cars  in 
good  repair,  replace  at  its  own  cost  all  that  were  destroyed,  and 
keep  them  branded,  "  Car  Trust  of  New  York,"  the  'Trust  to 
be  kept  informed  by  annual  statements  of  the  condition  of 
the  cars.  If  the  Company  made  default  in  payment  of  its 
rent,  or  any  part  of  it,  for  thirty  days  after  it  was  due,  the 
Trust  Companv  had  power  to  remove  the  cars  from  the  pos- 
session of  the  Railroad  Company,  the  Company  to  haul  them 
to  any  point  on  its  line  designated  by  the  'Trust  as  most  con- 
venient for  its  further  disposal  of  them. 

'The  declared  purpose  of  this  Trust  was  to  furnish  needed 
rolling  stock  to  the  Erie,  which  the  Company  had  not  the 
means  to  purchase  outright,  and  on  terms  easy  and  econom- 
ical, but  the  conditions  of  the  arrangement  proved  to  be  so 
much  the  contrary  that  in  1884,  when  the  Jewett  administra- 
tion came  to  an  end,  the  Erie  was  in  default  to  the  'Trust 
Compain-  $5,666,000,  and  the  Company  is  to-day  paying  off 
that  debt,  which  is  for  cars  supplied  to  the  Erie,  some  of 
them  nearly  a  score  of  years  ago,  and  which  were  long  since 
worn  out  and  discarded. 


FATHERS    IN    ERIE. 


1829. 

William  C.  Redfield,  who  first  suggested  and  mapped 
out  a  route  and  advocated  the  building  of  a  railroad  through 
the  country  and  over  the  very  ground  occupied  by  the  Erie, 
was  born  March  26,  17S6,  at  South  Farms,  Conn.  He 
learned  the  trade  of  saddler  and  harness-maker,  and  was  a 
bom  scientist.  He  announced  his  plan  for  a  railroad  in  a 
pamphlet  published  in  1829.  ("In  Embryo,"  pages  4-5.) 
The  bridge  that  carries  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail- 
road across  the  Mississippi  River  is  located  on  the  exact 
spot  where  he  marked  on  his  map  that  such  a  railroad  bridge 
should  be  built.  More  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  passed 
before  the  railroad  and  bridge  were  built  there,  and  Mr. 
Re  Ifield  was  the  guest  of  honor  at  the  opening  ceremonies, 
in  1.S54.  He  continued  to  agitate  the  subject  of  the  rail- 
road until  the  project  at  last  interested  others,  and  resulted 
in  the  charter,  survey,  and  building  of  the  Erie.  William  C. 
Redfield  may  then  be  justly  called  the  "  Father  of  Erie." 
He  was  the  author  of  many  scientific  works,  and  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  A.M.  from  Vale  College  in  1839.  He 
was  the  first  president,  in  1843,  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  He  died  at  New  York, 
February  12,  1857,  aged  68. 


1831. 

Richard  P.  Marvin  was  the  author  of  the  first  notice  of 
application  to  the  New  York  Legislature  for  a  charter  for  a 
company  to  build  a  railroad  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake 
Erie  over  the  route  now  covered  by  the  Erie,  which  notice 
was  adopted  at  a  meeting  called  by  him  at  Jamestown,  N.Y., 
mber  20,  1 83 1.  He  was  a  conspicuous  delegate  to  the 
ution  at  Owego,  December  20,  1831,  from  the  delib- 
erations of  which  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  resulted. 
("  Taking  Form,"  pages  10-14.)  Mr.  Marvin  was  born  at 
Fairfield,  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  December  23,  1803.  He 
taught  school,  and  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
May,  (829.  He  settled  at  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  the  following 
June.  He  became  eminent  at  the  bar.  In  1S35  he  was 
elei  led  to  the  \<  u  York  Assembly,  where  he  was  influential 
in  Erie  interests.  In  1836  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  and 
was  reelected  in  [838.  From  1847  until  1871  he  was  a 
Supreme  Court  Justice  of  the  Mate  of  New  York,  and  made 
a  lasting  reputation  for  judicial  acumen  and  legal  learning. 
He  married,  in  September,  1834,  Isabelle  Newland,  who  bore 


him  eight  children.      He  died  at  Jamestown,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-eight. 

Philip  Church  drafted,  and  had  it  adopted  at  a  meet- 
ing held  at  Angelica,  N.  Y.,  October  26th,  the  notice  of  appli- 
cation for  a  charter  for  a  railroad  through  the  Southern  Tier 
counties  of  New  York,  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie, 
which  notice  was  the  one  adopted  by  the  memorialists  and 
petitioners  for  the  charter.  He  was  chairman  of  the  con- 
vention at  Owego,  December  20,  1831.  ("Taking  Form," 
pages  10-14.) 

Philip  Church  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  be- 
longed to  the  aristocracy,  so  far  as  any  aristocracy  existed  in 
this  country  at  that  day.  He  was  born  at  Boston,  April  14, 
1778.  His  father  was  an  officer  in  the  American  Army  in 
the  war  resulting  in  Independence.  His  mother  was  Angel- 
ica Schuyler,  a  daughter  of  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler  of  Albany. 
Gen.  Alexander  Hamilton  married  another  daughter  of  Gen- 
eral Schuyler,  so  that  Philip  Church  was  a  grandson  of  Philip 
Schuyler,  and  a  nephew  of  Alexander  Hamilton.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Eton.  In  179S,  at  the  age  of  20,  he  was  appointed 
by  Washington  a  Captain  in  the  United  States  Infantry,  and 
January  12,  1799,  Gen.  Alexander  Hamilton  made  him  his 
chief  of  staff.  May  6,  1800,  he  became  the  owner  of  100,000 
acres  of  land  in  Allegany  County,  X.  Y.,  through  which  the 
Genesee  River  flowed.  He  laid  out  a  town  which  he  named 
Angelica,  for  his  mother,  and  became  a  resident  there  in 
1805.  A  large  portion  of  the  tract  was  covered  with  pine 
forests  of  the  finest  quality,  of  little  value  for  the  want  of  a 
market.  When  railroads  began  to  be  talked,  Mr.  Church  at 
once  saw  how  important  one  would  be  to  him  if  it  could 
pass  through  his  vast  estate,  and  to  the  public  at  large  in 
opening  up  that  then  isolated  country,  and  as  early  as  1830 
he  began  agitating  the  possibilities  of  such  a  railroad.  He 
labored  incessantly  in  its  interest  for  many  years,  having 
been  named  in  the  charter  as  one  of  the  incorporators  of 
the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company.  ("  First  Admin- 
istration of  Eleazar  Lord,"  pages  21-22;  "Administration 
of  James  Gore  King,"  pages  34-35  ;  "  Fighting  Its  Way," 
pages  295-296;  "The  Building  of  It,"  pages  310-31 1.) 
February  8,  1807,  he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  Morgan  Lewis 
first  ludge  of  the  Common  Pleas  for  Allegany  County,  an 
office  he  held  fourteen  years.  February  4,  1S05,  he  was 
married  to  Anna  Matilda,  daughter  of  Gen.  Walker  Stewart, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  took  his  bride  to  his  home  in  the  Gen- 
esee wilderness.  They  had  nine  children,  of  whom  but  two, 
Maj.  Richard  Church,  of  New  York,  and  Mrs.  Horwood,  of 
London,  survive.     Judge  Church  died  January  10,  1861. 


THE   PRESIDENTS   OF   ERIE. 


1833-1835  ;   1839-1841;   1844-1845. 

Eleazar  Lord. — Eleazar  Lord,  A.M.,  LL.D.,  was  born 
September  9,  1788,  at  Franklin,  Conn.  His  early  boyhood 
was  spent  among  the  quiet  scenes  of  that  even-tenored  rural 
vicinage,  where  his  elementary  education  was  obtained  in 
the  district  schools.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  in  1804,  he  left 
home  and  began  life  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Norwich.  In 
[808  he  returned  home  to  prepare  himself  for  college,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lee,  of  Lisbon,  of  whose 
church  (Presbyterian)  he  became  a  member  in  1809.  After 
two  \e.irs  of  preparatory  study,  he  entered  Andover  Seminary, 
and  remained  there  three  and  a  half  years.  While  there  he 
ime  deeply  interested  in  the  subject  of  Foreign  Missions, 
an  interest  that  remained  active  with  him  all  his  life.  He 
wrote  the  first  pretentious  work  in  the  literature  of  that  de- 
partment of  the  church  ever  published  in  this  country  :  "A 
History  of  the  Principal  Protestant  Missions  to  the  Heathen." 
It  was  published  in  181 3  at  Boston. 

In  September,  181 2,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Haverhill  Association  at  Salem,  X.  H.  He  had  no  regular 
charge,  but  preached  acceptably  at  various  places  for  a  year. 
He  entereil  Princeton  College,  where  for  some  months  he 
attended  the  lectures  and  recitations  of  that  celebrated  in- 
stitution. A  serious  affection  of  the  eyes  compelled  him  to 
give  up  his  cherished  position  in  life  to  devote  himself  to 
secular  concerns,  the  exactions  of  which  would  not  demand 
the  sacrifice  of  his  sight.  He  engaged  actively  in  commer- 
cial and  financial  affairs,  and  while  giving  to  them  necessarily 
a  large  part  of  his  time,  his  inclinations  for  religious  work 
and  its  advancement  were  not  permitted  to  languish  in  the 
slightest  degree. 

In  1815  he  personally  called  a  public  meeting  of  the  citi- 
zens of  New  York  City  to  consider  the  subject  of  Sunday- 
schools,  then  an  untried  branch  of  church  work.  He  organ- 
ized the  New  York  Sunday-school  Union  Society,  and 
became  its  corresponding  secretary.  He  spent  much  time 
in  organizing  Sunday-schools,  and  in  editing  and  superin- 
tending the  publication  of  Sunday-school  literature.  In 
1816  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention  in  New  York  City 
that  organized  the  American  Bible  Society.  In  March,  1 S 1  7 , 
his  eyes  again  warning  him,  he  spent  nearly  a  year  and  a 
half  travelling  in  Europe.  While  abroad  he  met  and  estab- 
lished cordial  relations  with  all  the  prominent  reformers  of 
the  day,  philanthropical,  evangelical,  and  political,  among 
them  Wilberforce,  Canning,  Rowland  Hill,  Chalmers,  Ma- 
caulay  the   elder,  Sir  Thomas   Baring,  and  hosts  of  others. 


He  returned  to  New  York  in  1818.  He  was  instrumental,  in 
1826,  in  the  formation  of  the  American  Home  Mission 
Society,  of  which  he  was  the  first  corresponding  secretary. 
He  wrote  the  first  annual  report  of   this  society. 

In  1819  Mr.  Lord  was  selected  by  the  leading  merchants 
of  New  York  City  to  go  to  Washington  in  their  interest  as 
an  advocate  for  the  adoption  by  Congress  of  a  protective 
tariff,  which,  they  held,  would  be  for  the  general  good  of  the 
country.  The  measures  he  prepared  were  passed  in  1820, 
but  the  business  men  of  the  Fast  insisted  that  the  tariff  was 
not  yet  protective  enough,  and  in  1823-4  Mr.  Lord  was  sent  to 
Washington  to  advocate  still  further  tariff  revision.  His  views 
were  opposed  by  Clay,  Calhoun,  and  all  the  Southern  and 
some  of  the  Western  statesmen.  His  arguments  were  such, 
however,  that  Clay  finally  acquiesced  in  them,  and  used  them 
in  his  subsequent  speeches  in  and  out  of  Congress,  whence 
came  his  fame  as  the  "  Father  of  the  American  System." 

In  1 82 1  Fleazar  Lord  obtained  the  charter  for  and  organ- 
ized the  Manhattan  Fire  Insurance  Companv  of  New  York, 
of  which  he  was  president  twelve  -years.  During  the  man- 
agement of  Mr.  Lord  the  Manhattan  Company  paid  annually 
dividends  of  nine  per  cent. 

Early  in  1827  Dartmouth  College  and  Williams  College 
each  conferred  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  on  Eleazar 
Lord.  In  that  year  the  banking  system  then  in  operation  in 
New  York  State  had  shown  its  utter  inefficiency  by  the  de- 
plorable condition  into  which  the  banks  had  fallen,  and  Mr. 
Lord  turned  his  attention  toward  placing  it  on  a  sounder 
basis.  In  1828-29  ne  wrote  and  published  a  book  entitled, 
"  Credit,  Currency  and  Banking,"  in  which  he  recommended 
a  system  that  he  claimed  would  remedy  the  defects  of  the 
one  prevailing.  His  recommendations  became  the  founda- 
tion of  what  was  known  as  the  Free  Banking  System,  and 
from  r83S  until  it  was  replaced  by  the  national  banking 
law,  it  remained  in  force  in  New  York  State,  and  was 
adopted  by  others.  When,  during  the  emergency  that  came 
with  the  Civil  War,  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  in 
Congress  was  devising  a  method  to  best  sustain  the  finances 
of  the  country,  Mr.  Lord  was  summoned  by  it  to  give  the 
benefit  of  his  knowledge  of  and  experience  in  practical 
finance.  In  response,  he  formulated  the  plan,  and  made  the 
original  draft  of  the  bill  authorizing  its  adoption,  on  which 
the  present  national  banking  system  was  established. 

Eleazar  Lord  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  and  was  elected  its  first  presi 
dent  August  9,  1833.     His  plan  for  the  construction  of  the 
road    through   the  Susquehanna  Valley,  and   the  work  he  did 
under  that  plan,    may  well  be  wondered  at  now,  as   it  was 


460 


BETWEEN    THE   OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


then,  but  that  his  motives  were  honest,  sincere,  and  intended 
for  the  promotion  of  the  best  interests  of  the  Company  and 

the  hastening  of  the  enterprise  to  successful  issue,  not  one 
of  his  most  hitter  detractors,  if  any  are  living  to-day,  would 
undertake  to  deny.  His  insistence  on  the  six-foot  gauge 
was  also  an  unfortunate  error  in  judgment.  In  spite  of  these, 
however,  the  fad  remains  that  Eleazar  Lord  tided  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  over  some  of  its  darkest 
days.  ("Administrations  of  Eleazar  Lord — First,  Second, 
and  Third" — pages  20-31,  48-51,  and  74-85.) 

Mr.  lord's  busiest  years  were  doubtless  those  of  the  Erie 
Railroad  period,  yet  from  1831  to  1844  he  wrote  and  pub- 
lished five  books  on  scientific  and  religious  subjects,  besides 
numerous  papers  for  magazines  on  similar  subjects.  From 
that  time  until  1866  he  added  to  his  literary  work  many  vol- 
umes, having  for  their  subjects  finance,  general  and  doctrinal 
theology,  history  and  science,  besides  innumerable  reviews 
for  magazines  and  periodicals.  During  the  same  time  he 
was  in  <  onstant  correspondence  with  most  of  the  leading 
men  in  this  and  foreign  countries.  In  1866  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University 
of  Xew  York.  In  1855  he  published  his  "  Historical  Review 
of  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad." 

Mr.  Lord  married,  July  12,  1824,  Elizabeth  Pierson,  only 
daughter  of  Hon.  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson,  of  Ramapo,  N.  Y. 
She  died  May  3,  1833.  December  31,  1835,  he  married 
Ruth  Thompson,  daughter  of  Deacon  Eben  Thompson,  of  East 
Windsor,  Conn.  Seven  children  were  born  to  him  by  his  first 
wife.  None  survive  but  Sarah  Pierson  Lord  Whiton,  wife 
of  \Y.  H.  Whiton,  Esq.  This  daughter  and  her  husband 
occupy  the  Lord  homestead  at  Piermont-on-the-Hudson, 
where  Eleazar  Lord  died,  June  3,  187 1,  aged  83  years.  The 
portrait  of  Mr.  Lord  which  accompanies  this  sketch  was 
taken  from  a  miniature  likeness  painted  on  ivory  when  he 
was  36  years  old,  and  which  was  a  gift  from  him  to  his  be- 
trothed, in  1824. 

1835-1839. 

1  vmes  Gore  King. — James  Gore  King  was  born  in  New 
York  City  on  May  8,  1791.  He  was  the  third  son  of  the  dis- 
tinguished statesman,  Rufus  King,  and  of  Mary  Alsop,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Alsop,  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  early  New 
York  citizens.  As  a  child  he  spent  several  years  in  England, 
his  father  being  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  to  the  Court  of  St.  James.  He  returned  to  this  country 
in  1S03,  entered  Harvard  College,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated m  1.S10.  He  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
but  in  1S15  abandoned  that  profession  to  enter  into  the  more 
congenial  pursuits  of  men  antile  life. 

In  1815  he  established  a  commission  house  in  New  York 
City,  and  in  1818  removed  to  Liverpool,  where  he  remained 
in  business  until  1824,  when  he  returned  to  New  York.  LTpon 
the  recommendation  of  John  Jacob  Astor,  he  was  offered  a 
partnership  in  the  then  great  banking  house  of  Prime,  Ward 
&  Sands,  of    New  York.     Of   this   house  and  its  successor, 


Prime,  Ward  &  King,  he  remained  a  leading  member  until 
1  S 4 7 ,  when  he  withdrew  and  established  the  firm  of  James 
( ',.  King  &  Sons.  It  was  while  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  great 
prestige  he  had  won  as  a  member  of  the  first-mentioned 
house  that  he  was  selected  in  1835  as  President  of  the  New- 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company.  The  story  of  the  difficul- 
ties he  encountered  and  bravely  endeavored  to  overcome  in 
the  advancement  of  the  great  undertaking  of  that  Company 
is  told  with  much  detail  in  the  historic  chapters  of  this  volume, 
but  it  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  first  ground  for  the 
Erie  Railroad  was  broken  by  him  November  6,  1835,  at 
Deposit,  N.  Y. ;  that  he  raised  the  first  money  to  pay  con- 
tractors for  work  on  the  road ;  that  he  was  instrumental  in 
negotiating  the  first  State  stock  of  the  Company,  through 
Prime,  Ward  &  King,  so  that  much-needed  money  could  be 
obtained  without  delay ;  that  he  began  the  first  work  on  the 
road  at  the  eastern  end,  at  Piermont,  in  1838;  and  that  he 
only  ceased  his  efforts  to  forward  the  interests  of  the  strug- 
gling company,  after  a  few  years'  term  of  office,  when  he 
found  that  it  was  impossible  to  secure  the  cooperation  of 
New  York  capitalists  in  the  great  enterprise  that  meant  so 
much  to  their  welfare  and  the  welfare  of  the  metropolis,  and 
that  influences  in  the  Legislature,  and  within  the  Company 
itself,  were  opposing  his  plans.  ("Administration  of  James 
Gore  King,"  pp.  32-47.) 

James  Gore  King's  great  financial  genius,  and  the  influ- 
ences he  wielded  as  an  individual  in  the  financial  world,  are 
best  testified  to  by  his  record  during  the  disastrous  crisis 
of  1  S3  7.  Through  his  efforts  the  Bank  of  England  con- 
sented to  advance  a  large  amount  of  specie  to  enable  the 
resumption  of  specie  payments  in  this  country,  and  to  restore 
financial  strength  and  confidence  to  it.  This  Mr.  King  did  by 
his  own  personal  power,  winning  over  to  his  opinion  and  wishes 
the  governor  of  that  conservative  and  powerful  institution. 

Mr.  King  resigned  as  President  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company  in  1839.  In  1848  he  was  elected  a  rep- 
resentative to  the  Thirty-first  Congress  from  New  Jersey,  he 
being  then  a  resident  of  that  State,  living  at  a  beautiful 
country  seat  on  Weehawken  Heights.  In  181 7  Mr.  King 
was  one  of  the  reorganizes  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  and  was  ever  afterward  one  of  its  most  conspicu- 
ous and  influential  members.  In  1841  he  was  elected  vice- 
president  of  that  institution.  In  1S45  he  was  chosen  presi- 
dent unanimously.  He  resigned  in  1847  t0  g°  abroad.  The 
next  spring,  on  his  return,  he  was  reelected  president,  Moses 
H.  Grinnell  withdrawing  in  his  favor. 

Mr.  King  married,  February  4,  181 3,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Archibald  Gracie,  a  distinguished  New  York  merchant  of 
that  day.  He  died  October  4,  1853,  only  a  short  time  after 
the  railroad  he  had  spent  so  much  of  his  time  to  carry  to  a 
sue  cessful  issue  against  overpowering  odds,  was  completed. 
His  portrait,  painted  at  the  order  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, by  Thomas  P.  Rossiter,  hangs  on  the  walls  of  the 
chamber,  among  the  portraits  of  the  other  distinguished 
members  of  that  body  who  were  in  their  day  potent  in  the 
affairs  of  the  commercial  world. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


461 


1 840-1 842. 

Gex.  James  Bowex. — James  Bowen  was  born  at  New- 
York  City  in  1808.  His  father  was  a  merchant  of  ample 
means,  and  the  son  was  liberally  educated.  He  was  not 
trained  to  any  profession  or  business  calling,  but  he  cultivated 
habits  of  business  voluntarily  and  intuitively.  He  was  a  close 
and  persistent  student  of  public  affairs,  and  among  his  inti- 
mate associates  were  Daniel  Webster,  Gen.  James  Watson 
Webb,  William  H.  Seward,  Philip  Hone,  Moses  H.  Grinnell, 
Charles  A.  Peabody  (subsequently  of  national  fame  as  a  jurist, 
who  is  the  only  survivor  of  that  notable  coterie),  and  men  of 
similar  cast  and  bent  of  mind.  Most  of  them  were  mem- 
bers of  a  society  famous  in  its  day  as  the  Hone  Club.  Its 
membership  was  not  only  exclusive  but  limited.  Healey's 
celebrated  painting  of  Webster  belonged  to  this  club,  and 
a  resolution  was  passed  by  the  club  that  the  painting  should 
pass  to  the  heirs  of  the  last  surviving  member.  James 
Bowen  was  that  one,  and  the  painting  is  now  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb,  of  Xew  York,  to  whom  it 
was  willed  by  him.  Early  in  life  Mr.  Bowen  developed  a 
taste  for  rural  life,  and  he  purchased  an  estate  in  Westchester 
County,  which  was  ever  after  his  home.  Railroad  affairs 
attracted  his  attention  while  the  Xew  York  and  Erie  Railroad 
was  in  its  earliest  struggles,  and  it  was  at  the  request  of 
James  Watson  Webb  that  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
direction  of  that  company.  He  was  elected  a  director  in 
1839  ;  vice-president  and  treasurer,  April  30,  1840,  and 
president  pro  tern,  May  27,  1841,  and  president  in  October, 
1841.     ("  Administration  of  James  Bowen,"  pages  52-66.) 

Upon  the  passage  of  the  act  creating  the  Metropolitan 
Police  of  Xew  York  City  in  1857,  James  Bowen  was  ap- 
pointed by  Governor  King  one  of  the  first  Board  of  Police 
Commissioners  under  that  act,  his  associates  in  the  Board 
being  Simeon  Draper,  James  W.  Nye  (afterward  United 
States  Senator),  James  S.  T.  Stranahan,  and  Jacob  Chandler. 
Mr.  Bowen  was  elected  president  of  the  Board,  and  had 
charge  during  the  exciting  and  riotous  days  of  Mayor  Fer- 
nando Wood's  organized  but  unsuccessful  opposition  to  the 
replacing  of  his  police  force  by  the  new  one. 

During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Bowen  organized  six  regiments 
of  volunteers.  He  ceased  to  be  president  of  the  Police 
'  Board  at  the  close  of  1862.  He  was  appointed  general 
of  the  brigade  composed  chiefly  of  the  six  regiments  he 
had  enlisted.  He  went  to  Xew  Orleans  with  his  com- 
mand, where  he  served  one  year,  when  he  was  appointed 
provost  marshal  of  that  department,  which  embraced  Louisi- 
ana, Texas,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama,  as  far  as  the 
United  States  Government  had  regained  control  over  these 
States.  Just  before  the  war  ended  General  Bowen  was  com- 
pelled by  broken  health  to  resign  from  the  army.  He 
returned  home,  and  was  soon  appointed  a  Commissioner  of 
Charity  and  Correction  of  Xew  York  City.  While  he  was  in 
office  the  Legislature  increased  the  salary  of  these  commis- 
sioners  from    §5,000    to    $10,000  a  year.     General   Bowen 


declared  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  that  the  increase  was  an 
outrage,  and  he  resolutely  refused  to  receive  more  than  the 
former  salary.  The  attitude  he  took  in  the  matter  resulted 
in  the  repeal  of  the  law  that  authorized  the  increase.  Gen- 
eral Bowen  served  two  terms  as  charity  commissioner,  and 
introduced  the  ambulance  system  in  the  hospital  service. 
He  greatly  improved  the  standing  and  efficacy  of  Bellevue 
Hospital,  by  insisting  that  the  best  medical  skill  should  be 
employed  there,  with  the  result  that  to-day  a  course  in  the 
Bellevue  Hospital  practical  schooling  in  medicine  and  surges- 
is  considered  recommendation  sufficient  as  to  the  capacity  of 
any  beginner  in  the  professional  practice  of  medical  science. 

In  1842  James  Bowen  married  Eliza  Livingston.  She 
died  in  1872.  In  1874  he  married  Josephine  Oothout, 
daughter  of  John  Oothout,  then  president  of  the  Bank  of 
Xew  York.  He  survived  her,  and  married  Athenia  Livings- 
ton, a  cousin  of  his  first  wife.  There  were  no  children  by 
either  marriage. 

General  Bowen  died  September  29,  1886,  at  Hastings-on- 
the-Hudson,  where  he  owned  a  fine  estate,  his  home  being 
preeminently  one  of  culture  and  refinement.  He  was  a  man 
of  entirely  domestic  habits,  of  quiet  temperament  and  fine 
literary  taste.  His  widow  married  Judge  Peabody,  his  old- 
time  warm  friend  and  associate. 

1 842-1 843. 

William  Maxwell. — Guy  Maxwell  was  the  father  and 
founder  of  the  Maxwell  family  of  which  William  Maxwell 
was  a  scion — a  name  itself  that  savours  rather  of  mediaeval 
romance  than  of  one  who  managed  banks,  dug  canals,  and 
was  adopted  as  a  chief  into  a  tribe  of  the  Seneca  Indians. 
Guy  Maxwell's  father,  Alexander  Maxwell,  and  his  mother, 
Jane  McBrantuey,  belonging  to  the  Clan  McPherson,  left  ( rlas- 
gow,  Scotland,  in  1770,  to  come  to  this  country.  The  ship 
was  driven  on  the  coast  of  Ireland  by  a  storm.  There,  in 
the  County  Down,  Guy  Maxwell  was  born.  Two  years  passed 
before  the  Maxwells  at  last  reached  America.  They  settled 
near  Martinsburg.  Ya.  From  Martinsburg  had  gone,  some 
years  before,  into  the  Susquehanna  Valley,  settling  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Pa.,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Matthias  Hollenback.  He 
was  a  banker,  a  farmer,  a  merchant,  and  a  fighter.  He  later 
won  the  title  of  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He 
became  the  biggest  man  of  his  time  in  Northern  Pennsylvania 
and  Southern  Xew  York.  His  operations  extended  up  the 
Susquehanna  and  Chemung  rivers,  and  at  every  "  point"  or 
trading  post,  all  along  the  valley,  he  had  a  store.  Ib- 
opened  up  the  country  with  his  push  and  his  accumulated 
capital.  His  was  a  heroic  figure  of  that  time  and  locality. 
When  Guy  Maxwell  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  Colonel 
Hollenback  was  down  in  Martinsburg  and  met  him,  and  was 
so  pleased  with  him  that  he  invited  the  young  man  to  return 
with  him  to  what  is  now  Elmira,  X.  Y.,  and  take  charge  of 
the  Hollenback  enterprise  there.  Young  Maxwell  seized  the 
opportunity,  and  went.  It  was  the  making  of  him  and  of 
the  locality  to  which  he  emigrated.      Two  years  later  he 


462 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


returned  to  Martinsburg  and  married  a  relative  of  Colonel 
Hollenback,  taking  hei  with  him  to  the  new  country. 

( ,n\  Maxwell  was  the  first  Internal  Revenue  Officer  of 
that  region,  a  very  important  office  in  those  days.  He  was 
also  sheriff  of  I  iog  1  I  ounty,  when  to  lie  a  sheriff  was  indeed 
an  honor  and  a  dignity  in  the  estimation  oi  the  people.  He 
■d  much  local  distinction  in  many  other  ways.  In  the 
War  of  E812,  the  "embargo"  brought  disaster  to  main- of 
his  undertakings.  He  died  less  than  forty-four  years  of  age, 
in  1  S 1 4 . 

William  Maxwell,  Guy  Maxwell's  third  son,  was  one  of  the 
strongest  men  of  his  day,  politically,  financially,  and  socially, 
in  his  own  locality  and  in  the  State.  He  was  born  at  Tioga 
Point,  now  Athens,  Pa.,  February  n,  1794.  His  parents 
n  moved  that  year  to  Newtown  Point,  now  Elmira.  He  was 
educated  in  the  schools  of  that  neighborhood,  and  studied 
faw  in  the  office  of  Fletcher  Mathews,  a  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  the  bar  at  that  time.  In  1S22  he  was  the  District 
Attorney  of  Tioga  County,  of  which  Chemung  County  was 
then  a  part;  in  1829  he  was  the  surrogate  of  the  county, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  in  1S3S  and  in  1847. 
He  was  a  delegate  from  the  county  to  the  State  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1846.  He  was  always  prominent  in  the 
public-  affairs  of  the  town  and  county,  and  was  connected 
with  the  formation  of  the  Chemung  Canal  Bank,  one  of  the 
earliest  enterprises  of  the  kind  in  the  Southern  Tier.  At  one 
time  most  of  the  land  in  the  Third  and  Seventh  Wards  of 
the  city  of  Elmira,  and  reaching  beyond  for  two  or  three 
miles  toward  Horseheads,  stood  in  his  name.  He  was  a 
power  in  the  Democratic  party  in  those  times  in  that  region, 
and  what  he  said  became  the  order  of  things.  It  was  largely 
through  his  push  and  influence  that  the  Chemung  Canal 
mstrui  ted,  and  his  enterprise  and  money  helped  on 
most  of  the  railroad  enterprises  centring  in  Elmira.  He 
early  became  interested  in  the  project  of  the  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad,  and  was  an  influential  delegate  to  several  of 
the  conventions  held  to  adopt  measures  looking  to  the 
furthering  of  the  prospects  of  that  undertaking.  It  was  the 
pirt  he  took  at  a  convention  held  at  Owego  in  the  spring  of 
1S42  that  brought  him  into  the  prominence  in  Erie  affairs  that 
resulted  in  his  being  made  president  in  the  fall  of  that  year. 
He  married  Zerwiah  Baldwin,  September  15,  1814,  a  daughter 
of  William  and  Azubah  Baldwin,  pioneers  of  the  Chemung 
Valley.  ( )ne  son  was  born  to  Mr.  Maxwell,  but  died  in  infancy. 
They  adopted  as  their  daughter  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Maxwell, 
Azubah  McQuhae,  who  survives.  Mr.  Maxwell  died  at 
Maxwell  Park,  Elmira,  November  22,  1856.  An  old-time 
at  of  Elmira  (Ausburn  Towner,  now  of  Washington, 
D.  C,  to  whom  the  author  is  indebted  for  this  sketch)  pays 
this  tribute  to  William  Maxwell  : 

"  I  remember  him  ever  since  I  can  remember  anything. 
He  lived  in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  in  the  vallev,  a 
big  brick  house,  with  a  great  lawn,  and  lots  of  trees,  that 
must  have  belonged  to  the  original  forest  there.  He  was 
very  fond  of  children,  and  I  have  played  for  hours  in  and 
about  his   house.     He  was  fitted  by  intellect   and    educa- 


tion   to    fill   any  position    in    the   country,   from    President 
down." 

1S43-1844. 

Horatio  Allen  was  born  at  Schenectady,  N.  V.,  May 
10,  1802.  His  father  was  professor  of  mathematics  in  Union 
College.  Horatio  Allen  was  graduated  from  Columbia  Col- 
lege in  1820.  He  became  a  civil  engineer,  and  entered  the 
service  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  which, 
in  1S25,  began  the  construction  of  its  canal  to  connect  its 
mines  in  Northern  Pennsylvania  with  tide-water  on  the  Hud- 
son. In  January,  1828,  he  was  sent  by  that  company  to 
England  to  purchase  three  locomotives  for  use  on  its  railroad 
at  the  head  of  the  canal  and  about  the  mines.  One  of  the 
locomotives  arrived  at  New  York  in  the  winter  of  182S-29. 
It  was  called  the  "  Stourbridge  Lion."  This  locomotive  was 
shipped  to  Honesdale,  Pa.,  the  head  of  the  canal  and  ter- 
minus of  the  railroad  from  the  mines,  and  was  set  up  on 
the  track  by  Mr.  Allen.  August  9,  1829,  Horatio  Allen  ran 
it  on  a  trial  trip,  and  thus  became  the  first  engineer  on  the 
first  locomotive  that  ever  turned  a  driving-wheel  on  a  track 
on  the  American  continent.  ("  Administration  of  Benjamin 
Loder,"  page  107.)  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  running  of  this 
locomotive  antedated  by  two  months  the  trip  of  Stephenson's 
locomotive  "  Rocket,"  from  which  trip  the  success  of  steam 
power  on  railroads  is  dated.  This  is  an  important  historical 
fact  that  has  always  been  overlooked. 

In  September,  1829,  Mr.  Allen  became  chief  engineer  of 
the  South  Carolina  Railroad  at  Charleston,  the  first  railroad  in 
the  world  to  be  projected  with  the  declared  intention  of  its 
projectors  of  using  locomotives  as  the  motive  power  upon 
it,  this  on  the  emphatic  recommendation  of  Horatio  Allen. 
Mr.  Allen  remained  in  the  service  of  that  company  until 
1834,  in  which  year  he  married  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  James 
Dewar  Simons.  He  returned  to  New  York,  and  became 
president  of  the  Novelty  Iron  Works,  which  constructed  the 
machinery  for  most  of  the  steamers  of  the  Collins  and  Clyde 
lines.  He  also  was  an  engineer  in  the  construction  of  the 
High  Bridge  across  the  Harlem  River,  and  the  reservoir  at 
Forty-second  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  which  (1S99)  is  about 
to  be  removed  to  make  room  for  the  great  New  York  Public 
Library  of  the  Astor,  Lenox,  and  Tilden  foundation.  He 
invented  the  making  of  car-wheels  from  paper.  In  1844 
Mr.  Allen  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  the  Erie,  at  a 
most  critical  time  in  its  affairs.  ("  Administration  of  Horatio 
Allen,"  pages  67-73.)  ^n  1846  he  was  president  of  the 
board  of  commissioners  appointed  to  resurvey  the  route  of 
the  Erie  over  the  location  where  changes  were  proposed  (in 
Sullivan  County,  N.  Y.,  and  west  of  Deposit,  N.  Y.),  which 
resulted  in  a  report  advising  the  change,  Mr.  Allen  casting 
the  deciding  vote.  ("Administration  of  Benjamin  Loder," 
pages  88,  89;  "Fighting  Its  Way,"  pages  305-307.)  In 
1849  Mr.  Allen  was  appointed  consulting  engineer  of  the 
Erie,  which  office  he  held  at  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the 
railroad  to  Dunkirk,  in  1851.  He  died  at  East  Orange,  N.  J., 
January  1,  1890. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


46: 


1845-1853. 

Benjamin-  Loder. — Soon  after  Benjamin  Loder  was 
chosen  president  of  Erie  in  1845, ne  invited  twenty-two  of  the 
richest  men  in  Xew  York  City  to  meet  him  in  conference 
at  the  New  York  Hotel.  They  met,  and  he  at  once  de- 
clared to  them  that  among  them  they  must  subscribe  suffi- 
cient money  to  start  up  the  work  on  the  railroad  and  keep  it 
going,  a  sum  which  he  placed  at  S3,ooo,ooo.  To  set  an  ex- 
ample to  the  others,  he  himself  subscribed  §250,000,  his 
entire  fortune.  Stephen  Whitney,  the  millionaire  cotton-mer- 
chant, was  one  of  the  men  present  at  the  meeting.  He  pulled 
at  Mr.  Loder's  coat-tail  to  attract  his  attention,  and  admon- 
ished him  not  to  risk  his  all  in  the  enterprise. 

'■  It  will  ruin  you,"  the. cautious  cotton-merchant  whispered 
in  his  ear. 

But  President  Loder  shook  his  head,  and  refused  to  with- 
draw the  subscription.  Aroused  by  his  confidence  in  the 
enterprise,  the  twenty-two  men  there  and  then  subscribed  the 
required  amount. 

The  story  of  the  struggles  of  Benjamin  Loder  in  pushing 
the  completion  of  the  railroad  from  Middletown  to  Dunkirk 
is  graphically  told  in  the  chapter  on  his  administration  of  Erie 
in  this  History  (also,  "The  Building  of  It,"  page  388).  He 
was  born  at  South  Salem,  Westchester  County,  X.  Y., 
February  15,  1801.  He  began  life  as  a  school-teacher,  and 
later  engaged  in  ttfe  wholesale  dry-goods  trade  in  Cedar 
Street,  Xew  York.  Having  accumulated  a  comfortable  for- 
tune, he  had  retired  from  active  business  life  at  the  age  of 
forty-three,  when  the  reputation  he  had  made  as  a  progressive 
and  successful  business  man  led  the  struggling  New  York  and 
Erie  Railroad  Company,  at  a  crisis  in  its  affairs,  to  solicit  him 
to  take  hold  of  them,  and  endeavor  to  save  the  Company 
from  ruin.  He  was  elected  president,  August  14,  1845,  suc- 
ceeding Eleazar  Lord,  and  remained  at  the  head  of  the  Com- 
pany eight  years.  He  retired  from  the  presidency  broken 
in  health.  A  friend,  knowing  of  his  large  subscription  to  the 
stock  of  the  Company,  asked  him,  soon  after  he  had  retired, 
if  he  lost  his  money. 

"  No,"  said  he,  "  I  neither  lost  nor  made  any  money  while 
with  the  railroad." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  money  President  Loder  received 
for  his  sen-ices,  which  were  given  night  and  day,  barely  reim- 
bursed him  for  his  expenses.  ("  Administration  of  Benjamin 
Loder,"  pages  86-113.) 

In  course  of  time,  Mr.  Loder's  health  was  restored  to 
somewhat  of  its  old  vigor,  and  he  spent  the  closing  d 
his  life  in  Westchester  County.  He  died  at  Rye,  October  7, 
1876,  aged  seventy-five  years.  He  was  a  modest,  able, 
generous,  and  honest  man.  He  was  survived  by  two  sons 
and  five  daughters.     The  older  of  the  two  sons  died  in  1890. 

1S53-1857. 

Homer  Ramsdell.— Homer  Ramsdell  was  bom  in  War- 
ren, Worcester  County,   Mass.,   August    12,  1S10.     His  par- 


ents were  Joseph  and  Ruth  Stockbridge  Ramsdell,  natives 
of  the  old  town  of  Hanover,  Mass.,  both  being  representatives 
of  pioneer  families.  He  was  educated  at  the  Academy  of 
Monson,  Hampden  County,  Mass.,  and  after  the  close  of  his 
educational  course,  entered  the  dry-goods  trade  in  New 
York,  where  he  remained  from  1S32  to  1840.  In  1844  he 
became  one  of  the  freight-forwarding  firm  of  Thomas  Pow- 
ell &  Co.,  of  Newburgh,  \.  Y.,  and  was  a  member  of  that 
firm  all  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  history  of  Newburgh  for 
over  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  been  his  history.  Thomas 
Powell  died  in  1856.  Mr.  Ramsdell,  by  purchase  and  1  on- 
solidation,  added  other  forwarding  lines  to  his  enterprises, 
embracing  not  only  those  of  Newburgh,  but  those  of  I' 
keepsie,  Fishkill,  and  Highland,  so  that  at  his  death  he  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  forwarding  and  transportation  business  of 
the  Hudson  River.  In  1845  Mr.  Ramsdell  came  conspicuously 
to  the  front  in  Erie  affairs,  and  not  only  was  instrumental  in 
restoring  them  to  stability  at  a  critical  time,  but  made  the 
Erie  project  at  the  same  time  subserve  the  interests  of  New- 
burgh. ("  Third  Administration  of  Eleazar  Lord,"  pages  76- 
83.)  Later  in  that  year  he  was  elected  to  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors, and,  excepting  a  brief  interval,  he  continued  in  the 
board  through  the  various  changes  of  administration  up  to 
the  coming  in  of  Hugh  J.  Jewett.  In  1 S45  the  question  of  the 
change  of  gauge  of  the  Erie  Railroad  from  six  feet  to  four 
feet  eight  and  one-half  inches  was  discussed,  and  Mr.  Rams- 
dell advocated  and  voted  for  the  narrow  gauge.  ("  The 
Building  of  It,"  page  33S.)  In  June,  1853,  he  was  elected 
president  of  the  Company.  He  served  four  years.  ("Ad- 
ministration of  Homer  Ramsdell,"  pages  [14— 122.)  Here- 
signed  in  July,  1857.  A  committee  in  behalf  of  the  Board, 
by  letter,  after  expressing  for  him  their  personal  esteem  and 
their  appreciation  of  other  valued  services  rendered  by  him 
to  the  Company,  wrote  as  follows  :  "  We  desire  particularly 
to  tender  the  thanks  of  the  Board  for  that  crowning  service 
of  your  administration,  your  original  conception  and  judi<  ious 
purchase  of  the  Long  Dock  property,  which  project,  when 
fully  completed  and  annexed  to  the  Erie  Railroad,  will 
stitute  an  unbroken  channel  of  communication  between  the 
immense  granaries  of  the  productive  West  and  the  markets 
of  this  great  metropolis  and  Europe,  so  that  while  one 
end  of  our  road  terminates  at  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  the 
West,  the  other  end  shall  discharge  and  receive  its  freights 
and  passengers  at  the  wharf  shipping  at  the  port  of  New 
York,  an  advantage  of  location,  productiveness,  and  1 
omy  which  is  without  precedent  in  the  histon  of  railroads, 
and  as  long  as  New  York  continues  the  great  commer- 
cial 1  entre  and  distributing  point  for  the  commerce  of 
this  country,  the  Erie  Railroad  must  be  the  great  channel 
of    its    weste.n    transportation.      Your    ;  there- 

fore, not  only  rendered  the  Erie  Railroad  a  permanent 
and  valuable  auxiliary  to   the  commercial    pr<  of   our 

city,  but  it  opens  at  the  same  time  an  unfailing  resource  of 
income  to  the  Company  which  must  yield  a  permanent  profit 
to  the  stockholders."  The  const  ruction  of  the  Hawley  branch 
of  the  Erie  Railroad  was  originated  by  Mr.  Ramsdell.     ("The 


464 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Building  of  It,"  page  369.)  Mr.  Ramsdell  was  also  active 
and  influential  in  promoting  the  construction  of  the  New- 
burgh  and  New  York  "Short-cut"  Railroad  between  Vail's 
Hate  on  the  Newburgh  Branch  and  Greenwood  (now  Arden) 
on  the  main  line  of  the  Erie.  Before  the  introduction  of 
railroads  into  our  system  of  internal  communication,  the  mi- 

tion  from  New  England  to  the  more  productive  lands  of 
the  West  was  largely  through  Newburgh.  To  restore  this  lost 
trade,  Mr.  Ramsdell  was  among  the  first  advocates  of  a  rail- 
road from  New  England,  and  nearly  fifty  years  ago  made  the 
first  reconnoissance  of  the  country  preparatory  to  such  an 
undertaking,  the  ultimate  result  of  which  was  the  New  York 
and  New  England  Railroad. 

Mr.  Ramsdell  was  married,  June  16,  1835,  to  Frances  E. 
L.,  daughter  of  Thomas  Powell,  of  Newburgh.  The  children 
of  this  marriage  were  Mary  L.  P.,  who  died  in  childhood; 
Frances  [.,  wife  of  Major  George  W.  Rains;  Thomas  P., 
James  A.  P.,  Henry  P.,  Homer  S.,  and  Leila  R.  Homer 
Ramsdell  died  at  Newburgh  in  1892. 

I 857-I 859. 

Charles  Moran. — Charles  Moran  was  born  at  Brussels, 
Belgium,  October  31,  iSir.  He  came  to  New  York  while  a 
young  man  and  engaged  in  business,  becoming  in  time  senior 
partner  in  the  dry-goods  commission  and  importing  house  of 
Moran  &  Iselin.  This  firm  was  dissolved  in  1852,  Mr.  Moran 
retiring.  He  had  won  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  careful 
and  successful  business  man,  and  as  his  bent  was  toward 
finance,  he  founded  the  New  York  banking-house  of  Moran 
Brothers.  The  foreign  correspondence  of  the  house  was 
particularly  extensive  and  of  high  class,  which  fact  gave  Mr. 
Moran  extraordinary  opportunity  for  the  placing  of  American 
loans  abroad.  It  was  his  success  in  this  way  in  1856,  with 
a  large  Erie  loan,  that  made  him  a  conspicuous  figure  in  rail- 
road financiering,  and  turned  the  attention  of  the  Erie  toward 
him  in  a  time  of  emergency,  and  induced  it  to  call  him  to 
the  management  of  its  critical  affairs.  He  became  president 
of  the  Company  on  the  eve  of  the  great  financial  upheaval  of 
1 85  7,  the  disastrous  effects  of  which  harassed  and  hampered 
his  earnest  efforts  in  the  herculean  task  he  had  undertaken, 
all  through  his  two  years'  administration.  ("Administration 
of  Charles  Moran,"  pages  123-129.)  Few  men  would  have 
faced  the  obstacles  he  encountered,  much  less  have  attempted 
\o  overcome  them.  Mr.  Moran  retired  from  the  Erie 
management,  August,  1859,  and  gave  his  entire  attention  to 
his  banking  business.  He  continued  as  senior  partner  of  the 
house  he  founded  until  his  death,  July  22,  1895. 

1859-1861. 

Samuel  Marsh.— Samuel  Marsh  was  born  in  1786,  at 
Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  and  died  in  1872,  at  the  Astor 
House,  New  York,  at  which  place  he  had  resided  a  greater 
portion  of  his  long  and  useful  life.  His  New  England  ances- 
try, traced  back  through  the  landing  <<(  the  Pilgrims  in  1638, 


becomes  in  the  twelfth  century,  not  Marsh,  but  de  Marisco, 
with  Marsh  quaintly  written  as  a  parenthetical  alternative  in 
the  manuscripts. 

Samuel  Marsh  came  to  New  York  during  the  War  of  181 2, 
and  from  that  time  made  the  metropolis  his  home.  After 
the  cessation  of  hostilities  with  Great  Britain,  he  travelled 
long  in  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  completing  his  business 
education  and  familiarizing  himself  with  the  usages  of  Euro- 
pean trade.  In  1819  he  established  the  New  York  Dyeing 
and  Printing  Company,  with  factories  on  Staten  Island,  and 
was  its  president  until  his  death. 

The  development  of  the  canals  of  the  United  States  greatly 
interested  him,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  century,  in  con- 
nection with  Erastus  Corning,  Horatio  Seymour,  and  others, 
he  projected  a  canal  system  by  which  the  waters  of  the  Great 
Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  River  were  to  be  connected.  The 
name  of  the  enterprise  was  the  Fox  River  Improvement  Com- 
pany. Many  millions  of  dollars  have  been  expended  on  it. 
The  project  greatlv  aided  the  material  growth  of  the  State  of 
Wisconsin,  although  as  yet  the  canal  is  not  available  for  ves- 
sels of  deep-water  draught. 

Mr.  Marsh  was  among  the  pioneers  of  railways  in  America. 
He  was  one  of  the  twenty  gentlemen  who  met  in  1845,  at 
the  New  York  Hotel,  on  the  invitation  of  Benjamin  Loder, 
and  united  in  a  subscription  amounting  to  three  millions  of 
dollars,  which  was  intended  to  complete  the  construction  of 
the  Erie. 

From  1846  until  1S65,  Mr.  Marsh  was  vice-president  of 
the  Erie  Railroad,  his  incumbency  of  that  position  being  oc- 
casionally interrupted  by  his  being  called  upon  to  assume  the 
duties  of  president  a//  interim.  He  invariably  declined  to 
permanently  assume  the  office  of  president  of  the  corporation. 

Mr.  Marsh  engaged  with  the  late  Moses  Taylor,  John  I. 
Blair,  and  others  in  construction  of  railroads  in  various  parts 
of  the  country,  and  until  within  a  few  weeks  of  his  death,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-six,  he  actively  superintended  the  vast  interests 
under  his  control.  Although  he  never  married,  his  home  at  the 
Astor  House  was  a  happy  one,  and  many  friends  were  made 
welcome  there,  and  many  of  the  older  New  Yorkers  spent 
care-dispelling  hours  in  his  company.  Mr.  Marsh  was  the 
ever-watchful  adviser  and  instructor  of  his  nephew,  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  as  to  his  duties  as  secretary,  receiver,  and  president 
of  Erie. 

1 862- 1 864. 

Nathaniel  Marsh. — Nathaniel  Marsh  was  born  No- 
vember 27,  1815,  at  Haverhill,  Mass.  He  entered  Dartmouth 
College  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  graduating  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  in  1835.  He  began  the  reading  of  law  in  the 
office  of  the  Hon.  James  H.  Duncan,  of  Haverhill.  He 
did  not  take  kindly  to  the  law,  and  went  to  Kalamazoo, 
Mich.,  where  he  became  a  school-teacher.  Soon  after- 
ward he  was  appointed  clerk  of  one  of  the  courts  of  Michi- 
gan, and  he  abandoned  his  career  as  an  educator  to  accept 
the  place.     In  the  fall  of   1837,  he  relinquished  his  office, 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


465 


went  to  New  York,  and  joined  the  staff  of  the  New  York 
Express,  then  edited  by  James  and  Erastus  Brooks.  Mr. 
Marsh  was  associate  editor  of  the  Express  until  1S41,  hav- 
ing, in  May,  1S39,  married  Miss  Brooks,  the  only  sister  of  the 
Express  editors.  In  September,  1841,  he  was  appointed  first 
assistant  to  the  postmaster  of  New  York  City,  and  in  1845 
he  was  unanimously  chosen  to  be  secretary  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  at  the  time  of  its  rehabilitation 
under  Benjamin  Loder.  He  remained  at  his  post  of  secretary 
under  all  the  trying  times  of  the  Loder  administration,  through 
the  darkening  and  discouraging  events  of  the  Homer  Rams- 
dell  administration,  and  during  the  futile  efforts  of  Charles 
Moran  to  stem  the  tide  of  misfortune  that  circumstances  had 
set  in  upon  Erie ;  and  when  the  Company  succumbed,  in 
1859,  to  the  inevitable,  he  was  appointed  receiver.  On  the 
reorganization,  January  1,  1862,  he  was  chosen  president  of  the 
new  Company.  This  he  accepted,  and  before  entering  upon 
the  new  duties  he  authorized  a  settlement  of  his  accounts  as 
receiver,  in  which  he  voluntarily  relinquished  more  than  half 
of  the  compensation  to  which  he  would  have  been  entitled 
under  the  ordinary  mode  of  computation  in  such  case.  In 
about  a  year  after  the  reorganization,  he  began  to  show 
marked  signs  of  failing — signs  which  he  disregarded,  notwith- 
standing the  warnings  of  anxious  friends,  and  he  permitted 
himself  to  be  reelected  president  a  third  time  in  1864.  He 
was  at  his  desk  at  the  Erie  offices  daily  up  to  a  week  before 
his  death.  He  died  July  22,  1864,  suddenly,  and  at  an  un- 
expected moment,  although  his  death  was  known  to  be  im- 
minent. Mr.  Marsh  was  the  only  Erie  president  to  die  in 
office.  His  loss  to  the  Company  was  fittingly  recognized  by 
official  action  of  the  Board. 

In  April,  1846,  Mr.  Marsh  lost  his  first  wife.  She  left  in 
his  charge  three  small  children,  one  but  a  few  days  old. 
One  of  his  sons  is  Samuel  Marsh,  Esq.,  a  well-known  New 
York  lawyer.  He  was  married  a  second  time  in  December, 
1 84S,  to  Miss  Julia  Townsend,  daughter  of  William  Townsend, 
Esq.,  of  Staten  Island,  by  whom  he  had  four  children. 

1 864- 1 867. 

Robert  H.  Berdell. — Mr.  Benlcll  had  been  remark- 
ably successful  in  the  management  of  his  own  private  business, 
against  oppressive  odds,  and  had  won  place  and  fortune.  He 
became  president  of  the  Long  Dock  Company  in  1S58,  and 
managed  its  then  critical  affairs  as  successfully  as  he  had  his 
own  business,  with  the  result  that  the  Long  Dock  credit  was 
restored,  its  stock  made  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  invest- 
ments, and  its  work  of  completing  the  Erie  terminals  at  Jer- 
sey City  accomplished.  Mr.  Berdell  became  a  conspicuous 
member  of  the  Erie  Directory,  and  was  elected  president, 
October  14,  1864,  and  was  reelected  in  1865  and  1866.  Dur- 
ing the  latter  year  he  came  into  conflict  with  the  Vanderbilt 
influence  in  the  Board  as  to  the  policy  of  the  Company,  the 
plans  of  that  influence  being,  in  his  opinion,  dangerous  to  the 
future  of  the  Company.  His  following  in  the  Board  being  in 
a  minority,  the  opposing  influence  prevailed,  and  he  retired 
30 


from  the  Company  in  October,  1S67.  Time  proved  that  Mr. 
Berdell's  estimate  of  the  policy  he  had  refused  to  sanction 
was  more  than  true.  ("  Administration  of  Robert  H.  Ber- 
dell," pages  139-146.) 

Robert  H.  Berdell  was  born  October  1,  1820,  near  Somer- 
town,  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.  Circumstances  compelled 
him  early  in  life  to  become  self-supporting,  and  while  earn- 
ing his  living  he  managed  also  to  so  inform  and  educate  him- 
self that  when  he  came  to  man's  estate  he  was  well  equipped 
for  the  serious  battle  of  life.  While  yet  a  young  man  he  en- 
gaged in  commercial  business  in  New  York  City,  and  such 
was  the  natural  force  of  his  character,  and  such  was  his  re- 
sourcefulness, that  in  a  few  years  he  had  established  a  place 
among  the  leading  merchants  in  his  line,  and  acquired  a  com- 
petency. Once  in  his  career  he  was  pushed  to  the  wall  by 
the  failure  of  heavy  creditors  in  a  time  of  financial  stress, 
but  he  quickly  recovered  his  standing,  settled  his  obligations, 
and  in  time  conquered  a  higher  place  in  the  commercial 
world  than  he  had  ever  held.  Mr.  Berdell  made  a  large  for- 
tune in  his  business,  which  he  more  than  once,  together 
with  the  credit  of  his  name,  used  in  aid  of  the  Long 
Dock,  and  subsequently  of  the  Erie,  in  their  hours  of 
trial. 

Mr.  Berdell  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Miss 
Elizabeth  A.  Clowes,  of  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  whom  he  married 
in  1843.  She  died  in  1861,  and  in  1862  Mr.  Berdell  mar- 
ried Miss  Harriet  A.  Barnard,  of  New  York.  For  many  years 
previous  to  his  death  Mr.  Berdell  made  his  home  in  New 
York  City,  where  he  died  June  25,  1896.  He  was  survived 
by  two  sons  and  one  daughter:  Theodore  Berdell,  Charles 
Prescott  Berdell,  and  Mrs.  L.  A.  Berdell-Miller. 

1 867- 1 868. 

John  S.  Eldridge. — John  S.  Eldridge  was  bom  in  Yar- 
mouth, Mass.,  September  23,  1818,  and  died  in  New  York, 
March  23,  1876.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  a  resident 
of  Canton,  Mass.,  and  came  to  have  much  experience  relating 
to  matters  of  railroad  corporations.  At  the  time  of  his  elec- 
tion as  president  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Boston,  Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company, 
whose  road  it  was  then  proposed  to  extend  to  the  Hudson 
River  at  Newburgh,  and  thus  give  the  Erie  a  New  Kngland 
connection.  It  was  due  to  the  interests  desiring  this  con- 
summation that  he  became  president  of  tin-  Erie  Railway 
Company,  October  8,  1867.  The  chaotic  condition  into 
which  the  Drew-Yanderbilt  complications  threw  the  Erie 
greatly  disarranged  President  Eldridge's  plans,  but  they  were 
at  last  consented  to  and  adopted.  The  bonds  of  the  Boston, 
Hartford  and  Erie  Railroad  Company  having  received  the 
guarantee  of  the  Erie,  and  the  influence  of  Jay  Gould  in 
the  latt  r  Company  foreshadowing  the  predominance  it  soon 
afterward  assumed,  Mr.  Eldridge,  in  July,  1S68,  resigned 
as  president  of  Erie,  believing  that  he  could  serve  no  further 
the  interest  he  represented  by  retaining  the  position.  ("Ad- 
ministration of  John  S.  Eldridge,"  pages  147-160.) 


466 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


18-1872. 

[ay  Gould  was  born  at  Roxbury,  I  Delaware  County,  X.  V., 
May  27,  1836.  His  lather  was  John  B.  Gould,  who  was  a 
fanner,  and  during  his  childhood  days  the  future  financier 
and  railroad  magnate  worked  on  the  farm,  his  spare  hours 
spent  in  getting  such  education  as  the  district  school 
could  j 

Before  he  was  twelve  years  old  he  hired  out  as  clerk  in  a 
store  in  Roxbury  village,  at  >i6  a  month.  At  fourteen  years 
of  age  he  entered  the  academy  at  Hobart,  X.  V.,  to  increase 
his  store  of  education,  keeping  the  books  of  the  village 
blacksmith,  and  receiving  private  instruction  from  his  elder 
sisters,  out  of  school  hours.  He  exhausted  the  course  of 
study  at  Hobart  in  six  months,  and  became  a  clerk  in  a  hard- 
ware store,  devoting  his  spare  time  to  the  acquiring  of  a 
knowledge  of  sun-eying  and  civil  engineering.  His  recrea- 
tion was  the  reading  of  history,  for  which  he  always  had  a 
fondness.  To  obtain  practical  knowledge  of  his  chosen  pro- 
fession, he  worked  at  surveying,  with  borrowed  implements  of 
a  rude  character,  and  with  the  aid  of  village  boys  as  chain 
and  flag  bearers,  rewarding  them  for  their  services  by  giving 
them  toys  that  he  invented  and  made  himself.  At  fifteen  he 
was  made  an  equal  partner  in   the   firm  he  was  clerking  for. 

I  [e  increased  the  business  of  the  firm,  but  the  business  was  not 
to  his  taste,  and  in  the  spring  of  1852  he  gave  his  interest  in  it 
to  his  father,  and  took  up  his  profession  of  surveying.  He  en- 
gaged with  a  surveying  party  that  had  been  hired  to  make  a 
map  of  Ulster  County.  His  salary  was  $20  a  month.  The  pro- 
jector of  this  scheme  failed,  and  did  not  pay  young  Gould  the 
salary  due  him,  and  the  latter  determined  to  complete  the 
work  himself,  which  he  did,  undergoing  great  physical  hard- 
ship and  mental  distress  while  doing  it.  He  had  as  his  asso- 
ciates in  the  undertaking  a  young  surveyor  named  Oliver  J. 
Tillson  and  a  man  named  Peter  H.  Brink.  The  map  was 
completed  in  December,  1852,  and  he  sold  out  his  interest 
to  Tillson  and  Brink  for  $90  and  an  odometer.  In  the 
spring  of  r853  he  began  sun-eying  for  a  map  of  Albany 
County,  and  completed  the  survey  the  following  fall.  Dur- 
ing the  ensuing  winter  he  finished  the  map,  which  he  sold, 
and  made  several  hundred  dollars.  While  he  was  sur- 
veying for  that  map,  he  made  a  map  of  the  village  of 
Cohoes,  for  which  he  received  $600.  It  was  in  that  year, 
also,  that  he  took  the  contract  for  building  the  Albany  and 
Niscayuna  plank  road.     While  he  was  engaged   in  this  work, 

who  objected  to  its  passing  through  their  land  sen-ed 
a  writ  on  him  to  appear  at  Albany  three  days  later  and 
show  cause  why  he  should  not  be  enjoined  from  going  on 
with  the  work.  He  asked  Hamilton  Harris,  the  Albany 
lawyer,  if   there   was  any  law  to   prevent   him  working  on  his 

1   pending  the   hearing   as  to    the   injunction.       Mr. 

II  assured  him  that  there  was  not.  Young  Gould 
at  once  employed  all  the  men  he  could  find,  and  teams  to 
haul  lumber,  and  kept  on  with  his  work,  early  and  late. 
When  the  da)  for  the  hearing  came,  he  was  on  hand.  The 
decision   was  that  the   injunction   should    issue,  and   it  was 


issued.  When  the  officer  went  to  sen-e  it,  however,  he 
found  that  there  was  nothing  to  enjoin,  for  the  plank  road 
was  finished  and  ready  for  operation  ! 

By  prosecuting  his  sun-eying  and  map-making  during  the 
next  three  years,  young  Gould,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  had  ai  - 
cumulated  $5,000.  In  the  meantime  he  had  written  and 
published  a  "  History  of  Delaware  County,"  a  remarkably 
complete  work  of  450  pages,  and  exhibiting  literary  qualifi- 
cations of  a  high  order.  Copies  of  that  history  to-day  are 
rare  and  almost  priceless.  In  1857  Zadock  Pratt,  the  great 
Creene  County  tanner,  was  attracted  to  the  ability  of  Gould, 
and  he  made  him  a  partner  in  a  big  tannery  enterprise  in 
Luzerne  County,  Pa.  The  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and 
Western  Railroad  was  just  being  built  through  that  region, 
and  a  station  that  had  been  called  Sand  Cut  was  changed  to 
Gouldsboro,  in  honor  of  Gould,  and  it  became  the  station 
for  the  tannery  the  firm  of  Pratt  &  Gould  erected.  This 
was  built  under  the  personal  superintendence  of  young 
Gould,  who  himself  chopped  down  the  first  tree  where  the 
clearing  was  to  be  made  in  the  wilderness  for  the  tannery 
and  its  plant.  He  built  a  plank  road  from  the  railroad  sta- 
tion, and  a  settlement  so  important  grew  up  around  the  tan- 
nery that  a  postoflice  was  established  and  Gould  was  appointed 
postmaster.  The  young  business  man  began  his  career  as  a 
financier  by  aiding  in  the  establishing  of  a  bank  at  Strouds- 
burg,  the  county  seat  of  Monroe  County,  Pa.,  of  which  bank 
he  became  a  leading  director. 

In  1S59,  Gould,  then  but  twenty-three  years  old,  bought 
out  his  partner  for  $60,000,  capital  being  provided  chiefly  by 
Charles  M.  Leupp,  an  old-time  Erie  Director.  Upon  the 
death  of  Mr.  Leupp,  a  few  weeks  later,  his  heirs  cancelled 
the  arrangement  with  Could,  and,  during  his  absence  in  New 
York,  took  possession  of  the  tannery  property  and  evicted 
Gould's  employees.  When  Could  returned  he  massed  his 
forces,  routed  his  opponents,  and  regained  possession  of  the 
property,  which  he  held  and  operated  until  an  amicable  set- 
tlement of  the  difficulty  was  made,  and  he  retired  from  the 
tanning  business. 

He  then  went  to  Xew  York,  and  soon  became  interested 
in  railroads.  He  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  management 
of  the  Rutland  and  Washington  Railroad,  which  was  in 
straits.  He  succeeded  in  putting  the  property  on  its  feet, 
in  the  meantime  buying  up  the  discredited  bonds  of  the 
company  at  ten  cents  on  the  dollar  until  he  had  control  of 
it.  He  consolidated  it  with  the  Saratoga,  Whitehall  and 
Rensselaer  Railroad  Company,  under  the  latter  title,  and 
under  Gould's  management  the  securities  soon  went  to  and 
above  par.  This  was  Jay  Gould's  first  transaction  in  rail- 
roads, and  it  brought  him  a  capital  of  no  mean  amount. 
With  it  he  established  himself  in  Wall  Street. 

At  the  age  of  thirty-two  Jay  Could  became  president  of 
the  Erie.  When  he  died,  at  fifty-six,  he  was  owner  of  the 
Pacific  Railroad  system,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Sante  l'e  system,  the  Ele- 
vated Railroad  system  of  New  York,  and  other  princely 
possessions. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


467 


It  has  been  truly  said  that  in  downright  dramatic  interest, 
in  its  exhibition  of  results  achieved  through  the  exercise  of 
intellectual  qualities  which  were  themselves  an  achievement, 
and  in  the  example  which  it  furnishes  of  the  consistent 
development  of  traits  which  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  the 
dower  of  heredity.  Jay  Gould's  life-story  surpasses  by  far  the 
history  of  any  of  his  great  contemporaries  in  finance  and  in  the 
management  of  stupendous  enterprises — and  in  the  genera- 
tion in  which  he  lived  his  active  and  wonderful  business  life 
there  were  such  masters  of  finance  and  such  giants  in  the 
management  of  great  affairs  as  were  known  in  no  former 
epoch  of  the  world's  history. 

It  was  from  his  connection  with  the  management  of  the 
Erie  Railway  Company  that  Jay  Gould  first  became  widely 
known  as  a  man  of  wonderful  sagacity,  fertility  of  resource, 
tenacity  of  will,  and  determination  of  purpose.  It  was  that 
connection,  also,  that  turned  against  him  the  stinging  shafts 
of  criticism,  which  followed  him  until  and  (from  some  sources) 
after  his  death,  and  made  it  popular  to  denounce  and  revile 
him.  If  he  had  chosen,  he  could  have  shown  in  compara- 
tively few  words  a  defence  for  his  methods  in  the  control  of 
Erie  which  would  have  given  his  critics  much  food  for  gentler 
thought,  and  blunted  the  sharp  edge  of  popular  malice  ;  but 
he  remained  silent  under  the  storm  of  distorted  statements 
and  positive  falsehood  with  which  he  was  assailed.  Thus  it 
wis  made  to  appear  by  such  criticism,  and  in  the  popular 
mind  to-day  it  remains  disabused  by  any  retraction  or  modi- 
fication, that  Jay  Gould  gained  control  of  the  Erie  Railway 
Company  when  its  property  was  in  the  finest  condition  as  to 
railroad  and  equipment,  its  financial  affairs  on  a  secure  and 
enviable  basis,  and  its  future  bright  and  promising,  and  that 
he  left  it  with  its  treasury  looted  of  its  last  dollar,  its  property 
in  a  state  of  dilapidation  and  decay,  its  business  gone  to  the 
dogs,  and  its  future  only  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  when  Jay  Gould  came  into  the  Directory  of  the  Erie 
Railway  Company,  in  rS68,  the  Company's  property,  rights, 
and  privileges  were  handled  onlv  as  cards  to  be  played  in  the 
great  game  of  Wall  Street  speculation.  In  fact,  the  influence 
then  dominating  Erie  affairs  had  been  in  control  fur  many 
years,  and  in  all  that  time  the  great  corporation  had  been 
used  and  abused  as  a  speculative  football.  At  the  time  Mr. 
Gould  became  connected  with  the  Company  as  a  Director,  a 
desperate  battle  was  on  between  the  dominant  power  in  the 
Erie  management  and  an  antagonist  who  had  been  his 
potent  rival  in  Wall  Street  speculation  and  railroad  manage- 
ment for  vears,  and  who  had  noiv  entered  the  lists  to  wrest 
the  control  of  Erie  from  him  and  make  that  property  subser- 
vient to  his  own  transportation  line.  The  success  of  this 
bold  movement  meant  the  taking  of  the  Erie  Railway  out 
of  the  list  of  independent  and  competitive  railroads  of  the 
country,  the  diversion  of  its  business,  and  inevitable  ruin  and 
disaster  to  the  region  through  which  it  had  been  constructed 
at  so  much  cost,  and  after  years  of  disheartening  but  per- 
sistent struggle.  To  prevent  this,  and  save  the  Erie  to  its 
people  and  its  territory,  Jay  Gould  first  brought  to  bear  those 
qualities  that  subsequently  made  him  for  a  time  supreme  in 


the  Company.  Although  but  one  in  the  Board  of  Directors, 
the  ex  1  mpaign  that   resulted  during  this  crisis  in  the 

affairs  of  the  Erie  was  conducted  largely  on  his  suggestion  and 
advice,  and  if  it  had  been  continued  on  these  lines,  as  Mr. 
Gould's  close  associates  always  contended,  the  end  of  the 
battl  would  have  been  a  success  for  the  Erie,  unattended  by 
any  humiliating  conditions.  As  it  was,  after  months  of  legal 
strife,  both  in  the  civil  and  criminal  courts,  the  controlling 
influence  in  the  Erie  management  agreed  to  buy  rather  than 
drive  their  antagonist  out  of  the  fight,  and  paid  his  price, 
amounting  to  several  millions  of  dollars,  out  of  the  Erie's 
treasury.  Against  this  method  of  terminating  the  contest  in 
defence  of  their  own  property  and  rights,  Jay  Could  earnestly 
protested. 

The  result  of  this  ending  of  the  "  Erie  War"  brought  also 
to  an  end  the  life  of  the  r&gime  that  had  ruled  in  Erie 
affairs  so  long,  and  placed  Jay  Could  at  the  head  of  the 
Company.  Instead  of  finding  a  treasury  to  be  loop 
found  one  that  had  to  be  filled  if  the  Company  was  to  be 
kept  out  of  absolute  bankruptcy,  for  there  was  not  a 
in  it.  Instead  of  a  finely  equipped  railroad,  in  superior  con- 
dition, he  came  into  the  possession  of  one  not  only  deficient 
in  the  quota  of  its  rolling  stock,  but  with  even  its  available 
stock  in  a  condition  of  deplorable  dilapidation,  and  of  a 
road-bed  and  track  sadly  and  dangerously  out  of  repair. 
The  foes  of  Erie  were  still  intriguing  and  working  for  its 
downfall.  Money,  and  a  large  sum  of  monev,  had  to  be 
raised,  and  raised  at  once,  if  the  Company  were  to  be  saved 
from  bankruptcy  and  its  railroad  put  in  a  condition  that 
would  warrant  effort  on  the  part  of  the  management  to  make 
it  the  strong  competitor  of  rival  roads  that  it  should  be. 
A  weak  or  hesitating  man  in  his  place  would  have  succumbed 
on  the  threshold  of  this  situation,  and  all  would  have  been 
lost  ;  but  Jay  Gould  was  far  from  being  either  weak  or  hesi- 
tating. He  raised  money.  His  method  of  raising  it  was 
undoubtedly  a  heroic  one,  and  the  cliques  that  had  been 
for  months  using  even  trick  and  game  known  to  Wall 
Street  to  destroy  Erie,  instantly  lifted  up  their  voices  in 
tones  of  pious  horror,  and  roundly  denounced  the  man  who 
[twitted  them  by  raising  money  to  save  the  Erie  prop 
ertv  from  its  foes.  At  any  rate,  after  a  long  and  th< 
investigation,  set  afoot  by  the  influences  that  had  for  years 
striven  for  the  control  of  the  Erie  Railway,  the  New  York 
Legislature  approved  his  act,  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote. 
The  funds  in  hand,  Mr.  Gould  at  once  began  the  recon- 
struction and  building  up  of  the  railroad  and  the  equipping 
of  it  with  rolling  stork  commensurate  with  the  demands  that 
he  foresaw  of  an  increasing  business.  During  his  adminis- 
tration steel  rails  were  introduced  in  place  of  rotten  iron 
ones.  New  and  important  connections,  not  only  local  but 
through,  were  secured.  Old  and  insecure  wooden  bridges 
were  replaced  by  modern  iron  structures.  Tumble-down 
depots  and  freight-houses  gave  u  ry  to  substantial  new  build- 
ings. Train  service  was  made  as  perfei  t  as  the  coaches, 
appliances,  and  conveniences  of  a  generation  ago  could  pro- 
vide.    Within  two  years  after  Jay  Gould  became   the  con- 


468 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


trolling  power  in  Erie,  the  railroad  had  ceased  to  be  a  thing 
of  ridicule  and  a  byword  to  the  travelling  public,  and  a  route 
in  which  the  shipper  had  small  confidence,  and  held  a  posi- 
tion second  to  none  in  popularity  both  with  travellers  and 
patrons  of  the  freight  department.  It  cannot  he  denied 
that  under  the  Could  regime,  by  the  progressive  ideas  it 
originated,  and  the  promptness  and  completeness  with  which 
they  uric  carried  out,  the  science  of  railroad  management 
was  advanced  many  years. 

Mr.  Gould  accumulated  enormous  riches,  but,  to  the  few 
who  knew  him  intimately,  it  was  manifest  that  he  enjoyed 
the  possession  of  riches  far  less  than  the  acquisition  of  them. 
He  loved  to  surmount  and  circumvent  barriers,  to  make  a 
conquest  of  adverse  forces,  to  conduct  a  complicated  cam- 
paign, to  apply  all  his  strategic  powers  to  the  overcoming  of 
difficulties,  to  employ  all  the  weapons  of  aggression  and  de- 
fence his  armory  held,  and  finally  win  a  victory  which  he 
thought  worthy  of  his  powers.  And  then  he  loved  to  seclude 
himself  from  the  public  gaze  among  his  flowers  and  books 
and  pictures,  with  those  he  loved  about  him,  and  the  world 
at  a  distance.  Of  cultivated  taste  and  varied  information, 
yet  he  was  not  desirous  of  imposing  or  incurring  social 
obligations,  nor  solicitous  of  distinction  in  any  sphere  of 
action  except  the  one  which  he  dominated.  He  was  content 
to  be  what  he  was — the  most  daring,  brilliant,  and  triumph- 
ant financier  of  the  age  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  the 
most  loyal  and  devoted  husband  and  father  in  the  eyes  of 
his  wife  and  children. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  Jay  Gould  was  a  mere 
speculator  in  properties.  He  was  the  most  consummate  rail- 
road manager  that  the  country  had  ever  produced.  He  knew 
everything  about  a  railway,  from  the  rails  to  the  locomotive, 
and  from  the  brakeman's  duty  to  that  of  the  general  man- 
ager. He  could  sit  down  and  write  a  traffic  contract,  which 
is  perhaps  the  supreme  test  of  a  railroad  manager's  perspi- 
cacity. He  was  a  superb  executive  officer.  He  applied  the 
military  rule  to  his  subordinates.  Results,  not  processes,  was 
his  motto.  His  great  genius  was  shown  in  his  quick  mastery 
of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  value  of  corporate  proper- 
ties, and  in  perception  of  possibilities  of  consolidation  of 
them.  When  he  acquired  properties  he  bent  his  energies  to 
develop  them,  and  he  had  both  the  will  and  the  strength  to 
defend  and  protect  them.  His  money  was  invested  in  active 
enterprises  which  gave  employment  to  many  thousands  of 
men.  He  frequently  engaged  in  undertakings  in  which  there 
was  no  prospect  of  any  immediate  chance  of  reward,  relying 
on  his  efforts  and  on  his  faith  in  the  future  value  of  them  for 
his  compensation  or  profit.  Faith  in  the  constant  and  steady 
growth  of  the  country,  and  the  consequent  prosperity  of  all 
legitimate  and  well-directed  projects,  was  one  source  of  his 
unexampled  success  ;  and  who  may  say  that  his  efforts  in  sys- 
tematizing and  combining  the  great  railroad  systems  of  the 
West  and  Southwest,  and  managing  them  as  they  should  be 
managed,  did  not  stimulate  more  than  any  one  thing  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  that  vast  area  of  the  country  through 
which  those  highways  have  their  amazing  ramifications?  A  less 


forceful  man  than  Jay  Gould  would  have  been  tempted  to  sit 
down  idly  and  take  his  ease  on  an  income  from  government 
bonds  or  other  infallible  seturities,  but  he  was  not  content 
except  in  directing  the  management  of  properties  requiring 
constant  supervision  and  perfect  handling  to  make  them  suc- 
cessful. He,  perhaps,  wielded  more  power  during  the  half 
score  or  more  years  preceding  his  death  than  any  other  one 
man  on  the  continent,  and  all  without  one  evidence  of  osten- 
tation or  display.  To  no  other  man  or  collection  of  men  is 
due  so  much  the  bringing  of  the  railroad  transportation  sys- 
tem to  the  perfection  it  has  reached  in  this  country  ;  and  the 
extension  of  that  system  so  that  it  reaches  the  most  out-of- 
the-way  corners  of  the  land  is  due  entirely  to  the  remarkable 
enterprise,  sagacity,  and  organizing  genius  that  he  possessed. 
Through  his  telegraph  and  railroad  enterprises  great  distances 
were  narrowed,  and  isolated  communities  brought  in  touch 
with  the  outside  world  as  they  would  not  have  been  other- 
wise, perhaps,  for  many  years  to  come. 

Physically,  Mr.  Gould  was  a  small  man.  He  had  a 
remarkably  high  and  broad  forehead,  and  though  his  dark 
eyes  sparkled  continually  there  was  yet  a  deeply  thoughtful 
look  in  them.  His  manner  was  exceedingly  modest,  the 
tone  of  his  voice  low,  and  modulated  in  accents  of  gentle- 
ness. He  was  invariably  courteous  and  natural.  Affectation 
and  hypocrisy  were  entirely  unknown  qualities  in  his  character. 
For  society  outside  of  his  own  family  circle  he  cared  noth- 
ing, but  at  home  he  was  genial,  kind,  indulgent,  affectionate. 
It  was  not  until  the  strain  of  mental  toil  began  to  tell  upon 
his  physical  powers,  many  years  after  he  had  won  almost 
undisputed  dominion  over  the  financial  world,  that  he  gave 
any  thought  to  rest  or  diversion  in  the  directions  usually 
sought  by  men  of  vast  wealth.  Prior  to  that  time  his  books, 
his  pictures,  his  flowers,  were  his  chief  sources  of  recreation 
and  pleasure.  His  putting  of  a  yacht  in  commission — the 
splendid  and  speedy  Atlanta — was  consequently  a  source  of 
much  comment  to  the  outside  world ;  but  it  was  not  as  a 
sportsman  that  Mr.  Gould  sought  to  enjoy  his  superb  play- 
thing. 

Jay  Gould's  secfetiveness  in  his  business  affairs  was  pro- 
verbial, but  it  was  exhibited  quite  as  strikingly  in  his  bene- 
factions. He  never  achieved  the  reputation  of  one  who  was 
in  the  habit  of  contributing  toward  the  needs  of  his  fellow- 
men,  but  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  that  few  rich  men  were 
more  charitable  than  he.  Once  only  did  he  forego  his 
customary  reticence,  and  then  it  was  in  a  time  of  great 
public  calamity.  Yellow  fever  was  raging  in  Memphis,  and 
subscriptions  were  being  taken  in  all  the  large  cities  of  the 
country  to  aid  the  afflicted  town.  Mr.  Gould  did  not  pro- 
crastinate. He  telegraphed  to  the  authorities  of  Memphis  to 
draw  on  him  for  all  the  money  they  needed.  It  is  said  of 
him,  by  one  who  was  close  in  his  confidence,  that  "  he  was  a 
constant  and  liberal  giver,  his  benefactions  being  dispensed 
through  a  trustee  in  whose  suggestions  and  advice  in  such 
matters  he  had  every  confidence.  His  invariable  condition 
was  that  there  should  be  no  public  blazonry  of  his  benefac- 
tions."    He  never  sought  to  delude  himself  or  others  with  a 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


469 


show  of  counterfeit  philanthropy.  He  was  the  most  ab- 
stemious of  men,  never  touching  either  spirituous  liquors, 
wine  (except  at  his  physician's  advice),  or  tobacco. 

Jay  Gould  died  December  2,  1892,  at  his  New  York  resi- 
dence. He  was  survived  by  four  sons  and  two  daughters  : 
George  Jay,  Edwin,  Howard,  and  Frank  J.,  Helen  M.  and 
Anna.  He  left  a  fortune,  as  taxed  by  the  Surrogate  of  Xew 
York  County,  amounting  to  nearly  $56,000,000. 

1872. 

Gen.  John  Adams  Dix. — John  Adams  Dix  was  bom  at 
Boscawen,  N.  H.,  July  24,  1 798.  He  obtained  his  early  edu- 
cation in  the  academies  at  Salisbury  and  Exeter,  and  at  a 
French  school  in  Montreal,  where  he  remained  one  year.  In 
his  fourteenth  year  he  was  appointed  a  cadet  at  the  United 
States  Military  Academy,  but  gave  up  the  appointment  to  take 
part  in  the  War  of  1812  and  1815,  having  received  a  commis- 
sion as  ensign  in  the  Fourteenth  United  States  Infantry. 
Within  a  year  he  was  promoted  to  be  third  lieutenant  and 
transferred  to  the  Twenty-first  Regiment  of  Infantry.  In  1814 
he  became  second  lieutenant,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same 
year  was  transferred  to  the  artillery.  He  was  made  adjutant 
in  1815,  and  in  March,  1819,  was  appointed  aide-de-camp  to 
Maj.-Gen.  Jacob  Brown,  commander-in-chief,  becoming  first 
lieutenant  in  1818  and  a  captain  in  1825.  In  1828  he 
resigned  his  commission,  having  passed  sixteen  years  in  the 
military  sen-ice  of  the  nation. 

Much  of  his  leisure  had  been  given  to  the  study  of  law, 
and  upon  his  return  from  a  trip  abroad  he  settled  at  Coopers- 
town,  X.  Y.,  and  entered  the  legal  profession.  Espousing 
the  Democratic  cause,  he  soon  became  prominent  in  politics 
and  was  a  zealous  partisan  of  Andrew  Jackson.  In  1830  he 
was  appointed  adjutant-general  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
In  1833  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  and  superin- 
tendent of  common  schools.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Canal  Board  and  -  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  canal 
fund. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  term  he  resumed  his  law  practice. 
In  1842  he  was  elected  to  represent  Albany  County  in  the 
Assembly.  In  1846  he  was  chosen  United  States  Senator  to 
fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  election  of  Silas  Wright  as 
Governor  of  Xew  York,  in  1845,  and  served  the  remaining 
four  years  of  the  term.  In  1853  he  was  appointed  Assistant 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States  at  Xew  York  City,  and  became 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  President  Buchanan,  January 
11,  1861,  at  a  memorable  crisis  in  national  affairs.  It  was 
while  holding  this  place  that  he  wrote  the  famous  message  to 
W.  H.  Jones,  a  special  agent  of  the  Treasury  Department  at 
Xew  Orleans,  which,  after  ordering  the  arrest  of  Captain 
Breshwood,  of  the  revenue  cutter  "  McClelland,"  concluded 
with  the  memorable  words  :  "  If  any  one  attempts  to  haul 
down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  the  spot."  During  the 
Civil  War  he  was  appointed  a  major-general  in  the  regular 
army.  At  the  conclusion  of  hostilities  he  resigned  his  posi- 
tion in  the  army  and  retired  to  civil  life. 


On  the  organization  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
General  Dix  was  elected  its  president.  He  was  chairman  of  the 
convention  of  the  Xational  Union  Party  held  at  Philadelphia 
in  1866.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  minister  to  the 
Netherlands,  but  declined;  a  few  weeks  later  he  accepted 
the  post  of  naval  officer  for  the  port  of  Xew  York,  resigning 
in  Xovember  to  accept  the  mission  to  France.  On  March 
11,  1872,  he  was  elected  president  of  Erie,  succeeding 
Jay  Gould.  ("Administration  of  John  A.  Dix,"  pages  201- 
207.)  At  the  State  election  of  that  year  General  Dix  was 
elected  Governor  of  Xew  York  on  the  Republican  ticket. 
He  was  renominated  in  1874,  but  was  defeated  by  Samuel 
J.  Tilden.  He  died  April  21,  1879.  A  son,  the  Rev. 
Morgan  Dix,  rector  of  Trinity  Parish,  Xew  York,  survives 
him. 

1 872- 1 874. 

Peter  H.  Watson. — Born  in  England,  1819,  this  future 
president  of  Erie  came  to  the  United  States  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  and,  after  some  months  spent  in  civil  engineering, 
began  the  study  of  the  law  at  Rockford,  111.  After  his  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  he  opened  an  office  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
where  he  soon  took  a  leading  place  as  a  shrewd  and  success- 
ful patent  lawyer,  of  which  branch  of  the  profession  he  made 
a  specialty.  He  made  fame  and  fortune  through  his  promi- 
nent connection  with  the  noted  McCormick  Reaper  cases  in 
the  United  States  and  other  courts,  being  successful  in  all. 
He  had  become  a  warm  personal  friend  of  E.  M.  Stanton, 
and  when  the  latter  was  made  Lincoln's  Secretary  of  War, 
to  succeed  Simon  Cameron,  he  selected  Mr.  Watson  as  his 
first  assistant.  Mr.  Watson  had  charge  of  the  Quartermaster 
General's  Department  all  through  the  Civil  War,  performing 
its  duties  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Administration  and 
honor  to  himself.  It  is  recorded  of  him,  as  showing  his 
great  capacity  for  work  and  extraordinary  endurance,  that  he 
kept  a  night  and  day  force  of  clerks  in  his  department,  and 
personally  supervised  the  services  of  both. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Watson  returned  to  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  settling  at  Ashtabula,  O.  In  Ohio  he  became 
interested  in  railroads,  and  constructed  the  Ashtabula  and 
Franklin  Railroad,  which  was  subsequently  made  a  branch  of 
the  Lake  Shore  Railroad.  He  was  the  originator  of  the  South 
Improvement  Company  of  Pennsylvania  in  1S70,  having 
become  largely  interested  in  oil  transportation  in  that  State. 
This  corporation  was  later  the  basis  of  the  present  great 
Standard  Oil  Company.  His  bold  ideas  in  railroad  manage- 
ment made  him  prominent  in  transportation  circles,  and 
when  the  Erie  Railway  Company  came  to  need  a  president 
to  take  the  place  of  General  Dix,  after  the  stormy  Gould 
times  of  1S72.  Mr.  Watson  was  chosen  to  fill  the  place.  He 
remained  at  the  head  of  Erie  until  1874,  when,  broken  in 
health,  he  resigned.  ("  Administration  of  Peter  H.  Watson," 
pages  208-229.)  Recovering  his  health,  he  again  took  up 
active  business  life,  and  organized  in  Xew  York  the  Fabric 
Measuring  and  Packaging  Company,  under  valuable  patents. 


4/0 


BE  1\\ "1  EN     1  til     OCEAN    AND    HIE    LAKES 


pany  until  his  death,  July  ^.\ 
Mr.  Wai  at    the  Hotel   Albert.  Unn 

\  •    buried  .it 

nla.     H<  veil  by  his  wife  and  four  children, 

whom.  Edward  P.,  i  to  the  management  of 

the  business  of  the  deceas 

;    1S84. 

Hon.  Hugh  J,  Jkwett. — Mr.  Jewett,  although  a  native 

of  Maryland,  having  been  born  on  his  father's  farm  at  Deer 

.  Jul)  1,  tSi7,  settle. 1  in  Belmont  County,  0.,  in  1840, 

for   the   practici  he    having   fitted   himself    tor   th.it 

The  Ohio  bar  was  then  famous  for  the  surpass- 
ing genius  of  its  members,  and  young  Jewett  soon  compelled 
tion  th.it  made  him  the  ed  peer  of  such  rare 

legal  minds  as  Edwin  M.Stanton  (later  Lincoln's  great  war 
[udge  William  Kennon,  Governor  Wilson  Shannon, 
Benjamin  Cowen,  and  others  equally  great  in  their  da}  and 
generation.  Before  he  was  thirty  years  of  age.  in  [848,  his 
reputation  as  a  lawyer  had  become  so  wide,  and  had  been 
followed  by  such  a  corresponding  increase  in  his  business, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  seek  a  more  extensive  field,  ami  he 
removed  to  Zanesville,  which  was  then  one  o\  the  most 
important  towns  in  the  State.  There  he  quickly  rose  to 
still  greater  prominence  and  influence,  and  his  attainments, 
nly  in  the  law  but  in  financial  matters,  which  he 
had  made  a   study  in  his  practice,  n  ed  in  [85a 

by  his  appointment  as  president  of  the  Muskingum  branch 
Of  the  Ohio  Male    bank. 

He  had  early  taken  an  active  interest  in  politics,  and 
accepted  and  advocated  the  principles  of  the  Democratic 
party.  He  was  a  member  ol  the  Ohio  State  Senate  in  1854, 
when  he  was  appointed  bj  President  Pierce  (whose  election 
lie  had  done  much  to  secure)  lulled  Stales  Distrit  t  \tlonicv 
for  the  Southern  I  list;  1. 1  of  Ohio. 

In  1856  he  was   the  delegate   from    the  Muskingum  Valley 
district  to  the  Democratic  National  Convention  which  was 
held  at  Cincinnati.      Mi.  Jewett  became  largelj   identified 
with  the  banking  interests  oi  Zanesville,  and  became  a  pan 
tier  in  one  of  the  leading  banking-houses  ol  thai  pi  ice. 

Railroad  building  and  management   had   become  a  leading 

:  for  agitation  in  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Jewett,  seeing  not  only 

the  present  but  future  im]  ulroads,  at  once  gave 

to   them   much   of  his   attention.      In    iSss    he   was   elected 

resident  of  tic  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  and 

■usiness    methods    and    rare    judgment    were 

quicklj  ..  ition  to  the  vi<  e  presidencj  of 

impany,  he  being  at    the   same   time   appointed  general 

manager  of  the  road,     rhese  promotions  were  Eollowed  in 

1857  bj  the  ele<  tion  of  Mr.  Jewett  as  president  oi  the  con 

pany.     1  "1,  war  of  historic  fin  vulsion,  and 

the  Central  Ohio  Railroad,  in  common  with  all  lines  mi  the 

country  verses  and  loss  oi  business  from  the 

depressi  1     trade,  and  il   » d  into  the 

hands  oi  a  Mr.  Jewett  being  the  I  the  stock- 


holders for  the  place.      The  exacting  duties  of  the  rece 
ship  were  discharged  so  as   to  meet  with  the  v. 
bation  from  all  concerned.'    For  several  years  thereafter.  Mi 
Jewett  continued  to  glow   in  popular  estimation  and  confi- 
dence, until  his  reputation  as  a  railroad  manager,  legal  ad\ 
and  financie  wis  national. 

He  led  his  party  as  their  candidate  for  high  office  in  many 
hopeless  contests,  owing  to  Republican  preponderance, 
although  he  invariably  reduced  the  regular  opposition 
majority.  Vs  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Representative 
in  Congress,  in  1860,  he  carried  Muskingum  County,  but 
was  defeated  in  Morgan  Count]  bj  a  few  votes.  In  1861  he 
was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Govemoi  of  Ohio,  and 
was  iiis  party's  choice  for  United  States  Senator  in  1863. 
He  served  in  the  1  owe.  House  of  the  Ohio  State  I  egislature 
in  1868  1869,  and  in  the  lattei  year  was  elected  president 
of  the  1  ittle  Miami  and  Columbus  and  \enia  railroads. 
Shoith  afterward  he  was  made  president  of  the  Cincinnati 
and  Muskingum  Valley  Railroad  Company,  and  removed  to 
Columbus,  where  he  was  elected  president  and  general 
manager  of  the  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati  and  St.  1  ouis  Railroad 
Company.  In  1871,  Mr.  Jewett  consented  to  lead  his  party 
in  the  congressional  campaign  in  the  capital  district,  and, 
the    district    being    stronglj     Republican,   he    was    defeated. 

The  same  year,  the  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati  and  St.  1  ouis  Rail- 
road Companj  and  the  Muskingum  Valle)  Railroad  Company 
having  been  consolidated  as  the  Pennsylvania  Company,  Mi. 
Jewett  resigned  from  their  active  management  to  accept  the 
offii  e  o\  general  counsel  foi  the  Pennsylvania  Company.    The 

\c.u  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  capital 
district.  He  was  gaining  still  greater  distinction  for  himself 
in  this  position,  when  he  was  summoned  in  1874  to  consider 
the  offer  of  the  presidencj  of  the  Erie  Railwaj  Company. 

At  that  time,  undoubtedly,  there  was  no  man  in  the  coun- 
try, 1>\  reason  of  his  thorough  practical  knowledge  of  all  the 

blanches  and  intricate  details  01   railroad  management  and  his 
ripe  experience  and  tried  judgment  in  dealing  with  their  com 
plicated  and  knottj  problems,  better  equipped  to  take  hold  ^<i 
the  tangled  affairs  oi  Erie  than  Hugh  J.  Jewett.     1'he  emer- 
gent \  was  mi.  h  that  there  was  no  tune  for  him  to  gi\  c  to  those 

an  ins  .in.l  the  conditions  "\  the  property  and  its  prospects 
such  thorough  persona]  investigation  and  stu.K  as  he  desired 
in  order  to  have  a  moie  perfect  understanding  of  them. 
I'hi'  companj  wanted  the  services  ofl  hand,  and  relying  on 
the  exhibits  and  statements  made  to  him,  placed  before  him, 

and  vouched  for  bv  persons  m  whom  he  had  a  light  to  repose 
j     confidence,    he    accepted     tin-    Must,    but    nude     his 
acceptance  conditional,     lbs  conditions  were  granted,  and 
he  was  elected  pics]. lent  oi   the  Erie  Railwaj  Company. 

Mr.  lewett  soon  found  tint  the  rose-colored  statements 
which  had  been  made  to  him  as  to  the  Erie's  condition  were 
without  foundation,  and  thai  sonic  of  theverj   parties  making 

the  statements  were  pi. inning  .1  wholesale  plunder  of  the  prop 

erty.       He  exposed  then    s.  hemes,  and    insl.mth   be.  . nne    the 

target  for  their  hostility.  Hie  affairs  oi  the  Companj  were 
in  reality  such  that  the  receivership  followed,  in  May,  <■ 


I  ill-;    STORY    OF    ERIE 


47i 


Mr.  Jewett   was  appointed  receiver.     On  the  27th  of  April, 
the  Company  was  reorganized  under  the  title  of  the 
NewYork,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Rail  pany.     Mr. 

Jewett  was  elected  president  of  the  new  1  orporation,  and  re- 
ceived a  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  from  the  Board  of  I 
ors  for  "his  able,  wise  and  management  of   the 

affairs  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company,  both  as  president  and 
and   the    Board   extended   to  him   the    emphatic 
assurance  of  their  respt-c  t  and  confidence,  and  denounced 
"as   utterly    false,  ">us   and    defamatory,   the   various 

loose,  vague  and  general  charges  of  mismanagement  and  mis- 
conduct that  have  been  brougl  I  him  in  the  course  of 
the  litigation  in  opposition  to  the  scheme  of  reconstruction, 
and  the  various  newspapers  published  in  I 

Mr.  Jewett  continued  at  the  head  of  Krie  affairs  until 
November  30,  1S.X4,  when  he  retired  from  active  business 
hi'-.    1"  Administration  of  Hugh  J.  Jewett,"  pages  230-269.) 

At  the  close  of  his  (Mime  tion  with  the  Erie,  Mr.  Jewett 
retired  to  his  old  family  homestead  and  birthplace  at  Glen- 
ville,  Hartford  County,  Md.  Here,  surrounded  by  his  fam- 
ily, h.-  and  his  agricultural  pursuits,  he  spent  the 
latter  years  of  his  life  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  a  leisure 
which  he  had  certainly  fairly  earned  by  a  long  career  of  ac- 
tivity and  labor.  It  was  his  custom  to  spend  the  winter 
months  in  New  York,  where  he  wis  a  member  of  the  ' 
Manhattan,  and  City  Clubs.  1  le  died  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  March 
6,  1S9S,  in  his  eighty-first  year. 

4-1S95. 

John  King. — John  King  was  liom  at  Baltimore,  Md., 
April   .-  which,  by  strange  coincidence,  was  the  day 

and  year  the   Krie  charter  was  granted.      His  father.  John 

and   his    mother,    who   was    Miss    --Mutter,   we: 
natives  of   Baltimore.     John  King  was  educated  in  private 
and  public  schools  in  Baltimore,  which  he  attended  from  his 
eighth  year  until  his  seventeenth,  when  he  began  life  as  clerk 
in  a  hardware  store.     A   year  later  he  <_  :h   the  late 

John  Hoeyin  the  express  business,  which  he  abandoned  after 
two  years,  and  begin  his  railroad  career  as  nt  for 

tii,-  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  at  Camden.  N.I. 
be  paymaster,  auditor,  general  fr  it,  and 

first  vice-president  of  that  company.  He  was  active  in  the 
management  of  the  company  foi  twenty-seven  years,  during 
which  time  he  was  president  of  the  Pittsburgh  and  Connells- 
ville  Railroad  Company,  and  of  the  Baltimore  ami  Ohio  and 

go  Railroad  Company ;  and  receiver  of  the  Ohio  and 

■-ippi.  and  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Raili 
ponies.     In  July,  1881,  Mr.  K  lilroad 

life,  and  spent  three  years  in  foreign  travel.      He  returned  to 

luntry  in  [884,  and  August  21st  of  that  year  he  became 
assistant  president  of  the  Erie,  and  president  Noveml 
July  25,  1893,  President  K    -  of  the 

irers  of  the  Company.    ("Administi 

.•74.1     He  contin  vex  two  years,  when, 

on  account  of  failing  health,  he  resigned  his  place  and  went 


d,  having  decided  on  a  tour  of  the  world.     Travel  did 
not  have  the  effect  of   restoring   his   health,  and  he  died  at 
ulieu,  near  nee,  March  17,  1S97. 

Mr.  King  was  a  Freemason,  and  a  member  of  the  Metro- 
politan, the  Manhattan,  the  Down-Town,  the  Lawyers',  the 
Tuxedo,  the  New  York  Whist,  and  other  clubs.     He  was  an 

opalian.     He  is  survived  by  his  wife,  who  was  Mary  F. 
Jackson,  of  Baltimore,  and  by  three  children — two  daughters, 
Mrs.  Ralph  Elliott,  of  Savannah,  <  la.,  and   the  Baronet 
Giskra,  of  Berne,  Switzerland  ;  and  one  son,  Jackson  King. 

John    Griffith    McCullough    (Receiver) . — Jol 
McCullough  was  liorn  at  Newark,  Del.,        -  otch  and  \\  elsh 
■  ry.      His  father  died  when  he  was  three,  and  his  mother 
when  he  was  seven  years  old.     Although  his  means  for  obtain- 
i  education  were  meagre,  his  persistence  won  him  his 
way  through  Delaware  College,  from  which  hi  luated 

at  the  age  of  twenty.     He  at  once  went  to  Philadelphia. 

When  he  was  graduated  from  the  University  of  Pennsvl- 
vania,  he  having,  during  his  attendance  there,  studied  law  in 
the  office  of  one  of  Philadelphia's  ablest  lawyers,  St.  Ceorge 
Tucker  Campbell,  Mr.  McCullough  found  himself  in  such 
critical  health  that  it  would  have  been  suicidal  for  him  to  re- 
main  in   that  climate,  much  less  to  attempt   the   prai  I 

on,  and  in  1S59  he  went       I  rnia  and  settled 

at  Mariposa.     Gradually  recovering  his  health,  he  opened  a 

■  e.     It  was  not  long  he  had  built  up  a  pn 

ous  business.      The  political  feeling  in  California  that  pre- 
the  Civil  War  was  of  a  particularly  disturbing  and  omi- 
nous character,  and  as  time  went  on  a  strong  sentiment  in 
if  secession  developed.     Although  liorn  in  a  slave-hold- 
;    McCullough  was  opposed  to  the  doctrines 
that  emanated  from  those  States,  and  used  his  influence  and 
nee  to  arouse  and  strengthen  the  L'nion  feeling  in  Cali- 
fornia.    He  became  conspicuous  for  his  persistent  resistance 
to  the  secession  element,  and  by  a  union  of  the  Republicans 
and  anti-sec  ession   Denux  rai  ts  in  t86i,  he  »  is  elected  as  a 
member  of  the  California  Legislature.     In  that  body  he  con- 
tinued to  light  secession,  and  his  earnestness  and  fearlessness 
went  far  toward  stemming  the  tide  that  at  one  time  threat- 
ened I  '    llifomia  with  the  erring  sisters  of  the  South. 

In  1862  he  wi  -   nate,  although  the  district 

had  always  been  Democratic.     Asa  senator  he  maintained 
his  attitude  of   unflinchii  sm.     At   the  end   of  his 

term    in    the   Senate   he  «  ted  attorney-general  of   the 

State  by  a  -  majority. 

The    political   campaign    in   California,    in  s  at- 

tended by  a   Democratic  landslide,  which  swept   eve- 
didate  on  that  ticket  into  office.     Mr.  M  •  1  had  been 

nated  as   the  Republican  candidate  f 
attorney-general,  and  was  defeated  with  the  rest  of  the  Re- 
publican ticket.     He  thereupon  established  himself   at   - 
Francisco,  where  he  liecame  a  leader  at  the  California  bar. 
During  the  five  years  that  he  practised  I 
Francisco  he  managed  important  cases  that  brought  him  in 
contact  with  many  of  the  great  railroad  minds  of  the  coun- 


47^ 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


try,  and  he  managed  these  cases  so  successfully  that  he  won 
a  wide  reputation  as  an  astute  lawyer  and  a  man  of  safe  judg- 
ment. Acceding  to  flattering  solicitation,  Mr.  McCulIough 
closed  up  his  affairs  in  California  and  came  East  to  reside  in 
1871.  IK  at  once  became  interested  in  railroad  affairs.  He 
was  vice-president  of  the  Panama  Railroad  Company  from 
1872  until  1883,  and  president  from  1S83  until  18SS.  In 
1SN4,  the  affairs  of  Erie  being  then  nearing  a  crisis,  Mr.  Mc- 
CulIough was  called  in  as  one  of  a  new  Board  of  Directors, 
and  was  subsequently  made  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee. He  has  been  prominent  in  the  management  of  Erie 
ever  since.  In  1890  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Chi- 
cago and  Erie  Railroad  Company  on  its  organization.  In 
1893  he  was  made  co- receiver  of  the  Erie  with  President 
John  King,  and,  owing  to  the  feeble  health  of  Mr.  King, 
practically  had  charge  of  Erie  affairs  during  the  receiver- 
ship. 

Mr.  McCulIough  married,  in  Vermont,  Eliza  Hull  Park, 
daughter  of  Trenor  W.  Park,  the  financier  and  railroad 
magnate. 

1894  (IN  OFFICE,   1899). 

Ebex  B.  Thomas. — Eben  B.  Thomas,  who  came  into 
the  sen-ice  of  the  Company  in  1888,  and  was  made  first 
vice-president  in  November,  1890,  succeeding  S.  M.  Fel- 
ton,  Jr.,  was  elected  to  fill  the  places  made  vacant  by  the 
resignation  of  president  and  receiver  John  King,  November 
30,  1894.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Thomas  had  been  for 
months  performing  the  duties  of  president,  first  vice-presi- 


dent, and  second  vice-president,  the  incumbents  of  the  first 
and  latter  place  being  incapacitated  by  broken  health.  Pre- 
vious to  his  connection  with  the  Erie  management,  Mr. 
Thomas  had  been  for  several  years  general  manager  of  the 
Cleveland,  Columbus,  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  Railroad,  re- 
tiring from  that  high  office  in  1SS5  to  become  second  vice- 
president  and  general  manager  of  the  Richmond  and  Danville 
system.  In  February,  1888,  he  was  called  to  the  Erie  man- 
agement, having  been  elected  second  vice-president  of  the 
Company.  In  December,  1S90,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
first  vice-presidency,  and  was  also  general  manager  of  the 
Chicago  and  Erie  Railroad  from  September,  1890,  to  Jan- 
uary, 1 89 1.  November  30,  1894,  he  became  president  and 
co-receiver  of  the  Erie,  and  on  the  organization  of  the  Erie 
Railroad  Company,  November  14,  1895,  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  new  Company,  in  which  office  he  has  continued 
ever  since.  ("  Administration  of  Eben  B.  Thomas,"  pages 
282-294.) 

President  Thomas  ranks  among  the  really  great  railroad 
managers  of  this  country.  His  abilities  are  not  confined  to 
any  one  particular  sphere  of  railroad  work.  He  is  a  master  of 
details  in  all  its  departments,  and  has  executive  capacity  of 
remarkable  scope.  Although  conservative  in  his  methods, 
Mr.  Thomas  is  broad-minded  and  progressive  in  developing 
the  resources  of  his  Company.  He  believes  in  maintaining 
a  high  standard,  and  his  rare  personal  popularity  with  his 
subordinates  in  office,  and  with  the  great  army  of  employees 
along  the  Erie  lines,  is  a  significant  testimonial  as  to  his 
character. 


THE     RULERS    OF    ERIE. 

i 832-1 898. 


NEW  YORK  AND  ERIE   RAILROAD  COMPANY. 

Incorporators  under  the  Charter. — Samuel  Swartwout, 
Stephen  Whitney,  Robert  White,  Cornelius  Harsen,  Eleazar  Lord, 
Daniel  Le  Roy,  William  C.  Redfield,  Cornelius  J.  Blauvelt,  Jeremiah 
H.  Pierson,  William  Townsend,  Egbert  Jansen,  Charles  Borland, 
Abram  M.  Smith,  Alpheus  Dimmick,  Randall  S.  Street,  John  P. 
Jones,  George  I).  Wickham,  Joseph  Curtis,  John  L.  Gorman,  Joshua 
Whitney,  Christopher  Elridge,  James  McKinney,  James  Pumpelly, 
Charles  Pumpelly,  John  R.  Drake,  Jonathan  Piatt,  Luther  Gere,  Fran- 
cis A.  Bloodgood,  Jeremiah  S.  Beebe,  Ebenezer  Mack,  Ansel  St. 
John.  Andrew  DeWitt  Bruyn,  Stephen  Tuttle,  Lyman  Covell,  Robert 
Covell,  John  Arnot,  John  Magee,  William  M.  McCay,  William  S. 
Hubbell,  William  Bonham,  Arthur  H.  Envin,  Henry  Brother,  Philip 
Church,  Samuel  King,  Walter  Bowne,  Morgan  Lewis,  William 
Paulding,  Peter  Lorillard,  Isaac  Lawrence,  Jeromus  Johnson,  John 
Steward,  Jr.,  Henry  I.  Wyckoff,  Richard  M.  Lawrence,  Gideon  Lee, 
John  P.  Stagg,  Xathaniel  Weed,  Hubert  Van  Wagenen,  David 
Rogers,  John  Hone,  John  G.  Coster,  Goold  Hoyt,  Peter  I.  Nevius, 
Robert  Buloid,  Thomas  A.  Ronalds,  John  Haggerty,  Elisha  Riggs, 
Benjamin  L.  Swan,  Grant  B.  Baldwin,  William  Maxwell,  Darius 
Bentley. 

Previous  to  the  second  election  of  Eleazar  Lord,  no 
salary  or  compensation  was  paid  to  the  president  for  his 
services,  though  the  duties  of  that  office  since  1835  required 
much  time  and  labor  in  their  performance.  On  the  25th day 
of  September,  1839,  the  date  of  Mr.  Lord's  second  election, 
the  salary  of  the  president  was  fixed  at  $3,600  per  annum. 

When  the  Company  was  organized  Goold  Hoyt  was  chosen 
vice-president,  John  Duer,  counsel,  and  William  G.  Buckner, 
treasurer.  These  offices  were  little  more  than  nominal  until 
about  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  work  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Delaware  in  1835,  and  until  then  they  were 
without  salaries.  The  offices  of  vice-president  and  treasurer 
were  filled  by  Mr.  Hoyt  and  Mr.  Buckner  until  the  4th  of 
February,  1S35,  when  they  resigned  and  Eleazar  Lord  (having 
resigned  the  office  of  president)  was  elected  to  both  offices, 
and  his  salary  as  treasurer  was  fixed  at  §3,000  per  year.  He 
was  required  to  give  a  bond  in  the  penal  sum  of  §20,000. 
Lord  held  these  offices  until  the  14th  of  September  of  the 
same  year,  when  he  resigned,  and  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant  was 
chosen  his  successor.  Mr.  Stuyvesant  declined  any  salary, 
and  was  not  required  to  give  security  as  treasurer.  These 
offices  he  held  until  December  6,  1836,  when  he  resigned. 
From  that  time  until  November  22,  1838,  the  office  of  treas- 
urer remained  vacant,  its  duties  being  performed  principally 
by  the  secretary.  November  22,  183S,  Elihu  Townsend  was 
chosen  treasurer.  He  resigned  October  8,  1839,  and  was 
succeeded  by  George  S.  Robbins.  Mr.  Robbins  served  until 
April  30,  1840,  when  he  resigned,  and  James  Bowen  was 
appointed  vice-president  and  treasurer.  He  held  these 
offices   until  the   27th  of  May,  1841,  when  he   was  elected 


president,  and  Henry  L.  Pierson  succeeded  him  as  vice- 
president  and  treasurer.  From  the  time  of  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Lord  as  treasurer,  in  1835,  until  the  election  of  Mr. 
Bowen,  in  April,  1840,  the  treasurer  had  no  fixed  compensa- 
tion, nor  was  there  any  salary  paid  during  that  time,  cm  epl 
to  Mr.  Robbins,  who  received  §  1,000  for  his  services  from 
October  8,  1839,  until  April  30,  1840.  On  the  election  of 
Mr.  Bowen  as  vice-president  and  treasurer,  his  salarv  w.ts 
fixed  at  83,000  per  annum,  and  that  remained  the  salary  of 
Mr.  Pierson.  No  salary  had  ever  been  paid  to  the  vice- 
president,  except  as  the  office  was  held  in  conjunction  with 
that  of  treasurer. 

There  was  no  regularly  appointed  secretary  of  the  Com- 
pany until  the  14th  day  of  September,  1835,  when  the  Board 
of  Directors  established  the  office.  Mr.  Talman  J.  Waters 
was,  on  the  nomination  of  the  president,  appointed  to  that 
office.  His  salary  was  fixed  at  §3,000  per  year.  This  office 
he  held  until  the  8th  of  November,  1839,  when  his  resigna- 
tion, tendered  on  the  4th  of  October  previous,  was  accepted. 
From  November,  1838,  until  the  time  of  his  resignation, 
Mr.  Waters  received  a  salary  at  the  rate  of  §1,250  per 
annum,  he,  during  that  time,  being  also  engaged  as  cashier 
in  the  Custom  House,  in  New  York.  Upon  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Waters,  William  M.  Gould  was  appointed.  From  the 
time  of  his  appointment  until  October,  1840,  Mr.  Gould's 
salary  was  at  the  rate  of  §900  per  annum  ;  on  the  latter  date 
it  was  increased  to  §1,250. 

On  the  2d  day  of  October,  1835,  the  office  of  comptroller 
of  the  Company  was  established,  and  Samuel  B.  Ruggles 
appointed  to  that  office.  Mr.  Ruggles  held  it  without  salary, 
except  expenses,  until  the  14th  of  July,  1S3S,  when  the  office 
was,  on  his  motion  (he  being  then  a  director),  abolished. 
The  title  was  revived  for  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  in  1S69,  but  was 
not  used  after  his  time  except  in  1883  and  1884,  when 
Stephen  Little  was  called  comptroller. 

The  addition  to  the  number  of  vice-presidents  began  with 
Peter  H.  Watson  in  1X72. 

No  established  rules  or  by-1  iws  were  adopted  for  the  regu- 
lation of  the  business  of  the  different  departments  of  the 
Company  until  the  10th  of  September,  1 841,  when  a  code 
of  by-laws  was  adopted.  Previous  to  that  time  the  power 
and  duties  of  the  several  officers  and  agents  of  the  Com- 
pany were  not  specifically  defined,  but  were  left  to  such 
construction  or  limits,  as  were  by  common  consent,  or  by 
analogy  to  the  organization  of  other  like  chartered  insti- 
tutions, concurred  in. 


474 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


UNDER    THE    ORGANIZATION. 
1 833-1834. 

Eleazar    Lord,   President:  Goold    Hoyt,    Vice-President;  William 
G.  Buckner,  Treasurer;  John  Duer,  Counsel. 

3.— Eleazar  Lord,  Stephen  Whitney,  Peter  Harmony, 
fohn    Duer,    Goold     Hoyt,     James    Bowman,  William   G.    Buckner, 

-end,  Michael  Burham,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles.  Benjamin 
Wright.  David  X.  Lord,  Jeremiah  II.  Pierson,  Cornelius  J.  Blauvelt, 
George  D.  Wickham,  Joshua  Whitney,  James  Pumpelly. 


I834-I835- 

Eleazar   Lord,   President  (resigned   January  5,  1835);  Goold  Hoyt, 
Vice-President  (resigned  January   j,  1835);  Talman  J.    Water-    - 
retarv. 

Januarys,  1835. — James  Gore  King,   President,  pro  tern.;  Eleazar 
Vice-President  and  Treasurer,  pro  tem.j  Samuel    B.    Kuggles, 
Comptroller. 

Directors.— Eleazar  Lord,  James  G.  King.  John  Duer,  Peter 
Harmony,  Goold  Hoyt,  James  Boorman.  Michael  Burnham,  Samuel 
B.  Kuggles,  Elihu  Townsend,  Stephen  Whitney.  J.  G.  Pearson.  W. 
1;.  Buckner,  George  D.  Wickham,  James  Pumpelly,  C.  J.  Blauvelt. 
Joshua  Whitney.  David  X.  Lord.  January  5,  1S35,  W.  G.  Buckner, 
C.J.  Blauvelt,  James  Pumpelly,  David  N.  Lord,  resigned. 

Directors  Chosen  to  Vacancies.  —  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  John 
('..  Coster,  John  Rathbone,  Jr.,  Jeremiah  H.   Pierson. 


1835-1836. 

James  Gore  King,  President  ;  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant.  Vice-President; 
Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Comptroller  ;    Talman  J.  Waters,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — James  G.  King,  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant.  Samuel  B. 
Ruggles,  John  Duer,  John  G.  Coster,  Stephen  Whitney,  Peter 
Harmony,  J.  Greene  Pearson,  Peletiah  Peret.  Ell>ert  J.  Anderson, 
Michael  Burnham,  James  Boorman,  John  Rathbone,  Jr.,  William 
Beach  Lawrence,  Cornelius  W.  Lawrence,  George  Griswold,  Jeremiah 
H.  Pierson. 

I  836-I 837. 

James  Gore  King,  President  ;  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  Vice-President; 
Talman  J.  Waters,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — J.  G  King.  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  John  G.  Coster, 
Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Charles  Hoyt,  Stephen  Whitney.  John  A. 
Steven-.  (J  wold,   James    Boorman,   David   X.    Lord.  Aaron 

Clark,  John   W.    I.eavitt,   Jeremiah    II.    Pierson,  George  S.  Robbins, 
George  D.  Wickham,  William  Beach  Lawrence,  Edwin  Lord. 


I837-1838. 

James  Gore  King,  President;  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  Vice-President  ; 
Talman  J.  Waters,  Secretary. 

Directors.— James  G.   King.  Edwin  Lord.  Samuel  B.  Ruggles, 

Charles    Hoyt,    Peter    1..    Stuyvesant,     Stephen    Whitney.    John    A. 

Stevens,  George  Griswold,    lames    Boorman,  John   >..    I  oster,  David 

X.    Lord,     \.!i"ii    (lark.    John    W.     I.eavitt,    Jeremiah    II.    Pierson, 

I).  Wickham,  William  Beach   Lawreni  >.  Robbins. 

April  27,  1838,  George  S.  Robbins  and  John  W.  I.eavitt  resigned  ; 
Eleazar  Lord  and  Elihu  Townsend  the  vacancies.      May  4, 

1S3S,  John  G.  Coster  re:  |ohn  A.  King  chosen  to  the  vacancy. 


1838-1839. 

James  Gore  King,  President  (resigned  September  25,   1S39)  ;  John 
Duer,  Vice- Presitlent  ;  Talman  J.  Waters,  Secretary, 
September  25,  1839,  Elihu  Townsend,  Pres 


Direi  I'ORS. — JamesGore  King.  John  Duer,  Eleazar  Lord.  John  A. 
Samuel  B.  Kuggles.  Charles  Hoyt,  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  - 
Whitney.  John  A.  Stevens,  George  Griswold,  James  Boorman.  David 
X.    Lord,    Elihu    Townsend,    Aaron    Clark,    Jeremiah    H.    Pierson, 
George  I  >.  Wickham,  William  Beach  Lawrence. 


1839-184O. 

Eleazar  Lord.  President;  Stephen  Whitney,  Vice  President  (resigned 
v    1839,    James    Bowen    chosen    to    vacancy);    Talman    J. 
Waters,  Secretary  (resigned  November  S,  1S39,  William  Gould  chosen 
tncj  ). 

DIRECTORS. — Eleazar  Lord,  Stephen  Whitney,  James  Bowen,  John 
A.  Steven-,  Elihu  Town-end.  David  X.  Lord,  Charles  Hoyt,  John 
A.  King,  William  Beach  Lawrence,  George  S,  Robbins,  George  i.n-- 
wold,  George  D.  Wickham,  Isaac  L.  Varian,  William  H.  Townsend, 
Henry  L.  Pierson,  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson. 

December  27,  1839,  John  A.  Stevens  and  John  A.  King  resigned  ; 
Robert  1'..  Minturn  ami  Simeon  Draper,  Jr.,  chosen  to  the  vacancies. 

January  22,  1S40,  William  Beach  Lawrence  resigned. 


I84O-I84I. 

Eleazar  Lord,  President  (resigned  May  2S,  1841,  James  Bowen, 
Vice-President,  chosen  President  pro  tern.)  ;  William  Gould,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Eleazar  Lord,  James  Bowen,  Jeremiah  II.  Pierson, 
George  D.  Wickham,  George  Griswold,  Stephen  Whitney,  Aaron 
Clark,  Elihu  Townsend,  David  N.  Lord,  Charles  Hoyt,  Robert  B. 
Minturn,  Simeon  Draper,  Jr.,  George  S.  Robbins,  Henry  L.  Pierson, 
William  H.  Townsend,  Isaac  L.  Varian  ;  one  vacancy. 


I  84I-I842. 

James  Bowen,  President  ;  Henry  L.  Pierson,  Vice-President  ; 
William  Gould,  Secretary. 

Directors. — James  Bowen,  Eleazar  Lord,  Goold  Hoyt, Elihu  Town- 
send,  George  S.  Robbins,  Aaron  Clark,  Henry  L.  Pierson.  George 
D.  Wickham,  George  J.  Griswold,  John  Haggerty,  David  N.  Lord, 
Charles  Hoyt,  Simeon  Draper,  Jr.,  William  H.  Townsend,  William 
Kent,  Isaac  L.  Varian,  Jeremiah  H.  Pierson. 


I  842-I 843. 

William  Maxwell,  President  ;  James  Bowen,  Vice-President ;  Will- 
iam Gould,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — Samuel  Barrett,  Benj.  Chamberlain.  Jesse  Engle, 
Reuben  Robie,  William  Maxwell,  Jonathan  Piatt,  Thomas  G.  Water- 
man, John  B.  Booth,  Thomas  E.  Blanch,  Freeman  Campbell,  Henry 
L.  Pierson.  Charles  Augustus  Davis,  James  Bowen,  William  Samuel 
Johnson,  Samuel  Roberts,  George  Griswold,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore. 


1 843-1 844. 

Horatio  Allen,  President ;  James  Bowen,  Vice-President  ;  William 
Gould,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Horatio  Allen,  James  Bowen,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman, 
Charles  M.  Leupp,  Frank  W.  Edmonds,  Silas  Brown,  David  Austin, 
Theodore  Dehon,  P. ml  Spofford,  George  Griswold,  Anson  G.  Phelps, 
Matthew  Morgan,  John  C.  Green,  A  S.  Diven,  William  Maxwell, 
Elijah  Ridley,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson. 


1844-1S45. 

Eleazar  Lord,  President  (resigned  July  25.  i>4j  ;  James  Harper, 
chosen  President  pro  nm.,  declined  to  serve  ;  Benjamin  Loder,  chi  >sen 
President  pro  tern.;  James  Harper,  Vice-President  ;  Nathaniel  Marsh. 
Secretarv. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


475 


Directors.— Eleazar  Lord,  Jacob  Little,  George  Griswold,  John 
C.  Green,  James  Harper,  Paul  SpofTord,  Stewart  C.  Marsh,  Henry  L. 
Pierson,  Henry  Sheldon,  C.  M.  Leupp,  ].  W.  Alsop,  Silas  Brown, 
Robert  L.  Crooke,  Sidney  Brooks  (declined),  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  A. 
S.  1  liven,  Elijah  Risley. 

July  25th,  Eleazar  Lord,  George  Griswold,  John  C.  Green,  Paul 
Spofford,  C.  M.  Leupp,  J.  W.  Alsop,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  and  Eli- 
jah Risley,  resigned  ;  Benjamin  Loder,  Stephen  Whitney,  Homer 
Ramsdell,  Cornelius  Smith,  Thomas  Tileston,  Daniel  S.  Miller,  Shep- 
herd Knapp,  and  Samuel   Marsh,  chosen  to  the  vacancies. 


I 845- I 846. 

Benjamin  Loder,  President;  James  Harper,  Vice-Presideni  ;  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Benjamin  Loder,  James  Harper,  Samuel  Marsh,  Dan- 
iel S.  Miller,  Henry  L.  Pierson,  Stewart  C.  Marsh,  Jacob  Little.  Rob- 
ert L.  Crooke,  Henry  Sheldon,  Henry  Suydam,  Jr.,  A.  S.  1  liven,  John 
Wood,  William  E.  Dodge,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Homer  Ramsdell,  Cor- 
nelius Smith,  Thomas  Tileston. 


1846-1847. 

Benjamin  Loder,  President  ;  Stephen  Whitney,  Vice-President  ;  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Benjamin  Loder,  Stephen  Whitney,  Silas  Brown, 
Henry  Sheldon,  Daniel  S.  Miller,  Stewart  C.  Marsh,  Henrv  Suydam, 
Jr.,  William  E.  Dodge,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Samuel  Marsh,  Robert  L. 
Crooke,  A.  S.  1  'iven,  John  Wood,  Thomas  Tileston,  Cornelius  Smith, 
Thomas  I.  Townsend,  Homer  Ramsdell. 


1 847-1 848. 

Benjamin  Loder,  President  ;  Stephen  Whitney,  Vice-President ;  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Benjamin  Loder,  Stephen  Whitney,  Silas  Brown, 
Henry  Sheldon,  Daniel  S.  Miller,  Stewart  C.  Marsh,  Henry  Suydam, 
Jr.,  William  E.  Dodge,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Samuel  Marsh,  A.  S.  Diven, 
John  Wood,  Cornelius  Smith,  Thomas  I.  Townsend,  Homer  Rams- 
dell, William  B.  Skidmore,  Marshall  O.  Roberts. 


I 848- I 849. 

Benjamin  Loder,  President ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — Benjamin  Loder,  Silas  Brown,  Henry  Sheldon,  Daniel 
S.  Miller,  Henry  Suydam,  Jr.,  William  E.  Dodge,  Shepherd  Knapp, 
Samuel  Marsh,  John  Wood,  Cornelius  Smith,  Thomas  I.  Townsend, 
Homer  Ramsdell,  William  B.  Skidmore.  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Thomas 
W.  Gale,  Charles  M.  Leupp,  Theodore  Dehon. 


I 849- i 8 50. 

Benjamin  Loder,  President  ;    Samuel   Marsh,  Vice-President  ;   Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Benjamin   Loder,  John   J.  Phelps,  Henry   Sheldon, 

Daniel  S.  Miller,  Henry  Suydam,  Jr.,  William  E.  Dodge.  Shepherd 

Knapp,    Samuel  Marsh,    John  Wood,    Cornelius  Smith,   Thomas  I. 

Townsend,    Homer    Ramsdell,   William    B.    Skidmore,    Marshall    O. 

!  Roberts,   Thomas  W.  Gale,  Charles  M.  Leupp,  Theodore  Dehon. 


1850-1851. 

Benjamin  Loder,  President ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President ;   Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Benjamin   Loder,  Henry  Sheldon,   Daniel  S.  Miller, 


Henry    Suydam.  Jr.,  William    E.    Dodge,    Shepherd    Knapp,    - 
Marsh,   Cornelius  Smith,    Thomas    I.    Townsend,    Homer    Ramsdell, 
William  11.  Skidmore,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Thomas  W.  Gale, Charles 
M.  Leupp,  Theodore  Dehon,  John  J.  Phelps,  Norman  White. 


I85I-1852. 


Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;  Na- 


Benjamin  Loder,  President  ; 
thaniel  Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors.  —  Benjamin  Loder,  Henry  Sheldon,   Daniel  S.  Miller, 
Henry   Suydam,  Jr.,  William    E.    Dodge,   Shepherd    Knapp.    Samuel 
Marsh,   Cornelius    Smith,  Thomas    I.     Townsend,  Home:     I 
William  B.  Skidmore,  Marshall  (  1.  Roberts,  Thomas  W.  ( iale.  I 
M.  Leupp,  Gouverneur  Morris,  John  J.  Phelps,  Norman  White. 


1852-I853. 

Benjamin  Loder,  President  ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Benjamin  Loder,  Homer  Ramsdell,  Samuel  Marsh, 
Henry  Sheldon,  William  E.  Dodge,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Cornelius 
Smith,  Thomas  I.  Townsend,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Charles  M.  Leupp, 
Gouverneur  Morris.  Henry  Suydam,  Jr.,  Thomas  W.  Gale,  Theodore 
Dehon,  John  J.  Phelps,  Norman  White. 


I8S3-I8S4. 


Homer  Ramsdell,  President;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  :  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Homer  Ramsdell,  Samuel  Marsh,  William  E.  Dodge, 
Shepherd  Knapp,  Cornelius  Smith,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Charles  M. 
Leupp,  Nelson  Robinson,  Daniel  Drew,  John  Arnot,  Ambrose  S. 
Murray,  George  F.  Talman,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  William  B.  Skid- 
more, Louis  Von  Hoffman,  Charles  Moran,  Ralph  Mead. 


1854-1855. 

Homer  Ramsdell,  President ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Homer  Ramsdell,  Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  Drew,  Will- 
iam E.  Dodge,  Cornelius  Smith,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  John  Arnot, 
Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  William  B.  Skidmore, 
Louis  Von  Hoffman,  Charles  Moran,  Ralph  Mead,  Richard  Lathers, 
Dudley  S.  Gregory,  John  Steward,  Edwin  J.  Brown. 


1855-1856. 

Homer  Ramsdell,  President ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;  Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Homer  Ramsdell,  Samuel  Marsh,  William  E.  Dodge, 
Shepherd  Knapp,  Cornelius  Smith,  Marshall  (I.  Roberts,  Charles  M. 
Leupp,  Daniel  Drew,  John  Arnot,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Richard 
Lathers,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  William  ]',.  Skidmore,  Louis  Von 
Hoffman,  Charles  Moran,  Ralph  Mead,  Dudley  S.  Gregory. 


I856-US57. 


Homer  Ramsdell,  President ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;   Na- 
thaniel Marsh,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Homer  Ramsdell,  Samuel  Marsh,  William  E.  1 ! 
Shepherd  Knapp.  Cornelius  Smith,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Charles  M. 
Leupp,    Daniel    Drew,   John    Arnot.    Ambrose    S.    Murray.    Richard 
Lathers,    Don    Alonzo   Cushman.  William    B.    Skidmore,    Louis  Von 
Hoffman,  Charles  Moran,  Ralph  Mead.  I'udley  S.  Gregory. 


476 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


1857-1858. 


Samuel    Marsh,   Vice-President ;    Na- 


Charles    Moran,  President 
thaniel  Marsh,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — Charles    Moran,   Samuel     Marsh,   Cornelius    Smith, 

Marshall  1  >.  Roberts,  Daniel  Drew,  John  Arnot,  Ambrose  S.  Murray, 

Llonzo  Cushman,  William  B.  Skidmore,  Ralph   Mead,  Richard 

Lathers,   Dudley  S    Gregory,   Edwin  J.  Brown,    Herman  Celpcke, 

George  Bruce,  Robert  II.  Berdell,  one  vacancy. 


1858-1859. 

Charles  Moran,  President;  S.  F.  Headley,  Assistant  President; 
Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President ;  Nathaniel  Marsh,  Secretary. 

DlREi  rORS. — Charles  Moran,  Samuel  Marsh,  Cornelius  Smith, 
Daniel  Drew,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  William  B.  Skidmore,  Edwin  J. 
Brown,  Herman  Gelpcke,  Ralph  Mead,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  Edward 
H.  Alburtis,  Ceorge  T.  Cobb,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  John  Arnot, 
Ambrose  S.  Murray,  S.  II.  P.  Hall. 


1859-1860. 

Samuel  Marsh,  President;  Nathaniel  Marsh,  Receiver;  Henry  L. 
Pierson,  Vice-President;    II.  N.  Otis,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — Samuel  Marsh,  Nathaniel  Marsh,  Henry  L.  Pierson, 
II.  N.  Otis,  Daniel  Drew,  Cornelius  Smith,  William  I!,  Skidmore, 
Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  John  Arnot,  Ambrose  S. 
Murray,  A.  S.  I  liven,  Ralph  Mead,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Dudley  S. 
Gregory,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Thomas  D.  Wright. 


l86o-lS6l. 

Samuel  Marsh,  President;  Nathaniel  Marsh,  Receiver;  H.  L.  Pier- 
son, Vice-President ;  H.  N.  Otis,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — Samuel  Marsh,  Nathaniel  Marsh,  Henry  L.  Pierson, 
II.  X.  litis,  Daniel  Drew,  Cornelius  Smith,  William  B.  Skidmore, 
Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  John  Arnot,  Ambrose  S. 
Murray,  A.  S.  1  liven,  Ralph  Mead,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Dudley  S. 
Gregory,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Thomas  D.  Wright. 


ERIK  RAILWAY  COMPANY. 

{Formal  under  Articles  of  Association,  April 30,  1S61.) 

ASSOCIATES.— Dudley  S.  Gregory,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  Drew,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  William  B. 
Skidmore,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  Henry  L.  Pierson,  Ralph  Mead, 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Henry  A.  Tailer,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Thomas 
1 1.  Wright,  John  Arnot,  Alexanders.  Diven,  Horatio  N.  Otis. 

UNDER    THE    REORGANIZATION. 
1861-1862. 

Nathaniel  Marsh,  President ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President ;  Hora- 
ii"  \  .  in  is,  Seen  tary. 

DIRECTORS.— Dudley  S.  Gregory,  I.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  I  hew,  Robert  II.  Berdell.  William  B. 
Skidmore,  Don  Uonzo  Cushman,  Henry  I..  Pierson,  Ralph  Mead, 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Henry  A.  Tailer,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Thomas 
D.  Wright,  John  Arnot,  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Horatio  N.  Otis. 


1 862-1 863. 


DlREi  i"i;..  —  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Nathaniel 
Marsh,  Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  Drew,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  William  B. 
Skidmore,  I  ion  Alonzo  Cushman,  Henry  1..  Pierson,  Ralph  Mead, 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Henry  A.  Tailer,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Thomas 
D.  Wright,  John  Arnot,  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Horatio  N.  Otis. 


I  863- 1  864. 

Nathaniel  Marsh,  President  ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;  Hora- 
tio N.  Otis,  Secretary. 

DlREi  rORS. — Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  Drew,  John  Arnot,  William 
B.  Skidmore,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  Dudley  S. 
Gregory,  Ralph  Mead,  Nathaniel  Marsh,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  William 
Evans,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  1  'on  Alonzo  Cushman,  Alexander  S. 
Diven,  Thomas  W.  Gale,  Isaac  N.  Phelps,  Horatio  N.  Otis. 


I 864- I 865. 

Samuel  Marsh,  President  pro  tern.  ;  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  Horatio  N.  Otis,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — John  Arnot,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  Don  Alonzo  Cush- 
man, J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Daniel  Drew,  Will- 
iam Evans,  Thomas  W.  Gale,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  Samuel  Marsh, 
Ralph  Mead,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Horatio  N.  Otis,  Isaac  N.  Phelps, 
Henry  L.  Pierson,  William  B.  Skidmore,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 


1 86  5- 1 866. 

Robert  II.  Berdell,  President ;  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Honorary  Vice-President  ;  Horatio  N.  Otis, 
Secretary 

Directors. — Samuel  Marsh,  Daniel  Drew,  John  Arnot,  William 
B.  Skidmore,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  Dudley  S. 
Gregory,  Ralph  Mead,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  William  Evans,  J.  C. 
Bancroft  Davis,  Henry  L.  Pierson,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  Alexander 
S.  Diven,  Thomas  W.  Gale,  Isaac  N.  Phelps,  J.  F.  D.  Lanier. 


1 866-1 867. 


Robert  H.  Berdell,  President ;  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Honorary  Vice-President ;  Horatio  N.  Otis, 
Secretary. 

DIRECTORS.  —  Robert  II.  Berdell,  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Samuel 
Marsh,  John  Arnot,  Ambrose  S.  Murray,  Henry  I..  Pierson,  Daniel 
Drew,  William  B.  Skidmore,  Dudley  S  Gregory,  William  Evans,  J. 
C.  Bancroft  Davis,  Don  Alonzo  Cushman,  Thomas  W.  Gale,  Isaac 
N.  Phelps,  J.  F.  D.  Lanier,  Franklin  F.  Randolph,  Frederick  A. 
Lane. 


1 867- 1 868. 


S.    Diven,    Vice-I'resi- 


Nath.imel  Marsh,  President  ;  Samuel  Marsh,  Vice-President  ;  Hora- 
tio N.  Otis,  Secretary. 


John  S.    F.ldridge,    President  ;    Alexander 
dent  ;   Horatio  N.  Otis,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — John  S.  F.ldridge,  Eben  D.  Jordan,  Josiah  Bardwell, 
James  S.  Whitney,  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  A.  S.  Diven,  William 
Evans,  James  Fisk,  jr.,  Jay  Gould,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  George  N. 
Graves,  Frederick  A.  Line,  I  lomer  Ramsdell,  William  B.  Skidmore, 
Henry  Thompson,  Frank  Work,  Levi  Underwood. 

Underwood  resigned  and  Daniel  Drew  was  elected  to  the  vacancy. 


i 868-1 869. 

Jay  Gould,  President ;  A.  S.  Diven,  Vice-President  ;  James  Fisk,  Jr., 
Comptroller  ;   H.  N.  Otis,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS. — Jay  Gould,  A.  S.  Diven,  Janus  I  isk,  Jr.,  Frederick 
A.  Lane,  J.  S.  Bancroft  Davis,  William  M.  Tweed,  Peter  B. 
Sweeny,  Daniel  S.  Miller,  Jr.,  Homer  Ramsdell,  John  Hilton, 
George  M.  Graves,  John  Ganson,  Charles  G.  Sisson,  0.  W.  Chip- 
man,  Henry  Thompson,  William  B.  Skidmore,  George  M.  Diven. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


477 


1869. 

Jay  Gould,  President  and  Treasurer;  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;   H.  N.  Otis,  Secretary. 

Directors  under  the  Ci  vssification  Act.— Terms  to  expire 
in  October,  1870:  Homer  Ramsdel],  Charles  G.  Sisson,  Justin  D. 
White.  Terms  to  expire  in  October,  1871 :  John  Hilton,  M.  R. 
Simons,  George  C.  Hall.  Terms  to  expire  in  October,  1^72:  John 
Ganson,  O.  W.  Chapman,  Henry  Thompson.  Terms  to  expire  in 
October,  1873:  Alexanders.  Diven,  Henry  N.  Smith,  Al. ram  Gould, 
Horatio  X.  Otis.  Terms  to  expire  in  October,  1874 :  lay  Gould, 
James  Fisk,  Jr.,  William  M.  Tweed,  Frederick  A.  Lane. 

1870. 

Jay  Gould.  President  and  Treasurer;  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  Comptroller  ;   H.  X.  Otis,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS.— Jay  Gould.  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  William  M.  Tweed, 
Frederick  A.  Lane.  Alexander  S.  Diven,  Henry  X.  Smith,  Abram 
Gould,  Horatio  X.  Otis,  Henry  Thompson,  O.W.  Chapman,  John 
Ganson.  George  C.  Hall,  M.  R.  Simons,  John  Hilton,  Homer  Rams- 
dell,  Charles  G.  Sisson,  Justin  D.  White. 

IS7I-IS72. 

Jay  Gould,  President  and  Treasurer;  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  Horatio  X.  Otis,  Secretary  ;  .Mortimer  Smith,  Assistant  Secre- 
tary. James  Fisk,  Jr.,  died  January  7,  1*72.  O.  H.  P.  Archer 
elected  Vice-President.     Jay  Gould  ejected,  March  nth. 

Directors. — Jay  Gould,  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  Frederick  A.  Lane, 
Justin  I).  White.  II.  X.  Otis,  Henry  Thompson,  John  Hilton,  O.  H. 
P.  Archer,  M.  R.  Simons,  George  C.  Hall,  Edwin  Eldridge,  Homer 
Ramsdell,  Charles  G.  Sisson,  Henry  Sherwood,  John  Ganson,  two 
vacancies.     Board  changed,  March  nth. 

1872. 

John  A.  Dix,  President,  March  nth,  to  succeed  Gould;  O.  II.  P. 
Archer,  Vice-President  ;  Horatio  X.  Otis,  Secretary.  Archer  was 
succeeded  as  Vice-President,  June,  1S72,  by  A.  S.  I  >iven. 

Directors. — John  A.  Dix.  O.  H.  P.  Archer,  George  B.  Mc- 
Clellan,  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  W.  Watts  Sherman,  William  R.  Travers, 
H.  L.  Lansing,  H.  G.  Stebbins,  Charles  Day,  Alexander  S.  Diven, 
Jay  Gould,  Homer  Ramsdell,  Henry  Sherwood,  Edwin  Eldridge, 
George  C.  Hall,  F.  X.  Drake,  John  Ganson. 


Directors.— Hugh    J.    Jewett,    Herman    K.    Baltzer,    S.    L.    M. 
Barlow.  William  Puller  Duncan.  R.  Suydam  Grant,  John  A.  C.Gray, 
John    Taylor  Johnston,  Edwin    D.    Morgan,  Louis   il.   Meyer, 
erick  Schuchardt,    Henry  G.   Stebbins,  Marshall  0.  R 

landt   Parker,  Lucius  Robinson.  Homer  Ramsdell,  Thomas  A. 
1   incv. 
September    10,    1S75,  S.    L.    M.    Barlow   and    Marsl  0     Roberts 

resigned.      James    P.    Brown  and  J.    Lowber  Welsh  were    elected   to 
the  vacancies. 


1S75-1876. 

Hugh  f.  Jewett,  President  and  R I.  R.  Blanchard,  Assist- 
ant to  Receiver;    Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors.— Hugh  J.  Jewett,  Samuel  Sloan.  Henry  1;.  Stebbins, 
George  F.  Talman,    Mar-hall   (  1.  Roberts,  John   A.   C.  Gray,  I 
I  >-    Morgan,  John   Taylor  Johnston.    R.  *  .rant,  Herman    R. 

Baltzer,  John  B.  Brown,  Thomas  Dii  kson,  Giles  W.  Hotchkiss,  Asa 
Packer,  Homer  Ramsdell,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie. 


1 876- 1 877. 

Hugh  J.  Jewett,  President  and  Receiver  ;  G.  R.  Blanchard,  Assist- 
ant to  Receiver;  Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Direi  CORS. — Hugh  J.  Jewett.  Samuel  Shan,    Henry  G.  Stebbins, 
Louis  H.  Meyer.  Edwin  1).  Morgan,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie,  John  Tay- 
lor Johnston,    R.    Suydam   Cram,     Herman    R.    Baltzer,    j.    I 
Welsh,    Lucius    Robinson,    Giles    W.    Hotchkiss,    Homer    Ramsdell, 
Cortlandt  Parker,  Asa  Packer,  Thomas  Dickson,  John  I!.  Brown. 


1877-1S78. 

Hugh  J.  Jewett,  President  and  Receiver  ;  G.  R.  Blanchard,  W.  R. 
Sherman.  Assistants  to  Receiver;  Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secre- 
tary. 

Directors. — Hugh  J.  Jewett,  William  Wallace  MacFarland,  Jo- 
seph Larocque,  William  II.  Taylor,  Henry  I..  Lansing,  Pascal  I'. 
Pratt.  A.  S.  I  liven,  Charles  Dana,  Samuel  D.  Babcock,  A.  R.  Mac- 
Donough, Herman  R.  Baltzer,  J.  Lowlier  Welsh,  John  Taylor  John- 
ston, Cortlandt  Parker,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  Edwin  D.  Morgan, 
George  E.  Talman. 


I  872- 1  873. 

Peter  H.  Watson,  President  (President  Dix  retired  July  10,  1S72) ; 
A.  S.  Diven,  Vice-President  ;   Horatio  X.  Otis,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Peter  II.  Watson,  A.  S.  Diven,  W.  R.  Travers, 
William  Butler  Duncan,  Charles  Day.  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  J.  A.  Dix.  J. 
V.  L.  Pruvn.  Henry  L.  Lansing,  Homer  Ramsdell,  William  W. 
Shippen,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Frederick  Schuchardt,  S.  D.  Bab- 
cock, John  J.  Cisco,  George  Talbott  Oiyphant,  John  Taylor 
Johnston. 

1873-IS74. 

Peter  H.  Watson.  President  ;  A.  S.  Diven,  Vice-President ; 
Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary.  June,  1S73,  Diven  retired  as 
Vice-President.  September,  1873,  G.  R.  Blanchard  appointed  2d  Vice- 
President  ;  J.  C.  Clarke,  3d  Vice-President  ;  Henry  Tyson.  4th  Vice- 
President.  October,  1S73,  Lucius  Robinson,  1st  Vice-President.  June, 
1S74,  Tyson  and  Robinson  retired. 

Directors. — Peter  H.  Watson,  Samuel  D.  Babcock.  Herman  R. 
Baltzer,  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  George  H.  Brown.  W.  Butler  Duncan, 
John  Taylor  Johnston,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Frederick  Schuchardt, 
Giles  W.  Hotchkiss,  William  T.  Hart.  Henry  L.  Lansing.  Cortlandt 
Parker,  Homer  Ramsdell,  Lucius  Robinson,  William  W.  Shippen, 
one  vacancy. 

1 874- 1 875. 

Hugh  T.  Jewett,  President  (President  Watson  retired  July  15, 
1874)";  (;'.  R.  Blanchard,  2d  Vice-President;  Augustus  R.  Mac- 
Donough, Secretary. 


NEW   VORK,    LAKE    ERIE    AND    WESTERN    RAIL- 
ROAD   COMPANY. 

(Formed  under  Articles  of  xtion,  April  27,   1S7S.) 

Incorporators.— Hugh   J.    Jewett.   John   Taylor  Johnston,    R. 
Suydam   Grant.  Solomon    s.  Guthrie,  Edwin    D.    M  1  ortlandt 

Parker,  Homer   Ram-dell.  Samuel  Sloan.  Henry  ('..  Stebbins,  I 
F.     Talman.    J.    Lowber    Welsh,    David    A.    Wells.   William    Waller 
Phelps.  Charles  Dana.  J.  Frederick  Pierson,  Theron  R.  Butler.  James 
J.  Goodwin.  Herman  K.  Baltzer,  John   B.    Brown,  Thomas   Di 
Asa  Packer,  C.iles    W.  Hotchkiss.    Marshall    11.  Roberts,  >ir  1 
William  Watkin,  Ml'.,  Olivi     1  Milton,  Henry  Rawson,  John 

Keyneston  Cross,  M.P.,  John  Wi    tlake   Q.i    ,  Peter  M.  Logan,  M. P., 
Benjamin  Whitworth,  M.P.,  'Thomas  Wilde  Powell. 

UXDER    THE     REORGANIZATION. 

1878-187,,. 

Hugh   T.  Jewett,   President;  G.   R.   Blanchard.   Assistant  to  Presi- 
dent; Augustus  R.  MacDono  etary. 

Directors. — Hugh  J.  Jewett,  John  taylor  Johnston,  Edwin  D. 
Morgan.  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  Samuel  Sloan.  John  Frederic! 
son,  George  F.  Talman,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie.  Cortlandt  Parker, 
Homer  Ramsdell.  David  A.  Wells.  J.  Lowber  Welsh.  Theron  R. 
Butler.  Charles  Dana,  R.  Suydam  Grant.  James  J.  Goodwin,  one 
vacancy. 


47S 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


[879-1880. 

Hugh  J.  Jewett,  President  ;  George  R.  Blanchard,  Assistant  to  the 
President  ;  Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors.— Hugh  J.  Jewett,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  Theron  N.  But- 
K.  Suydam  Grant,  James  J.  Goodwin,  John  Tay- 
lor Johnston,  James  R.  Keene,  E.  D.  Morgan,   J.  F.  Pierson.  II.  G. 
Stebbins,  Samuel  Sloai  .  Talman,  Cortlandt  Parker,  Solo- 

mon S    Guthrie,  Homer  Ram-Jell,  one  vacancy. 


[88O-1881. 

Hugh  T.  lewett.  President  ;  George  R.  Blanchard,  Assistant  to  the 
President  ;  Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Hugh  J.  Jewett,  Theron  R.  Butler,  Charles  Dana, 
Harrison  Durkee,  R.  Suydam  Grant,  James  J.  Goodwin,  John  Tay- 
lor [ohnston,  James  R.  Keene,  E.  1 ).  Morgan,  John  Frederick  Pierson, 
Henry  G.  Stebbins,  William  L.  Strong,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  Cortlandt 
Parker,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie,  Homer  Ramsdell,  Thomas  Dickson. 


[88l-l882. 

Hugh  J.  Jewett,  President  :  George  R.  Blanchard,  Assistant  to  the 
President  ;  Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors.  —  Hugh  J.  Jewett,  Theron  R.  Butler,  Charles  Dana, 
Harrison  Durkee,  R.  Suydam  Grant.  James  J.  Goodwin,  John  Tay- 
lor Johnston,  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  Francis  N.  Drake,  E.  D.  Morgan,  John 
Frederick  Pierson,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  William  L.  Strong,  J.  Low- 
ber Welsh,  Cortlandt  Parker,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie,  Homer  Ramsdell, 
Thomas  Dickson. 

1882-1883. 

Hugh  J.  Jewett,  President  ;  George  R.  Blanchard,  First  Vice- 
President  ;  Robert  Harris,  Second  Vice-President ;  Stephen  Little, 
Comptroller  ;  Augustus   R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Hugh  J.  Jewett.  Theron  R.  Butler,  Charles  Dana, 
Harrison  Durkee,  R.  Suydam  Grant,  James  J.  Goodwin,  John  Tay- 
lor Johnston,  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  Francis  N.  Drake,  E.  D.  Morgan,  John 
Frederick  Pierson,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  William  L.  Strong,  J.  Low- 
ber Welsh,  Cortlandt  Parker,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie,  Homer  Ramsdell, 
Thomas  Dickson. 

1883-1884. 

Hugh   J.   Jewett,    President  ;    John    King,    Assistant    President  ; 
George  R.  Blanchard,  First  Vice-President ;  Edmund  T.  Bowen,  Sec- 
ond Vice-President ;  Stephen  Little,  Comptroller  ;  Augustus  R.  Mac- 
ugh,  Secretary. 

Directors.— Hugh  J.  Jewett,  Theron  R.  Butler,  Charles  Dana, 
Harrison  Durkee,  R.  Suydam  Grant,  James  J.  Goodwin,  John  Tay- 
lor Johnston,  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  FrancisX.  Drake,  E.  L).  Morgan,  John 
Frederick  Pierson,  Henry  G.  Stebbins,  William  L.  Strong,  J.  Low- 
ber Welsh.  Cortlandt  Parker,  Solomon  S.  Guthrie,  Homer  Ramsdell, 
Thomas  Dickson. 

[884-1885. 

John  King,  President;  Edmund  T.  Bowen,  Vice-President ;  Au- 
gustus R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

tors.— John  King,  William  Whitewright,  J.  G.  McCul- 
lough, Ogden  Mills.  William  A.  Wheelocfc,  W.  B.  Dinsmore,  Will- 
iam Libby,  James  A.  Raj  I  ge  M.  Graves,  Henry  H.  Cook, 
George  W.  Quintard,  William  X.  Gilchrist,  Jacob  Hayes,  William 
L.  Strong,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  Cortlandt  Parker,  James  J.  Goodwin. 


[S85-1886. 

John  King,  President;  S.  M.  Felton,  [r..  First  Vice-President; 
Andrew  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-President ;  Augustus  R.  Mac- 
Donough, Secretary. 


Directors. — John  King,  Henry  H.  Cook,  W.  B.  Dinsmore,  Wm. 
N.  Gilchrist.  James  J.  Goodwin,  George  M.  Graves,  Jacob  Hayes. 
William  Libby,  Ogden  Mills,  Geo.  W.  Quintard,  Wm.  L.  Strong, 
Wm.  A.  Wheelock,  Wm.  Whitewright,  Chas.  E.  Loew,  John  G. 
McCullough,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  Cortlandt  Parker. 


i886-[887. 

John  King,  President ;  S.  M.  Felton,  Jr.,  First  Vice-President; 
Andrew  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-President  ;  A.  R.  MacDonough, 
Secretary. 

Directors. — John  King,  J.  G.  McCullough,  J.  Lowber  Welsh, 
Cortlandt  Parker,  Henry  H.  Cook,  William  Libby,  William  A. 
Wheelock,  William  Whitewright,  George  W.  Quintard,  Ogden  Mills, 
William  L.  Strong,  William  B.  Dinsmore,  Morris  K.  Jessup.  James 
J.  Goodwin,  William  N.  Gilchrist,  Josiah  Belden,  Joseph  Ogden. 


i88/-[888. 

John  King,  President;  S.  M.    Felton,    Jr.,    First   Vice-President; 

A.  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-President ;  A.  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors. — John  King,  Josiah  Belden,  Henry  H.  Cook,  William 

B.  Dinsmore,  William  N.  Gilchrist,  James  J.  Goodwin,  Morris  K. 
Jessup,  William  Libby,  John  G.  McCullough,  Ogden  Mills,  Joseph 
Ogden,  Cortlandt  Parker,  George  W.  Quintard,  William  L.  Strong, 
J.  Lowber  Welsh,  William  A.  Wheelock,  William  Whitewright. 


i888-[88q. 

John  King,  President;  S.  M.  F'elton,  Jr.,  First  Vice-President; 
Eben  B.  Thomas,  Second  Vice-President  ;  Andrew  Donaldson, 
Third  Vice-President  ;  Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors. — John  King,  Josiah  Belden,  Henry  H.  Cook,  W.  X. 
Gilchrist,  J.  J.  Goodwin,  Morris  K.  Jessup,  Wm.  Libby,  J.  G. 
McCullough,  Ogden  Mills,  Cortlandt  Parker,  G.  W.  Quintard.  W. 
L.  Strong.  1.  Lowber  Welsh,  W.  A.  Wheelock,  Wm.  Whitewright, 
Wm.   F.  Reynolds,  S.  M.   Felton,  Jr. 


I  889-I 89O. 


John  King,  President  ;  S.  M.  Felton,  Jr.,  First  Vice-President  ; 
Eben  B.  Thomas,  Second  Vice-President  ;  Andrew  Donaldson,  Third 
Vice-President  ;  Augustus  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors. — John  King,  Josiah  Belden,  Henry  H.  Cook,  W.  X*. 
Gilchrist,  J.  J.  Goodwin,  Morris  K.  Jessup,  Wm.  Libby,  J.  G. 
McCullough,  Ogden  Mills,  Cortlandt  Parker,  G.  W.  Quintard,  W. 
L.  Strong,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  W.  A.  Wheelock,  Wm.  Whitewright, 
Wm.  F.  Reynolds,  S.  M.   Felton,  Jr. 


I 89O-I 89I. 

John  King,  President  ;  Eben  B.  Thomas,  Second  Vice-President ; 
Andrew  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-President  ;  Augustus  R.  MacDon- 
ough, Secretary. 

Directors. — John  King,  Josiah  Belden,  Henry  H.  Cook,  W.  N. 
Gilchrist,  J.  J.  Goodwin,  Morris  K.  Jessup,  Wm.  Libby.  J  G. 
McCullough,  Ogden  Mills,  Cortlandt  Parker,  G.  W.  Quintard,  W. 
L.  Strong,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  W.  A.  Wheelock,  Wm.  Whitewright, 
Wm.  F.  Reynolds,  Eben  B.  Thomas. 


l89[-[892. 

John  King,  President  ;  E.  B.  Thomas,  First  Vice-President  ;  G.  H. 
Vaillant,  Second  Vice-President  ;  A.  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  A.  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors. — John  King,  E.  B.  Thomas,  G.  H.  Vaillant,  J.  G. 
McCullough,  Henry  H.  Cook,  W.  X".  Gilchrist,  James  J.  Goodwin, 
Morris    K.   Jessup,    Wm.    Libby,    Ogden    Mills,    Cortlandt    Parker,. 


THE    STORY    OF   ERIE 


479 


George  W.   Quintard,  William  L.  Strong,   J.  Lowber  Welsh,  W.    A. 
Wheelock,  Wm.  Whitewright. 


1 892-1 893. 

John  King,  President;  E.  B.Thomas,  First  Vice-President ;  G.  H. 
Vaillant,  Second  Vice-President  ;  A.  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  A.  R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors.— John  King,  E.  B.  Thomas,  J.  G.  McCullough, 
Henry  H.  Cook,  \V.  X.  Gilchrist,  J.  J.  Goodwin,  A.  S.  Hewitt, 
Morris  K.  Jessup,  Wm.  Libby,  Ogden  Mills,  Alexander  E.  Orr, 
Cortlandt  Parker,  Geo.  W.  Quintard,  William  L.  Strong,  J.  Lowber 
Welsh,  W.  A.    Wheelock,  Wm.  Whitewright. 


1 893- 1 894. 

John  King,  President,  and  J.  G.  McCullough,  Receivers  ;  Eben  B. 
Thomas,  First  Vice-President;  G.  11.  Vaillant,  Second  Vice-Presi- 
dent; Andrew  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-President;  Augustus  R. 
MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors.— John  King,  E.  B.  Thomas,  J.  G.  McCullough, 
Henry  H.  Cook.  W.  X.  Gilchrist,  J.  J.  Goodwin,  A.  S.  Hewitt, 
Morris  K.  Jessup,  William  Libby,  Ogden  Mills,  Alexander  E.  Orr, 
Cortlandt  Parker,  Geo.  W.  Quintard,  William  L.  Strong,  J.  Lowber 
Welsh,  W.  A.  Wheelock,  Wm.  Whitewright. 


1894-1895. 

Eben  B.  Thomas,  President,  and  J.  G.  McCullough,  Receivers  ; 
Andrew  Donaldson,  Third  Vice-President ;  A.  R.  MacDonough,  Sec- 
retary. 

Directors. — E.  B.  Thomas,  John  King,  J.  G.  McCullough, 
Ogden  Mills,  J.  Lowber  Welsh,  A.  S.  Hewitt,  Wm.  Whitewright, 
W.  A.  Wheelock,  A.  E.  Orr,  H.  II.  Cook,  Morris  K.  Jessup,  G. 
W.  Quintard,  Wm.  Libby,  Cortlandt  Parker,  Jas.  J.  Goodwin,  W. 
N.   Gilchrist. 


ERIE  RAILROAD  COMPANY. 

Incorporated  November   14,  1S95. 

Incorporators. — Temple  Bowdoin,  Charles  H.  Coster,  J.  H. 
Emanuel,  Jr.,  A.  H.  Gilland,  A.  B.  Hopper,  Thomas  W.  Joyce, 
Walter  S.  Kemeves,  T.  P.  Morgan,  Jr.,  Francis  Lynde  Stetson, 
Mortimer  F.  Smith,  W.  T.  Townsend,  J.  II.  Tierney,  E.  B.  Thomas. 

UNDER  THE  REORGANIZATION. 
I 895-I 896. 

E.  B.  Thomas  (President),  J.  G.  McCullough,  Receivers  ;  A.  Don- 
aldson. Third   Vice-President;  A.    R.  MacDonough,  Secretary. 

Directors.— E.  B.  Thomas,  John  King,  J.  G.  McCullough, 
Ogden  Mills,  T.  Lowber  Welsh,  A.  S.  Hewitt,  Wm.  Whitewright, 
W.  A.  Wheelock,  A.  E.  Orr,  H.  H.  Cook,  Morris  K.  Jessup,  G.  W. 
Quintard,  Wm.  Libby,  Cortlandt  Parker,  Jas.  J.  Goodwin,  W.  X. 
Gilchrist. 

1 896- 1 897. 

E.  B.  Thomas,  President  ;  G.  M.  Cumming,  First  Vice-President ; 
William  F.  Merrill,  Second  Vice-President  ;  A.  Donaldson.  Third 
Vice-President  ;  G.  G.  Cochran,  Fourth  Vice-President  ;  J.  A.  Mid- 
dle t  <>  n ,  Secretary. 

Directors.— E.  B.  Thomas,  C.  H.  Coster,  Samuel  Spencer.  J.  G. 
McCullough,  F.  L.  Stetson,  L     E.  Williamson.  James  Galkm 
E.  Orr,  A.  S.  Hewitt.  James  J.  Goodwin,  D.   O.    Mills,  G.  W.  Quin- 
tard, J.  Lowber  Welsh. 


1 897- 1 898. 

E.  B.  Thomas,  President;  G.  M.  Cumming,  First  Vice-President; 
William  F.  Merrill,  Second  Vice-President;  A.  Donaldson,  Third 
Vice-President  ;  G.  G.  (  .1.  hran,  Fourth  Vice-President  ;  J.  A.  Mid- 
dleton,  Secretary. 

DIRECTORS.— E.   II.  Thomas,  C.  II.  Cster,  Samuel  Spencer.   I.  G. 
McCullough,   F.   L.   Stetson,  L.  E.  Williamson,   |ames  Gallow 
E.  Orr,  A.  S.  Hewitt,  James  J.   Goodwin,  D.  U.'.Mills,  G.  W.  Quin- 
tard, J.  Lowber  Welsh. 


TREASURERS. 


NEW    YORK    AMI    ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

William  G.  Buckner Sept.  10,  1S33  to  Feb.  4,  1835. 

Eleazar  Lord    May    1 1,  1  S35  "  Sept.  14,1835. 

Peter  G.  Stuyvesant Sept.   14.  [835  "  Dec.  6,   I 

Elihu  Townsend Nov.    22,  183S  "  Oct.  8,  1839. 

George  S.  Robbins Oct.       8,   [839  "  April  30,  [840. 

James  Bowen April  30,  1840  "  May  2*,  1841. 

Henry  I..  Pierson May    28,   1841  "  Feb.  II,  1*42. 

Silas  Brown July       t,  1844  "  Mar.  10.1^4-. 

Thomas    J.    Townsend.  ..  .May    10,  1848  "  July  27,    1 

Xelson   Robinson July    27,  1S53  "  Dec.  12,  1-54. 

Daniel    Drew Mar.   14,  1S54  "  July  20,1857. 

Herman    Gelpcke July    20,  1S57  "  April  12,  1S5S. 

erie  railway   company. 

Talman  J.  Waters April;,').   1-1,1  t.,  Sept.  2,  1863. 

John   Flilton Sept.    2.  1M11  "    fune  26,  1S66. 

E.    W.  Brown June  26,  1S66  "   Oct.  8,  1S67. 

Daniel  Drew Oct.      8,  1867  "  July  10,  1868. 

lav  Gould July   10,  1S68  "   Dec.  30,  1871. 

J.   D.    White Dec.  30,  1871  "   Mar.  11,1872. 

W.    W.    Sherman   Mar.  II,  1872  "  July  23,1872. 

James  B.  Hodgskin July   23,  1S72  "  Jan.  14.  '"75 

William    Pitt  Sherman Jan.    14,  1S73  "   Dec.  21,  1S76. 

Bird  W.  Spencer  (acting).  .Dec.  21,  1S76  "  April  27,  1878. 

NEW    YORK,    LAKE    ERIE  AND  WESTERN   RAILROAD  COMPANY. 

Bird  W.  Spencer Apr.   27,   1S7S  to  Nov.  24,  i--|. 

Charles  G.  Lincoln Nov.  24,  1884.    Hied  in  Dec,  18S4. 

Edward  White Jan.    15,   1885  to  Nov.  30,1895. 

ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

Edward  White Nov.  30,  1S95  to  Oct.  11,  1S9S. 

Andrew  Donaldson Oct.    11,  1S9S.    (In  office,  1S99.) 


AUDITORS. 


NEW    YORK    AND    ERIK.    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

(The  title  of  auditor  was  not  actually  conferred  in  the  Erie  service 
until  1S55,  when  Benjamin  E.  Bremner  was  appointed  auditor,  the 
duties  having  been  performed  under  direction  of  the  secretary  until 
that  time,  although  W.  F.  Warren,  anil  later  Talman  J.  Waters,  had 
acted  as  chief  accountants  during  that  period.) 

Benjamin  E.  Bremner 1855  to  1S61 

ERIE    RAILWAY    COMPANY. 

Benjamin  E.  Bremner 1861   to  1S65. 

John  Hilton   1865    "  1868. 

John  Calhoun 1S6S    "  1-7.'. 

'(',.  P.  Morosini 1S70   "  1872. 

Sylvanus  H.  Dunan 1872    "  1874. 

Stephen  Little lS74 

NEW  York.   LAKE    ERIE    AND    WESTERN    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 


Stephen  Little 

Andrew  Donaldson.    .  . 


.1878    to   18S6. 
.1886    "    1895. 


4«o 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


ERIE    RAILROAD    I  OM1  ANY. 

J.  T.  Wann 1895.     (In  office,  1S99.) 

G]  NERA1      PASSENG1  R    A.GENTS. 

NEW    YORK    AND    ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

.   Fitch   May,         1-4"  I"  Mar.,        1S52. 

les  B.  Greenough Mar.,         [852"    Vug., 

S    Dunlap Vug.,        1859  "  June,        1861, 

ERIE    RAILWAY    COMPANY. 

William  K.  Barr June,         186]  to  June,         1872, 

John   N.  Abbott June,  1872"    April  28,  1878. 

NEW    York,    LAKE    ERI1     AND    WESTERN    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

fohn  N.  Abbott Vpril  28,   [879  to  Dec.    16,  1SS6. 

P    Farmer Jan.,  18S6  "  Aug.,        1S90. 

W.i      Rinearson Vug.     6,1890"  Dec,        1S91. 

Pun,  in  1.   Roberts Dec.      7,  1S91  "   Nov.  30,  1895. 

ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 
Duncan  I.  Roberts .Nov.  30, 1895.     (In  office,  1899.) 

(.1  \1  RAL    FREIGHT    AGENTS. 

NEW    YORK   AND    ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

Samuel  S.  Brown Sept.,         1 84 1 . 

1  No  record  in  the  freight  department  of  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors.) 
B.  W.  Blanchard Jan.,  1S58  to  April  30,  1S61. 

ERIE   RAILWAY    COMPANY. 

B.  W.  Blanchard Vpril  30,  1861  to  June,         1S72. 

John   M.Osborne June,         1S72  "   Sept.,         1872. 

George  R.  Blanchard Sept.,        1S72  "  Sept.,        1S73. 

R.C.Vilas   Sept.,         1873  "  April  30,  1S78. 

NEW    YORK,    LAKE   ERIE   AND    WESTERN   RAILROAD   COMPANY. 

I      I      Vilas... April  30,  1S7S  to  May      1,1883. 

Edward  Foley May      2,  1SS3  "  Sept.    1,  1S85. 

John  S.  Hammond Sept.     2,1885"   Mar.,        1886. 

I      I      Pomeroy Mar.,         1S86  "  Jan.,         iSg3. 

H.  B.  Chamberlain Feb.,         1S93  "   May,         1S95. 

James  Leeming May,  1S95  "   Nov.  30,  1895. 

ERIE   RAILROAD  COMPANY. 
James  Leeming Nov.  30,  1S95.     (In  office,  1899.) 


ERIE'S    OPERATIVE    DEPARTMENT. 

1841-1899. 

rhese  l  historical  review  simply  of  the  operative  department 

of  the  Erie  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  railroad  and  its  outgrowth  in 
the  original  Erie  territor)  ["hi  I  rie  proper,  its  entire  length,  is  now 
known  officially  as  the  Erie  Division.  The  railroads  now  in  the  Erie 
system  obtained  by  the  acquisition  of  the  Nypano  and  Chicago  and 
Erie  connections  comprise  the  Ohio  Division.  Data  in  relation  to 
them  is  dealt  with  on  pages  283,  286,  287. 


GENERAL    SI   PERINTENDENTS. 

Hezeki    1  eymour Sept.  23,  1841  to  April  1,1849. 

James   P.   Kirkwood April    I,  1849"   May  1,  1S50. 

Charles   Minot   May      1,  [850"    May  1,1854. 

Daniel  Craig  McCallum. ...  May      I,  1S54  "    Mar.  I,  1857, 


(\<>  successor  was  appointed  to  McCallum  as  general  su- 
perintendent. President  Ramsdell  assumed  the  duties  of 
superintendent,  and  April  1,  1X57.  the  old  system  of  oper- 
ating' the  railroad  by  Eour  divisions  was  changed  to  one  that 
divided  the  railroad  into  two  divisions:  one  from  New  York 
to  Susquehanna,  called  the  Eastern  Division,  and  one  from 
Susquehanna  to  Dunkirk,  called  the  Western  Division.  Nei- 
ther the  Rochester  nor  Buffalo  Divi  inns  had  as  yet  come  to 
he  parts  of  the  Erie.  Hugh  Riddle  was  made  superintendent 
of  the  Eastern  Division,  and  James  A.  Hart,  of  the  Western 
Division.  This  arrangement  was  continued  under  the  admin- 
istration of  President  Moran,  he  acting  as  general  superin- 
tendent. In  August.  1859,  Charles  "  Minot,  having  been 
recalled  to  the  railroad  as  general  superintendent,  the  old 
four-division  system  was  restored.) 

Charles  Minot Aug.    19,  1859  to  Dec.     31,  1S64. 

Hugh  Riddle Jan.        I,  1865  "  May       1,1869. 

L.  D.  Rucker May       1,  1869"  Sept.   iS,  1872. 

(September  18,  1S72,  Peter  H.  Watson,  then  president, 
abolished  the  office  of  general  superintendent,  and  created  a 
department  of  transportation,  a  department  of  rolling  stock, 
and  a  department  of  roads.  ( len.  A.  S.  Diven,  vice-president, 
had  charge  of  them  all.  H.  D.  Y.  Pratt  was  appointed  super- 
intendent of  transportation;  Robert  M.  brown,  superintend- 
ent of  roads,  and  Myron  T.  Brown,  superintendent  of  rolling 
stock.  The  division  superintendents  became  assistant  super- 
intendents of  transportation.  Robert  B.  Cable  succeeded 
Pratt  as  superintendent  of  transportation,  January  12,  1S73; 
the  division  superintendents  were  changed  back  to  their  old 
titles.  The  office  of  general  manager  was  created,  and  James 
C.  Clarke  was  appointed  to  the  place.  August  15,  1874,  Hugh 
J.  Jewett,  he  having  come  in  as  president,  abolished  the  office 
of  general  manager,  and  restored  the  title  of  general  super- 
intendent. Clarke  retired,  and  Edmund  S.  Bowen  became 
general  superintendent.  The  office  of  general  manager  was 
revived  by  President  Jewett,  January,  1S79,  and  Robert  Harris 
was  appointed  to  perform  its  duties.  He  left  the  Erie  ser- 
vice in  1883,  and  the  title  lapsed.  It  was  revived  in  1887, 
when  R.  H.  Soule  was  made  general  manager.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Alfred  Walters,  March  1,  1892,  who  continued 
in  the  office  until  November  22,  1894.  There  has  been  no 
general  manager  since  then.) 

Edmund   S.  Bowen Aug.  15,  1S74  to  June     1,  1SS1. 

Benjamin  Thomas June  1,  18S1   "Aug.,         1887. 

W.J.  Murphy Aug.  21,  1S87   "    Mar.    26,  189O. 

J.  H.  Barrett' Jan.  23,  1890  "   April  10.  1S92. 

C.  R.  Fitch Nov.  1,1892.    (In  office,  1899.) 

DIVISION    SUPERINTENDENTS. 
Mew  York  {originally  Eastern)  Division  and  Branches. 

Jersey  City  to  Port  Jervis,  N.  Y.,  88  miles  ;  "  Bergen  County, 
Short-cut,"  Rutherford  Junction  to  Ridgewood,  10  miles; 
Piermont  Branch,  Suffern  to  Sparkill,  16  miles;  "Newburgh, 
Short-cut,"  Arden  to  Newburgh,  14  miles;  Newburgh 
Branch,    Greycourt    to    Newburgh,    19    miles;   Montgomery 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


481 


Branch,  Goshen  to  Montgomery,  10  miles:  Pine  Island 
Branch,  Goshen  to  Pine  Island,  1 2  miles  :  Crawford  Branch, 
Middletown  to  Pine  Bush,  26  miles. 

NEW    YORK    AND    ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

W.  C.  Taylor,  Division  Agent, 

Piermont May     i,  1850  to  Mar.  17,  1851. 

A.  S.  Whiton Mar.  17,  1S51  "  May,        1852. 

Peter-Ward May,        1852  "  Sept.,      1854. 

A.  S.  Whiton Sept.,       1854  "  Mar.  31, 1857. 

H.  Riddle Apr.    1,  1857  "  Do     [- 

H.  F.  Sweetser I  lee.  17,  [859  "  Apr.  30,  1  -    1. 

ERIE    RAILWAY    COM  ['ANY. 

II.  F.  Sweetser Apr.  30,  1 86 1  to  Nov.    1.  1S62. 

C.  S.  Robinson Nov.    1,  1S62  "  Sept.   1,  1-1,4. 

H.  Hobbs Sept.   I,  1864  "  Aug.    7, 

A.  P.  Berthoud Aug.    7, 1869  "  Sept.  21,1872. 

G.  S.  Redington Sept.  21,1872  "  fan.     7,  1873. 

E.  O.   Hill Jan.      7, 1873  "  Apr.  30,  1878. 

NEW    YORK,    LAKE    ERIE    AND    WESTERN    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

E.  O.  Hill   Apr.   30,  1878  to  fan.     7, 

J.  II.  Barrett Ian.     7,  1886  "  Sept.  21, 

W.  W.  Stearns Sept.  20,  18SS  "  May  13, 

W.  H.  Starr  (Acting) May  13,  1891  tojune    1.  1     11. 

C.  R.  Fitch June     I,  1S91  "  Nov.    1,  1892. 

M.  W.  Maguire Nov.    1,  1S92  "  Nov.  30. 

ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

M.  W.  Maguire    Nov.  30,  1S95  to  Mar.   I,  1S99. 

J.  F.  Maguire Mar.     1,  1S99  "  date. 

Miles  of  track  in  Jersey  City  yard,  fifty-five ;  in  Bergen 
yard,  thirty-two.    Track  changed  to  standard  gauge  June  22, 
1880.     The  third  rail  was  first  used  from  Jersey  Cit 
day,  December  29,  1878. 

The  making  of  the  great  Erie  terminals  at  Jersey  City-  was 
begun  in  1856,  after  the  Long  Dock  Company  was  chartered. 
("Administration  of  Homer  Ramsdell,"  page  119.)  Not  un- 
til the  Bergen  tunnel  was  completed  in  1S61  were  they  brought 
to  a  capacity  commensurate  with  the  increase  in  the  traffic 
of  the  railroad.  Year  by  year  they  have  grown  in  greatness. 
In  1897  the  crowning  work  in  their  completeness  was  begun. 
("Administration  of  John  King,"  page  284.)  This  was  the 
elevation  of  the  tracks  at  Jersey  City.  The  work  was  finished 
Sunday,  May  7,  1S99,  when  the  change  was  made,  under  the 
direction  of  Superintendent  J.  F.  Maguire,  from  the  old  sys- 
tem to  the  new,  between  the  time  of  train  604,  at  9.56  a.m., 
and  the  time  of  train  603,  at  10.44  a.m.,  without  delaying 
either.  This  improvement  does  away  with  all  grade  cross- 
ings in  Jersey  City,  and  cost  Si, 000,000. 

When  Hugh  Riddle  was  superintendent  of  this  division  the 
railroad  had  been  changed  from  four  divisions  to  two,  and 
Riddle  was  superintendent  of  the  Eastern  Division,  Jersey 
City  to  Susquehanna. 

At  the  time  G.  S.  Redington  was  superintendent  of  this 
division,  he  was  also  superintendent  of  the  Delaware  Division, 
with  the  title  of  assistant  superintendent  of  transportation. 

Delaware  Division  ami  Brat 
Port  Jervis,  N.  Y.,  to  Susquehanna,  Pa.,  105  miles  ;  Hones- 
dale  Branch,  Lackawaxen,  Pa.,  to  Honesdale,  Pa.,  24  miles. 
31 


MAY    YORK    AND    ERIE    RAII  MANY. 

YV.  II.    Power May,        1850  to  May     1,  I 

Hugh  Riddle May    1.   1-;;    "  Apr.  30,  1861. 

ERIE   RAILWAY    COMPANY. 

Hugh  Riddle \pr.  30,  1861,  to  Tan.     I,  1S65. 

C  W,    Douglas Jan.      r,  1865  "  Mar.,  1869. 

G.  S.  Redington Mar.,        1869  "Jan.  12, 

B.Thomas Jan.    12,1873   "  Apr.  30,  1 

NEW    YORK,    LAKE    ERIE   AND    WESTERN    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

1       I  IS \pr.   30,  1878  to  June      1.  1S80. 

Chas.  Neilson June     1,1880  "Aug.    22,1882. 

W.J.  Murphy Aug.  22,  1882   "  Nov..         1--4. 

E.  Van   Etten Nov.,        1884  "  Aug.,         1--7. 

W.H.Starr \ng.,         1  0  I,  1S90. 

W.  1..  Derr Oct.      1,  [89b  "  Nov.    14,  1S95. 

ERIE    RAII  l:<  IAD    COMPANY. 

W.  I..  Derr Nov.  30.  1S95  to  Mar.    1,  1S99. 

Geo.  A.    Thompson Mar.     1,  l8gg   "date. 

Division  agent  was  the  original  title  of  the  superintendent, 
by  which  W.  H.  Power  was  known  until  after  the  railroad 
was  opened  to  Dunkirk  in  1851. 

Division  headquarters  at  Port  Jervis.  Division  all  double- 
tracked.     Miles  of  track  in  Port  Jervis  yard,  42. 

Susquehanna   Division, 
Susquehanna,  Pa.,  to  Hornellsville,  N.  V.,  139  miles. 

NEW    YORK    AND    ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

First  superintendent,  or  division  agent,  not  on  record. 

n May  I,  1850  to  June  30,  1853. 

R.  X.  Brown July  I,  1S53   "  Sept.  30.   I 

J.A.Hart Oct.  t,  1854  "  April    1,1 

II.   R.Smith Vpril  1,1857   "Apr.    30, 

I  III.    RAILWAY    COMPANY. 

II.   B.  Smith April  30,  1S61  to  Ian.  I.  i 

II.  I).  V.  I'ratt Jan.       1,   1  2]  [872. 

C.  W.  Gardner Sept.  21,  1S72  "  Jan.  12. 

R.    B.  Cable   Jan.    12,1*73   "  Api  30,  1878. 

NEW-    YORK,    LAKE   ERIE    AND    WESTERN    I  OMPANY. 

R.   B.  Cable   April  30,  1878   to  [882. 

I.   Jolls  (Acting) 1    i"  =  . 

R.  B.  Cable Feb.  9,  1885   "Oct       1. 

I>.  II.   Blackham Oct.  1,  1-',  "Feb    [4 

A.  M.  Tucker Feb.  14,  1887   "  Feb.   [S, 

C  V  Merrick  (Acting) 

\\  .  I!.  I  offin )  ' 

J.  H.  Parsons Sept.  1,  i                    .    1,1890. 

YV.  H.   Starr  (Acting) Nov.  1.   [890   "  V 

M.  YV.  Maguire Nov.  10,  1890  "  Nov.    1. 

J.  F.  Maguire Nov.  1,  1892   "  Nov.  14. 

ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

I.  F".  Maguire Nov.  14,  1895  to  April    1. 

W.  L.  Derr Vpril    1,  1899  "  date. 

Division  headquarters,  Elmira,  X.  V.     The  original   I 
quarters  were  at  Owego.     Main  shops  of  the  Erie  are  at  Sus- 
quehanna, Pa.,  and  employ  992  men.     Elmira  shop  (repaii 
shop)  employs  123  men. 


482 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


II.  B.  Smith  succeeded  J.  A.  Hart  as  superintendent  of 
the  Susquehanna  and  Western  Division,  with  headquarters  at 
llsville,  in  [858,  and  served  until  the  two-division  sys- 
tem was  abolished  in  December,  1859.  He  was  also  super- 
intendent of  the  Northern  Division,  Elmira  to  Canandaigua. 

('.  W.  Gardner  was  assistant  superintendent  of  transporta- 
tion for  the  Susquehanna  and  Rochester  Divisions,  from 
September  21,  1872,  to  January  r.2,  1873. 

1  livision  all  double-tracked. 

Allegany  (originally  Western)  Division. 
Hornellsville,  N.  Y.,  to  Dunkirk,  N.  Y.,  128  miles. 


NEW    YORK    AMJ    ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY. 

R.  N.  Brown Aug.  I,  1S51  to  June    30,  1S53. 

T.L.Smith July  1,1853  "Dec.  31,1853. 

J.A.Hart Jan.  I,  1854  "  Sept.  30,  1854. 

II.  li.  Smith      Oct.  1,  1S54  "  May    31,  1856. 

S.  C.  Jilison June  I,  1856  "  Mar.  31,  1857. 

J.A.Hart    April  1,1857   "May   31,1858. 

C.  L.  Robinson June  1,  1S5S   "  April  30,  1S61. 

ERIE    RAILWAY    COMPANY. 

C.  L.  Robinson April  30,  1S61  to  Oct.    31,  1862. 

II.  G.  Brooks Nov.    1,  1862  "Feb.   28,  1865. 

J.  S.  Beggs Mar.     1,1865   "  Sept.  30,  1872. 

R.  ( ;.    Taylor  .    Oct.     1,  1872  "  June  30,  1873. 

J-  S.   Beggs July      1,  1S73   "  April  30,  1S78. 

NEW    YORK,     LAKE    ERIE    AM)    WESTERN    RAILROAD    COMPANY". 

I.  S.  Beggs April  30,  1S78  to  Nov.  20,  1S81. 

W.  II.  Coffin Nov.  20,  18S1   "  Dec.   14,  1SS7. 

E.  F.  Knibloe Dec.    15,1887   "  June  30,  1888. 

I.  II.  Parsons ...July     [,1888   "  Sept.  30,  1889 

M.  W.  Maguire Oct.      1,  l88g   "  Nov,    9,  1890. 

J.  F.  Maguire Nov.  15,  1890  "  Oct.    31,  1892. 

H.E.Gilpin Nov.     1,1892  "  Nov.  14,  1S95. 

ERIE    RAILROAD    COMPANY'. 

II.  E.  Gilpin Nov.  14,  1S95.    (In  office,  1S99.) 


Division  headquarters  transferred  from  Dunkirk  to  Hor- 
nellsville, November  20,  1881.  Track  on  the  division  changed 
from  six-foot  gauge  to  standard  gauge,  June  22,  1880. 
Single  track,  except  6  miles  between  Carrollton  and  Sala- 
manca. Miles  of  track  in  Hornellsville  yard,  46.  Inter- 
<  hange  yard  at  Dayton,  20  miles  of  track. 

In  1 85 1,  all  the  plant  the  Erie  had  at  Hornellsville  was  a 
shed  that  housed  two  engines.  In  1852  additions  wer;  made 
for  machinery  for  repairing  engines.  From  time  to  time  ad- 
ditions wee  made  until  by  1854  the  shop  was  large.  In 
that  year  ground  was  broken  for  a  new  round-house  and  shop, 
which  win-  two  years  in  building.  When  done,  they  were 
dedicated  by  a  grand  ball  held  in  the  shop,  attended  by 
citizens  of  Hornellsville,  and  by  many  prominent  railroad 
men  from  other  points  along  the  line  of  the  Erie.  A  ban- 
quet was  provided  at  the  Erie  depot  dining-saloon.  January 
20,  [857,  the  shops  were  partially  destroyed  by  fire.  The 
Company  thought  it  never  would  want  any  bigger  shops,  and 
sold  mui  li  oi  the  land.     The  shops  and  round-houses  had  to 


be  enlarged  several  times,  and  in  1S78  the  Company  pur- 
chased thirty  acres  on  the  east  side  of  the  yard,  near  the  river, 
and  built  the  present  great  shops,  round-houses,  and  offices, 
erected  and  first  occupied  in  May,  1882.  The  original  depot 
was  burned  November  31,  1S79,  and  the  present  one  built 
in  1880. 

Buffalo  Division  and  Branches. 

Hornellsville  to  Buffalo,  92  miles;  Buffalo  to  Suspension 
Bridge,  26  miles;  Tonawanda  to  Lockport,  14  miles;  Inter- 
national Junction  to  Black  Rock,  3  miles;  Buffalo  to  James- 
town, 69  miles. 

II.  C.    Fisk 1859  to   1S72. 

O.  S.  Lyford 1S72    "    1873. 

R.G.Taylor 1S73    "   1SS1. 

C.W.Gardner 1SS1    "   1S82. 

Charles  Neilson 1SS2    "   iv;. 

W.  J.  Murphy 1SS4    "   1SS7. 

E.  Van  Etten 18S7  to  July  1,  iSSg. 

C.  A.  Brunn July       1,  18S9.   (Inoffice,  1899.) 

While  this  division,  from  Hornellsville  to  Attica,  was  the 
Buffalo  and  Xew  York  City  Railroad  (1852  to  1857)  it  had 
as  superintendents,  Silas  Seymour,  J.  H.  Hoyt,  and  A.  D. 
Patchin  successively.     ("The   Building  of  It,"  pages  360- 

363-) 

The  broad  gauge  was  changed  to  standard  in  June,  18S0. 
Division  headquarters  at  Buffalo.    Division  all  double-tracked. 

Rochester  Division  ami  Branches. 

Corning  to  Rochester,  91  miles;  Avon  to  Mt.  Morris,  15 
miles  ;  Avon  to  Attica,  35  miles  ;  Conesus  Junction  to  Lake- 
ville,  2  miles. 

George  W.  Bartlett Feb.     1,  1S86  to  Feb.    15,1887. 

W.  H.  Starr Feb.  15,  18S7   "  Aug.  21,  1887. 

G.  A.  Thompson Aug.  21,  1S87  "  Mar.     1,  1899. 

W.H.Barrett Mar.    1 ,  1 S99.    (In  office,  1S99.) 

Division  headquarters  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.  The  Roches- 
ter Division  was  operated  jointly  with  the  Buffalo  Division 
previous  to  February  1,  1886,  and  at  the  time  of  the  change 
was  in  chtirge  of  W.  J.  Murphy,  as  superintendent,  with  head- 
quarters at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  Track  changed  to  standard  gauge 
in  June,  1880.     ("  The  Building  of  It,"  pages  360-363.) 

Divisions  formerly  Erie  Branches  or  leased  Linos, 

Jefferson  Division. — Susquehanna,  Ta.,  to  Carbondale,  Pa.,  39 
miles.     Geokue  W.  Dowe,  Superintendent,  Carbondale,  Pa. 

Tioga  Division. — Elmira,  N.  V.,  to  Hoytville,  Pa.,  6;  miles; 
Tioga  function  to  Lawrenceville,  Pa.,  4  miles.  F.  1!.  Lincoln,  Su- 
perintendent, Arnot,  I'a. 

Bradford  Division. — Carrollton,  N.  Y.,  to  Johnsonburg,  I'a.,  53 
miles;  Brockwayville,  I'a.,  to  Toby  Mines,  12  miles;  I  )aguscahonda, 
Pa.,  to  Dagus  Mines,  6  miles.  C.  V.  MERRICK,  Superintendent, 
Bradford,  Pa. 

GREENWOOD  Lake  Division. — Jersey  City  to  Greenwood  I.ake, 
N,  V.,  4S  miles;  Caldwell  function  to  Essex  tails.  \.  J.,  6  miles; 
Forest    Hill.  N.    1 .,  to   Orange.  4   miles.      NORTHERN    RAILROAD   OF 

New  Jersey.— jersey  City  to  Nyack,  N.  Y.,  28  miles.  T,  II.  Pin- 
dell,  Superintendent,  Jersey  City. 


THE    STORY   OF    ERIE 


483 


Table  Showing,  Year  ey  Year,  the  Growth  of  the  Erie  in  Mileage  of  Track  Owned  and  Leased,  the  Increase  in 
Its  Equipment  and  Traffic,  etc.,  since  the  Beginning  of  Operatioi  er  23,  1-41.     (The  Number  of  Employees  in 

Round    Numbers   is   Estimated,  there   being   no  Return   of  that  Item  Made  in  the  Official  Reports   for  thosi    Yi  uts.) 


'3  a 

a.s 

•a 
u 

J2  / 

CO 

B3 

oS 

u 


184... 

1842 . . 

1843.. 

1844.- 

1845.. 

1846 

1847  ■ 

1848.. 

1849.. 

1850. . 

1851.. 

1852.. 

1853- • 

1854 . . 

1855- • 
1856.. 
1857 
1858.. 

1859 

i860.. 

1861 . . 

1862 

1863  . 

1864 . . 

1865.. 

1866.. 

1867.. 

1868.. 

1869.. 

1870.. 

1871 

1872.. 

J873.. 

1874. 

1875 

1876.. 

1877.. 

1878.. 

1879  . 


1883.. 

1884.. 

1885.. 

1886.. 

1887.. 

1888.. 

1889.. 

1890. 

1891 . . 

1892. 

1893.. 

1894.. 

1895.- 

1896.. 

i?97.. 


46 
46 
53 
53 
53 
62 
62 
74 
269* 

337 

445 

445 

445 

445 

445 

446 

446 

446 

446 

446 

44° 

446 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

459 

460 

460} 

460} 

460} 

460 

460 

460 

460 

460 

460 

460 

460 

460 

446 

459 

459 

459 

446} 

44'  ; 

446* 

44&* 
446} 


5? 

s.1 

tftfl 

r* 

1- 

Is 

0 

■a 
9.S 

CO 

•a 
3  -' 

SOi- 

SSl 

19 
19 
19 

19 
19 
19 

J9 
'9 
19 
'9 
'9 
.65 
165 
165 
165 
.65 
3'4 
3i4 
3'4 
364} 
3641 
455 
495 
495 
96, 
9<* 
96* 
96} 
96} 
96* 
96* 
96i 
96} 

96* 
96} 
96* 
106 
102 
102 
102 
102 
J04* 
104* 
104} 
108} 
108} 
1,024 
1,021 
1. 01 5 


26 
26 
56 
56 
56 
56 

I20 

56 
56 
56 
94 
94 


403i 

3861 

399 

400} 

384 

371} 

37H 

379 

379 

472 

47* 

472 

472 

470 

452 

486 

486 

544 

55°S 

5S6i 

55' 

552 

358 

388} 

396 


.3 -a 
o  rt 

a 


9 
19 
58J 

8of 

=  ■:'. 

262 

269 

281 
281 
281 

282 
286 
286 

290 
320 

351 

357 

379 

38S 

399 

413I 

449! 

508 

515 

572 

641 

643 

660} 

669 

6761 

759* 

772 

791 

803 

854 

912 

987 

1,013 

1,019 

1,067 

1,072 

1,091 

J, 139! 

1,158}. 

1,187 

1,202 

1,206} 

1,650* 

'.675 

1,704} 


T3 

rt 

~ 

ia 

i» 

> 

■*  a 

0 

e 

-  *o 

s  s 

0 
u 

0 

*i 

J 

>" 

0 

2 

56 

5 

56 

5 

56 

5 

56 

5 

56 

5 

56 

7 

56  to  60 

10 

56  to  60 

'9 

56  to  60 

55 

56  to  60 

65 

56  to  60 

123 

58  to  72 

T42 

58  to  72 

»43 

58  to  74 

183 

58  to  74 

203 

58  to  74 

203 

56  to  74 

210 

56  to  74 

210 

56  to  74 

219 

56  to  74 

219 

56  to  74 

220 

56  to  74 

225 

56  to  74 

242 

56  to  75 

249 

56  to  75 

319 

56  to  75 

371 

64 

371 

64  to  70 

37' 

64  to  70 

444 

64  to  70 

440 

64  to  70 

475 

64  to  70 

483 

60  to  70 

497 

60  to  67 

505 

60  to  67 

S°5 

60  to  67 

505 

63 

505 

63 

515 

63 

504 

63  to  70 

539 

60  to  70 

545 

60  to  70 

564 

60  to  70 

585 

60  to  70 

584 

60  to  70 

554 

60  to  70 

460 

56  to  66 

485 

60  to  74 

4=7 

60  to  74 

515 

60  to  80 

555 

60  to  80 

574 

60  to  80 

623 

626 

63  to  80 

667 

63  to  90 

666 

60  to  OO 

668 

60  to  90 

918 

60  to  00 

903 

6'-> 


83 


6  tx 
2 


4 
4 
4 
6 
6 
9 
9 
=4 

32 
38 
61 
75 
93 
102 

97 
103 
99 
96 

IOO 
I03 
I02 

IOI 

105 
113 

120 

178 

190 

187 

220 
220 

232 

258 

250 
200 

198 
241 
237 

236 

235 

240 
230 

255 

272 
270 

268 

275 

2S5 

259 

253 
241 
244 
266 

343 
356 
356 
356 
434 
448 


3 

3 

5 

7 

17 

26 

28 

28 

28 

3° 

42 

49 

42 

40 

32 
38 

40 

7° 
66 
60 

56 
54 
54 
53 
44 
44 
69 
67 
67 
67 
73 
68 
74 
78 
79 
130 

87 
86 
86 
80 

90 
'°3 
116 

"3 
no 

'■3 
in 
in 
1 11 
152 
136 


ojO 


Bfc£ 

S3 

is. 

«  , 

3  n 


60 

77 
72 
12 
17 
=4 
43 
41 
43 
43 
43 
40 

45 
45 
46 
44 
48 
48 
48 
48 
61 

68 
60 
7' 
7t 
7» 
76 
81 
75 
93 
99 

96 

93 
107 
102 
106 
158 
in 
112 
109 
120 
119 
'35 
171 
'74 
174 
178 
175 
180 
180 
230 
236 


25 

39 

66 

70 

383 

448 

784 

1.349 

■■834 

2,281 

2,762 

2.770 

2,810 

2,780 

2,684 

2.763 

2.895 

2,850 

3,040 

3,3'9 

3.768 

5.181 

5.717 

5.709 

6,040 

7.447 
8,840 

9-779 
10,6,8 

■0.373 
io,775 
11.274 
".337 
11,298 


16.585 
16,609 
23,920 
28.405 
37.068 
29.205 
29.950 
28,820 
29,716 
30,292 
30,243 
31.383 
30,353 
30,219 

30.535 
28.784 
28.972 
28.847 
40.557 
42-54' 


8  3 
t  - 


Si 

5j  -r. 
ST.  c 

2g 

< 


•H.E 

c  : 
_- 
=  uu 

•?*! 
ggs 

U  —  ~ 

M 

>  =^ 

< 


25 
25 

2S 
28J 
30 

33 

35 

32 

32 

32 

26J 

27* 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

30-40 

26-30 

32 

35 

55 

35 

35 

35 

35 

35 

35 

35 

35 

35 

35 

3S 


24 
24 
29 
3° 
26 
26 
26 
26 
22 

23 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26 

26-30 

26-30 

26-30 

26-30 

26-30 

26-30 

26-30 

26-30 


26-30 
22-26 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 


11,627 


80,0201 
83-483* 
103,288} 
155.295 
288.069 
282,662} 
414.727 
688,789 
864,330 

1,154,4371 

1,125,123! 

1,033.392 
1,077.026 
1,016,086 
793.882 
866,841 
941.544 
842,049 
859.203 
1,065.752 
1.652,301 
2,036,835 
2.444  935 
2,245,180 
2,194,848 
2,497."3 
2,275,025 
3.509,462 
3.598.988 
3,992.156 
4,223,130 
5.052.855 
5,032.831 
4,887,238 
3.080,242 
4.894.527 
5,471.43' 
6.144.158 
6,784,195 
6,934,724 
5.385.669 
5.899.757 
6.261,118 
6,865,903 
8,543.684 
10,107,306 
11,074.489 
11,677.902 
1 1. 805.389 
12,452.623 
11,967.285 
11. 521.997 
5,692,801 
14.4tii.47S 
14,703,426 


—  -6 
^_  c 

'-■2 

O  ~ 

(- 


109,402 

131,312 

250,096 
456,460 

631,039 

743,250 

842,054 

692.488 
978,069 
816,964 

869.872 
1,139.554 
1,255.419 
1,632,955 

1,815,096 

=■234.350 
3,242,792 
3.484,546 
3,908,243 

4.312,200 
4.852,505 
4.844,208 

5,564,274 

6,312.762 
6.364,276 

6,239.943 
5.972.818 
6,182.451 
4,128.906 
8,212,641 

8,715.892 

11,086,823 
11,895,238 
11,610,673 

11.071.938 
10,253.498 
12.806,918 

i5.'74-o°9 
15,084.132 
16,269.656 
17,339.'4° 
18.614.822 
17,309,188 
15,305,200 
12,928.530 
10.935.779 
19.443,898 
22,547.528 


25 

IS 

'4 

'9 

'5 

2.3 

21 

9 

11 

7 

12 

17 

II 

18 

27 

17 

'S 

30 

29 

26 

34 

'37 

SO 

33 

H 

?'■ 
5  = 
25 
21 

4< 

7 
32 

55 
60 
61 

57 
27 
5« 
65 


76 


65 

70 

96 
102 
71 
77 
68 
70 

67 

58 
92 
124 


'33 
162 
209 
276 
3'9 
344 
5'4 
604 
986 
1.325 
i,8co 
2,600 
3,000 
3.500 
4,000 
4.000 
4,200 
4.400 
4.600 
5.000 
S-Soo 
6.000 
6,800 
7.000 
7,000 
7,000 
7.000 
7,500 
8.000 
8,000 
9,000 
9,000 
9.500 
10,000 
10.500 
10.000 
10000 
11.000 
11,000 
11,000 
12,000 
14.000 
15.241 
'5.?63 
15.212 
16.355 
.6,384 
16.500 
16.845 
16,962 
17.211 
16,835 
14.249 
14.158 
21.26. 
19.992 
21,063 


tt^&&22&?^r^~j£^&ti  ^»fttSti?g£25&SZS$^  Canned  ,0  couriers,  the  .as.  wood- 
bUrneThie^tes[eef  orUstee!  S^d^'s  we«™,  E£5iri£*&    They  were  made  a,  Trenton.     In  the  report  lor ,874  the  weigh,  of  rails  began  ,0  be  stated 

operated  by  the  Erie  Company.  _,„~  »„  »h<.  ctanrtarH  hepan  in  187..    when  114  miles  were  put  down.     It  was  completed 

The  layin  Lot  the  £'^„S^^^  The  '^  ""  was  taken  up  in  ,8So.  tut 


"^  W2X  WeilesaCo  began  the  express  .-sp^ion^usir,  ss^r  theEri.    They  were  ™^V  £«*  P-  ,  fished 

[/SSUS^U^S:  wulchTa^  ^^^3jMJS^tTSSgr^d  has  since  «>„<»«*«,  *Z  ^.n^.  ,..,,„,  ....  ^  company 

aj  pjr  cent,  ot  the  express  earnings.  ;„H^r%*>nH^nr  freicrhr  linei  nmninir  over  the  Erie,  owning  the  cars  in  use. 

V     The  Erie  Despatch,  Commercial  Express,  and  Inter-S  ate  Despatch  are  '"deP™dent ^ rreiRhtj  nes  runnm^o     r  ,  ^  ^^^  ^  fau 

The  passenger  cars  were  onginally  lighted  by  whale^.l  larnps^    rhen  ca™e  ^™  cldnd '£1C  ^  „lcrc  ,,r,:„naiiv  heated  by  wood  m  box  stoves.    CoaJ 
were  in  use  as  late* as  1872.     Gas-lighting  of  cars  on  the :Ene  began ,  .r, , -SS^    Gas  and  o,l ^e  ^d      ^..e  cars  g^      JsUmated.j 

^"tSS^^^tad^oa^SS^^^^^JA    The  block  system  was  introduced  in  .888. 

Totafmileage  uSssf:  single  track,  .,857.67  ;  double  track,  s.d.ngs,  and  turnouts.  3.570*. 


484 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


[•ock,  Bonded  and  Floating  Debts  of  the  Company,  the  Cost  of  the  Railroad,  the  Earnings 

of  the  Railroad,  and  n  rATioN   Expenses,  for   Each  Vear  since  the  Beginning  of  Operations,  September  23, 

n  1 11.  the  End  of  the  1  \  1  I      e  30,  1898,  as  They  Appi  \k  from  the  Official  Reports  of  the  Company  to 

Engineer   and   Surveyor    and    rHi     Board   of    Railroad   Commissioners  of  the   State   of   New   York.     This    Table 

is   Intended  to   Show   the   Earning   Capacity    of  the    Railroad,  and   the   Expenses  Connected  with   Developing  that 

itv,    with.'!  i    Regard    ro   Collateral   Income   or    Disbursements   of   the  Company. 


1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 

1845- 
1846. 
1847- 
1848. 
1841. 
1850. 
185 1. 
1852. 
1853- 
1S54. 
1855. 
1856. 
1857. 
1858. 
■839- 

1860. 
1861. 
1862. 
1863. 
1864. 
■863. 
1866. 
1867. 
1868. 
1869. 
1870. 
187 1. 
1872. 
1873. 
1874. 
■  875- 
1876. 
1877. 

1878  J 

1879. 


1886. 
1887. 
1888. 
1S89. 
1890. 
1891. 
1802. 
1803. 
1894. 

1895- 
1896. 
1897- 


•Capital 

Stock.  I 

as  bv  Debt. 

Charter. 


S.778,891 

5,992,290 
7,766,991 
10.000,000 
10,023,958 
10,023,958 

10,000,000 

11,000,000 
11,000,000 
ir,ooo,oco 
11,000.000 
See  note. 
19,973,200 
19,973,200 
24,223.800 
24,935,800 
25,105,800 

46,302,210 
78,536,910 
83,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,900 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,910 
86,536,900 
S  ,536,900 
86,536,900 
86,536.900 
86,536,900 
86,536,900 
86,536,900 
86,536,900 
86,536,900 
86,5  $6,91  •> 
86,536,900 
86,536,900 
86,536,900 

146,000,000 
146,000,000 
171,090,300 


I 


None. 


3,000,000  oc 

3,000,000  00 

3,000,000  00 

3.000,000  00 

5,839,918  00 

9,856,568  00 

14,503,868  00 

18,003,868  do 

20,173,868  00 

22,601,000  00 

24.8,51,000  00 

24,891,000  CO 

24,891,00000 

26,438,016  00 

25,260.000  00 

26,351,000  00 

See  note 

19.831.500  00 
20,093,200  00 
17,822,900  00 
18.285,90000 
22,368,834  94 
22,429.920  00 
23, 3' 18, 300  00 
23,398,00000 
-■ :-  j  )8,8oo  00 
26,398,800  00 
26,398,800  oc 

37,917,142  70 
45,576.814  00 
54,271,814  00 
54.271,81400 
54,271,81400 
54,271,81400 
See  note. 

66.678.501  10 
67,173.744  85 
67.165,66595 
70,269.13765 
75.267,13690 
75,268,485  10 
75,268,485  10 
78,500,385  10 
78,550,865  10 
78,567,245  10 
77,759.245  10 
77,756,205  10 
77,643,885  10 
77.643,885  10 
77,643,885  10 
77,643,885  10 
77,644,125  10 
78,800,125  10 

125.404.100  00 
238.852,100  00 
238,852,10000 


Floating 
Debt. 


None 
reported 


2,481,647  41 
2,475,864  64 
2.957,376  31 
1.323,053  55 
2,685,026  49 
2,525,669  85 
1,051,54003 

991.068  91 
1,982,482  42 

732.257  86 

353.703  33 
2.725,620  43 
See  note. 

480,665  00 

-   None. 

2,364,238  4: 
3,638,450  29 
3,524,813  00 
4.893-735  81 
None 


ported 

2.517.301  26 

2. 714. 103  5' 

2,552,203  34 

1,421,641  8} 

1,159,060  46 

1,887,216  11 

669,705  77 

400,000  00 

482,763  51 


See 
note. 


Gross  Earnings. 


tTotal  Cost 
of  Railroad 

and 
Equipment.  Passenger. 


16,4  |0,868  oa 
20,823.581  00 
24,028,858  20 
27,551,205  00 
31,222,834  00 
33.439.432  °° 
33,742.317  11 
33.938,254  °o 
34,033,680  16 
34,058,632  63 
35,320,907  19 
35,574.171  97 
35.796.901  91 
89,985,202  03 

]  ;.  [28,660  82 

40.954,463  62 

45.879,522  28 

48,507.544  52 

49,247,769  7O 

56,486,605  97 
65,131,95901 
73.945,587  02 
106.904,362  22 
108,807,687  26 
111,630,092  26 
115,075,000  87 
115,955,946  63 
117,140,287  47 
117,445,120  54 
n7.633.790  09 
574,122  26 

3,325.369  2? 

5.344.575  32 
7,213,614  12 
8,818,860  71 

9,552,704  93 
11,502,380  63 
12,722,610  64 
12,761,536  52 
15,386,099  42 

14.772.494  27 
160,862.500  74 
161,145.922  43 
161,621,092  44 
162,739,413  26 
163,598,371  02 
163,827,791  22 

'6-t.333.398  37 

No  report. 
274,300,131  23 
271,727,58649 
273. 587,262  41 


Freight. 


15,165  44 
34,848  00 
35,000  CO 

46,178  00 


44.'75  35 
64.754  73, 
100,990  74J 
125,722  32 
363,209  96 
573. 15083 
,186,034  21 
,382,636  87 
,601,209  71 
.743.379  72 
,698.670  15 
,656,674  66 
,495,36096 


1,182,258  27  3. 
',554-083  53 
1,180,957  55 
1,136,045  73 
1,096,196  60 
1,670,082  58 
2.523,005  50 
4,450,209  60 
3,593,966  20 
2.931.833  45 
j.5!i.coi  88 
4,043,048  82 


,972,064  70 
,329,346  84 
,651.554  18 
,705,574  06 
,461,304  31 
,427,626  45 
,220,089  88 
,900,045  50 
170,075  52 
118,943  75 
,682,951  18 
041,267  03 
384.509  78 
632,229  27 
675,871  14 
106,707  61 
443.771  81 
706,16459,15 
,808,390  67  15 
894,052  8i  15 
,443,598  16  22 
855,445  09  22 
724,819  90  24 
,810,284  55  23 
888,898  61  19 
081,307  I5liq 

475.804  33I  8 
861,094  62. II 

365,47932  21 

570,600  53  23 


s 

14,523  99 

43,677  00 

60,735  00 
79,842  00 

82,169  66 

120,761  75 
153,138  68 
185,190  93 
425,078  12 
564.445  15 
,091,388  11 
,883,198  76 
,537.2'4  52 
,369,59005 
.653.3°'  70 
,554,721  86 
,097,610  12 
,843,310  77 
,195,869  57 

,351,464  35 
,642,914  68 
,432,234  47 
■855.087  70 
,726,264  33 
,611,023  01 
,204,688  73 
,780,975  86 

,583.793  73 
,983,547  06 
,861,999  74 
,509,745  47 
.015,807  85 
,740,042  44 
,287,399  85 
,429,929  70 
,647,807  38 
,087,075  50 
,827,414  31 
,233,48090 
,39'. "5  33 

,979.576  61 
,642,128  38 

213,621  15 
773,004  60  I 
394,625  00 
,808,180  00  I 
,203,285  88 
,821,210  04 
375-347  75 
,454.7=9  42  1 
,162,40330  I 
,760,488  01,1 
,581,380  41  I 

,187.997  67  ' 
,009,238  28 
,801,435  31 
,919,650  95 
,594,864  26 
,050,600  53  2 


JOther 

Sources. 


21,855  54 
1,529  63 
4.246  33 
271,930  90 
180,538  13 
246,948  9: 
137.321  46 
146,593  63 
149,635  43 
126,047  39 
132,196  22 
115,020  61 
103,406  52 
124.861  40 
143,800  18 
173.3S6S9 
124,100  92 
167,820  35 
180,690  96 
64,302  27 
94.657  79 
227,014  78 
33,940  72 
532.795  49 
,345.244  48 
,153,282  26 
,128,15444 
994,904  99 
840,992  66 
465,17596 
"95.I9I  39 
589,597  84 
.379.697  37 
.539,067  50 
969.235  45 
956.396  48 
.56034 
989,123  48 
,058,543  34 
419.242  3° 
,210,422  13 
S43.783  77 
,141,490  50 
,249,397  74 
,207,604  50 
,246,413  67 
,231.84767 
,702,290  82 
7'?i  i.  ■  ,6  :-■  1 
697,291  40 
,090,666  98 
,150,669  23 


Total. 


29 

78 

95 

126, 

126 

185, 

254, 

310 

810 

1,139, 

2,281, 

3.537 

4.318, 

5,359 

5.488 

6,349 

5-742 

5.151 

4.882. 

5,180, 

S.590 

7,863, 

10,246, 

12,551. 

i5.3°o 

15.372 

14.317 

14.376 

16,721, 

16.179 

16,868. 

18,371. 

20,012 

18,598 

16,876. 

15.852. 

14,708 

10.452 

5,192, 

'5,942 

19.453 

21-559 

19,995, 

22,802, 

21,637. 

15,49° 
22,500, 

19.327- 
27.217, 
27,004. 
29,039. 
29.263. 
31,692, 
30,638. 
26,308. 

2S.792- 
12,061. 

15-477- 
29,051. 

30.771. 


,689  43 
,52500 
,335°o 
,020  00 
345  01 
,51648 
119  08 

,913  25 
,140  62 
125  61 
.668  65 
764  53 
,962  36 
,958  68 
993  37 
,99°  '5 
60551 
,616  43 
,14932 
,321  70 
,916  60 
,972  68 
,11723 
480  09 
,574  85 
,809  56 
,213  14 
,871  81 
50034 
,461  66 
905  16 
887  80 
,606  5 
896  76 
858  60 
461  14 
,889  92 
,296  87 
,681  22 
,022  58 
,763  88 
911  14 
,873  61 
24695 
,436  08 
,45609 
-047  73 
692  77 
98975 
406  01 
S180S 
,246  13 
,912  41 
078  63 
743  95 
836  25 
,636  45 
936  97 
010  56 
297  82 


Expenses  of  Transportation. 


Mainte- 
nance of 
Way  ard 
Real 

Estate. 


Not 

separated 

until 

1849. 


61,640  44 

127,146  13 

149,524  13 

296,267  26 

471,469  19 

602,786  81 

584.983  93 

641.588  89 

938,603  73 

1,135,504  25 

1,049,187  05 

1,024,837  16 

1,049,298  48 

', 367-783  9° 

i,83°.579  56 

2,680,142  04 

3.501,457  79 

3,460,618  39 

3,001,482  82 

3.303.524  56 

4,248.273  36 

3,689,693  64 

3,432,948  46 

!,686,8l  4    ,  , 

3-7I7.333  78 
3,485,662  20 
3,32I,37°57 

2.630.486  45 
2,295,529  46 
1,505,502  48 

722,790  48 
2,289,215  67 
2,187,963  91 
2,263,552  94 

2.23'. 877  58 

2,967,616  86 
2,°58-555  79 
3.4°5.9°°  41 
2.365-559  34 
2,444,648  79 
2,083,916  96 
2.058.543  79 
2.688.108  " 
2,864,046  88 
2.963,990  23 
2,904,404  37 
2,738,806  99 
2,491,866  65 
1,561,245  01 
1,515,87941 

2.777.487  48 
3,095,869  29 


Repairs 

of 

Machinery 


Not 

separated 

until 


64.030  53 
55.813  64 
230,592  16 
376,564  74 

434.893  88 
560,582  14 

386.894  90 

63'.'79  59 
882,086  30 
890,274  10 
609,650  87 
718,11473 
808,638  141 
1,063,022  06 
1,427,043  02 
1,760,833  53 
2.602,42009 
2,555,288  83 
2,606,412  73 
2,843,040  29 
3,182,634  07 
2,601,691  05 
2,354,644  97 
.-,.-,, .),'■'  _■  ,:-' 
2,562,359  08 
2,799,102  30 
2.446,863  53 
2,664,456  87 
1,981,059  67 
1,324,269  85 
530,689  91 
1,784,304  17 
1,906,425  90 
2,207,689  14 
2,160,119  9° 
2-733.244  73 
1,899,657  22 
1,313.702  60 
2.374,228  63 
2,393,271  07 
2,827,296  56 
2,983.902  2S 

4.369.563  87 
3.795.S6056 
4.266,890  57 
3,034.334  67 
3. 164-053  54 
3,273,11231 
1.890,871  70 
2,180,815  58 
4,030,261  94 
4,883,910  49 


Operating. 


$ 

No  report. 

46.793  00 

52,520  00 

66,945  00 

70.217  74 

123,173  97 

172,970  68 

195.508  17 

273,676  12 

440.788  29 

848.-  95    ' 

1,130,498  02 

'.349.635  91 

1,474.23937 

1.708,449  09 

1,887,629  22 

2,086,198  26 

1,569,228  95 

1,384,331  05 

1.476,743  °7 
1,646.53496 
2,034,808  23 
2,446,748  27 
3,406,014  61 
4,713,311  09 
5.135.633  45 
4,726,093  94 
4.996.527  47 

5.828.359  18 
5,781,626  20 
6,411,502  73 
6,612,978  19 
7,360,049  46 
7,278,923  82 
6,910,896  85 
6,936,258  46 
6,623,250  77 
4.553.342  57 
2,019,268  38 
7,101,1.79  11 
7.549.535  54 
x.;.-  (.,  '-7  .,:- 
8,696,096  26 
9.743.721  53 
S.i 1 1. 124  75 
5,692,446  15 
7,270,284  86 
8,080.231  77 
8,188,15875 

7.878.360  85 
11,825,103  27 
12,623,009  11 
14.003,837  57 
'3.432.956  53 
12,223,580  84 
12,272,897  51 

5.732,909  74 
7,334,264  18 
14.473.603  74 
14,149,044  13 


Total. 


Met 

Earnings. 


s 

46,79  I 
52,520 
66,945 
70.217 
'23.'73 
172,970 
195,508 
399-347 
623.748 
226,212 
805,340 
378,267 
637,606 
680,327 
160.  ^,,7 
906.888 
595.o67 
043,168 
219.6. 

465.614 
704.370 
846,99 

8i7,ir 

151,540 

333.989 

143,092 

,259,266 

073,010 

199.096 

594.504 

640,64: 

563738 

679,130 

231,201 

oi6,r 

363,114 

,272,748 

174,698 

643,925 

256,230 

088,093 

444-583 

358,077 

987,329 

008,594 

022,465 

620.257 

453-385 

882,775 

282,616 

234.718 

271.695 

120.441 

037,876 

185,026 

030.959 

281.353 

128,823 


0, 


31 

43 

59 

56. 

62, 

81. 

115, 

410, 

515- 

1,055- 

'•732- 
1,940. 
2.722, 
2,808, 
3,189- 
1,835. 
1,556. 
1,838, 
1,960, 
2,086, 
3.398, 
4.541 
4,704 
4.483 
4,221 

3,983 
3.233 
3.4^2 
4.106 
4,968 
5-777 
6-37' 
5.°35 
4-i,<7 
3.621 
4,692 
3,089, 
1.919 
4-767 
7.833 
8.303, 
6.907 
7-357 
5.279 
1.403 
6.491 
4.C04, 
0.597 

9-55J 
10.157 

55]  9.98° 
37!  10,458- 
57  10.366 
37  8,182, 
47  7-754- 
45  2-876 
17  4.446 
16  8.769. 
,.,1  8,642, 


732oo 
215  00 
,07500 
128  00 

34300 
149  00 
,405  c8 
796  53 
377  55 
45640 
424  25 
549  77 
351  74 
,665  39 
592  45 
718  22 

549  '3 
980  35 
626  14 
445  02 
358  49 
746  38 
,489  91 
385  88 
,2(8  89 
323  65 
72949 
233  73 
45o  77 
.9C9  00 

,;83  16 
■964  10 
,160  44 
,727  65 

.-ft-  4' 
,050  32 

,.81  77 
-932  45 
323  63 
-738  53 
,681  08 
77'  -7 
,663  78 
358  34 
,12682 
453  '3 
3'3  92 
,732  39 
,02c  99 
,042  10 
'  ---j  58 
19404 
,383  06 
302  58 
95968 
,6xo  00 
977  80 
657  40 
473  9' 


*  The  original  capital  stock  was  $10,000,000.  The  State  of  New  York  loaned  its  credit  to  the  Company  for  $3,ooo,oco.  That  and  something  over  $1. 500,000 
paid  in  on  Company  stock  comprised  the  stock  debt  up  to  1845.  No  statement  of  the  slock  account  was  made  in  the  reports  until  1849.  "  Capital  Stock,  as  by 
charter,"  means  both  the  amount  authorized  by  the  original  charter  and  by  subsequent  legislation. 

t  The  regular  annual  statement  of  construction  and  equipment  expenses  did  not  begin  to  appear  in  the  reports  until  1849.  These  expenses  up  to  and  includ- 
ing 1848  were  512,070,165.  of  which  $4,360,702  was  expended  previous  to  the  reorganization  in  1845. 

t  "  Other  Sources  "  applies  to  the  earnings  of  the  railroad  from  mails,  express,  and  incidental  earnings  entirely  due  lo  the  movement  of  trains.  These 
items  were  not  separated  in  the  reports  until  1849. 

Note  to  i86r.— The  property  being  in  the  hands  of  a  Receiver,  and  in  course  of  radical  readjustment,  no  statement  of  the  stock  or  bond  debt  was  made. 
For  the  years  succeeding  1861  the  preferred  stock  is  included  in  the  reported  capital.     From  1873  to  i3SS  these  expenses  only  under  reorganization  reported. 

N  ,1 1  ro  1868-69-70-71.— See  "  Administration  of  John  S.  Eldridge  "  and  "  Administration  of  Jay  Gould,"  Chapters  XV.  and  XVI..  for  the  explanation  ;if 
the  increase  in  stock  debt  and  equipment  account. 

Note  to  1878.— Report  includes  last  operations  of  the  Erie  Railway  iSept.  30,  1S77,  to  May  31,  1878*,  and  first  operations  of  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and 
Western    May  31.  1878.  to  Sept.  30,  1878).    Funded  debt  awaiting  details  of  reorganization.    ("Administration  cf  Hugh  J.  Jewett."  pages  246-251.) 

Note  to  1883.— The  NY  ,  P.  and  O.  Railroad  was  leased  by  the  Eric  April  30,  1883.  Since  then  the  operations  of  that  road  have  been  included  in  the  Erie 
reports-  according  to  the  terms  of  the  lease  until  1896  ;  subsequently  as  part  of  the  Erie  system  by  ownership. 

o  1895. — The  report  includes  the  five  months  from  June  30,  close  of  the  fiscal  year,  to  November  30.  when  the  Erie  Railroad  Company  succeeded 
the  New  Y->rk,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad  Company. 

Note   ro  1806. — This  report  is  for  the  seven  months  from  November  30,  1895,  to  June  30,  1896,  end  of  the  fiscal  year. 

Fli  ,  \  1  inc.  Debt.     Since  1880  no  statement  of  a  floating  debt  as  a  floating  debt  has  been  included  in  the  State  reports. 

Dr  .in.-  1S48-  $143,147:    1849— $291,585  :   1850— $391,855.37  ithese  were  on  the  basis  of  an  agreed  payment  of  6  per  cent,  interest  to  the  stock- 

holders) ;  1851 — $346,859.04  :  1852— $416. 1  ,  $252,660  :  1854—^700,605.50;  1857— $1,000,000  (stock  dividend  from  proceeds  ot  sinking  fundi;  1862— $441,575  ; 

1863— $1,288,124:  1864— $1,832,623.58;  1865- -$2,243,017.02;  1866— $567,304:  1867— $567,30.1.85 :  1868— $567,104.85  :  1869— $567,304  ;  1872—  $1,463.791 ;  1873-$!, 569,- 
437-77  :  1880— coupons  on  the  income  bonds  :  1881-  6  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock  and  coupons  on  the  income  bonds  ;  1882—6  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock  ; 
1883—6  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock  ;  1889— interest  on  the  income  bonds  and  1  per  cent,  on  the  preferred  stock. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


4§5 


Table  Showing  the   Prick   of   Erie   Common  stock   ,n  Wall  Street  Each  Year  ,  k  m   t848,   Lowest  an,,  Highest  Q 
tions  Eai  h   Month,  am,  Lowest  am,  Highesi    Price  for  Each  Year. 


K 

January. 

February. 

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1  ! 

Erie  stock  enjoyed  barely  a  fictitious  value  until  1846,  after  the  first  reorganization  of  the  Company,  as  there  was  no  visible  prospe,  mpany  being 

able  to  finish  the  railroad,  and  the  future  of  an  enterprise  which  was  to  cost  more  than  twice  the  amount  of  its  authorized  capital  was  n>,t  a  tempting  one  for 
investors.  The  stock  advanced  rapidly  in  quoted  value,  however,  as  the  work  of  constructing  the  railroad  proceeded  westward,  and  when  it  became  known  that 
the  Company  intended  to  begin  the  payment  of  6  per  cent,  interest  on  the  stock  then  outstanding,  in  1848,  Erie  shares  began  to  rise  rapidly  in  the  market.  It  may 
be  said  that  the  regular  dealing  in  Erie  began  in  1S48,  and  regular  daily  quotations  were  first  reported  in  that  year. 

Note  to  1869.— November  30,  186S.  the  Regular  Board  and  the  Open  Board  of  Brokers  each  passed  a  resolution  declaring  that  after  January  31.  1S69,  it 
would  not  call  or  deal  in  any  stock  a  registry  of  which  was  not  kept  by  its  company  in  some  responsible  bank  or  trust  company  or  agency,  with  public  notice  of 
number  of  shares  thus  entered  for  registry,  and  of  any  intended  increase  in  the  number  and  of  the  object  for  the  issue.  This  action  was  brought  :ib:,ut  by  the 
secret  issue  of  a  large  amount  of  stock  in  "the  summer  and  fall  of   1868,  by  which  the  market  was  ruinously  demoralized  (see  Chapter  XVI     1  The 

Erie  refused  to  abide  by  the  resolution,  and  its  stock.  b"th  preferred  and  common,  was  excluded  from  the  Exchange  from  January  31, 1869,  until  September,  which 
will  explain  the  absence  of  quotations  during  that  time. 

(For  an  account  of  some  early  transactions  in  and  manipulation  of  Erie  stock,  see  pages  318-320.) 


486 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


Showing  the  Market   Price   of   Erie  Preferred  Stock  from  June,  1S61,  when    Its   Quotations   Began,  until  the 

End  OF   iiif  Yi  ir  1S9S. 


January. 

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63* 

57 

64 

54 

61* 

52* 

60 

59* 

65 

62S 

78 

72* 

78* 

73* 

811 

75 

78* 

76 

79* 

70 

7«1 

.50* 

78* 

1887.. 

65+ 

71* 

6st 

74+ 

70J 

734 

72  J 

74+ 

72 

76 

68 

74+ 

66* 

7i! 

64 

71* 

61} 

7°< 

59 

67 

62 

68) 

63* 

67  i 

59 

74+ 

1888 .. 

6: 

6s* 

57 

62} 

53 

58» 

51* 

60} 

54 

61 

52 

56 

55+ 

62} 

61I 

65* 

65  J 

67! 

64* 

67+ 

60 

66} 

59 

63* 

52 

67+ 

1889.. 

61 

66 

66 

70 

66 

70* 

67 

7if 

68} 

7if 

67 

7°i 

62 

67 

62} 

69 

68* 

7-i 

68 

70 

65 

67} 

62 

674 

61 

7iJ 

1890.. 

60 

65* 

60 

64 

59 

63* 

60 1 

67 

65 

69* 

65 

66 

64 

65 

60 

65 

55 

65 

47 

5i* 

46 

51* 

46 

69+ 

1891 . . 

4»» 

52 

5.1 

54* 

50 

52* 

5i! 

50* 

49* 

55* 

47+ 

53 

48* 

50 

49 

64t 

62} 

72* 

66 1 

71 

64I 

7°t 

69 

77* 

47* 

77* 

1892.. 

70} 

75! 

7.* 

76J 

73 

77S 

71 

75? 

65 

73 

63J 

67 

62* 

68* 

64i 

69 

61 

63! 

61 

64 

56 

6.1} 

53* 

S6* 

53) 

77+ 

189,.. 

53 

58 

47* 

56* 

43* 

49* 

46 

49 

36* 

42 

33 

.38* 

15 

34 

21  + 

29} 

26} 

34 

29 

32 

28) 

32 

Hi 

33* 

■5 

ss 

1894.. 

29 1 

13* 

32* 

38* 

37* 

39* 

33! 

35 

254 

31 

27* 

29* 

27} 

29 

26) 

3' 

29 

3" 

26 

28 

28} 

31 

23 

24 

21 

19* 

1895.- 

2°» 

23 

l6 

21! 

16 

20 

21! 

25 

25 

3° 

22 

325 

23* 

23* 

2r 

27 

20* 

26 

24i 

26} 

20  1 

23I 

20 

21* 

16 

32* 

1896 . . 

37 

4'! 

38 

41 

35* 

39 

33 

38 

27 

34* 

28 

28J 

27! 

Hi 

31 

14* 

31* 

38! 

33* 

16 

27 

41} 

1897.. 

33 

IS* 

33i 

35* 

27} 

34* 

27 

29* 

29J 

31 

Hi 

34* 

11* 

38 

37* 

43* 

4°4 

465 

15* 

42* 

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37 

35* 

19* 

27 

46* 

18 98.. 

37 

39* 

38 

4ll 

11+ 

39» 

29} 

34* 

13* 

36* 

35* 

37* 

33* 

36* 

35 

39* 

35 

38S 

31* 

15* 

31} 

37* 

35+ 

39* 

31* 

39* 

1896.. 

22} 

25 

21} 

24 

20  i 

21* 

'9 

21* 

17 

20* 

'3 

16 

17* 

.8} 

18 

19} 

20 

21} 

20 

20} 

■3 

25 

1897.. 

23 

21 

19} 

19} 

18 

19: 

17 

'7 

15+ 

15  + 

181 

20 

■9* 

20S 

205 

25S 

21} 

25) 

19! 

23J 

I8J 

20± 

■9 

20 1 

15) 

25* 

1898 . . 

i8i 

20} 

■8* 

21S 

16 

188 

■5* 

Id* 

16} 

19* 

'7 

19* 

■7* 

17* 

18* 

20 

.7; 

18* 

16* 

17* 

16 

■8* 

18 

20 

15+ 

21* 

The  original  preferred  stock  of  the  Erie  Railway  Company  was  $8,831,500,  and  was  the  result  of  the  reorganization  in  1861  (see  Chapter  XIII.).  From 
March,  1806.  the  above  figures  represent  the  quotations  of  the  first  and  second  preferred  stock,  the  three  last  rows  of  figures  being  the  quotations  of  the  second 
preferred.     These  two  classes  of  stock  were  the  result  of  the  reorganization  in  1895  (see  Chapter  XX.,  page  279). 

Where  there  are  blanks  in  the  columns  no  quotations  were  reported. 


FAMOUS    CHARACTERS    IN    ERIE. 


1854-1868. 

Daniel  Drew  was  born  at  Carmel,  Putnam  County,  N.Y., 
Julv  29,  1797,  the  son  of  a  poor  farmer.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  went  as  a  substitute  for  a  man  who  had  been  drafted 
in  the  array  for  the  War  of  181 2.     He  served  his  time  in  the 


D  VN1EL  DREW. 
army,  and  became  a  drover  when  he  returned  home.  Ke 
was  so  successful  that,  in  1S29,  he  established  himself  as  a 
wholesale  dealer  in  cattle  in  New  York,  with  headquarters  at 
the  old  Bull's  Head  Tavern,  which  stood  on  the  comer  of 
Twenty-ninth  Street  and  Third  Avenue.  His  transactions 
were  vast.  One  of  them  was  the  purchase  of  2,000  head  of 
cattle   in   Ohio  and   Kentucky,  uniting   them   in  one  great 


drove,  and  having  them  driven  to  New  York.  They  were 
the  first  cattle  ever  driven  eastward  across  the  Alleghany 
Mountains.  They  were  two  months  on  the  way.  Daniel 
Drew  soon  became  the  leading  cattle  dealer  in  the  country, 
and  the  large  sums  of  money  he  made  enabled  him  to  rapidly 
increase  them  by  acting  as  banker  for  other  drovers  who 
needed  capital.  In  1834  Daniel  Drew  became  interested  in 
steamboats  on  the  Hudson  River.  By  1836  he  had 
established  such  a  strong  opposition  to  the  old-estab- 
lished line  to  Albany,  that  the  old  company  was  com- 
pelled to  divide  its  business  with  him.  In  1839  he  estab- 
lished the  famous  People's  Line,  and  in  1S45  placed  on 
the  river  two  steamboats  that  were  in  that  day  looked 
upon  as  floating  palaces — the  "  Isaac  Newton  "  and  the 
"  New  World."  They  were  300  feet  long  and  had  500 
sleeping-berths.  Later  he  added  the  "Daniel  Drew,'' 
the  "  Dean  Richmond,"  and  the  "St.  John."  Commo- 
dore Yanderbilt,  in  1850,  joined  Mr.  Drew,  and  they 
purchased  the  Boston  and  Stonington  Railroad,  and  put 
the  steamboats  "Commodore"  and  "  C.  Yanderbilt" 
on  Long  Island  Sound,  to  run  in  connection  with  it 
from  New  York. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Daniel  Drew  began  to  be 
felt  as  a  power  in  Wall  Street,  which  he  had  entered  by 
establishing  a  brokerage  house  in  which  Nelson  Robin- 
son and  R.  W.  Kelley,  Drew's  son-in-law,  were  partners. 
He  subsequently  took  in  as  his  partner  E.  D.  Stanton, 
a  confidential  clerk  of  his,  but  retired  from  the  firm  a 
few  years  later,  after  which  all  his  transactions  were  con- 
ducted by  brokers.  In  1S54  Daniel  Drew  became 
prominently  interested  in  the  Erie  as  a  director.  He  was 
elected  treasurer.  He  and  Commodore  Yanderbilt 
worked  together  in  their  speculations  for  years.  In 
1857  Drew  resigned  as  treasurer  of  Erie,  but  continued 
a  power  in  its  affairs.  In  1S63  he  became  acquainted 
with  Tames  Fisk,  Jr.,  who  had  just  come  to  New  York 
from  Boston,  to  try  his  luck  in  Wall  Street.  Drew 
was  anxious  to  dispose  of  his  Stonington  line  of 
steamers,  and  Fisk  undertook  their  sale.  He  nego- 
tiated a  sale  that  was  so  favorable  to  Drew  that  the  latter 
became  Fisk's  backer  in  establishing  the  house  of  Fisk 
&  Belden,  brokers,  and  in  1867,  having  in  the  meantime  also 
become  impressed  with  the  capacity  of  Jay  Gould,  who  was 
also  doing  business  as  a  broker  in  Wall  Street.  Drew  made 
both  Fisk  and  Gould  members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Erie,  at  the  annual  election.  The  result  of  this  was  un- 
fortunate for  Daniel  Drew,  for  it  was  the  beginning  of  his 
decline  and  downfall  as  a  Wall  Street  dictator,  and  the  con- 


4SS 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


icnt  loss  of  the  great  f< »rtune  he  had  accumulated.  ("  Ad- 
ministration of  John  S.  Eldrid  .  pages  147-160;  "  Admin- 
]  !-.  I  iould,"  pages  161-167  ;  "Administration  o£ 
:   11.  Watson/'  pages  209-213.) 

1  (aniel  1  »re\v  retired  from  Wall  Street  in  March,  T875,  after 
heavy  losses.  It  was  believed,  however,  that  he  was  still 
many  times  a  millionaire,  hut  March  nth,  following,  he  filed 
an  application  in  involuntary  bankruptcy.  His  liabilities  were 
swum  at  £1,093, 524.82,  to  meet  which  he  had  assets  of  only 

,.,459.46,  so  that  the  once  king  of  Wall  Street,  and  flayer 
of  Vanderbilt  in  many  bouts,  was  nearly  §350,000  worse  off 
thin  nothing.  He  died  a  pensioner  on  his  family,  although 
he  had  never  given  up  the  thought  that  he  would  yet  repair 
his  lost  fortune  and  reestablish  his  name  among  financiers. 

Daniel  Drew  joined  the  Methodist  Church  early  in  life,  and 
was  conspicuous  for  his  outward  expressions  of  piety.  He 
erected  a  S2o,ooo  church  in  his  native  village,  and  gave  $50,- 
000  to  the  New  York  church  of  which  he  was  a  member.  He 
endowed  what  was  intended  to  be  a  great  theological  seminary 
at  Morristown,  N.  J.,  and  a  Wesleyan  University  at  Middle- 
town,  Conn.,  and  took  great  pride  in  them;  but  the  expecta- 
tions from  Mr.  Drew  were  in  notes,  in  one  case  for  $250,000, 
and  in  the  other  for  $100,000.  These  became  of  no  value 
after  his  failure.  Daniel  Drew  made  millions  out  of  his  specu- 
lations in  Erie  stock,  while  a  director  and  nominally  controller 
of  its  management,  and  many  of  the  subsequent  ills  of  Erie 
were  sequences  of  his  operations  and  plans. 

Daniel  Drew  was  buried  in  the  family  burying  ground  at 
Carmel,  Tuesday,  September  23,  1S79. 

1S67-1S72. 

James  Fisk,  Jr. — At  the  age  of  five  years,  James  Fisk,  Jr., 
who  was  born  among  the  hills  of  Vermont,  near  Brattleboro, 
was  placed  by  his  father  to  be  reared  by  a  neighboring 
farmer.  The  farmer  was  kind  and  sent  him  to  the  district 
school.  One  day  the  teacher  whipped  him  for  some  boyish 
prank.     The  farmer  thereupon  would  not  let  him  return  to 

tool,  he  was  so  indignant,  and  so  at  the  age  of  ten  the  boy 
could  scarcely  read  or  write.  There  is  much  of  vagueness 
about  the  records  of  Fisk's  early  life.  It  is  said  that  he 
pissed  some  years  of  it  as  an  attach^  of  Van  Amburgh's 
circus,  rising  from  "super"  to  ticket  seller.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  as  a  young  man  he  was  a  travelling  salesman, 
or  1  in  Idler,  making  the  rounds  of  New  England  and  Eastern 
New  York  towns  with  his  wagon,  and  doing  a  prosperous 
business.  The  Fishkill  Journal,  of  December  12,  1869, 
contains  this  item:  "The  old  registry  books  of  the  Union 
Hotel,  in  this  village,  contain  the  names  of  the  Erie  Railroad 
in  ignite.  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  and  his  father,  who,  while  engaged 
in  peddling  silks  and  other  fine  drygoods,  stopped  here  no 
longer  ago  than  in  1858.  Mr.  H.  F.  Walcott,  who  kept  the 
hotel,  remembers  well  the  advent  of  Fisk  into  the  place  with 
a  caravan  of  several  fine  wagons,  drawn  by  about  twenty 
horses.  Some  eight  or  ten  salesmen  were  included  in  this 
splendid  itinerant  mercantile  establishment.    They  staid  here 


several  days,  making  the  hotel  their  headquarters,  in  the 
meantime  sending  out  among  the  surrounding  villages  their 
wagons  and  salesmen,  like  raiding  or  foraging  parties  from  an 
encampment.  Everything  was  done  in  the  most  business-like 
manner,  the  salesmen  making  their  returns  regularly  at  the 
counting-room,  which  was  held  in  the  hotel." 

It  is  among  the  traditions  of  New  England  to-day  that  of 
all  the  peddlers  who  ever  perambulated  (hat  land  of  notions, 
this  particular  youth  was  the  most  brilliant,  the  wittiest  and 
most  humorous,  the  most  unscrupulous,  and  the  most  success- 
ful, and  that  it  was  his  fashion  to  astound  the  unsophisticated 
folk  of  that  division  of  the  country  by  the  splendor  of  his  four- 
in-hand,  the  lustre  of  his  bright  red  van,  and  the  beauty  of  the 
lady  who  accompanied  him,  seated  high  in  air,  upon  the  box 
of  his  magnificent  vehicle.  His  father  had  founded  the 
business  in  which  he  thus  won  his  first  laurels.  An  old  resi- 
dent of  Connecticut,  recalling  some  of  the  earlier  days  of 
Fisk's  career  as  a  peddler,  says  that  one  day  a  customer  took 
him  to  ado,  saying  that  Fisk  had  misrepresented  the  price  of 
certain  goods,  whereby  the  customer  had  paid  a  shilling  more 
than  was  right. 

"  What  !  "  said  Fisk.  "  Do  you  think  I  would  tell  a  lie  for 
a  shilling?  Ridiculous  !  I  might  tell  eight  lies  for  a  dollar, 
but  one  lie  for  a  shilling  !  Pooh  !  That  would  be  petty 
larceny  !  " 

About  the  time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  Fisk 
became  connected  with  the  large  drygoods  house  of  Jordan, 
Marsh  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  as  a  junior  partner.  Having  broader 
aspirations,  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  that  establishment 
and  went  to  New  York,  where  he  entered  Wall  Street.  The 
tradition  is  that  he  was  quickly  relieved  of  the  $50,000  or 
$60,000  with  which  he  began  his  career  as  a  financial  specu- 
lator, and  was  in  straits,  when,  in  1863,  he  fell  in  with  Daniel 
Drew.  Drew  had  an  unprofitable  line  of  steamboats  on  his 
hands — the  Stonington  line — and  wanted  to  get  rid  of  it 
without  too  much  of  a  sacrifice.  Fisk  found  a  purchaser, 
and  negotiated  the  sale  so  skillfully  that  Drew  was  more  than 
pleased.  He  became  Fisk's  backer,  established  him  as  the 
senior  partner  of  the  Wall  Street  firm  of  Fisk  &  Belden,  and 
in  1S67  brought  him,  with  Gould,  into  the  Erie  directory, 
and  the  career  of  Fisk  as  the  most  spectacular  and  audacious 
figure  in  the  public  life  of  the  time  began.  (Administrations 
of  John  S.  Eldridge  and  Jay  Gould.) 

When  Fisk  had  found  himself  "broke"  by  Wall  Street,  he 
had  declared,  "  Wall  Street  ruined  me  ;  Wall  Street  shall  pay 
for  it  !  "  As  head  of  the  house  of  Fisk  &  Belden  he  at 
once  set  to  work  to  keep  his  vow,  and  the  result  proved  that 
he  did  so  with  a  vengeance,  as  witness  the  gold  corner  of 
1869,  and  many  other  comers  from  which  he  managed  to 
escape,  if  not  entirely  unscathed,  yet  leaving  the  Street 
clamorous  with  the  cries  of  plucked  and  ruined  victims. 
When  the  Erie  management  lied  to  Jersey  City  in  March, 
1868,  Fisk  was  asked  how  he  thought  the  matter  would  end. 

"Can't  tell  just  yet,"  he  replied,  "but  it'll  either  be 
inside  of  marble  halls  in  New  York  or  stone  walls  in  Sing 
Sing." 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


489 


Knowing  the  value  of  notoriety  to  one  whose  public 
character  was  always  tinged  by  a  certain  degree  of  charlatan- 
ism, Fisk  did  much  to  keep  himself  in  the  public  eye. 
His  stout  figure,  his  attractive,  if  not  handsome,  face,  his 
elaborate  costume,  his  enormous  diamonds,  his  carefully 
waxed  moustaches,  his  high-stepping  horses,  his  coachmen  in 
glittering  livery,  his  showy  drags  and  dog-carts,  were  familiar 
sights  in  New  York  thirty  years  ago.  He  lavished  Erie's 
money  on  the  fitting  up  and  decoration  of  the  Grand  Opera 
House  in  New  York,  and  made  it  a  meritorious  place  of 
amusement.  Its  inner  history  can  never  be  written,  but 
many  were  the  strange  and  bizarre  scenes  enacted  within  the 
privacy  of  its  splendid  apartments.  No  drama  ever  repre- 
sented on  its  boards  approached  the  unspeakable  realities  of 
its  off-the-stage  life.  It  was  his  lavish  display  and  expendi- 
ture in  this  and  other  ways  that  gave  Fisk  the  title  of  Prince 
of  Erie.  Besides  managing  the  Opera  House,  Fisk  was  also 
the  manager,  at  the  time  he  was  one  of  Erie's  dictators,  of 
the  old  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  and  concerned  in  other  places 
of  amusement. 

Speculation  in  gold  was  then  one  of  the  diversions  of  Wall 
Street.  Gould  and  Fisk,  aided  by  Erie  funds,  and  abetted 
by  high  officers  of  the  Government,  so  planned  that  in 
September,  rS69,  gold — specie  payments  not  yet  having 
been  resumed  after  the  war — was  locked  up  to  such  an 
extent  bv  their  manoeuvres  that  the  price  of  it  ran  to  160  on 
September  24th. 

When  that  great  premium  was  reached,  men  were  crazed 
and  men  were  ruined.  That  day  has  passed  into  history  as 
Black  Friday.  While  many  were  ruined,  none  made  money 
from  the  bold  and  gigantic  scheme.  The  Government 
ordered  the  release  of  the  gold  in  its  treasury,  the  holding 
of  which  was  part  of  the  understanding  between  the  man- 
ipulators and  the  agents  of  the  Government  who  were  indi- 
rectly abetting  the  scheme.  But  the  awful  result  of  further 
holding  the  gold  appalled  them,  and  an  order  came  from 
Washington  to  open  the  treasury  vaults.  Thus  the  corner  in 
gold  was  broken,  and  the  tide  turned  against  Fisk  and  his 
associates.  All  Wall  Street  rushed  upon  them,  but  they 
escaped,  and  not  one  dollar  of  their  loans  was  ever  paid  by 
them.  This  was  accomplished  by  Fisk's  partner,  Broker 
Belden — through  whom  the  plans  had  been  engineered — 
denying,  in  all  suits  that  were  brought  to  compel  an  account- 
ing, that  there  had  been  any  such  transaction  authorized  by 
Fisk  or  Gould.  It  was  in  his  testimony  before  the  Congres- 
sional Committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  gold  corner 
that  Fisk  made  his  famous  reply  to  a  question,  a  reply  that 
became  the  catch  phrase  of  the  day,  and  is  still  a  pat  ex- 
pression on  occasion.  Fisk  was  asked  what  had  become  of 
all  the  money  that  was  involved  in  that  gigantic  transaction. 
"  It  has  gone,"  said  Fisk,  "  where  the  woodbine  twineth." 

There  never  was  another  just  such  character  as  James 
Fisk,  Jr.  He  had  no  moral  sense,  so  far  as  he  cared  for  the 
public  estimation  of  him.  Privately,  few  men  did  more  to  help 
the  cause  of  works  that  had  for  their  purpose  the  advancement 
of  morality.    He  posed  as  the  personification  of  social  uncon- 


ventionality.  He  maintained  a  shameless  wanton  in  luxuii- 
ousness,  and  boasted  of  it.  lie  habitually  exhibited  himself 
publicly  in  showy  and  vulgar  garb,  driven  aboul  in  goi 
equipages.  He  shocked  the  country  by  the  enormity  and 
number  of  his  transgressions  against  propriety.  He  hi 
gay  women  in  splendid  apartments,  furnished  and  decorated 
to  their  desire,  lie  was  known  as  the  one  great  prin 
all  that  went  to  make  of  life  an  incessant  round  of  ribald 
pleasure,  and  yet  he  himself  lived  in  two  small  second-story 
.  in  a  modest  and  ordinarily-furnished  house,  wherein 
he  maintained  his  aged  father  and  mother,  casting  aside  en- 
tirely the  mockery  and  hypocrisy  of  his  public  life  to  become 
the  loving,  doting,  considerate  son.  To  Daniel  Drew  he 
owed  the  circumstance  of  his  beginning  the  career  that 
made  him  powerful  and  famous.  Later,  when  one  word  of 
his  would  have  saved  Daniel  Drew  from  misery,  shame,  and 
loss,  he  refused  to  say  the  word,  although  Drew  begged  on 
his  knees  for  it.  A  man  to  whom  he  had  refused  to  give  a 
place  in  the  Company's  employ  -the  man  being  an  entire 
stranger  to  him — threatened  his  life,  and  annoyed  him  at 
every  opportunity.  The  man  died.  Fisk  sent  his  widow  ;l 
check  for  >2oo,  and  free  transportation  for  herself  and  three 
children  to  Chicago,  where  her  parents  lived.  Every  scheme 
that  was  planned  for  getting  money  out  of  Erie  in  the  years 
he  was  in  the  management  had  Fisk  in  it  as  an  ai  tive  fai  toi 
to  its  success,  and  he  had  the  handling  of  millions  of  the 
money.  Not  a  dollar  of  it  clung  to  his  estate,  and  he  left 
his  widow  poor  so  far  as  his  connection  with  Erie  went. 
When  the  unspeakable  catastrophe  of  fire  swept  Chicago  in 
1871,  and  left  hundreds  homeless,  penniless,  and  suffering 
for  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  was  the 
first  to  hasten  to  their  aid  by  dispatching  a  special  train,  laden 
with  needed  supplies,  to  speed  which  on  its  way  all  regular 
traffic  on  the  Erie  was  held  aside  until  this  great  messenger 
of  mercy  might  pass  on  its  flight  toward  its  destination.  He 
was  entirely  a  man  of  contraries.  He  knew  no  fear,  he 
stopped  at  no  obstacle;  he  defied  law,  he  scouted  public 
opinion.  The  more  he  was  adversely  criticised  the  bettei 
he  was  pleased.  He  lived  on  notoriety.  The  gorgeous  trap- 
pings of  a  colonel  of  militia  swelled  him  as  with  the  pride  of 
a  conquering  hero,  and  radiant  in  his  uniform  as  '•admiral" 
of  a  line  of  local  steamboats,  he  seemed  to  feel  that  Farragut 
in  the  smoke  of  battle  was  an  insignificant  figure  compared 
with  him.  His  intrigues  he  delighted  in  having  made  public 
in  minutest  detail.  The  fact  that  half  a  score  or  more  of 
needy  families,  and  hosts  of  unfortunate  men  and  women, 
were  pensioners  on  his  unstinted  bounty,  he  would  hai 
his  hind  off  rather  than  to  have  made  known.  He  was 
the  idol  of  the  Company's  employees,  particularly  along  the 
line  of  the  railroad,  yet  he  did  not  hesitate,  one  time  during 
a  strike  of  brakemen,  to  dispatch  to  the  scene  a  gang  of 
New  York  toughs,  led  by  "Tommy"  Lynch,  with  ordi 
shoot  down  any  striker  who  offered  any  resistance  to  the 
gang — an  order  that  filled  the  men  with  utmost  indignation. 
On  the  heeJs  of  it  came  Fisk  himself,  and  his  very  appeal 
ance  was  greeted  with  shouts  and  heart]  and  expres- 


49Q 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


sions  of  delight  from  the  very  men  he  had  ordered  shot — 
such  was  the  magnetism,  the  personal  power,  of  this  inex- 
plicable man.  He  so  dominated  Erie  affairs  in  the  public 
mind   that  his  name  invariably  was  mentioned   first  in   the 

i .I dilation.  It  was  always  "  Fisk  and  Gould,"  never 
"Gould  and  Fisk."  Yet  Fisk  was  not  the  planner.  He 
was  but  the  executor  of  the  plans,  anil  the  work  laid  out  for 
him  to  do  he  did  without  fear,  favor,  or  affection. 

Fisk  was  murdered,  premeditatedly  and  deliberately,  and 
in  a  cowardly  manner.  When  Frank  Lawler,  of  California, 
divorced  his  wife  Josephine  for  cause,  she  took  up  her  resi- 
dence at  New  York,  where  she  became  known  as  Josie 
Mansfield.  Having  failed  as  an  actress,  she,  at  her  own 
solicitation,  was  introduced  to  Fisk.  He  became  her  "  pro- 
tector." He  fitted  up  for  her  in  most  luxurious  style  one  of 
his  houses  in  West  Twenty-third  Street,  and  installed  her 
there.  He  gave  her  points  and  information  on  which  she 
made  money  in  Wall  Street.  She  became  deep  in  the 
secrets  of  Erie,  and  her  house  was  the  place  where  the  de- 
tails of  more  than  one  Erie  scheme  were  planned.  Then 
the  Mansfield  met  Edward  S.  Stokes,  a  young,  handsome, 
socially-superior  man,  and  married.  The  woman  broke  with 
Fisk.  This  was  not  the  direct  cause  of  the  tragedy  that 
followed,  but  it  was  an  impelling  cause  toward  it. 

Stokes's  mother  owned  an  extensive  oil  refinery  on  Long 
Island.  It  was  managed  and  controlled  by  the  son.  At  the 
suggestion  of  Fisk,  a  stock  company  was  formed,  and  he  and 
friends  of  his  became  financially  interested  in  it.  Stokes  was 
made  secretary  of  the  company.  One  day  he  withdrew 
$250,000  from  the  treasury,  and  announced  that  he  intended 
to  retain  it,  because  "  the  treasurer  had  done  the  same." 
Stokes  was  arrested  at  the  suit  of  the  company,  and  lodged 
in  jail  on  a  charge  of  embezzlement.  He  was  discharged  at 
the  hearing  next  day  by  Justice  Dowling,  who  decided  that 
the  oil  company  was  not  legally  organized,  and  was  simply 
a  common  partnership,  from  which  any  member  of  it  had  a 
right  to  draw  funds.  Stokes  sued  Fisk  to  recover  damages 
on  a  charge  of  malicious  prosecution,  but  the  matter  was 
compromised  by  Fisk  buying  out  the  Stokes  interest  in  the 
refinery.  In  all  the  proceedings  in  court  the  Mansfield 
woman  was  a  witness  against  Fisk,  her  testimony  tending  to 
show  that  Fisk  had  planned  the  ruin  of  Stokes.  The  trouble 
over  the  refinery  transaction  was  revived  again  by  Stokes 
renewing  his  suit  against  Fisk  for  malicious  prosecution, 
claiming  that  it  had  not  been  satisfactorily  settled.  This, 
and  all  other  matters  in  dispute  between  Fisk  and  Stokes, 
were  referred  to  Clarence  A.  Seward.  He  decided  that 
Stokes  had  no  claim  on  Fisk  except  in  the  matter  of  the 
imprisonment  of  Stokes  in  the  embezzlement  proceedings, 
and  for  that  Referee  Seward  awarded  Stokes  $10,000.  He 
took  the  money,  and  signed  a  release.  He  subsequently 
brought  suit  to  reopen  the  matter  and  to  have  the  release  set 
aside,  on  the  ground  of  fraud  on  the  part  of  Fisk.  In  this 
suit  strenuous  efforts  were  made  by  Stokes  to  have  letters 
and  telegrams  from  Fisk  to  Josie  Mansfield  introduced  as 
evidence.     These  letters  were  of  a  nature  that  would  have 


compromised  many  people  and  revealed  important  Erie 
secrets,  besides  making  public  many  of  Fisk's  personal 
affairs  that  he  did  not  care  to  have  paraded.  The  letters 
were  not  admitted,  and  the  suit  was  decided  against  Stokes. 
While  these  proceedings  were  pending,  Fisk  had  Stokes 
arrested  on  a  charge  of  blackmail. 

The  decision  adverse  to  Stokes  in  his  case  against  Fisk  was 
rendered  on  Saturday,  January  6,  1872.  After  the  proceed- 
ings in  the  case  terminated,  a  number  of  the  lawyers  con- 
cerned in  it  went  to  Delmonico's,  then  on  the  northwest  corner 
of  Broadway  and  Chambers  Street.  Stokes  also  went  there 
to  lunch,  and  joined  them.  While  they  were  eating,  Judge 
Barnard  came  in.  During  a  conversation  that  ensued,  involv- 
ing matters  concerned  in  the  Fisk-Stokes  litigation,  Judge 
Barnard  remarked  that  the  Grand  Jury  had  found  an  indict- 
ment against  Stokes  on  Fisk's  charge  of  blackmail.  Without 
a  word  Stokes  rose  hurriedly  and  left  the  restaurant.  Later 
in  the  afternoon  he  was  seen  at  the  Grand  Central  Hotel  by 
acquaintances,  lounging  about  and  chatting.  Fisk  had  an 
engagement  at  that  hotel  that  afternoon,  and  he  drove  up 
about  a  quarter  past  four  o'clock.  He  went  in  at  the  ladies' 
entrance,  and  was  on  his  way  upstairs,  when  he  was  con- 
fronted by  Stokes,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  stairs.  Stokes 
drew  a  revolver  and  fired  twice  at  Fisk.  The  first  shot 
missed.  The  second  bullet  entered  Fisk's  abdomen.  Fisk 
retreated  down-stairs,  but  turned  again,  when  Stokes  fired  a 
third  time,  this  bullet  striking  Fisk  in  the  arm.  Fisk  fell. 
The  reports  of  the  pistol  had  collected  a  crowd,  which  rushed 
on  the  scene  from  different  parts  of  the  hotel,  and  Fisk 
was  carried  upstairs  and  placed  in  a  private  reception-room, 
No.  251.  Dr.  Fisher,  the  house  physician,  was  called,  and 
messengers  were  dispatched  for  a  number  of  eminent 
doctors. 

Stokes,  meantime,  had  gone  through  to  the  main  stairs  of 
the  hotel  and  down  to  the  office.  His  revolver  was  found 
under  a  sofa  in  the  parlor.  At  the  office  he  announced  that 
he  had  shot  a  man  who  had  insulted  him,  and  advised  that 
a  doctor  be  sent  for.  He  made  no  move  to  get  away.  The 
police  were  notified,  and  Captain  Byrnes — afterward  the 
famous  Superintendent  Byrnes — accompanied  by  Officer  Mc- 
Cadden,  took  Stokes  into  custody.  He  w-as  taken  up-stairs, 
where  Fisk  identified  him  as  the  man  who  shot  him. 

Coroner  Young  was  notified,  and  he  impanelled  a  jury  to 
take  Fisk's  ante-mortem  statement,  which  Fisk  signed  with 
a  firm  hand. 

When  asked  by  the  Coroner  the  formal  question  :  "  Do 
you  believe  you  are  about  to  die?"  he  replied  :  "  I  believe 
I  am  in  a  critical  condition."  In  reply  to  the  question, 
"  Have  you  any  hope  of  recovery?"  he  replied:  "I  hope 
so." 

It  was  curiously  characteristic  of  the  man  that  his  sanguine 
disposition  to  never  believe  himself  beaten,  whether  by  human 
law  or  the  law  of  nature,  should  have  led  him,  by  making 
those  reservations  as  to  the  expectation  of  his  immediate 
death,  totally  to  invalidate  his  ante-mortem  statement  as 
evidence  against  his  assassin. 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


49; 


Mrs.  Fisk  arrived  from  Boston  at  7.30  Sunday  morning, 
January  7  th.  Her  husband  was  then  unconscious,  and  died  at 
a  quarter  of  n,  without  having  recognized  his  wife,  whose 
grief  was  overwhelming.  The  murdered  Prince  of  Erie  died 
without  a  groan  or  a  murmur. 

Fisk's  body  was  taken  from  the  Grand  Central  Hotel  on 
Monday,  January  8th,  to  his  residence,  313  West  Twenty- 
third  Street,  and  from  there  to  the  Grand  Opera  House, 
where  it  lay  in  state,  from  1 1  o'clock.  Hours  before  the 
opening  of  the  Opera  House,  thousands  of  people  had 
congregated  in  Twenty-third  Street,  and  up  and  down 
Eighth  Avenue  for  blocks,  putting  a  stop  to  all  traffic  in 
that  part  of  the  city.  The  body  was  in  a  casket  covered 
with  black  velvet,  and  was  dressed  in  the  full  uniform 
of  colonel  of  the  Ninth  Regiment,  which  Fisk  had  long 
commanded.  The  remains  were  reviewed  by  ten  thou- 
sand people  between  n  o'clock  a.m.  and  1.45  p.m., 
at  which  time  the  coffin  was  closed  and  carried  out. 
The  pallbearers  were  :  Col.  Emmons  Clark  of  the  Sev- 
enth Regiment;  Col.  Scott  of  the  Eighth  Regiment; 
Col.  Allen  of  the  Fifty-fifth  Regiment ;  Col.  Storey  of 
the  Sixth  Regiment ;  Col.  Porter  of  the  Twenty-second 
Regiment ;  and  Lieut.-Col.  Webster  of  the  First  Regi- 
ment. The  Xinth  Regiment  and  a  band  of  200  pieces 
escorted  the  remains  to  the  Grand  Central  Depot, 
whence  a  special  train  was  to  convey  the  remains  to 
Brattleboro.  The  magnificent  black  horse  Fisk  was 
wont  to  ride  at  the  head  of  the  regiment  was  led  rider- 
less behind  the  hearse.  The  streets  all  along  the  route 
were  crowded  with  people  gathered  to  witness  this  last 
appearance  of  the  Prince  of  Erie  in  a  New  York 
thoroughfare. 

The  engine  of  the  special  train  was  draped  in  black 
and  white  cloth.  The  officers  and  Directors  of  the 
Erie  and  of  the  Narragansett  Steamship  Company, 
and  many  friends  of  the  deceased,  accompanied  the 
remains  to  Brattleboro,  where  they  were  buried  in  the 
■cemetery. 

The  citizens  of  Brattleboro  erected  a  striking  monu- 
ment over  the  grave  of  Fisk.  It  is  of  Italian  marble, 
and  was  carved  at  Florence,  Italy,  at  a  cost  of  §25,000. 
About  the  base  of  the  shaft  are  four  figures  of  women. 
One,  with  a  steam  engine  carved  on  the  chaplet  around 
her  brow,  represents  the  Erie  Railway ;  another  is  Com- 
merce, a  symbol  for  the  Fall  River  line  of  steamboats;  a  third 
is  the  Muse  of  Music,  emblematic  of  the  Grand  Opera  House, 
and  the  fourth  is  typical  of  Commerce  in  its  broadest  sense. 
The  sculptor  of  the  monument  was  Larkin  Mead,  whose  statue 
of  "  Ethan  Allen  "  is  at  Montpelier.  Relic  hunters  have  sub- 
jected the  Fisk  monument  to  much  mutilation. 

A  few  years  before  Colonel  Fisk's  death  an  effort  was  made 
by  residents  of  Brattleboro  to  build  a  fence  around  the  ceme- 
tery in  which  his  monument  now  stands,  and  a  committee  was 
sent  to  New  York  to  solicit  funds  from  former  Brattleboro 
boys.  Among  those  called  upon  was  Colonel  Fisk,  and  to 
.the  committee's  solicitation  he  replied  : 


"  Yes,  I  will  give  something ;  but  I  do  not  see  any  need  of 
a  fence  around  the  cemetery.  The  fellows  who  are  in  cannot 
get  out,  and  those  who  are  out  do  not  want  to  get  in." 

The  members  of  the  coroner's  jury  that  held  the  inquest 
on  the  death  of  Fisk  were  ex-Mayor  George  Opdyke,  M.  1). 
Field,  A.  V.  Stout,  Henry  (  Hews,  Alexander  McKenzie,  Will- 
iam M.  Bliss,  James  R.  Edwards,  Lowell  Lincoln,  John  J. 
Gorman,  William  H.  L »  k,  1  >avid  Dows,  Jesse  Hoyt.  January 
9th   they  returned  a  verdict  charging  Stokes  with  deliberate 


JAMES    FISK,    JR. 

murder.  Stokes  was  represented  at  the  inquest  by  the  famous 
criminal  lawyers,  John  Graham  and  John  McKeon,  and  by 
Willard  Bartlett.  Ex-Judges  William  A.  Beach  and  William 
Fullerton  appeared  for  the  people. 

The  family  of  Stokes  was  influential  and  wealthy,  and 
nothing  was  left  undone  to  save  him.  He  was  tried  for  the 
murder  of  Fisk  in  July,  1S72,  and  the  jury  disagreed,  July 
15th.  He  was  retried,  and  January,  1873,  was  convicted  of 
murder  in  the  first  degree,  and  sentenced,  January  6th,  by 
Tudge  Boardman,  to  be  hanged  February  28th.  A  new  trial 
was  obtained,  and  it  resulted  in  a  verdict  of  manslaughter  in 
the  third  degree,  October  29,  1873.  Stokes  was  sentenced 
to  four  years  in   Sing  Sing  prison,  and  served  his  time.     In- 


492 


BETWEEN     THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


fluence  and  money  had  won.  White-haired,  bul  still  youthful- 
looking,  Stokes  lias  prospered  in  later  years,  and  "walks  the 
streets  of  New  York,  wealthy,  but  a  social  nondescript." 
The  woman  he  made  a  widow  is  passing  her  declining  years 
in  a  humble  home  in  Xew  England,  virtually  penniless.  Josie 
Mansfield  has  been  but  little  in  evidence  since  the  wretched 
fate  of  Fisk,  and  has  made  her  home  abroad,  chiefly  in 
Paris. 

Samuel  Latham  Mitchell  Barlow,  who  was  the 
dominant  figure  in  the  Watson  administration,  and  in  the 
measures  that  led  to  the  entanglement  of  the  Company  with 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  difficulties  in  1872,  was  born 
at  Granville,  Mass.,  June  5,  1826,  the  son  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Bancroft  Barlow,  physician.  Young  Barlow  began  the  study 
of  the  law  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  at  twenty-three  was  so 
proficient  that  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  settlement  of 
claims   resulting  from   the  Mexican  War,   in  one  of  which 


cases  he  received  a  fee,  or  commission,  of  $25,000  for  half 
an  hour's  work.  In  1852  he  became  a  member  of  a  law- 
firm  that  gained  celebrity  under  the  name  of  Bowdoin, 
I.arocque  and  Barlow,  and,  on  the  death  of  his  two  partners, 
formed  the  partnership  that  became  still  more  famous  as 
that  of  Shipman,  Barlow,  Larocque  (Joseph)  and  Mac  Far- 
land,  which  conducted  some  of  the  most  important  and 
costly  of  the  Erie  litigation  from  1872  to  1884.  Mr.  Barlow 
controlled  the  policy  of  the  New  York  II  'orlii  from  1864  to 
1869.  His  fine  residence  at  Glen  Cove,  L.  I.,  was  a  gift  to 
him  from  James  McHenry,  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
magnate.  Mr.  Barlow  died  at  Glen  Cove  July  10,  18S9. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Manhattan  Club,  and  a 
member  of  the  Union  Club,  New  York.  ("  Administration  of 
Jay  Gould,"  pages  190-199;  "Administration  of  John  A. 
Dix,"  pages  201-214;  "Administration  of  Peter  H. 
Watson,"  pages  212,220,  223,  225,  226;  "Administration 
of  Hugh  J.  Jewett,"  pages  237,  240,  242,  248.) 


ERIE    GRADUATES    OF     NOTE. 


Hugh  Riddle. — As  a  rodman  with  the  Erie  engineer 
corps  of  1846  was  the  youth,  Hugh  Riddle.  He  remained  in 
the  corps  in  various  capacities  until  the  railroad  was  com- 
pleted to  Dunkirk  in  185  1.  In  that  year  he  left  the  Erie 
service  for  a  time  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  Buffalo 
and  State  Line  Railroad,  and  later  of  the  Canandaigua  and 


HUGH    RIDDLE. 

Niagara  Falls  Railroad.  In  1S53  he  returned  to  the  service 
of  Erie,  and  had  advanced  so  in  the  science  of  railroading 
that  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  track  over  the  line,  with  head- 
quarters at  Binghamton.  Two  years  later  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  Delaware  Division,  being  the  second 
person  to  fill  the  place,  his  predecessor  being  William  H. 
Power.  In  1 85  7,  the  railroad  having  been  separated  into 
two  divisions,  Mr.  Riddle's  authority  was  extended  to  the 
Eastern   Division  also,  Homer   Ramsdell,  president  of   the 


Company,  acting  as  general  superintendent.  In  1859,  the 
old  four-division  system  was  reestablished,  and  Mr.  Riddle 
was  continued  as  superintendent  of  the  Delaware  Division, 
which  place  he  held  until  January,  1865,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed general  superintendent.  In  1869  he  resigned,  his 
resignation  going  into  effect  May  1  1. 

The  following  November  Mr.  Riddle  was  offered  and  ac- 
cepted the  general  superintendency  of  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  and  Pacific  Railroad,  with  headquarters  at  Chicago. 
His  services  in  that  great  company  were  such  that  in  the  fall 
of  r 87 1  he  was  elected  vice-president,  still  retaining  his  office 
of  general  superintendent.  He  continued  to  fill  those  places 
with  such  benefit  to  the  road  and  the  company  that  in  Jan- 
uary, 1878,  he  was  elevated  to  the  ottit  e  of  president.  Mr. 
Riddle  had  already  become  a  power  among  the  great  railroad 
managers  of  the  country,  and  the  position  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  and  Pacific  occupies  as  a  far-reaching  and  potent 
system  to-day  is  due  to  the  bold,  firm,  and  wise  medio  ■•> 
Hugh  Riddle  as  head  of  the  corporation.  The  railroad  his- 
tory of  the  time  will  bear  ample  testimony  to  this  fa<  t.  Mr. 
Riddle  continued  as  president  of  the  company  until  1 
when  he  declined  a  reelection.  He  remained,  however,  as 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  board  of  di- 
rectors, and  held  that  responsible  post  until  his  death  in  1892. 
He  was  seventy  years  old. 

Such  a  man  as  Hugh  Riddle  needs  no  words  of  fulsome 
praise  or  flattery  to  emphasize  what  he  was.  Beginning  in 
one  of  the  humblest  places  in  railroad  life,  he  rose  rapidly, 
by  his  own  exertion  and  merit  alone,  until  he  filled  with  supe- 
rior ability  the  highest  office  that  railroad  service  can  offer. 
He  died  honored  and  full  of  honors. 

John  N.  Abbott.  —  Mr.  Abbott,  as  boy  and  man,  was  for 
over  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  the  service  of  the  Erie,  lb- 
was  born  in  New  York  City  in  1845.  He  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  that  city,  graduating  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 
A  year  later,  in  1861,  lie  became  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  Gen- 
eral Superintendent  Minot.  Within  one  year  he  rose 
the  lowest  clerkship  in  that  office  to  be  acting  chief  clerk, 
and  other  railway  companies  had  already  noticed  his  ability 
and  were  bidding  for  his  services.  In  1865  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  passenger  department  as  chief  clerk.  In  1  no.j 
he  was  appointed  assistant  general  passengei  agent.  He  held 
this  place  during  the  stormy  times  of  the  Gould  and  Fisk 
r/gime,  and  so  sati  1  u  tor)  did  his  p    it  ppeal  to  the 

management  of  Erie  which  succeeded  the  Could  control  that, 
while  most  of  those  prominent  in  all  branches  of  the  Com- 
pany's employ  were   replaced  by  new  men.  Mr.  Abbott   was 


494 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  new  directory  appointed  general 
passenger  agent,  succeeding  William  R.  Barr. 

Mr.  Abbott  soon  took  front  rank  among  the  passenger 
managers  of  the  country,  and  was,  by  common  consent, 
acknowledged  to  be  a  master  in  the  handling  of  that  branch 
of  railroad  traffic.  He  was,  in  fact,  the  first  actual  passen- 
ger traffic  manager  in  the  United  States.  He  served  through 
Gen.  Dix's  administration,  through  the  exciting  years  of  the 
Watson  management,  continuing  at  the  head  of  his  depart- 
ment under  the  Jewett  administration,  and  until  1886  under 


JOHN   N.    ABBOTT. 

President  John  King,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  chair- 
manship of  the  Western  Passenger  Association.  He  assumed 
that  responsible  post  at  the  unanimous  request  of  the  lead- 
ing railroad  magnates  of  the  West  and  Southwest,  and  held  it 
until  the  association  was  abolished.  Mr.  Abbott  then  became 
assistant  to  the  president  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway 
system,  which  office  he  resigned  in  1891  to  engage  in  private 
business  enterprises. 

The  story  of  the  passenger  traffic  of  the  Erie,  during  John 
N.  Abbott's  incumbency  as  head  of  the  department,  may  truly 
be  said  to  be  the  story  of  the  passenger  traffic  development 
of  the  country,  so  original  and   practical  were  his  ideas,  and 


so  promptly  were  they  applied  to  the  advancement  of  the  in- 
terests of  that  traffic.  Mr.  Abbott  had  for  years  advocated 
the  importance  of  devoting  more  attention  to  the  develop- 
ment of  local  traffic  on  the  Erie  than  any  management  of 
the  Company  had  ever  given  it,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  that  policy  adopted  two  years  before  he  left  the  Erie. 
Mr.  Abbott  achieved  an  enviable  reputation  while  general 
passenger  agent  by  his  loyalty  to  the  interests  of  the  port  of 
New  York,  and  distinguished  himself  many  times  in  protect- 
ing these  interests  when  questions  had  arisen  tending  to  sub- 
vert them.  The  immigrant-carrying  business  from  this  port  to 
the  West  was  brought  to  excellent  proficiency,  in  the  way  of 
safeguards  and  other  protections  for  immigrants  on  arrival, 
chiefly  through  his  interest  in  their  behalf,  and  the  Erie  held 
for  several  years  almost  the  entire  control  of  that  great  traffic. 
In  1869  Mr.  Abbott  married  Miss  Violet  Gardner,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Hugh  Gardner,  who  was  Police  Commissioner 
of  New  York  City.  Two  children,  John  Jay,  and  Gardner, 
both  grown  to  manhood  and  engaged  prosperously  in  busi- 
ness, were  the  fruit  of  this  marriage.  In  18S6  Mr.  Abbott 
was  president  of  the  General  Passenger  and  Ticket  Agent's 
Association  of  the  United  States,  and  was  for  twelve  years  an 
inspector  of  public  schools  in  New  York. 

Benjamin  Thomas. — Benjamin  Thomas  was  born  at 
Towanda,  Bradford  County,  Pa.,  October  28,  1841.  His 
father,  whose  ancestors  came  from  Wales,  was  born  in  Coop- 
erstown,  N.  Y.,  in  1810,  and  died  in  1884  at  Waverly,  N.  Y. 
His  mother,  whose  ancestors  were  from  the  north  of  Ireland, 
were  born  at  Shoreham,  Yt.,  in  1804,  and  died  in  1873,  at 
Newark,  N.  J.  His  parents  removed  from  Towanda  to  New- 
ark, N.  J.,  about  the  year  1854,  his  father  being  a  hat  manu- 
facturer. 

Young  Thomas  attended  school  at  Towanda  until  he  was 
thirteen  years  of  age,  and  later  attended  public  school  at 
Newark.  While  attending  night  school  at  Newark  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  American  Printing  Telegraph  Company. 
Shortly  after  he  had  become  a  telegraph  operator,  the  Com- 
pany was  absorbed  by  the  Morse  Magnetic  Telegraph  Com- 
pany (now  the  Western  Union),  and  the  American  printing 
instruments  were  abandoned.  Thus  he  had  to  learn  the  new 
system,  which  he  mastered  in  a  short  time.  He  then  became 
a  pupil  at  the  Lyceum  at  Jersey  City.  He  paid  for  his  tui- 
tion and  board  by  teaching.  He  prepared  himself  for  higher 
education  so  well  that  he  was  able  to  enter  Brown  College  at 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  as  a  sophomore,  but  he  was  unable  to 
enter  for  the  college  course  because  the  expense  was  more 
than  his  meagre  resources  would  warrant.  While  preparing 
himself  for  college  at  the  Lyceum,  he  became  a  good  Latin 
scholar  and  mathematician,  and  he  was  a  teacher  of  those 
branches  successfully  for  a  long  time.  So  fond  was  he  of 
them  that  his  study  of  them  has  never  been  entirely  discon- 
tinued, and  to-day,  in  the  fulness  of  his  material  success  and 
prosperity,  one  of  his  principal  recreations  is  the  reading  of 
the  masterpieces  of  French  and  Latin  literature. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  Lyceum,  Mr.  Thomas  went  to  Port 


! 


496 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


as  flagman  his  work  attracted   the  attention  of  his  superiors, 

and  in  a  year's  lime  he  was  appointed  a  conductor,  in  which 

m  he  continued  to  serve,  both  on  freight  and  passenger 

trains,  until   1873.     In   that  year,   so  faithful  had  been  his 

e   as  conductor,  he   wis   promoted   to  the   position  of 

tcher  on   the  Delaware  Division  of  the   Erie,  and  he 

continued  as  special,  and   afterwards   as  chief,   despatcher 

until    1877,   when   he   was   made   the   superintendent  of  the 

Delaware    Division.     Here   he    remained  a   little    over  two 

years,  when   he  was  sent  as  superintendent   to   the   Buffalo 


Division  of  the  Erie,  a  much  more  important  division.  For 
two  years  lie  managed  this  division  with  signal  ability  and 
marked  success.  Then  1  ontinuing  t<>  advance  steadily  in  his 
ion,  he  went  to  the  Western  Division  of  the  Rome, 
town  ani'  Ogdensburg  Railroad  as  superintendent, 
where  he  remained  but  a  few  months,  as  he  was  offered,  by 
the  railroads  centring  at  Buffalo,  the  managership  of  their 
Car  Service  Association,  just  then  organized.  Mr.  Van 
Etten  I   manager  of  this  service  two   years,  when  he 

was   oii       rj    tlie   position   of  superintendent  of   the    western 


end  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad.  So  signally  did  he  meet 
all  the  requirements  of  this  position  that  lie  was  soon  offered 
the  superintendency  of  the  Rome,  Watertown  and  Ogdens- 
burg Railroad.  Owing  to  the  marked  ability  which  he  dis- 
played in  this,  Mr.  Van  Etten  was,  in  February,  1893, 
appointed  general  superintendent  of  the  wealthiest  railroad 
on  the  American  continent — the  New  Vork  Central  and 
Hudson  River,  an  exalted  position  which  he  still  holds. 

Frank  S.  Gannon. — Mr.  Gannon,  Third  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  General  Manager  of  the  Southern  Railway 
Company,  began  in  a  most  humble  place  with  the 
Erie,  entering  its  service  thirty  years  ago.  He  be- 
came a  telegraph  operator,  and  in  1S71,  when  he 
left  the  Company's  employ,  he  was  operator  at  Co- 
checton,  on  the  Delaware  Division.  After  leaving 
the  Erie,  Mr.  Gannon  went  with  the  New  Jersey 
Midland  Railroad  Company,  now  the  New  Vork, 
Susquehanna  and  Western,  where  he  remained  five, 
years  as  clerk  in  the  president's  office,  terminal  agent,- 
superintendent's  clerk,  and  train  despatcher,  succes-- 
sively.  He  then  entered  the  service  of  the  Long 
Island  Railroad  Company  as  train  despatcher,  and 
was  promoted  to  the  position  of  master  of  trans- 
portation. He  left  that  company  in  January,  iSS'i, 
to  become  supervisor  of  trains  on  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad.  He  remained  with  that  company 
until  April,  1 88 1,  when  he  was  appointed  general 
superintendent  of  the  New  Vork  City  and  Northern 
Railroad.  In  1086  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  acquired 
control  of  the  Staten  Island  Rapid  Transit  Company, 
and  Mr.  Gannon's  successful  management  of  the 
Northern  road  having  established  his  reputation  for 
skill  and  wise  judgment  in  railroad  matters,  he  was 
offered  the  place  of  general  superintendent  of  the 
Rapid  Transit  Company,  and  he  accepted  it.  This 
busy  system  obtained  more  than  local  fame,  for  it 
was  the  link  by  which  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  sys- 
tem was  "to  be  brought  into  close  touch  with  New 
York  City.  In  the  discussion  of  the  interests  of  the 
company  in  and  around  New  Vork,  Mr.  Gannon 
came  into  contact  with  leading  railroad  minds  of 
the  country,  and  his  ideas  and  opinions  on  railroad 
management  impressed  them  with  his  ability  and 
originality.  Lie  was  general  superintendent  of  the 
Rapid  Transit  Company  (in  the  meantime  having 
been  elected  president  of  the  Staten  Island  Railway 
Company  also)  from  August,  1886,  until  November,  1894, 
when  he  was  made  general  manager.  He  was  also  appointed 
general  superintendent  of  the  New  York  Division  of  the  Bal- 
timore and  Ohio  in  188S.  He  was  now  recognized  in  the 
railroad  world  as  one  of  the  ablest  of  managers,  which  fact 
was  demonstrated  January  1,  1897,  when  he  was  appointed 
third  vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the  great  South- 
ern Railway  system. 

In  their  younger  days  Mr.  Gannon  and  Mr.  Samuel    Spen- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


49; 


cer  were  together  on  the  Long  Is'and  Road,  and  they  are 
to-day  cooperating  in  building  up  and  harmonizing  the  South- 
ern Road  and  the  various  industries  along  its  lines. 

Frank  S.  Gannon  was  born  at  Spring  Valley,  Rockland 
County,  N..Y.,  September  16,  1851.  His  education  was  ob- 
tained in  the  country  schools  and  in  the  school  of  experi- 
ence. He  was  married  at  Jersey  City,  September  24,  1874, 
to  Miss  Marietta  Burrows,  of  that  city.  His  family  con- 
sists of  seven  sons  and  one  daughter  :  J.  Walter,  Frank 
S.,  Jr.,  Anna  B.,  James  B.,  Greg.  F.,  Edward  E.,  T.  Albert, 
and  Robert. 

William  J.  Murphy. — Mr.  Murphy  began  with  the 
Erie  as  telegraph  messenger  at  Susquehanna,  Pa.,  in 
April,  1S62,  when  he  was  fourteen,  and  he  was  in  the 
continuous  service  of  the  Erie  until  March,  1890,  twenty- 
eight  years.  During  that  time  he  rose  to  the  highest  office 
in  the  operating  department,  that  of  general  superin- 
tendent. In  1864,  young  Murphy  was  appointed  tele- 
graph operator  and  ticket  clerk  at  Deposit,  N.  Y.  Dur- 
ing 1865  he  was  consecutively  train  flagman,  station 
agent,  and  yardmaster  at  Deposit.  In  1866  he  was 
placed  in  the  train  despatcher's  office  at  Port  Jervis  as 
operator,  and  continued  as  such  until  1870,  when  he  was 
promoted  to  be  train  despatcher  of  the  Delaware  Division, 
and  in  1S72  to  be  chief  train  despatcher  and  division 
operator  of  that  division.  He  performed  the  duties  of 
those  responsible  places  ten  years,  when  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  Delaware  Division,  August  22, 
1882.  In  November,  1884,  Superintendent  Murphy  was 
transferred  to  the  still  more  responsible  post  of  super- 
intendent of  the  Buffalo  and  Rochester  divisions,  with 
headquarters  at  Buffalo.  Three  years  later,  August  22, 
1887,  he  was  made  general  superintendent  of  the  Erie 
system.  Mr.  Murphy  was  at  the  head  of  the  Erie  oper- 
ative department  until  March  26,  1890,  when  he  resigned, 
broken  in  health.  He  travelled  a  year  abroad  and  at 
home  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  which  being  restored, 
he  accepted,  March,  1891,  the  superintendence-  of  the 
Brunswick  Division  of  the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  and 
Georgia  Railroad,  with  headquarters  at  Macon,  Ga., 
where  he  remained  two  years,  when  he  resigned  to  take 
the  office  of  superintendent  of  the  Cincinnati  Division  of 
the  New  Orleans  and  Texas  Pacific  Railway  (the  Queen 
and  Crescent  Route),  with  headquarters  at  Lexington, 
K\ ..  which  office  he  continues  to  hold. 

In  May,  1898,  during  the  war  with  Spain,  as  recogni- 
tion of  Superintendent  Murphy's  efforts  by  which  the  large 
movement  of  troops  over  his  line  was  handled  with  surprising 
facility  and  smoothness,  Governor  Bradley,  of  Kentucky,  ap- 
pointed him  to  the  military  service  of  the  State,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel,  and  directed  him  to  superintend  the  trans- 
portation of  Kentucky  troops. 

William  J.  Murphy  was  bom  at  Greenfield,  Mass.,  August 
23,  1848.  His  early  preceptors  in  the  science  of  railroad- 
ing were  Charles  Minot  and  Hugh  Riddle.     That  he  learned 


well,  his  career  amply  proves.    Mr.  Murphy  was  married,  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1870,  to  Miss  Maria  T.  A.  Yogel,  of  Zanesville,  Ohio. 

James  H.  Rutter  began  life  as  a  clerk  in  the  freight 
office  at  Elmira.  In  1866  he  had  risen  tc  be  assistant 
general  freight  agent  of  the  Company,  and  his  ability  be- 
came so  conspicuous  in   transportation  circles  that  he  was 


personally  solicited  by  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  to  enter  the 
service  of  the  New  York  Central  as  general  freight 
which  he  did.  In  1877  he  was  made  general  traffic  manager 
of  that  system.  In  1880,  his  services  in  the  Vanderbilt 
interest  had  proved  so  valuable,  the  office  of  third  vice- 
president  was  created  for  him.  He  held  that  office  until 
1883,  when  William  H.  Vanderbilt  resigned  as  president  of 
the  Company  in  favor  of  Mr.  Rutter.  He  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  great  Central  system  until  1S85,  when  his  health 


49« 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


broke  down.  lie  died  June  27th  of  that  year,  his  death 
being  Eollowed  next  day  by  that  of  his  wife.  They  were 
buried  in  the  same  grave. 

Jun\  Baird  Morford. — John  B.  Morford  began  as 
"  water-boy  "  and  newsboy  on  the  Erie  at  the  age  of  twelve. 
This  generation  of  railroad  travellers  does  not  know  what 
water-boys  were.  In  the  early  days  of  railroading  there  were 
no  ice-water  tinks  in  the  cars,  but  the  Erie  was  so  solicitous 
for  the  welfare  and  comfort  of  its  passengers  that  it  provided 
boys  to  go  through  the  cars  at  intervals,  carrying  a  pail  of 
fresh  water  and  a  cup,  so  that  thirsty  travellers  might  quench 
their  thirst.  In  1852  one  of  those  boys  was  John  B.  Morford, 
who  was  born  at  Warwick,  X.  Y.,  July  16,  1836.  From 
water-boy  he  was  promoted  to  be  despatch  messenger  between 
New  York  and  Dunkirk,  and  in  1853  he  became  brakeman  on 
a  freight  train  on  the  Eastern  Division,  subsequently  being 
transferred  to  a  passenger  train.  He  "broke  "on  passenger 
and  freight  trains  on  Eastern  trains  until  November,  1857, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  the  conductorship  of  a  freight  train, 
and  subsequently  to  a  passenger  train,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  the  Erie  until  September,  1866,  when  he  went  to 
the  Morris  and  Essex  Railroad  (now  Delaware,  Lackawanna 
and  Western)  as  chief  train  despatcher  at  Hoboken,  and 
superintendent  of  Boonton  Branch.  He  remained  in  that  place 
until  1870,  in  December  of  which  year  he  became  general 
agent  of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad,  at  Thirtieth  Street, 
New  York,  and  subsequently  station  master  at  the  Grand 
Central  Depot.  In  January,  1872,  he  becams  general  su- 
perintendent of  the  Long  Island  Railroad,  where  he  remained 
three  years,  when,  in  February,  1875,  he  took  charge  as  su- 
perintendent of  the  Sandy  Hook  Steamboat  Company,  filling 
successively  that  place  and  the  posts  of  superintendent  of 
ferries  and  lighterage  of  the  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey, 
until  January,  1882.  From  the  latter  date  until  April,  1883, 
he  wis  superintendent  of  construction  of  the  Sabine  and  East 
Texas  Railroad.  He  was  then  appointed  by  the  Michigan 
Central  Railroad  Company  assistant  superintendent  of  its 
Eastern  and  Toledo  divisions.  In  December  of  that  year 
he  was  transferred  to  the  more  important  position  of  superin- 
tendent of  the  "Canada  Division,"  with  headquarters  at  St. 
Thomas,  which  place  Mr.  Morford  continues  to  hold.  Super- 
intendent Morford  always  refers  proudly  to  the  time  when 
he  was  a  water-boy  and  newsboy  on  the  Erie. 

GiOVANi  P.  Morosini. — d'here  is  nothing  in  fiction  more 
dramatic  and  romantic  than  the  incidents  that  led  to  Giovani 
1'.  Morosmi's  ciming  into  the  service  of  the  Erie.  In  1855 
he  was  a  sailor,  and  had  been  a  sailor  five  years.  He  was 
the  son  of  I'aul  P.  Morosini,  a  scion  of  pure  old  Venetian 
stock.  He  was  born  at  Yenice  June  24,  1834,  and  was 
educated  as  a  soldier  as  well  as  a  civilian.  During  the  war 
between  Italy  and  Austria  misfortune  overtook  the  family, 
and  upon  the  capitulation  of  Venice  in  1849,  young  Morosini 
resolved  to  seek  his  fortune  in  other  lands.  In  1850  he 
foun  1  himself  at  Smyrna.     An  American  vessel  was  prepar- 


ing for  her  homeward  voyage.  Filled  with  the  spirit  of 
adventure,  Morosini  shipped  as  a  sailor  upon  her.  A  sea- 
faring life  seemed  to  fill  his  longing  for  a  time,  but  at  last  he 
wearied  of  it,  and  in  1S55,  being  then  at  a  sailors'  boarding- 
house  in  New  York,  he  resolved  to  quit  his  roving  life  if  he 
could  find  something  better  to  turn  his  hands  to. 

It  happened  that  one  day  he  visited  Staten  Island  with 
nothing  in  view  except  diversion.  While  walking  along  a 
road  he  came  upon  a  number  of  half-grown  boys  who  had  set 
upon  and  were  beating  a  boy  much  smaller  than  they.  This 
at  once  aroused  his  ire,  and  he  instantly  hurried  to  the  aid 
of  the  boy  thus  overmatched.  His  attack  amazed  the  young 
ruffians  at  first,  but  they  rallied  ami  turned  upon  him.  He 
drew  his  sailor's  knife,  and  brandishing  it,  rushed  to  meet 
them,  but  at  the  sight  of  the  knife  and  the  determination  of 
the  one  who  wielded  it,  the  gang  fled.  The  boy  informed 
his  rescuer  that  he  lived  not  far  from  the  spot,  and  Morosini 
helped  him  home,  where  he  met  the  boy's  father,  who  on 
being  told  what  had  occurred,  was  warm  in  his  expression  of 
thanks  to  the  champion  of  his  son,  and  offered  him  a  sum 
of  money.     This  Morosini  declined  to  accept. 

"  Is  there  anything,  then,  that  I  can  do  for  you?  "  asked 
the  grateful  father. 

"  I  am  a  sailor,"  replied  Morosini,  "  but  am  tired  of  the 
sea.  If  I  could  obtain  employment  ashore  I  should  be 
pleased  to  accept  it." 

The  father  of  the  boy  whom  Morosini  had  befriended  was 
Nathaniel  Marsh,  then  secretary  of  the  New  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  Company.  He  interested  himself  in  the  sailor,  and 
obtained  for  him  a  place  as  office-boy  for  the  president  of  the 
Company,  Homer  Ramsdell.  That  discerning  man  soon 
discovered  that  his  office-boy  was  a  lad  much  above  the 
average  in  intelligence  and  ability,  and  Morosini  was  pro- 
moted to  a  clerkship  in  the  auditor's  office.  Promotion 
followed  promotion  there,  until  the  whilom  sailor  was  chief 
clerk  of  the  audit  department. 

Jay  Gould  came  into  the  direction  of  Erie  affairs  in  1S68, 
and  that  master  of  human  nature  quickly  became  aware  of 
the  unusual  value  of  .Morosini,  and  in  1869  the  chief  clerk  of 
the  audit  office  was  advanced  to  the  head  of  that  most  im- 
portant department,  and  became  Jay  Gould's  confidential 
secretary  in   1872. 

In  1879  Mr.  Gould  took  Morosini  into  partnership  with 
him,  a  partnership  that  continued  until  1885,  when  Morosini, 
Mr.  Gould  having  retired  from  active  individual  participation 
in  Wall  Street  affairs,  continued  business  for  himself,  and 
made  a  great  fortune,  which  he  fully  and  rationally  enjoys. 

Augustus  Sherili.  Whiton. — Augustus  Sherill  Whiton 
died  in  New  York  City  Monday,  February  7,  1898,  in  his 
seventy-eighth  year.  Mr.  Whiton,  when  but  eighteen  years 
of  age,  was  a  member  of  the  engineer  corps  that  finally 
located  the  route  for  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  be- 
tween Piermont  and  Goshen,  in  1838. 

Young  Whiton  was  promoted  to  be  assistant  engineer  to 
H.  C.  Seymour  in  1S39.     In  1840  he  was  appointed  superin- 


THE   STORY    OF    ERIE 


499 


tendentof  superstructure  and  bridges  of  the  Eastern  Divis-  Virginia.     He   retired  from  active  railroad  service  in  iS5S, 

ion,  and  had  charge  of  that  work  in  the  building  of  the  road  and  established  at  New  York  a  depot  for  railroad  supplies! 

between  Piermont  and  Goshen.     In  185 1  he  was  appointed  He  conducted  the  business  for  nearly  forty  years,  and  ac- 

engineerand  superintendent  of  the  Xewburgh  Branch  and  cumulated  a  large  fortune  from  it. 


AUGUSTUS   SHERII.L   WHITON. 


superintendent  of  the  Eastern  Division.  He  resigned  in 
1852  to  go  to  Kentucky  to  take  charge  of  the  construction 
as  chief  engineer  of  the  Maysville  and  Lexington  Railroad. 
In  1854  he  again  became  Erie's  superintendent  of  the  East- 
ern Division  and  branches.  1857  he  resigned  to  become 
chief  engineer  and  manager  of  a  railroad  and  coal  mines  in 


In  1S43  Mr.  Whiton  was  married  to  Caroline,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Ward,  the  Ramapo  ironmaster  and  landed  pro 
prietor.  He  was  born  at  Binghamton,  X.  V.,  on  Christmas, 
1820.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  old  Ithaca  Academy.  He 
was  an  elder  in  the  Collegiate  Dutch  Reformed  Chun  h  1  if 
Xew  York. 


GAZETTEER 


OF   CITIES   AND    VILLAGES   ON   THE    LINE   OF  THE   ORIGINAL   ERIE   AND    ITS   BRANCHES 


NEW  YORK    (EASTERN)    DIVISION. 

JERSEY  CITY,  Hudson  Co.,  N.  J.  From  New  York, 
i  mile;  Buffalo,  424  miles;  Dunkirk,  459.  Eastern  ter- 
minus of  the  Erie  since  185 1.  Second  city  of  New  Jersey 
and  capital  of  Hudson  County.  Population,  200,000.  On 
the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson  River,  one  mile  from  New 
York,  connecting  with  five  lines  of  ferry-boats.  Also  the  ter- 
minus of  twelve  other  lines  of  railroad.  Site  originally  called 
Paulus  Hook.  Chartered,  1820,  as  "the  City  of  Jersey"; 
name  changed  to  present  one,  183S.  Population  when  it  be- 
came Erie  terminus,  7,000. 

RUTHERFORD,  Bergen  Co.,  N.  J.  From  New  York,  10 
miles.  From  an  early  day  known  as  Boiling  Spring  neigh- 
borhood. Farm  and  farm-gardening  community.  Laid 
out  in  town  plots  in  1S66.  Settled  rapidly.  Named  Ruther- 
ford Park.  Changed  to  Rutherford,  1875.  Incorporated  a 
borough,  1S81.  Population,  189S,  3,900.  Residential.  7 
churches :  1  high  school,  3  district  schools ;  2  banks ;  2 
newspapers  :   2  hotels. 

(CARLTON  HILL,  important  as  the  site  of  great  bleach- 
ing works  ;  station  for  East  Rutherford.) 

PASSAIC,  Passaic  Co.,  N.J.  From  New  York,  12  miles; 
Buffalo,  413  ;  I  Dunkirk,  44S.  First  settlement  in  1678,  when 
site  near  Passaic  city  was  bought  by  Hartman  Michielson 
from  the  Indians.  He  got  a  perfect  title  to  it  in  1685  for 
"  one  fat  henne."  In  1678  Christopher  Hoogland  bought 
■;  m  res  of  the  present  site  of  Passaic  and  sold  it  to  Michiel- 
son. The  tract  was  called  Acquackanonk.  A  settlement  of 
industrious  Dutch  soon  grew  up.  Acquackanonk  was  the 
if  navigation  on  the  Passaic  River.  It  was  called  "  the 
Landing,"  and  was  the  shipping  and  receiving  point  for  sup- 
plies for  the  country  as  far  away  as  Orange  County,  N.  Y. 
For  a  century  Acquackanonk  had  this  commercial  supremacy. 
Then  the  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad  was  built,  and 
ed  the  importance  of  river  navigation.  Dundee  Water 
Power  Company  incorporated,  1S32.  In  1861  built  the  dam 
which  conserved  the  great  water-power  of  the  Passaic  and 
insured  the  future  of  Passaic.  The  Dundee  Railroad  was 
built,  which  is  now  part  of  the  valuable  local  possessions  of 
the  Erie.  Incorporated  as  a  village,  1871  ;  city,  1873.  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church,  1686.  Part  of  present  church  build- 
ing built,  1 761.     12  churches;   high  school;   6  ward  schools; 


2  banks  ;  4  newspapers  ;  2  hotels.  Passaic  a  place  of  marvel- 
lous growth.  Population,  rSgS,  r  2,000.  Manufacturing  in- 
terests large.  One  of  the  wealthiest  places  on  line  of  Erie. 
Four  Erie  stations  in  Passaic.  Beautiful  and  costly  residences. 

(CLIFTON  and  LAKE  VIEW.  Residential  localities 
between  Passaic  and  Paterson  ;  Lake  View  part  of  Paterson.) 

PATERSON,  Passaic  Co.,  N.J.  From  New  York,  17 
miles;  Buffalo,  40S ;  Dunkirk,  443.  Site,  owing  to  water- 
power  of  the  Passaic  River,  chosen  in  1791  by  Alexander 
Hamilton  and  others  for  the  uses  of  the  "  Society  for  Estab- 
lishing Useful  Manufactures,"  which  was  chartered  in  that 
year.  Place  named  for  the  then  Governor  of  New  Jersey. 
Township  government  until  185 1;  then  incorporated  as 
city;  population,  11,000.  Ex-Governor  Philemon  Dicker- 
son  first  President  City  Council.  Limits  enlarged  1854,  and 
present  city  incorporated  under  new  charter,  187 1.  Popu- 
lation, 1S98,  (estimated)  90,000.  Third  city  in  New  Jersey. 
Centre  of  silk  manufacturing  in  United  States.  72  churches; 
4  synagogues ;  6  missions;  high  school;  19  ward  schools; 
1  normal  training  and  model  school ;  1  manual  training 
school;  6  banks  (3  national,  1  savings,  2  safe  deposit  and 
trust  companies)  ;  15  newspapers  (5  daily,  7  weekly,  3 
monthly)  ;  109  incorporated  companies  (39  silk,  silk  fabric, 
and  allied  branches  of  silk  manufacture) ;  2  hospitals ;  2 
orphan  asylums.  Electric  lighting  and  gas ;  electric  street 
railways,  and  connecting  with  Hoboken  and  intermediate 
points.  Fine  parks.  Public  buildings  and  residences  archi- 
tecturally elegant.  Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  one 
of  the  first  in  the  country,  opened  in  1833  ;  now  part  of  Erie 
main  line.  Manufacturing  began  in  1792  with  cotton  print 
works,  one  of  the  first  in  the  country.  During  the  war  of 
181 2  Paterson  was  one  of  the  largest  producers  of  cotton 
goods.  This  industry  was  followed  by  other  special  enter- 
prises, notably  the  manufacture  of  silk  and  locomotives.  The 
silk  factories  and  locomotive  works  of  Paterson  alone  have 
made  its  fame  world-wide.  The  manufacture  of  silk  was 
started  about  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  by  John  Ryle,  a 
weaver  from  Macclesfield,  England.  He  struggled  long  with 
misfortune,  but  the  interest  he  awakened  in  this  branch 
of  trade  brought  capital  into  it,  until  to-day  not  less  than 
$8, 000,000  are  invested  in  the  silk  business  of  the  city,  giving 
employment  to  thousands  of  hands,  ami  turning  out  every 
variety  of   silk  fabric,  from  a  thread  to  the  costliest  dress- 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


501 


goods.  The  rolling-mills,  iron-bridge  works,  and  hundreds 
of  other  factories  give  employment  to  other  thousands.  Pre- 
eminence in  the  silk  industry  has  given  Paterson  the  name  of 
"  Lyons  of  America."  Erie,  Susquehanna  and  Western,  and 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  railroads.  County  seat 
of   Passaic  Count  v. 

(HAWTHORNE,  suburb  of  Paterson,  across  the  Passaic 
River.     Pastoral  and  historic.) 

RIDGEWOOD,  Bergen  Co.,  N.J.  From  New  York, 
22  miles.  Settled,  1853.  Formerly  Godwinville.  Incor- 
porated. Population,  2,500.  In  historic  Paramus  Valley. 
Hume  of  prominent  professional  and  business  men  of  New 
York  City.     3  churches  ;   public  schools  ;   1    newspaper. 

(UNDERCLIFF,  HOHOKUS,  WALDWICK,  ALLEN- 
DALE, RAMSEY'S,  and  MAHWAH,  Bergen  Co.,  N.  J. 
From  Xew  York  respectively  23,  24,  25,  26,  28,  and  30  miles. 
Small  stations  in  historical  and  pastoral  communities.  Near 
Ridgewood,  Undercliff,  and  Hohokus  is  the  old  stone  man- 
sion, "  The  Hermitage,"  in  which  Aaron  Burr  wooed,  won,  and 
married  Thebdosia  Provost.  The  Dutch  Church,  turned  by 
the  British  into  a  prison-house  for  soldiers  of  the  Revolution- 
ary army,  is  also  nearby.  Waldwick  is  the  outgrowth  of  ex- 
cessive water  and  other  taxes  on  the  Erie  at  Paterson,  owing 
to  which  the  Company  changed  the  housing  of  the  rolling 
stock  of  its  frequent  "  shuttle  "  trains  between  Paterson  and 
Jersey  City  from  Paterson  to  the  site  of  Waldwick,  estab- 
lishing an  extensive  switch  yard  and  engine  and  car  houses, 
and  bringing  a  lively  village  into  existence.  Allendale 
and  Ramsey's,  extensive  small-fruit  growing.  Chun  lies  and 
public  schools,  hotels.     Newspaper  at  Ramsey's.) 

SUFFERN,  Rockland  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  32 
miles:  Dunkirk,  428 ;  Buffalo,  393.  Settled,  1 773.  Name 
originally  New  Antrim,  from  Antrim,  Ireland,  native  place 
of  John  SulTern,  first  settler.  Name  changed  to  Suffern  on 
opening  railroad  in  1841.  Population,  1,100.  3  churches; 
public  schools;  1  newspaper;  3  hotels.  Original  line  of 
Erie  runs  from- Piermont  to  Suffern,  now  called  Piermont 
Branch.  Here  is  the  historic  Ramapo  Pass.  The  present 
road  through  the  pass  was  an  old  Indian  trail,  and  the  settlers 
found  it  the  nearest  and  best  road  between  the  northern 
colonies  and  the  southern,  when  the  Hudson  River  was 
blockaded — hence  during  the  Revolutionary  war  it  was  early 
watched  and  fortified.  The  centre  of  military  operations  was 
about  a  mile  within  the  gorge.  Military  was  stationed  here 
all  through  the  war  to  guard  the  pass  and  to  stop  intruders. 
Col.  Malcolm's  regiment  was  here  in  1777.  and  Aaron  Burr 
was  assigned  to  it  for  duty.  It  was  from  this  command  that 
Burr  won  his  military  reputation  by  daring  exploits  in  the 
Paramus  Valley  and  about  Hackensack,  N.J.  Washington 
had  his  headquarters  in  the  old  Suffern  house,  now  torn 
down,  near  Suffern  village.  On  the  hills  east  of  Suffern  the 
French  army  encamped  on  its  way  to  Yorktown. 

(Note. — For  Piermont  Branch  references  see  "The  Turn- 
ing of  Its  Wheels,"  pages  390-391.) 

(HILBURN,  Rockland   Co.,  N.  Y.     From   New  York, 


33  miles.     Hamlet  due   to  Ramapo   Iron   Works.     In    the 
Ramapo  Pass.     Population,  300.) 

RAMAPO,  Rockland  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  34 
miles.  Settled,  1795.  Population,  300.  2  churches :  pub- 
lic school.  Formerly  nail  works,  rolling  mill,  cotton  mill, 
steel  furnace,  wire  works,  hoe  factor)-,  saw  and  grist  mills. 
First  train  on  Erie  ran  to  Ramapo  June  30,  1841.  History 
of  Pierson  family  is  the  history  of  Ramapo.  Josiah  ( ).. 
Jeremiah  H.,  and  Isaac  Pierson,  brothers,  established  nail 
works  and  rolling  mill  here  in  1783.  In  1X07  added  manu- 
facture of  hoops  for  whale-oil  casks.  Product  of  industries, 
1,000,000  pounds  of  iron  annually.  Established  cotton 
mill  in  1816,  looms  of  J.  H.  Pierson's  own  invention,  to 
make  striped  shirting.  In  1820  began  manufacture  of 
spring  steel  ;  1830  manufacture  of  blister  steel ;  1S35  manu- 
facture of  screws  by  machinery,  invented  at  Ramapo  bj  a 
Pierson  workman.  At  that  time  300  men  employed  by 
Piersons.  J.  H.  Pierson  and  his  son  Henry  L.  leading  spirits 
in  the  history  of  the  Erie.  In  1850  Piersons  retired  from 
business  at  Ramapo.  Family  large  proprietors  of  the  place 
to-day.  Now  only  car- wheel  works  and  foundry  there. 
Terminus  of  Krie  from  July  1,  1S41,  until  September  23. 
1S41  ("The  Building  of  It,"  page  331). 

(STERLINGTON,  junction  of  the  Sterling  Mountain 
Railroad,  running  to  Sterling  Lake  and  mines;  SLOATS- 
BURG,  a  small  hamlet,  formerly  of  some  industrial  im- 
portance.    From  New  York,  35  and  36  miles  respectively.) 

TUXEDO,  Rockland  Co.,  N.Y.  From  New  York,  38^ 
miles.  Formerly  Lorillard's.  Population,  300.  Station  for  Tux- 
edo Park.  Tuxedo,  according  to  the  researches  of  William  Wal- 
dorf Astor,  is  from  the  Vlgonquin  P° tauk-sut-iough,  meaning 
"  Home  of  the  Bear."  According  to  local  tradition  Tuxedo  is 
a  corruption  of  "  Duck  Cedar,"  the  lake  having  been  once  alive 
with  wild  ducks  and  surrounded  by  cedars.  Tuxedo  Park  was 
originally  the  wilderness  tract  of  13,000  acres  belonging  to 
the  original  Peter  Lorillard.  At  an  early  day  there  were  iron 
works  on  the  outlet  of  the  lake  on  the  tract.  They  were  aban- 
doned years  ago,  and  the  estate  lay  idle.  Ground  was  broken 
in  November,  1885,  for  the  Tuxedo  Club;  June  1,  1886,  the 
club-house  was  opened.  In  the  club  grounds  to-day  are  about 
100  houses,  ranging  from  the  romantic  chalet  to  the  sub 
tial  and  ornate  chateau,  church,  schools,  fish  hatchery,  game 
preserves.  Within  the  park  enclosure  forty  miles  of  drives, 
twenty-five  miles  macadamized.  Complete  police  servii  e, 
fire  brigade.     I^ast  Erie  station  in  Rockland  County,  N.  Y. 

(SOUTHFIELDS   and    ARDEN,   Orange  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Hamlets  ;  from  New  York,  42  and  44  miles.    Arden,  formerly 
Greenwood,  noted   for    the    iron  works  belonging  to  Peter  P. 
!.  of   Parrott  gun  fame.     Abandoned  \  Pic- 

turesque ruins  of  works  near  the  station.     E.  II.  Harriman, 
the  millionaire  New    York  banker  and  I; 
at  Arden.) 

II  RNER'S,  Orange  Co.,  N.Y.  From  New  York,  17 
miles;  Dunkirk,  412  miles;  Buffalo,  377:  Newburgh,  r6. 
Came  into  existence  with  the  Erie.  First  railroad  dining- 
saloon    on    the    Erie,    established    by    Peter   Turner,    184 1, 


502 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


its.  Original  building  still  standing.  The 
Frie  erected  an  immense  brick  hotel  and  dining-room  at 
Turner's  in  [865.  It  was  ran  in  luxurious  style  during  the 
Gould  and  Fisk  regime.  Destroyed  by  lire  December  26, 
[873.  Cost,  $300,000;  never  rebuilt.  Eastern  extremity  of 
Orange  County  dairy  region.  Trains  for  Newburgh  Short- 
cut. 

I  M(  >NROE  and  OXFORD,  Or  \nge  Co.,  N.  V.,  50  and 
52  miles  from  New  York.  Milk-shipping  stations  ;  summer 
visitors.  Newspaper  at  Monroe  ;  4  churches  ;  2  hotels.  Pop- 
ulation, 700.     Brie  cheese  factories.) 

GREYCOURT,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
54  miles  ;  Dunkirk,  406  ;  Buffalo,  371  ;  Newburgh,  19.  Junc- 
tion ot  Newburgh  Branch,  Lehigh  and  Hudson,  and  Orange 
Count\'  railroads.     School;  hotel. 

CHESTER,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  55 
miles;  Dunkirk,  405;  Buffalo,  370.  Settled,  1751,  at  the 
old  town,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  station ;  village 
about  the  station  grew  from  the  coming  of  Erie  in 
1S41.  Incorporated,  1892.  Population,  1,200.  Agricul- 
tural and  dairy  ;  business  of  milk  transportation  by  rail 
originated  here  spring  of  1842  ("The  Turning  of  Its 
Wheels,"  pages  406-409).  Chief  agricultural  pursuit,  onion- 
growing  on  "black  dirt"  meadow  area,  700  acres  in  extent, 
between  Chester  and  Greycourt,  reclaimed  from  almost 
bottomless  marsh.  Cheese  factory,  making  Neufchatel, 
Brie,  cream,  and  other  fancy  brands ;  uses  10,000  quarts  of 
milk  a  day.  Home  of  Hambletonian,  father  of  the  American 
trotter;  born,  1848;  sired  1,200  colts;  died,  1876;  costly 
monument  marks  his  grave.  Famous  trotters  bred  and  owned 
here.  4  churches  ;  high  school ;  district  schools  ;  newspaper  ; 
bank ;  3  hotels ;  opera  house ;  gravity  water  system ;  pre- 
paring (1898)  for  gas  or  electric  lighting;  fire  department. 
Chester  was  one  of  the  two  original  stations  of  the  Erie  to 
have  an  agent,  Goshen  being  the  other. 

GOSHEN,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  60 
miles;  Buffalo,  364  ;  Dunkirk,  399.  Settled,  17 12.  Incor- 
porated, 1843.  Population,  3,000.  6  churches  ;  academy  ; 
schools  ;  2  newspapers  ;  2  national  banks ;  1  savings  bank  ; 
4  hotels.  Well  organized  fire  department ;  electric  light  and 
gas.  Centre  of  greatest  dairy  and  stock-raising  region  in 
State.  County  seat  of  Orange  County  since  1728.  Nursery 
of  blooded  horses.  Some  of  the  greatest  horses  in  the  rec- 
ords of  the  turf  or  stud  were  either  sired,  born,  or  bred  here. 
Trotters  representing  a  value  of  $300,000  are  (1898)  owned 
in  Ooshen;  among  them  Stamboul,  the  champion  trotting 
stallion  (2.071/,),  and  John  R.  Gentry,  the  great  pacer 
(2.00^),  of  E.  H.  Harriman's  Goshen  stables,  alone  repre- 
sent $70,000.  $10,000  horses  are  numerous ;  $5,000  horses 
common.  Goldsmith  Maid,  the  queen  of  the  turf  in  her  day, 
was  sired  here  by  a  Ooshen  horse,  and  broken  and  trained 
for  the  turf  near  by.  The  Goshen  stock  farms  and  race  track 
are  historical,  the  ( loshen  Driving  Park  Association  being  one 
of  the  crack  turf  organizations  of  the  United  States.  Until 
the  farmers  adopted  the  plan  of  selling  their  milk  in  the  New 
York  market  instead  of  making  it  into  butter,  "  Goshen  but- 


ter "  was  famous  the  country  over.  The  monument  in  the 
public  square  commemorates  the  men  who  fell  fighting  the 
noted  Indian  leader  Brant,  in  1779,  in  the  Delaware  High- 
lands, most  of  them  being  from  Goshen  and  vicinity.  The 
monument  was  erected  in  1822,  the  bones  of  the  men  having 
been  collected  from  the  old  battle-field  in  that  year  and  buried 
in  the  public  park.  Goshen  abounds  in  Revolutionary  lore. 
January  22,  1779,  Claudius  Smith,  the  notorious  Tory  "Cow 
Boy  "  of  the  Revolution,  was  hanged  at  Goshen.  The  Goshen 
Academy  was  established  in  1790.  Noah  Webster,  the  great 
lexicographer,  was  a  teacher  in  it,  and  was  preparing  his  great 
work  at  that  time.  The  Goshen  Independent  Republican  is 
one  of  the  oldest  papers  in  the  State,  established  1S12.  The 
first  official  printing  office  of  the  Erie  was  that  of  the  Goshen 
Democrat,  where  the  Company's  printing  was  done  from 
1 84 1  to  1 85 1.  Goshen  was  the  western  terminus  of  the  rail- 
road from  September,  1S41,  until  June,  1843.  When  the 
railroad  was  opened,  all  the  present  main  business  part  of  the 
place  was  a  vast  common,  known  as  Fiddler's  Green.  The 
population  was  400.  Goshen,  besides  being  one  of  the  old- 
est, is  one  of  the  wealthiest  villages  in  the  State.  Gas  and 
electric  light  ;  water  works  ;  electric  railroad  to  Middletown. 
Junction  of  Pine  Island  and  Montgomery  branches  of  Erie. 
Henry  Fitch,  first  general  passenger  agent  of  Erie,  resigned 
as  teacher  in  Goshen  Academy,  1846,  to  take  the  office. 

(MONTGOMERY,  ten  miles  from  Goshen,  on  Montgom- 
ery Branch,  and  FLORIDA,  on  the  Pine  Island  Branch,  vil- 
lages in  the  dairy  regions  of  Orange  County,  N.  Y.  Mont- 
gomery originally  Wrard's  Bridge.  Settled  in  last  century. 
Incorporated  as  village,  1806.  Manufacturing  as  well  as  agri- 
cultural. 4  churches;  2  schools;  1  newspaper;  4  hotels. 
Florida  settled  in  last  century.  3  churches  ;  graded  school ; 
2  hotels.  Birthplace  of  William  H.  Seward,  the  great  Ameri- 
can statesman.) 

(NEW  HAMPTON,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New 
York,  64  miles.     Important  only  as  milk-shipping  station.) 

MIDDLETOWN,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New 
York,  67  miles  ;  Buffalo,  358  ;  Dunkirk,  393.  Agricultural, 
dairy,  and  industrial.  Citizens  paid  for  finishing  railroad 
from  Goshen,  1843.  Terminus  of  Erie  until  1S46.  Incor- 
porated village,  1848;  city,  1892.  Population,  1898,  14,000. 
10  churches;  1  high  school  ;  5  ward  schools ;  8  newspapers 
(3  daily,  5  weekly)  ;  4  banks  :  4  hotels  ;  theatre  ;  Thrall  Hos- 
pital ;  public  library.  Extensive  saw,  file,  hat,  nail,  carpet- 
bag, and  wood-type  factories;  milk  condensery,  iron  fur- 
nace, and  brewery.  Paved  streets,  electric  street  railroad 
and  lights,  superior  fire  department,  gravity  water  system. 
Soldiers'  monument.  State  Homceopathic  Insane  Asylum 
(only  one  in  State),  incorporated  1870.  Erie,  New  York, 
Ontario  and  Western,  and  New  York,  Susquehanna  and 
Western  railroads,  and  Crawford  Branch  of  the  Erie.  4 
railroad  stations.  Orange  County  Agricultural  Society's  fair 
grounds.  Middletown  began  on  the  lowland  by  a  settlement 
as  long  ago  as  1778.  Here  was  then  a  frontier  land.  The 
courageous  pioneers  who  preempted  the  wilderness  shared 
with  those  of  the  settlements  about  them  in  the  bloody  scenes 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


503 


evoked  by  the  vengeance  of  the  red  men,  who  struggled 
long  to  hold  their  ancient  hills  and  valleys  against  the 
usurping  pale-face.  At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
development  of  the  splendid  agricultural  district  began  in 
earnest,  and  the  clustering  farms  grew  into  a  village  and  an 
important  centre  for  the  surrounding  country.  It  was  not 
until  the  completion  of  the  Erie  to  the  place  in  1843, 
however,  that  its  era  of  greatest  usefulness  and  importance 
was  inaugurated.  Its  growth  has  been  rapid  ever  since.  No 
place  on  the  Erie  between  Paterson  and  Binghamton  exceeds 
Middletown  in  the  extent,  importance,  and  reputation  of  its 
manufacturing  interests.  The  disposition  of  the  citizens  of 
this  place  toward  proposed  enterprises  of  every  kind  in  its 
precincts  has  been  uniformly  generous  and  encouraging.  Its 
hat  factories,  saw  factories,  file  works,  milk  condenseries,  and 
carpet  factories  are  among  the  leading  ones  of  their  class  in 
the  country.  Trade  centre  of  the  rich  dairy  region  of  Orange, 
Sullivan,  and  Sussex  counties. 

(HOWELLS,  OTISVILLE,  GUYMARD,  Orange  Co., 
N.  Y.  From  New  York,  71,  76,  So  miles  respectively. 
Neat  villages  in  dairy  region.  Important  as  milk-shipping 
stations.  Churches  and  public  schools.  Otisville  was  ter- 
minus of  Erie  1S46  to  1848.  Summit  of  Shawangunk  Moun- 
tains. Settled,  1 816,  by  Isaac  Otis,  subsequently  president  of 
Hanover  Bank,  New  York,  and  founder  of  Atlantic  Bank.  3 
churches.  From  1863  to  1870  10  mining  companies  had 
headquarters  hereabout  to  mine  supposed  rich  lead  deposits 
in  Shawangunk  Mountains,  chiefly  about  Guymard.  Many 
shafts  sunk  ;  all  abandoned.  Remains  of  a  huge  mastodon 
exhumed  near  Otisville  in  1871.) 

DELAWARE    DIVISION. 

PORT  JERVIS,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
88  miles;  Buffalo,  337:  Dunkirk,  372.  Terminus  New 
York  and  Delaware  Division  of  Erie.  Settlements  made 
near,  in  the  Neversink  Valley,  1690,  by  Hollanders  and  refu- 
gee Huguenots.  Port  Jervis  settlement  due  to  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal,  1827.  Named  for  John  B.  Jervis,  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  canal.  Hamlet  until  coming  of  Erie,  1S48. 
Incorporated  as  village,  1853.  Population,  1898,  10,000. 
6  churches  ;  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  ;  1  high  school,  3  dis- 
trict schools ;  2  national  banks ;  5  newspapers  (2  daily,  3 
weekly)  ;  5  hotels  ;  theatre  ;  hospital ;  public  library  :  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  (railroad  branch).  Electric  and 
gas  lighting ;  electric  street  railway.  Excellent  fire  depart- 
ment; gravity  water  system.  Erie  round-houses  and  re- 
pair shops.  Suburbs,  Sparrowbush,  Tri-States,  Matamoras, 
Pa.,  latter  connected  by  wire  suspension  bridge  across  the 
Delaware.  Tri-States  formerly  Carpenter's  Point,  at  junc- 
tion of  Neversink  River  with  Delaware  River.  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  lines  meet  here.  Monu- 
ment marks  the  spot,  which  stands  in  three  States  and 
in  three  counties.  Port  Jervis  is  the  outlet  of  the  lower 
Delaware  Valley  for  twenty  miles,  and  large  portion  of  Sulli- 
van  County,  N.   Y.     Port  Jervis  and  Monticello  Railroad. 


Milford,  Matamoras  and  New  York  Railroad  (building, 
1898). 

When  the  Erie  was  opened  to  Port  Jervis  none  of  the 
present  business  and  residential  part  of  the  place  was  in 
existence.  All  between  the  hamlet  and  the  canal  and 
the  Delaware  River  was  a  swampy  waste.  The  village  now 
occupies  that  area.  To  the  railroad  it  owes  its  growth  and 
existence.  No  place  in  Orange  County  is  more  delightfully 
located.  The  neighborhood  is  rich  in  historic  and  anti- 
quarian lore.  The  road  that  runs  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
village,  through  the  Neversink  Valley  and  on  down  the  1  )e la- 
ware,  is  believed  to  be  the  oldest  passable  road  of  any  length 
ever  constructed  in  the  United  States.  It  is  mentioned  in 
very  old  records  as  being  in  existence  between  Esopus 
(Kingston)  on  the  Hudson  and  a  point  near  the  Delaware 
Water  Gap,  as  long  ago  as  1690.  It  has  always  been  known 
as  the  "mine  road,"  and  tradition  says  it  was  constructed 
by  people  from  Holland,  who  sought  mines  of  gold  or  copper 
along  the  Lower  Delaware  River  mountains. 

(MILL  RIFT,  POND  EDDY,  PARKER'S  GLEN,  Pike 
Co.,  Pa.  From  Port  Jervis,  4,  n,  15  miles.  Bluestone 
quarrying,  shipping,  and  manufacturing  centres.  Parker's 
Glen,  formerly  Carr's  Rock,  scene  of  the  terrible  raiiroad  dis- 
aster of  February,  1868.     See  pages  443-444.) 

SHOHOLA,  Pike  Co.,  Pa.  From  New  York,  103  miles. 
Famous  for  its  Glen,  and  station  for  summer  visitors  to  the 
adjacent  resorts  in  Pike  and  Sullivan  counties.  Also  blue- 
stone  quarrying  and  shipping  point. 

LACKAWAXEN,  Pike  Co.,  Pa.  From  New  York,  in 
miles;  Buffalo,  314;  Dunkirk,  349.  Quarrying;  bluestone 
shipping ;  summer  resort.  Junction  of  Honesdale  Branch. 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  crossed  Lac  kawaxen  and  Dela- 
ware rivers  here  by  aqueducts,  built  by  John  A.  Roebling 
in  1848,  until  1898,  when  canal  was  abandoned.  Five  miles 
back  of  Lackawaxen  is  the  spot  where  Horace  Greeley 
attempted,  in  1843,  to  found  a  Social  Community,  after  the 
manner  of  Fourier,  and  failed. 

(WESTCOLANV,  PARK,  MAST  HOPE,  TUSTEN,  Pike 
Co.,  Pa.  From  Port  Jervis,  26,  28,  31  miles  respectively. 
Stations  for  summer  visitors.     Bluestone  quarrying.     Milk.) 

NARROWSBUR<  :,  Si  1  1.1  van  Ci  >.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
122  miles;  Port  Jervis,  34:  Buffalo,  303:  Dunkirk,  338. 
Originally  important  lumbering  centre.  First  circular-saw- 
mill in  Delaware  Valley  built  near  by,  on  Pennsylvania  side. 
Named  from  narrows  in  the  river,  head  of  Big  Eddy,  deepest 
and  widest  place  in  the  river  above  tide.  Narrows  spanned 
by  wooden  bridge  erected  in  1846 — last  of  its  kind  the  entire 
length  of  the  river.  Famous  40  years  as  railroad  dining 
station.  From  coming  of  Erie  in  1848  until  1856,  nearest 
railroad  station  for  passengers  and  freight  to  Scranton,  50 
miles  ;  Wilkesbarre,  70  miles,  and  intermediate  country.  Con- 
nected with  Erie  by  stage-coaches  and  freight-wagons. 
Thomas  Dunn  and  wife,  refugees  from  Wyoming  massacre, 
1778,  buried  here.  Population,  1898,  300.  2  churches; 
district  school ;  newspaper.  Bluestone ;  milk ;  summer 
visitors. 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


C0<  HECTON,  Sullivan  Co.,  X.  V.  From  New  York, 
131    miles;   Port  Jervis,    43;    Buffalo,  294;    Dunkirk,  329. 

Settlements  near,  1757.  From  [806  until  coming  of  Erie 
all  travel  to  Susquehanna  Valley  near  Binghamton  from 
Hudson  River  at  Newburgh  passed  through  Cochecton  by 
Newburgh  and  Cochecton  turnpike  and  extension  through 
Pennsylvania.  2  churches:  district  schools;  1  hotel;  bridge 
,  ross  Delaware.     Milk:  summer  visitors. 

CAL1  [COON,  Si  llivan  Co.,  X.  V.  From  New  York, 
136  miles;  from  Port  Jervis,  48;  Buffalo,  289:  Dunkirk, 
329.  At  mouth  of  Callicoon  Creek.  Eastern  end  of  40- 
niile  section  of  original  contract  for  work  on  Erie,  1835 
(page  36,  General  History).  Population,  600.  Agricultural 
and  dairy.  Important  water  station  on  Erie.  Station  for 
summer  visitors.  3  churches;  2  schools  ;  2  newspapers;  52 
hotels  and  boarding-houses.  Largely  German  population. 
Bridge  across  Delaware  to  Wayne  County,  Pa. 

(HAXKIX'S,  LONG  EDDY,  LORDVILLE,  STOCK- 
PORT, Delaware  Co.,  X.  Y.  Hamlets,  formerly  impor- 
tant centres  of  lumber  and  tanning  business.  Schools, 
churches,  hotels.  Milk,  bluestone ;  summer  visitors.  Long 
Eddy,  also  known  as  Basket.  Laid  out  in  1870  for  specula- 
tive city  named  Douglas  City.  Failed.  Lordville,  station 
for  Equinunk,  Pa.,  where  the  last  extensive  lumbering  and 
tanning  in  the  valley  were  done.  Stockport  is  the  station  for 
an  interesting  region  on  the  Pennsylvania  side  of  the  river, 
in  Preston  township,  Wayne  Co.,  named  for  Samuel  Preston, 
the  pioneer  settler  of  that  part  of  the  valley.  The  settlement 
was  made  in  the  interests  of  Robert  Morris,  the  financier  of 
the  Revolution,  and  other  noted  Pennsylvanians,  who  had 
purchased  immense  tracts  of  wild  land  in  that  part  of  the 
State.) 

HANCOCK,  Delaware  Co.,  X.  Y.  From  New  York, 
164  miles  ;  Port  Jervis,  76  ;  Susquehanna,  28  ;  Buffalo,  261  ; 
1  lunkirk,  296.  At  junction  of  East  and  West  branches  of 
Delaware,  forming  the  main  stream.  Formerly  great  lumber 
ni  1  tanning  centre  and  gathering  place  of  raftmen,  and  home 
of  heavy  lumber  operators  and  timber-land  owners.  Popu- 
lation, 1898,  1,200.  Churches,  schools,  newspaper,  3  hotels. 
Bluestone  quarrying.  Milk.  Scran  ton  Division  of  New  York, 
Ontario  and  Western  Railroad  crosses  Delaware  to  main  line 
of  that  railroad. 

(HALE'S  EDDY,  Delaware  Co.,  N.Y.,  hamlet,  midway 
between  Hancock  and  Deposit.) 

DEPOSIT,  Delaware  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  Xew  York,  177 
miles;  Port  Jervis,  89;  Susquehanna,  15;  Buffalo,  248; 
1  lunkirk,  283.  Old  settlement,  originally  known  as  Cookaus. 
Created  by  the  lumber  and  tanning  business.  Last  Erie  sta- 
tion in  1  >elaware  Valley.  Historic  as  point  where  first  ground 
was  broken  for  grading  of  Erie,  1835  ("Administration  James 
Gore  King,"  pages  36,  37).  Growth  due  to  railroad.  Popu- 
lation, 1898,  1,800.  6  churches,  1  school,  2  newspapers,  1 
bank,  7  hotels.  Large  dairy  interests.  Extensive  milk  con- 
densery.  Bluestone.  Pearl  button,  malleable  iron,  hand-sled 
manufactories.    Paul  Devereaux  Hospital. 

(OQUAGA,  GULF  SUMMIT,  midway  between  Deposit 


and  Susquehanna.  Creameries,  and  milk  and  bluestone  ship- 
ping points.) 

SUSQUEHANNA    DIVISION. 

SUSQUEHANNA,  Pa.  From  Xew  York,  192  miles:  Buf- 
falo, 233  ;  Dunkirk,  268.  Population,  4,000.  Settled  in  1830  ; 
incorporated  in  1853;  6   churches,  2  schools,  2  newspapers, 

2  banks,  9  hotels.  Terminus  of  the  Delaware  and  the  Sus- 
quehanna divisions.  The  great  Erie  machine  and  repair 
shops  are  located  here.  They  were  established  in  1864,  and 
employ  1,000  hands.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing  com- 
munity. Steamboat  on  the  Susquehanna  River.  Electric 
lights  and  gravity  system  of  water-works.  Among  the  moun- 
tains of  northeastern  Pennsylvania. 

GREAT  BEND,  Susquehanna  Co.,  Pa.  From  Xew 
York,  201  miles;  Dunkirk,  259;  Buffalo,  224.  Settled,  1787  ; 
incorporated,  1861.  Population,  r,2oo.  Agricultural  and 
manufacturing.    Tannery,  silk  mill,  creamery,  broom  factory  ; 

3  churches,  1  school,  1  newspaper,  3  hotels.  Joseph  Smith, 
the  Mormon  prophet,  was  born  near  Great  Bend.  Electric 
lights,  fire  department. 

(KIRKWOOD,  small  station  named  for  former  Superin- 
tendent James  P.  Kirkwood.) 

BINGHAMTON,  Broome  Co.,  N.Y.  From  Xew  York, 
216  miles;  Buffalo,  209  ;  Dunkirk,  244.  Settled  in  1800  ;  in- 
corporated as  a  city  in  1867.  Erie  opened  January  8,  [849. 
Population  then,  2,100.  Population,  1S98  40,000.  Manu- 
facturing. Extensive  cigar,  shoe,  wagon,  and  other  factories  ; 
breweries,  tanneries,  pulp  mill,  etc.;  40  churches,  19  schools, 
7  newspapers,  35  hotels,  6  banks  (2  savings),  State  Hospital 
for  the  Insane,  St.  Mary's  Home,  Susquehanna  Valley  Home, 
Commercial  Travellers'  Home  (now  building).  Birthplai  e 
of  Major-General  John  C.  Robinson.  United  States  Senator 
Daniel  S.  Dickinson  had  his  home  and  was  buried  here.  Junc- 
tion of  the  Chenango  and  Susquehanna  rivers.  Also  on  Al- 
bany and  Susquehanna,  and  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern railroads.  The  site  of  Binghamton  was  a  wilderness 
when  certain  land-holders  in  the  Southern  Tier,  having  ob- 
tained State  aid  to  extend  the  Cochecton  and  Great  Bend 
Turnpike  from  the  latter  place  to  Bath,  X.  Y.,  its  course  was 
laid  through  this  part  of  Broome  County.  Leave  was  ob- 
tained from  the  Legislature  to  build  a  toll-bridge  across  the 
Chenango  River,  and  its  site  was  selected  at  what  was  known 
as  the  lower  ferry.  The  importance  of  the  location  led 
Joshua  Whitney  and  other  residents  of  Chenango  village,  two 
miles  above  the  present  city  of  Binghamton,  to  make  a  clear- 
ing for  a  settlement  which  they  called  Binghamton.  This 
clearing  occupied  much  of  the  present  business  site  of  the 
.  ity. 

(HOOPER  and  UNION,  Broome  Co.:  and  CA.MP- 
VILLE,  Tioga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  flourishing  centres  of  agricultural 
and  manufacturing  communities;  in  Chemung  dairy  region.) 

OWEGO,  Tioga  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  Xew  York,  237  miles; 
Dunkirk,  223;  Buffalo,  188.  Settled  early  in  the  century; 
original    Indian  name    of    region,  Ah-wa-ga.      Incorporated 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


5'  '5 


village.  Population,  9,000.  7  churches ;  graded  schools  ; 
3  newspapers;  2  banks;  4  hotels.  At  junction  of  Owego 
Creek  and  Susquehanna  River.  Manufacturing  and  agricul- 
tural. Centre  of  famous  dairy  region.  Owego  was  the  birth- 
place of  the  Erie,  the  convention  which  led  to  the  chartering 
of  the  Company  having  been  held  there,  December  20,  1831. 
(See  pages  11- 14.)  County  seat  of  Tioga  County.  Birth- 
place of  the  noted  politician,  Hon.  Thomas  C.  Piatt,  United 
States  Senator.  John  D.  Rockefeller,  the  great  Standard  Oil 
Company  magnate,  was  born  near,  and  got  his  early  education 
at,  Owego.  Once  the  home  of  N.  P.  Willis,  the  poet.  No 
place  in  the  Southern  Tier  has  wielded  nor  does  wield  a  greater 
influence  in  affairs  of  the  State  than  Owego.  Terminus  of 
the  second  railroad  chartered  in  New  York — the  Ithaca  and 
Owego  Railroad,  now-  Cayuga  Division  of  the  D.,  L.  and  W. 
Electric  lights,  gas.  Famous  for  its  fire  department.  Trade 
centre  for  wide  and  rich  surrounding  territory. 

(TIOGA  CENTRE,  SMITHBORO,  and  BARTON, 
Tioga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  the  Chemung  dairy  region;  thrifty 
villages.) 

WAVERLY,  Tioga  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  256 
miles;  Buffalo,  169;  Dunkirk,  204.  Settled,  1808;  incorpo- 
rated, 1853.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  5  churches, 
5  schools,  2  newspapers,  2  banks,  9  hotels.  Electric  lights 
and  railway.  Waverly  extends  across  the  Pennsylvania  State 
line.  When  the  Erie  was  opened  in  1851,  the  present  thriv- 
ing village  was  a  hamlet  known  as  Factoryville.  The  place 
owes  its  rise  and  prosperity  entirely  to  the  railroad.  Also 
on  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  and  Lehigh  Valley 
railroads.  Electric  railroad  connecting  with  Sayre,  Pa.,  and 
other  railroads. 

(CHEMUNG,  WELLSBURG,  and  SOUTHPORT,  Che- 
mung Co,  N.  Y.  Thriving  suburbs  of  Waverly  and  Elmira. 
Centres  of  rich  farming  community.) 

ELMIRA,  Chemung  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  274 
miles;  Buffalo,  151  ;  Dunkirk,  186.  Settled  in  1784;  incor- 
porated as  village,  1828  ;  as  city,  1S64.  Erie  opened,  Octo- 
ber 1,  1849.  Population  then,  3,000.  Population,  1S98,  esti- 
mated at  45,000.  Manufacturing.  Fire-engines,  bicycles, 
boots  and  shoes,  glass,  silk,  cigars,  portable  and  stationary 
engines,  brass  goods,  etc. ;  40  churches,  20  schools,  6  news- 
papers, 15  hotels,  3  banks,  State  Reformatory,  State  Armory. 
Amot-Ogden  Memorial  Hospital.  Female  College,  first  one 
founded  in  the  United  States.  Home  of  ex-Governor  Lucius 
Robinson.  Residence  of  ex-Governor  and  ex-United  States 
Senator  David  B.  Hill.  Summer  home  of  Mark  Twain,  who 
married  Miss  Langdon  of  Elmira.  During  the  Civil  War  the 
barracks,  where  thousands  of  Confederate  prisoners  were  con- 
fined, were  located  here.  During  the  Revolutionary  War  the 
battle  of  Baldwin's  Creek  was  fought  near  Elmira,  between 
the  American  troops  under  Gen.  Sullivan,  and  the  Indians 
and  Tories  under  Brant  and  Col.  Butler.  An  appropriate 
monument  marks  the  site  of  this  battle,  which  was  a  derisive 
one  in  Sullivan's  campaign  against  the  Indians.  Erie,  Tioga 
Division  of  Erie,  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western,  North- 
ern  Central,  Utica,   Ithaca  and   Elmira,  and  Lehigh  Valley 


railroads.  Electric  street  railroad-,  and  to  North  Elmira 
and  other  suburbs.  Gas  ami  electric  lights.  Capital  of 
Chemung  County. 

North  ELMIRA,  Chemung  Co.,  N.  V.  From  New 
York,  278  miles;  Buffalo,  147  ;  Dunkirk,  182.  Station  for 
the  village  of  Horseheads,  which  was  settled  in  17S9  ;  incor- 
•  porated,  1837.  Population,  2,500.  Agricultural  and  manu- 
facturing; 5  churches,  Union  Free  High  School,  1  newspa- 
per, 1  bank,  3  hotels.  The  location  of  the  camp  of  Gen. 
Sullivan  here  in  1779,  and  the  slaying  of  a  number  of  his 
wom-out  horses,  and  the  finding  of  their  bones  by  the  first 
settlers,  is  alleged  as  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Horseheads 
for  the  village.  Electric  street  railway  to  Elmira.  Also  on 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western,  Northern  Central,  and 
Lehigh  Valley  railroads. 

(BIG  FLATS,  Chemung  Co.,  N.  Y.,  near  the  Steuben 
County  line,  is  the  centre  of  the  great  tobacco  growing  region 
of  the  Chemung  Valley.) 

CORNING,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  291 
miles;  Buffalo,  134;  Dunkirk,  169.  Settled,  1830;  named 
for  Erastus  Corning,  one  of  its  founders;  incorporated  as 
village,  1851;  city,  1886.  Erie  opened,  January  1,  1X50. 
Population  then,  1,200.  Population,  1S98,  10,000.  Manu- 
facturing and  agricultural.  Flint-glass  works,  glass-cutting 
factory,  stove  and  furnace  works;  14  churches,  4  schools,  2 
newspapers,  6  hotels,  2  banks,  1  savings  and  loan  asso.  ia- 
tion.  Half-shire  town  of  Steuben  County.  Terminus  of  the 
Rochester  Division.  Electric  railroad,  electric  lights.  Also 
on  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  and  Fall  Brook  riil- 
r<  lads. 

(For  Painted  Post,  see  Rochester  Division.) 

ADDISON,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  302 
miles;  from  Buffalo,  123;  from  Dunkirk,  15S.  Settled 
early  in  the  century.  Population,  2,100.  Agricultural  and 
manufacturing.  6  churches;  2  newspapers;  1  bank:  2 
hotels;  2  schools.  At  the  mouth  of  Tuscarora  Creek. 
Formerly  a  prominent  lumbering  centre  in  the  days  of  raft- 
ing on  the  Susquehanna  waters  ;  originally  named  Tusi 
from  the  Indian  name  of  the  creek.  Outlet  of  the  tobacco 
region  of  Tioga  County,  Pa.  Addison  and  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  now  property  of  Buffalo  and  Susquehanna  Rail- 
road Company,  extends  from  Addison  to  Galeton,  Pa. 

(RATHBONEVILLK,  CAMERON  MILLS,  CAMERON, 
and  ADRIAN,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.  Thriving  centres  of  a 
farming  and  lumbering  region,  between  Addison  and  Can- 
isteo.) 

CANTSTEO,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  32S 
miles;  Buffalo,  97;  Dunkirk,  132.  Settled,  179S.  Incor- 
porated, 1873.  Population,  2,200.  Agricultural  and  manu- 
facturing. Silk,  lace,  button,  veneering,  and  other  factories  ; 
2  tanneries  ;  creamery  ;  5  churches  ;  1  school  ;  2  newspa- 
pers;  1  bank;  4  hotels;  free  library.  Academy  with  a  staff 
of  thirteen  teachers.  Fire  department  ;  gravity  water-works. 
Outlet  for  the  lumbering  and  mining  country  of  northern 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  days  of  rafting  and  lumbering 
Canisteo  was  the  most  important  point  in  that  valley. 


5o6 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND   THE    LAKES 


ALLEGANY    (FORMERLY    WESTERN)    DIVISION. 

HORNELLSVILLE,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  V.  From  New 
Nnik.  332  miles;  Buffalo,  93  ;  Dunkirk,  128.  Settled,  1798, 
by  ( leorge  Hornell,  who  owned  the  entire  township.  Incor- 
porated as  a  village,  1852;  as  a  city,  1888.  Erie  opened 
September  3,  1850.  Population  then,  900.  Population 
now,  13,000.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing;  silk,  glass, 
shoe,  and  other  factories.  11  churches;  4  newspapers  (2 
daily)  ;  5  schools;  2  hanks;  6  hotels;  sanitarium.  Hornells- 
ville  is  essentially  a  creation  of  the  Erie.  It  is  at  junction  of 
the  Caneadea  Creek  and  the  Canisteo  River ;  3  divisions  of 
the  Erie  end  and  begin  here  :  the  Susquehanna,  the  Buffalo, 
and  the  Allegany,  formerly  the  Western.  Also  on  Central 
New  York  and  Western  Railroad. 

(ALMOND,  ALFRED,  ANDOVER,  Allegany  Co., 
X.  Y.  Miles  from  New  York,  337,  341,  350;  Hornellsville, 
5,  9,  iS;  Dunkirk,  123,  119,  no,  respectively.  Old  settle- 
ments— Almond,  1796  ;  Alfred,  1807  ;  Andover,  1S24.  Agri- 
cultural and  local  industries  ;  mills;  creamery.  Almond — 3 
churches;  1  school;  2  hotels.  Population,  1,500.  Alfred 
(originally  Baker's  Bridge)  is  the  station  for  Alfred  Centre,  2 
miles.  2  churches  ;  2  schools  ;  2  newspapers  ;  2  hotels — no 
license ;  9  cheese  factories  in  the  locality.  Alfred  Univer- 
sity (Seventh  Day  Baptist).  In  one  respect  this  pretty  vil- 
lage, in  the  heart  of  the  rich  farming  region  of  Allegany 
•County,  is  the  oddest  town  in  the  State.  At  sundown  every 
Friday  evening  work  of  every  kind  and  description  ceases. 
Saturday  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  people  hereabout,  and  the 
•early  Puritans  of  New  England  observed  their  Sabbath  with 
no  more  severe  reverence.  When  the  sun  sets  on  Saturday 
the  village  springs  into  busy  life  again.  Stores  are  opened, 
promenaders  appear,  worldly  affairs  are  resumed.  Andover 
—  Incorporated,  1893.  Population,  1,000.  5  churches;  r 
school ;    1  newspaper ;  4  hotels ;  cheese  factories.) 

WELLSVILLE,  Allegany  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New 
York,  359  miles;  Hornellsville,  27;  Dunkirk,  102.  Incor- 
porated village,  1872.  Population,  5,000.  Agricultural  and 
manufacturing.  9  churches ;  schools ;  2  newspapers ;  6 
hotels  ;  2  banks ;  free  library ;  machine  works ;  leather 
and  furniture  factories ;  tanning.  Formerly  Genesee  station. 
Outlet  and  inlet  for  all  the  region  for  50  miles  south  in  the 
lumber  regions  of  Potter  County  for  25  years  after  coming 
of  Erie.  Also  on  Buffalo  and  Susquehanna  Railroad  from 
1  oudersport,  Pa. 

(SCIO,  Allegany  Co.,  X.  Y.  From  Hornellsville,  30 
miles;   Dunkirk,  98.     Agricultural.) 

BELMONT,  Allegany  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
366  miles;  Hornellsville,  34;  Dunkirk,  95.  Settled,  1816. 
[ncorporated,  1856.  County  seat.  Agricultural  and  manu- 
facturing. 6  churches;  1  school;  2  newspapers;  2  hotels; 
1  bank  ;  free  library  ;  county  buildings.  Was  in  the  great 
pine  belt  of  western  New  York;  lumbering  until  1856.  Mill; 
machinery  works  ;  pail  factory. 

l:i  LVIDERE,  Allegany  Co.,  X.  Y.  From  Hornells- 
■ville,    38   miles;   Dunkirk,    90.     Takes  name   from   the   late 


Philip  Church's  historic  residence.     Former  station  for  Bel- 
fast, Oramel,  Angelica.     Agricultural. 

FRIEXDSHIP,  Allegany  Co.,  X.  Y.  From  New- 
York,  374  miles  ;  Hornellsville,  42  ;  Dunkirk,  86.  Settled, 
1807.  Incorporated  village,  1852.  Population,  1898,  1,800. 
Agricultural  and  industrial.  6  churches  ;  1  school ;  1  news- 
paper; 1  hotel;  2  banks.  Important  shipping  point  for 
dairy  products,  hay,  grain,  potatoes,  live  stock.  Sash,  door, 
and  blind  factories  ;  stove  company.  Prosperous  and  grow- 
ing. 

CFJBA,  Allegany  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  383 
miles;  Hornellsville,  51  ;  Dunkirk,  77.  Agricultural.  Pop- 
ulation, 1,400.  4  churches;  2  schools;  2  hotels;  1  bank. 
The  last  spike  in  the  construction  of  the  Erie  was  driven  at 
Cuba,  April  2r,  1851,  by  Silas  Seymour,  engineer  in  charge 
of  that  division.  Cuba  was  the  terminus  of  the  Erie  for  five 
months  pending  the  completion  of  the  road  from  Dunkirk  east. 
After  the  close  of  the  War  of  181 2,  emigration  became  extensive 
from  the  Eastern  States  to  Ohio.  The  direct  route  from  the 
Hudson  to  the  Allegany  through  Xew  York  State  was  from  Al- 
bany to  Utica,  then  to  Canandaigua,  and  from  that  point  to 
Angelica,  or  Cuba,  thence  to  Olean  Point,  from  which  the  Alle- 
gany River  conveyed  them  to  the  Ohio.  Oil  Creek,  a  tributary 
of  the  Allegany  River,  rising  in  the  historical  oil  spring  near 
Cuba,  was  preferred  by  the  emigrants  to  the  wretched  roads. 
They  would  come  to  Cuba  in  the  fall  or  in  the  spring,  where 
they  would  wait  for  the  first  freshet  in  the  creek.  To  ac- 
commodate them,  boats  of  logs  and  planks,  16  to  24  feet 
long,  were  made  by  local  builders  at  Cuba,  and  sold  for  from 
$30  to  $50  each.  These  boats  would  carry  five  persons  each 
with  their  goods,  and  the  emigrant  would  make  the  trip  to 
the  Allegany  at  Olean  Point,  and  thence  down  the  river. 

(HINSDALE,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  Y.,  between  Cuba 
and  Olean.  An  old  village,  a  relic  of  the  Genesee  Canal, 
now  long  since  departed.) 

OLEAN,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
396  miles;  Dunkirk,  64  miles.  Settled,  1803.  Incorporated 
as  a  city,  1892.  Erie  opened,  May  14,  185  1.  Population 
then,  1,000;  population,  1898,  15,000.  12  churches;  S 
schools  ;  4  newspapers  ;  2  banks  ;  10  hotels  ;  free  library  ;  State 
armory.  Acid,  barrel,  spring-beds,  boilers,  engines,  glue,  glass- 
ware, horseshoes,  hubs,  leather,  mill  machinery,  oils,  oil-well 
supply,  soap,  shoe-findings,  stump  machines,  shirts,  tanners' 
supplies,  wagon,  and  many  other  factories.  Olean  is  the 
largest  petroleum  storage-place  in  the  world.  The  Standard 
Oil  Company  has  scores  of  immense  iron  tanks  here.  From 
Olean  the  crude  petroleum  is  started  to  the  seaboard  through 
the  iron  pipes  that  carry  it  to  the  refineries,  a  great  part  of 
the  way  along  the  route  of  the  Erie. 

ALLEGANY,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New 
York,  399  miles;  Dunkirk,  60.  Came  into  existence  with 
the  Erie.  The  original  route  of  the  Erie  ran  two  miles  south 
of  its  present  location,  and  there  a  city  had  been  plotted,  be- 
lieving that  the  railroad  would  bring  to  it  great  importance. 
The  change  in  the  route,  however,  destroyed  that  hope.  The 
present  village  of  Allegany  sprang  up  instead.     Population, 


THE   STORY   OF    ERIE 


50/ 


1,500.  Seat  of  a  Franciscan  college  and  convent  and  of 
St.  Elizabeth's  Academy  under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  St. 
Francis.  Four  miles  beyond  Allegany  the  Indian  Reserva- 
tion begins. 

(VANDALIA,  CARROLLTON,  and  GREAT  VALLEY, 
Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  V.  Stations  between  Allegany  and 
Salamanca.  Carrollton,  junction  of  the  Bradford  Division. 
Great  Valley,  originally  Killbuck  station.  Centre  of  an  ex- 
tensive lumbering  business.) 

SALAMANCA,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  V.  From  New 
York,  415  miles;  Dunkirk,  45.  Settled,  1865  ;  incorporated, 
1878.  Population,  5,000.  Manufacturing  and  railroad  cen- 
tre. 7  churches  ;  5  schools  ;  3  newspapers  ;  12  hotels ;  2  banks  ; 
hospital ;  building  and  loan  association  ;  library  :  gymnasium. 
Named  by  James  McHenry  for  the  Marquis  of  Salamanca, 
Spain,  a  liberal  contributor  to  the  building  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  Railroad.  Salamanca  is  built  entirely  on 
the  lands  of  the  Indian  Reservation,  which  are  held  under  en- 
abling Congressional  legislation  by  long  tenure  of  leasehold. 
Salamanca  came  into  existence  with  the  building  of  the  At- 
lantic and  Great  Western  Railroad,  now  the  Nypano  Division 
of  the  Erie,  which  has  its  eastern  terminus  at  this  point.  At 
that  time  the  site  of  the  present  Salamanca  was  a  tangled 
swamp.  The  settlement  was  a  mile  west  of  the  present  sta- 
tion, and  known  as  Bucktooth,  now  West  Salamanca.  The 
first  settlers  in  Salamanca  were  greatly  hampered  by  the  diffi- 
culty of  securing  satisfactory  leases  of  ground  to  build  upon, 
because  of  the  lack  of  legal  authority  vested  in  the  Indian 
proprietors  to  make  them.  After  a  long  effort  legislation 
was  at  last  obtained  doing  away  to  a  great  extent  with  this 
difficulty,  but  it  was  not  until  a  few  years  ago  that  the  present 
beneficial  legislation  was  procured  through  which  the  citizens 
were  warranted  in  making  such  improvements  as  the  impor- 
tance ami  steady  growth  of  the  place  demanded.  Besides 
the  Erie  and  its  system,  Salamanca  is  on  the  Buffalo,  Roches- 
ter and  Pittsburg  and  Western  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
railroads. 

LITTLE  VALLEY,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  Y.  From 
New  York,  421  miles;  from  Dunkirk,  39.  Settled  early  in 
the  century.  Population,  1,000.  Became  the  county  seat 
in  1868.  Cattaraugus  County  Fair  Grounds;  3  churches,  2 
schools.     Centre  of  rich  dairy  country. 

(CATTARAUGUS,  DAYTON,  PERRYSBURG,  Catta- 
raugus Co.,  N.  V.;  SMITH'S  MILLS  and  FOREST- 
YILLE,  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.  Original  Erie  stations 
and  old  villages  on  the  elevated  land  between  Little  Valley 
and  Dunkirk.  At  Dayton  the  Buffalo  and  Southwestern  1  >i- 
vision  from  Jamestown  and  Chautauqua  Lake  to  Buffalo  con- 
nects with  main  line.  All  these  stations  are  thriving  centres 
of  the  great  Chautauqua  and  Cattaraugus  dairy  regions.) 

DUNKIRK,  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
460  miles.  Settled  in  1S10.  Called  Chadwick's  Bay,  after 
the  original  settler,  Solomon  Chadwick.  The  land  now  occu- 
pied by  Dunkirk  originally  belonged  to  De  Witt  Clinton  and 
Isaiah  and  John  Thompson.  In  181  7  Walter  Smith  bought 
half  for  Sio,ooo.     In  1837  he  sold  it  to  New  York  men  for 


double  the  price,  and  bought  the  other  half  for  S7,ooo,  and 
purchased  600  acres  more.  In  1838  he  divided  it  into  shares. 
One-quarter  of  it  was  to  have  been  donated  to  the  Erie  if  the 
railroad  was  completed  in  1842.  Dunkirk,  incorporated  a 
village  in  1837.  Population,  1898,  14,000.  Manufacturing. 
14  churches;  9  schools;  5  newspapers;  2  banks:  17  hotels. 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  Free  Library.  Port 
of  entry  on  Lake  Erie.  Legal  western  terminus  of  the  Erie. 
Electric  railroads,  electric  lights.  Extensive  shops  of  the 
Erie  were  here  until  1868  ;  then  abandoned  and  became  the 
Brooks  Locomotive  Works.  Besides  the  Erie,  the  Lake  Shore 
and  Michigan  Southern,  New  York,  Chicago  and  St.  Louis, 
Dunkirk,  Allegany  Valley  and  Pittsburg,  and  Western  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  railroads  run  through  or  terminate 
at  Dunkirk. 

BUFFALO    DIVISION-. 

{Fmm  Hornellsville ;  see  Allegany  Division.) 

ARKPORT,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  BERNE,  CANASE- 
RAGA,    (lARWOODS,    and    SWAINS,    Allegany     Co., 

N.  Y. ;  DALTON,  HUNTS,  and  PORTAGE,  Livingston 
Co.,  N.  Y. ;  CASTILE  and  SILVER  SPRINGS,  Wyoming 
Co.,  N.  V.  Thrifty  villages  between  Hornellsville  and  War- 
saw. Dalton  is  the  station  for  Nunda,  a  village  of  1,000  popu- 
lation. At  Portage  is  the  great  Erie  Railroad  bridge  across 
the  Genesee  River  at  the  Portage  Falls.  Silver  Springs  is  the 
station  to  Silver  Lake. 

WARSAW,  Wyoming  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  375 
miles;  Buffalo,  48.  Settled,  1803.  Incorporated,  1843. 
Population,  3,000.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  On  the 
Great  Wyoming  Salt  Belt,  some  of  the  finest  wells  being  here 
and  in  the  vicinity.  7  churches  ;  high  school ;  2  newspapers  ; 
2  banks  ;  5  hotels.  Also  on  the  Rochester  and  Pittsburg  Rail- 
road. 

(GALE,  Wyoming  Co.,  N.  V. :  LINDEN,  Genesee  Co., 
N.  Y.  Small  places  between  Warsaw  and  Attica,  in  an  agri- 
cultural region.) 

ATTICA,  Wyoming  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  392 
miles;  Buffalo,  31.  Settled  early  in  century.  Incorporated. 
1837.  Population,  2,000.  5  churches  ;  1  newspaper ;  union 
school ;  1  bank.  At  the  junction  of  the  Rochester  and  Buf- 
falo divisions,  forming  a  single  line  to  Buffalo.  Also  on  a 
branch  of  the  New  York  Central. 

(GRISWOLD  and  DARIEN,  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.  :  AL- 
DEN,  TOWN  LINE,  LANCASTER,  CHEEKTOWAi  \\. 
Erie  Co.,  N.  Y.  Neat  and  thriving  villages  between  Attica 
and  Buffalo.) 

BUFFALO,  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  425 
miles.  Village  laid  out  by  Holland  Land  Company  in  1801. 
In  1S12  it  was  burned  by  the  British.  Congress  voted 
$80,000  to  compensate  for  the  loss.  Incorporated  a  city, 
April,  1832.  Black  Rock  included  in  city  limits,  1852,  and 
new  city  charter  went  in  force  January  1,  1854.  Population 
then,  45,000.  Population,  1898,  300,000.  Port  of  entry. 
Seat  of  justice  of  Erie  County.     Western  terminus  of  Erie 


;oS 


BETWEEN  THE  OCEAN  AND  THE  LAKES 


Canal.  Water-front  of  5  miles  :  2i  on  Lake  Erie,  2I  on  Ni- 
agara River.  Like-front  gradually  rises  to  an  extended 
plain,  50  feet  above  the  water.  Portion  of  river-front  a  bold 
bluff,  60  feet  above  the  water.  City  handsomely  built. 
Streets  broad  and  straight.  Where  the  waters  of  the  lake 
merge  in  the  Niagara  River,  Buffalo  Creek  enters  the  lake 
from  the  east  and  the  Erie  Canal  from  the  northwest.  Over 
100  miles  of  asphalt  streets.  15  parks,  one  of  442  acres. 
Claims  to  be  the  cleanest,  best-lighted,  and  healthiest  city 
in  the  United  States.  Water  supply  obtained  from  Niagara 
River  through  a  tunnel  extending  nearly  to  the  middle  of  the 
river.  Gas  and  electric  lighting  ;  natural  gas  for  fuel. 
Electric  street  railways.  Public  buildings  include  custom- 
house, post-office,  State  arsenal,  State  armory,  city  and 
county  hall  and  jail,  general  hospital,  insane  asylum,  four 
orphan  asylums.  Several  private  hospitals  and  asylums  under 
church  care.  167  churches;  State  Normal  School;  50  pub- 
lic schools  ;  2  medical  colleges  ;  Buffalo  Library  ;  Grosvenor 
Library.  7  English  and  3  German  dailies,  and  20  weekly 
newspapers.  Board  of  Trade  organized  in  1S44  ;  incorpo- 
rated in  1857.  Merchants'  Exchange.  Preeminent  in  the 
grain  trade  :  40  elevators,  with  storage  capacity  of  20,000,- 
000  bushels ;  transportation  facility,  4,000,000  bushels  a  day. 
First  elevator  built  in  1843  by  Joseph  Dart.  In  live-stock 
trade,  second  only  to  Chicago.  In  steel  and  iron,  ranks  next 
to  Pittsburg,  having  nearly  2,000  manufactories.  Annual 
lumber  trade,  400,000,000  feet.  Greatest  Eastern  railroad 
centre  :  Erie  and  branches,  New  York  Central,  Lake  Shore 
system,  Michigan  Central,  Grand  Trunk,  West  Shore,  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  and  Western,  Lehigh  Valley,  Buffalo, 
Rochester  and  Pittsburg,  Western  New  York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  numerous  local  railroads. 

ROCHESTER     DIVISION. 
{From  Corning;  see  Susquehanna  Division.) 

PAINTED  POST,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
293  miles;  Dunkirk,  167;  Buffalo,  132;  Rochester,  93. 
Settled,  1786.  Incorporated,  1893.  Population,  1,000. 
Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  On  the  Chemung  tobacco 
belt.  3  churches  ;  1  school ;  1  hotel ;  1  bank.  The  Seneca 
chief,  Montour,  mortally  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Hogback, 
August  29,  1779,  died  here.  A  bronze  statue  of  an  Indian 
is  erected  in  the  public  square  commemorating  the  event. 
Junction  of  main  line  of  Erie. 

(COOPERS,  CURTIS,  CAMPBELL,  and  SAVONA, 
Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.    Thriving  agricultural  villages.) 

BATH,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  NewYork,3ii  miles; 
Rochester,  74.  Settled,  1793  ;  incorporated,  r  816.  Popula- 
tion, 3,000.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  6  churches;  1 
school ;  3  newspapers ;  6  hotels  ;  2  banks.  New  York  Sailors' 
and  Soldiers'  Home;  Davenport  Orphan  Asylum.  State  fish 
hatchery  near  by.  Admiral  Howell,  United  States  Navy,  was 
born  here.  Bath  was  intended  by  its  projectors  to  be  the 
metropolis  of  the  West.    It  was  the  headquarters  of  the  Pult- 


ney  estate,  the  proprietor  of  which  was  Sir  William  Pultney 
of  England.  His  agent,  Charles  Williamson,  founded  the 
place.  There  was  a  theatre,  a  race-course,  and  a  newspaper 
here  as  early  as  1796.  Steuben  County  fair-grounds,  property 
of  one  of  the  oldest  agricultural  societies  in  the  State,  are 
here.  Also  on  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western,  and  Bath 
and  Hammondsport  railroads,  the  latter  one  of  the  first  rail- 
roads incorporated  in  the  State  of  New  York,  having  been 
chartered  in  1831,  under  the  name  of  the  Bath  and  Crooked 
Lake  Railroad.  No  railroad  was  built,  however,  until  1875, 
when  the  present  Bath  and  Hammondsport  Railroad  was 
built  as  a  three-foot  gauge.  It  was  made  standard  gauge  in 
July,  1889. 

(KANONA,  AVOCA,  WALLACE'S,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  V. 
Attractive  villages  in  a  picturesque  region.) 

COHOCTON,  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
326  miles;  Rochester,  59.  Population,  1,200.  Formerly 
great  lumber  centre.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  6 
churches  ;  union  free  school ;  circulating  library  ;  2  newspa- 
pers ;  opera-house  ;  5  hotels ;  agricultural  society  and  fair- 
grounds ;  water-works.  Also  on  main  line  of  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad. 

(BLOOD'S,  WAYLAND,  Steuben  Co.;  SPRINGWATER, 
WEBSTER,  CONESUS,  SOUTH  LIVONIA,  LIVONIA, 
and  HAMILTON,  Livingston  Co.  Stations  for  thrifty 
villages  in  a  garden  spot  of  Western  New  York.) 

AVON,  Livingston  Co.,  N.  V.  From  New  York,  367 
miles;  Rochester,  18.  Population,  1,600.  Farming  com- 
munity. 4  churches ;  1  high  school ;  1  parish  school  ;  1 
newspaper ;  2  banks ;  electric  lights ;  natural  gas  belt ; 
superior  fire  department ;  gravity  water  system  ;  sewered  ; 
cement  sidewalks ;  telephone,  local  and  long  distance ;  vil- 
lage park ;  soldiers'  monument ;  opera-house  ;  race-track. 
Famous  health  resort.  Mineral  springs :  large  hotels  and 
sanitariums.  A  place  of  refinement  and  culture  in  the  Gene- 
see Valley.  Junction  of  Rochester,  Buffalo,  and  Mount 
Morris  branches  of  the  Erie.  The  sulphur  springs  here 
were  known  and  used  by  the  Indians  long  before  the  first 
white  settlers  came  in  the  Genesee  Valley.  Two  hundred 
years  ago  De  Nouville,  the  French  explorer,  fought  a  fierce 
battle  with  the  Indians  on  the  present  site  of  Avon.  General 
Sullivan,  in  1779,  also  invaded  the  valley  at  this  point,  and 
drove  the  Indians  from  it  forever. 

(RUSH,  SCOTTSVILLE,  HENRIETTA,  and  RED 
CREEK,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.,  are  bustling  stations  between 
Avon  and  Rochester.  Scottsville  has  3  churches,  a  union 
school,  and  extensive  mills  a  mile  and  a  half  west  of  the 
station.) 

ROCHESTER,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
386  miles.  First  settler  came  in  1788,  but  first  actual  settle- 
ment began  in  1S10,  made  by  Col.  Nathaniel  Rochester. 
Incorporated  as  village  of  Rochesterville,  1S17  ;  as  city  of 
Rochester,  1834.  Population  in  1817,  600;  in  1834,  11,000  ; 
1898,  estimated,  175,000.  Port  of  entry.  Genesee  River  flows 
through  centre  of  city.  Unexcelled  water-power  ;  river  falls 
226  feet  within  3  miles  ;  3  perpendicular  falls,  96,  26,  and  84 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


509 


feet  high.  City  covers  area  of  18  miles.  Manufacturing.  90 
churches;  high  school ;  16  ward  schools  ;  Rochester  Univer- 
sity (1846),  Theological  Seminary  (1S50),  both  Baptist.  6 
national  banks ;  4  savings  banks ;  6  private  banks ;  7  daily, 
16  weekly,  1  tri-weekly  newspapers  ;  15  monthlies.  Chil- 
dren's Home,  Old  Woman's  Home,  State  Industrial  School. 
Hospitals  and  libraries.  Famous  for  its  great  milling  indus- 
try (once  called  the  "  Flour  City")  and  for  its  nurseries  of 
fruit  trees  and  plants,  and  for  flower  and  garden  seed  grow- 
ing. 16  flour  mills,  manufacturing  3,000,000  bushels  of  wheat 
annually.  Largest  carriage  factory  in  United  States.  Annual 
manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  and  clothing,  §20,000,000. 
Rubber  goods,  furniture,  steam  engines,  agricultural  ma- 
chinery, tobacco,  cigars,  blast  furnaces,  breweries,  iron  bridge 
works.  Erie  Canal  crosses  Genesee  River  by  cut-stone 
aqueduct,  848  feet  long,  45  feet  wide,  supported  by  9  arches. 
The  architecture  of  Rochester  is  beautiful,  imposing,  costly. 
Wide,  shaded  streets,  crossing  at  right  angles.  Electric  rail- 
roads with  all  neighboring  towns.  Lake  Ontario,  7  miles. 
Two  water  supplies  :  Hemlock  Lake,  29  miles  distant,  eleva- 
tion 400  feet,  and  Genesee  River  (Holly  system).  Paid  fire 
department.  Noted  buildings  :  Powers  Block  and  the  Arcade. 
"Spirit  rappings  "  had  their  origin  here,  with  the  Fox  sisters, 
in  1S50.  Erie,  New  York  Central,  Western  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania,  Pittsburg,  Buffalo  and  Rochester,  and  local 
railroads. 

NEWBURGH    SHORT    CUT    AND     BRANCH. 

CENTRAL  YALLEY,  HIGHLAND  MILLS,  WOOD- 
BURY, HOUGHTON  FARM,  MOUNTAINYILLE, 
CORNWALL,  NEW  WINDSOR,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Along  Neiuburgh  Short  Cut,  from  Turner's,  N.  Y.;  see  New 
York  Division.  Milages  among  the  Hudson  Highlands. 
Dairy  farming,  manufacturing,  fruit-growing,  stock-raising. 
Important  as  summer  resorts.  New  Windsor  settlements 
early  in  last  century.  Revolutionary  association.  The  El- 
lison House,  built  in  1735,  where  Washington  had  his  head- 
quarters, is  still  standing.  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  had 
its  origin  at  New  Windsor,  in  the  "Temple  of  Virtue,"  a 
large  frame  building  erected  by  order  of  Gen.  Washington 
in  1782. 

NEWBURGH,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
63  miles.  Settled  17 19,  by  Palatines  from  the  Palatinate  of 
Newburgh,  Germany.  A  church  settlement  originally.  In- 
corporated as  village,  1S00  ;  as  city,  1865.  Estimated 
population,  1898,  25,000.  One  of  the  capitals  of  Orange 
County.  Situated  on  the  plateau  and  high  hills  overlooking 
Newburgh  Bay.  Manufacturing,  and  centre  of  great  dairy 
and  fruit  region.  Coal  storage  depot  and  shipping  point  of 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Company.  Shipyards,  cotton  and  woollen 
factories.  32  churches;  free  academy;  5  grammar  schools; 
private  boarding  schools;  public  library;  children's  home; 
Home  for  the  Friendless  ;  State  armory  ;  Academy  of  Music  ; 
4  daily,  5  weekly  newspapers ;  3  banks ;  5  hotels.  Rich  in 
Revolutionary  associations.    Seat  of  military  operations  was  in 


the  Highlands,  in  1782-83.  Washington's  headquarters  in  the 
Hasbrouck  Mansion,  built  in  1750,  and  still  standing  in  the 
condition  it  was  left  when  the  army  was  disbanded,  June  23, 
1783.  Here  Washington  matured  the  plans  which  led  to 
the  final  triumph  of  the  American  army.  Newburgh  particu- 
larly belongs  to  the  history  of  Erie.  ("Third  Administration 
of  Eleazar  Lord,"  pages  76-84.)  Also  on  West  Shore 
Railroad,  Albany  and  Troy  lines  of  Hudson  River  steam- 
boats. Ferry  to  Fishkill  Landing  (New  York  Central  Rail- 
road connection).  Electric  street  railways  and  to  suburbs. 
Electric  and  gas  lighting.     Hospital. 

CRAIGVILLE,  BLOOMING  GROVE,  WASHING- 
TONVILLE,  SALISBURY  MILLS,  VAIL'S  GATE,  Orange 
Co.,  N.  Y.  Along  Xewhurgh  Branch,  from  Greyeourl, 
N.  Y. ;  see  Netv  York  Division.  In  the  historic-valley  of  the 
Murdererskill.  All  ancient  settlements.  Dairy  farming, 
manufacturing,  fruit-growing,  stock-raising.  Famous  summer 
resorts.  At  Yail's  Gate,  the  Edmoston  House,  built  in  1755, 
still  standing,  was  the  headquarters  of  Gen.  St.  Clair  and  Gen. 
Gates.  At  Washington  Square  Gen.  Clinton's  headquarters 
were  in  the  Falls  House,  still  intact. 

HONESDALE     BRANCH. 
{From  Lackatoaxen,  Pa. :  see  Delaware  Division.) 

HAWLEY,  Wayne  Co.,  Pa.  From  New  York,  126  miles. 
Came  into  existence  with  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company. 
Original  settlement  called  Paupack  Eddy.  For  years  terminus 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company's  gravity  railroad  con- 
necting the  mines  of  that  company  with  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal,  and  later  with  the  Hawley  Branch  of  the  Erie. 
( Gravity  railroad  was  replaced  by  the  Erie  and  Wyoming  Rail- 
road in  1881.  Population,  2,000.  Incorporated,  1882.  Manu- 
facturing. Silk  mills,  glass-cutting  works,  and  glass  factory; 
Milestone  works.  4  churches  ;  graded  school ;  1  newspaper  ; 
1  bank  ;  4  hotels. 

(WHITE  MILLS,  Wayne  Co.,  Pa.,  a  neat  village,  owing 
its  existence  and  sustenance  to  the  famous  Dorllinger  glass- 
cutting  works.) 

HONESDALE,  Wayne  Co.,  Pa.  From  New  York,  135 
miles.  First  settlement,  1823.  Came  into  existence  with 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  and  its  gravity  railroad  in 
1826.  Incorporated,  1 83 1.  County  seat.  Farming,  dairy,  and 
manufacturing.  Population,  including  part  outside  of  corpo- 
ration limits,  6,000.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  7 
churches;  1  synagogue ;  graded  school  :  2  weekly,  1  semi- 
weekly  newspapers  :  1  national  bank  ;  1  savings  bank  ;  5  hotels. 
The  first  locomotive  that  turned  a  wheel  on  the  Am 
continent  was  run  at  Honesdale  on  the  Delaware  and  Hud- 
son Canal  Company's  track,  August  9,  1829,  by  Horatio 
Allen,  who  years  afterward  was  President  of  the  Erie.  Jennie 
Brownscombe,  the  noted  artist,  and  HomerGreen,  the  author 
and  poet,  are  residents  of  Honesdale.  The  lofty  cliff  rising 
east  of  Honesdale,  known  as  Irving  Cliff,  was  named  by 
Washington  Irving.  John  Jacob  Astor,  Philip  Hone,  and 
other  distinguished  New  York  men  visited  Honesdale  on  the 


5>o 


BETWEEN    THE    OCEAN    AND    THE    LAKES 


opening  of  the  canal,  and  climbed  to  the  summit  of  the  cliff. 
Honesdale  was  named  for  Philip  Hone,  an  old-time  mayor 
of  New  York  City  and  a  patron  of  the  canal.  Silk  mill,  glass- 
cutting  works,  iron  foundry,  woollen  mills.  Coal  storage  and 
shipping  point  of  Delaware  and  Hudson  and  Erie. 

JEFFERSON     DIVISION. 

(From  Susquehanna,  Pa. ;  see  Susquehanna  Division?) 

FOREST  CITY,  Susquehanna  Co.,  Pa.  From  Susque- 
hanna, 32  miles.  Northern  boundary  of  Lackawanna  coal 
field.  Settlement  due  to  discovery  of  coal.  Incorporated  as 
borough,  1888.  Population,  estimated,  5,000.  Coal  mining. 
Erie's  coal  mine  property  hereabout.  8  churches,  1  graded 
school,  1  newspaper,  1  bank,  4  hotels. 

CARBONDALE,  Lackawanna  Co.,  Pa.  From  Susque- 
hanna, 39  miles.  Settled,  1827,  by  beginning  of  coal  mining 
by  Delaware  and  Hudson  Coal  Company.  Pioneer  city  of 
Northeastern  Pennsylvania.  Incorporated,  1850.  Coal  min- 
ing and  manufacturing.  Silk  mill,  iron  foundry,  machinerv. 
First  coal  marketed  to  tidewater  on  the  Hudson  mined  here. 
8  churches,  16  schools,  2  newspapers,  2  banks,  6  hotels. 
Free  library  ;  emergency  hospital ;  opera-house.  First  great 
mine  disaster  here  in  1845  ;  16  persons  buried  by  falling 
roof  of  original  mine.  Gas  and  electric  lighting.  On  Penn- 
sylvania Division  of  Delaware  and  Hudson  Railroad  and 
western  terminus  of  Delaware  and  Hudson  Gravity  Railroad. 

Other  stations  on  this  division,  small  farming,  lumber- 
ing, or  mining  centres.  Lanesboro,  Susquehanna  Co.,  Pa. ; 
Starrucca,  Wayne  Co.,  Pa. ;  Herrick  Centre,  Susquehanna 
Co.,  Pa.,  are  old  settlements.  Starrucca  once  important  in 
tanning  industry.  Herrick  Centre,  Uniondale,  Stillwater, 
Thompson,  agricultural.  Lanesboro,  legal  terminus  of  Jeffer- 
son Railroad.  Hallenback's  and  West  Carbondale,  mining 
and  lumber. 

BRADFORD    DIVISION. 
(From  Carrollton,  N.  Y. ;  see  Allegany  Division.) 

BRADFORD,  McKean  Co.,  Pa.  From  New  York,  419 
miles  ;  Buffalo,  97  ;  Dunkirk,  63.  Settled  early.  Originally 
Littleton,  a  lumbering  hamlet.  City  had  its  rise  in  the  discov- 
ery of  petroleum.  First  practical  development  of  the  terri- 
tory, 1875.  For  many  years  the  oil-producing  centre  of  the 
world,  the  region  producing  25,000  barrels  a  day.  Manu- 
facturing. In  a  vast  coal  and  lumber  region.  ("The  Build- 
ing of  It,"  pages  366-367.)  Population,  1898,  14,000. 
18  churches;  2  synagogues;  3  daily,  3  weekly  newspapers; 
3  banks  ;  23  hotels  ;  3  oil  refineries ;  6  oil-well  supply  firms ; 
3  pipe  lines  ;  47  miscellaneous  manufactories;  paved  streets; 
electric  lights  and  railways  ;  gravity  water  system  ;  natural 
gas;  2  parks  ;  7  schools;  1  high  school;  2  parochial  schools; 
hook  and  ladder  company,  and  6  hose  companies.  Electric 
railways  to  Olean  and  Rock  City. 

Besides  Bradford,  the  oil  business  called  into  importance 
the    stations   of    Limestone,    Babcock,    Kendal,    De    Golia, 


Lewis  Run,  Big  Shanty,  Crawford's,  Alton,  and   Buttsville, 
along  this  division  of  Erie. 

NIAGARA    FALLS    BRANCH. 

(From  Buffalo.) 

TONAWANDA,  Erik  Co.,  N.Y.  From  New  York,  432 
miles;  Buffalo,  13.  Early  settlement.  Population,  7,500. 
Lumber-trade  centre  and  manufacturing.  On  Niagara  River 
and  at  mouth  of  Tonawanda  Creek.  Opposite  Grand  Island. 
1 1  churches ;  high  school ;  7  district  schools  ;  2  newspapers  ; 

2  banks.  Terminus  of  Lockport  Branch.  Also  on  Canandaigua 
and  Niagara  Falls  Branch  of  New  York  Central  Railroad. 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  Niagara  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New 
York,  442  miles;  Buffalo,  24.  Settled,  1806.  Incorporated 
as  village,  1847  ;  as  city,  March  17,  1892.  Population,  22,000. 
Manufacturing.  Greatest  chemical  manufacturing  city  in 
the  world.  Greatest  electrical  centre  in  the  United  States ; 
the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company  developing  nearly  50,- 
000  horse-power,  the  Niagara  Falls  Hvdraulic  Power  and 
Manufacturing  Company  developing  30,000  horse-power. 
15  churches ;  13  schools  ;  4  newspapers  ;  34  hotels  ;  6  banks  ; 
public  library  :  Memorial  Hospital.  Many  of  the  battles 
of  the  French  and  Indian  War  were  fought  along  the  Niagara 
River.  At  Youngstown  the  French  made  their  last  stand 
against  the  British.  Descriptions  of  the  grandeur  of  the  great 
cataract  that  gives  this  place  its  name  are  household  words. 

LOCKPORT    BRANCH. 

(From  Tonawanda.) 

LOCKPORT,  Niagara  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York, 
460  miles ;  Buffalo,  25.  Settled,  1S10.  Incorporated  as  a 
village,  1S36;  as  a  city,  1S68.  Population,  20,000.  On  the 
rich  fruit  belt  of  western  New  York.  Manufacturing.  16 
churches  ;  9  schools,  including  first  union  school  in  the  State  ; 

3  daily,  3  semi-weekly,  1  weekly,  and  2  monthly  newspapers ; 

4  banks ;  opera-house.  Brick,  asphalt,  and  stone  streets ; 
electric  lights,  electric  railroad  to  Buffalo  and  Lake  Ontario. 
Water  and  electric  power.  5  hose  companies,  1  hook  and 
ladder  company.  Home  of  the  Holly  Water  Works  system. 
Upwards  of  25  large  manufactories  of  every  variety  of  goods, 
machinery,  and  supplies.  20  miles  of  sewers.  Lockport  ship- 
ments of  fruit  in  1896  were  equivalent  to  1,200,000  barrels. 
Municipal  hall,  court-house,  and  jail.  County  seat  of  Niagara 
County.  Lockport  is  named  from  having  in  its  limits  10 
locks  on  the  Erie  Canal,  largest  in  the  State.  Governor 
Washington  Hunt  was  born  here. 

BUFFALO    BRANCH    OF    ROCHESTER    DIVISION. 

(From  Avon  j   see  Rochester  Division.) 

CALEDONIA,  Livingston  Co.,  N.Y.  From  New  York, 
374  miles;  Rochester,  25  ;  Buffalo,  59.  Settled,  1S05  ;  incor- 
porated, 1890.    Population,  1,100.    Agricultural.    4  churches; 


THE    STORY    OF    ERIE 


5" 


i  school ;  i  newspaper  ;  2  banks  ;  2  hotels ;  Ladies'  Library 
Association.  Birthplace  of  the  late  United  States  Senator 
Angus  Cameron.  Originally  settled  by  the  Scotch,  whose 
descendants  are  largely  of  the  present  population.  The 
wonderful  Caledonia  Big  Spring  is  here.  This  extraordi- 
nary spring  was  early  a  great  rendezvous  of  the  Indians. 
On  its  outlet  was  located  the  first  fish  hatchery  in  the  United 
States,  if  not  in  the  world.  This  was  established  by  the  late 
Seth  Green,  the  father  of  practical  fish  culture.  The  hatch- 
ery is  now  the  property  of  the  State,  and  millions  of  brook- 
trout  fry  and  fry  of  all  other  fresh-water  game  fish  are 
hatched  here,  and  annually  distributed  to  the  waters  through- 
out the  State.  Also  near  the  New  York  Central  and  Lehigh 
Valley  railroads. 

LEROY,  Livingston  Co.,  X.  V.  From  New  York,  3S1 
miles;  Rochester,  33;  Buffalo,  51.  Settled,  1797;  incor- 
porated, 1834.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  On  the 
great  salt  belt  of  western  New  York.  8  churches ;  union 
free  school  and  annexes  ;  2  newspapers  ;  2  banks  ;  4  hotels. 
Indian  remains  and  relics  found  at  Fort  Hill,  2  miles  north 
of  the  village  ;  gypsum  and  Onondaga  limestone.  Also  near 
the  New  York  Central  and  Lehigh  Valley  railroads. 

(STAFFORD,  Genesee  Co.,  N.Y.  Station  for  the  villages 
of  Stafford  and  Morganville.) 

BATAVIA,  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  396 
miles;  Buffalo,  41  ;  Rochester,  43.  Settled,  1801  ;  population, 
8,500.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  Plough,  wagon,  and 
other  factories.  8  churches;  6  schools;  2  newspapers  (1 
daily)  ;  4  banks  ;  3  hotels.  State  School  for  the  Blind.  Ba- 
tavia  was  the  home  of  Dean  Richmond,  the  famous  railroad 
magnate,  politician,  and  millionaire.  It  was  the  seat  of  the 
great  Holland  Land  Company,  which  owned  nearly  all  western 
New  York  in  the  early  part  of  the  century.  The  original 
land  office  of  this  company,  a  quaint  and  historical  relic  of 
the  pioneer  days,  is  still  standing  in  Batavia.  This  place 
was  the  scene  of  the  alleged  abduction  of  Morgan  by  the 
Freemasons  of  1S26  for  exposures  of  that  order  which  he 
was  charged  with  having  made.  This  event,  whether  true  or 
false,  led  to  the  anti-Masonic  excitement  in  New  York  and 
other  States,  the  result  of  which  was  a  great  political  revolu- 
tion. It  was  here  that  the  first  meeting  to  advocate  the  con- 
struction of  the  Erie  Canal  was  held  in  1S09.  The  Oak 
Orchard  Acid  Springs,  a  curious  collection  of  bubbling 
fountains,  nine  in  number,  in  no  two  of  which  the  water  is 
the  same,  are  located  near  Batavia. 

ALEXANDER,  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.,  29  miles  from  Buf- 
falo. A  small  village,  the  seat  of  the  Genesee  and  Wyoming 
Seminary,  founded  in  1S34. 

(For  stations  beyond  Alexander,  see  Buffalo  Division.) 

MOUNT    MORRIS    BRANCH. 

{From  Avon  ;  see  Rochester  Division.) 

GENESEO,  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New  York,  375 
miles;    Rochester,  27.     Settled,  1790;    incorporated,   1832. 


County  seat.  Agricultural.  Population,  3,500.  5  churches; 
2  schools ;  2  newspapers ;  3  hotels  :  1  bank.  State  Normal 
School  and  union  school.  Wadsworth  Library.  The  first  set- 
tlers were  William  and  James  Wadsworth,  agents  for  the  sale 
of  immense  tracts  of  land  in  the  vicinity.  Gen.  James  S. 
Wadsworth,  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  in  1864, 
was  a  son  of  the  original  James.  The  historic  home  of  the 
Wadsworths  is  here.  Several  descendants  of  the  pioneers 
have  seats  in  the  village  or  vicinity.  The  Treaty  of  Big  Tree 
between  the  Indians  and  the  United  States,  the  most  impor- 
tant event  in  the  history  of  Western  New  York,  was  signed 
here  in  1797. 

MOUNT  MORRIS,  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New 
York,  382  miles  ;  Rochester,  34.  Settled,  1 794.  Incorpo- 
rated, 1835.  Named  for  Robert  Morris,  the  financier  of  the 
Revolution.  Population,  2,400.  Agricultural  and  manufac- 
turing. 5  churches  ;  1  school  :  2  newspapers  :  4  hotels  ;  3 
banks. 

At  Geneseo,  Mount  Morris,  and  vicinity,  there  exists  a  con- 
dition of  things  common  enough  abroad,  but  rarely  found  in 
America,  a  sort  of  enlightened  feudal  system,  the  land  being 
almost  exclusively  owned  by  a  few  individuals,  hereditary 
holders,  who,  instead  of  leaving  its  management  in  the  hands 
of  unscrupulous  agents,  and  living  elsewhere  on  the  desired 
revenue,  plant  themselves  squarely  in  the  centre  of  their  own 
acres  and  identify  their  interests  with  those  of  their  tenants. 
The  life  of  the  people  of  this  class  is  not  unlike  that  of  the 
English  country  gentleman  ;  their  work  consists  in  the  man- 
agement and  improvement  of  their  land,  the  bettering  of  the 
condition  of  the  farming  population,  and  the  breeding  and 
maintaining  of  thoroughbred  animals,  preeminently  the  horse. 
Their  relaxation  is  found  in  the  entertainment  of  guests,  the 
exchange  of  visits,  and,  more  than  all  else,  fox-hunting  in  its 
season.  Once  every  year,  lured  by  the  Genesee  Valley  hunt, 
one  of  the  most  famous  in  the  country,  "  society "  comes 
farther  westward  than  is  its  wont,  and  finds  in  the  autumnal 
splendors  of  the  valley  a  rival  to  its  own  Berkshire  Hills. 

OX    ERIE    ROUTE     THAT     FAILED. 

JAMESTOWN,  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.  From  New 
York,  449  miles;  Buffalo,  54;  Dunkirk,  40.  Settled,  181 1. 
Incorporated  as  a  village,  1827;  as  a  city,  1S86.  Popula- 
tion estimated,  35,000.  Agricultural  and  manufacturing.  18 
churches  ;  high  school ;  2  daily,  4  weekly,  2  semi-weekly  news- 
papers ;  hospital ;  Prendergast  Free  library.  Jamestown  is 
located  at  the  foot  of  Chautauqua  I.ake,  on  Chautauqua  Out- 
let. Artesian  water  ;  natural  gas  ;  electric  lights  and  railway. 
Junction  of  the  Buffalo  and  Southwestern  Division  and  of  the 
Meadville  Division  of  the  Ohio  Division  (Nypano).  Steam- 
boats run  to  and  fro  the  entire  length  of  the  famous  Chau- 
tauqua Lake.  Jamestown  was  one  of  the  first  places  con- 
nected with  Erie  history,  ami  the  original  route  was  to  pass 
near  it,  but  was  changed  to  its  present  route  from  Salamanca 
through  Cattaraugus  County.  (See  Chapter  III.,  page  28; 
"The  Building  of  It,"  pages  356-363-) 


ADDENDA 


CHAPTER    XXI    {Continued). 
ADMINISTRATION    OF   EBEN    B.   THOMAS— 1899   TO    1901. 

CROWNING  ACHIEVEMENTS:  Threatened  Difficulty  Overcome  by  Heroic  Measures — Purchase  of  the  Great  Properties  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  at  a  Cost  of  Nearly  Four  Times  the  Original  Capital  of  Erie  —  Continued  Surplus  Earnings  and  a 
Genuine  Dividend  —  Retirement  of  Mr.  Thomas  as  President  —  Important  Changes  in  the  Executive,  Operating,  and  Traffic 
Departments  —  Coming  in  of  President  Underwood. 


A  peculiar  complication  that  was  destined,  if  carried  to 
the  extent  of  its  intention,  to  have  a  disturbing  effect  on  the 
Erie's  coal-traffic  relations  followed  the  abandonment  of  its 
canal  and  sale  of  it  and  its  franchises  to  private  parties  by 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company  in  1898.  This 
was  the  incorporation  in  November,  1899,  of  the  Delaware 
Valley  and  Kingston  Railroad  Company,  with  the  avowed 
intention  of  constructing  a  railroad  along  the  route  of  the 
canal  from  Kingston,  N.  V.,  to  Lackawaxen,  Pa.,  there  to 
connect  with  the  railroad  known  as  the  Honesdale  Branch 
of  the  Erie,  but  in  reality  a  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal 
Company's  Erie  and  Wyoming  Valley  Railroad.  The  mere 
fact  of  the  new  railroad  company's  project  so  far  as  it  was 
confined  to  the  powers  and  efforts  of  that  company  alone 
would  have  been  no  substantial  cause  for  apprehension  to 
the  Erie,  but  the  project  had  the  avowed  backing  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Company,  and  was  further  sustained  by 
the  support  of  a  large  number  of  independent  coal  opera- 
tors in  the  northern  anthracite  field.  The  importance  of 
the  Erie  in  the  traffic  in  anthracite  coal,  aside  from  its  own 
individual  mine  holdings,  was  entirely  due  to  its  connection 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company's  lines  in  the  coal 
regions ;  and  if  this  new  railroad  connection  with  the  anthra- 
cite fields  and  tidewater  were  made,  all  that  interest  would 
be  lost  to  the  Erie  on  the  expiration  of  its  arrangement  with 
the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company.  The  courts  were  resorted 
to  to  test  the  legal  status  of  the  new  company  and  its  proj- 
ect, and  its  rights  as  affecting  those  of  the  Erie,  and  a 
long,  expensive,  and  uncertain  course  of  litigation  was  inevi- 
table, when  the  progressive  and  aggressive  genius  of  the 
later-day  Erie  management  removed  with  one  stroke  even  the 
appearance  of  trouble  on  Erie's  horizon.  This  was  the  pur- 
chase outright  of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company's  rights  and 
franchises  and  property,  and  those  of  the  Delaware  Valley 
and  Kingston  Railroad  Company,  thus  placing  the  Erie  in 
entire  and  absolute  possession  and  control  of  the  situation. 
This  coup  was  effected  through  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company 
at  the  cost  of  §37,000,000,  but  it  insured  for  all  time  Erie's 
prestige  and  tenure  in  the  northern  anthracite  field  as  one 
of  the  largest  producers  and  transporters  of  coal,  and  will 
stand  forth  not  only  as  one  of  the  great  triumphs  of  Presi- 
dent Thomas's  administration,  but  of  Erie's  entire  career. 


The  policy  that  came  in  with  the  Thomas  administration 
has  answered  affirmatively  each  year  the  question  as  to 
whether  the  Erie  could  meet  the  vast  sum  of  its  fixed 
charges  and  live.  In  1899  the  charges  were  not  only  all 
earned  and  paid,  but  the  earnings  were  sufficient  to  leave 
a  surplus  of  $653,798.26  besides.  The  surplus  over  the 
charges  of  1900  was  §1,663,430.34.  For  1901  the  surplus 
is  §2,823,156.34,  and  August  30,  1901,  the  Company  paid  a 
dividend  of  1%  per  cent,  on  the  first  preferred  stock,  for 
the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1901,  out  of  that  surplus. 

The  Jersey  City  terminals  were  all  completed  in  1900,  and 
the  four-track  system  finished  as  far  as  Suffern,  X.  X .,  nearly 
29  miles.  Heavy  grades  on  the  Eastern  and  Allegheny 
divisions  that  have  retarded  the  traffic  and  increased  the 
cost  of  transportation  have  been  greatly  reduced.  The 
abolishing  of  grade  crossings,  the  importance  of  which  has 
been  a  feature  of  the  Thomas  administration,  is  progressing 
with  all  possible  facility.  One  particular  policy  which  Presi- 
dent Thomas  insisted  on  was  the  improvement  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  refreshment  sen-ice  at  depot  dining  stations. 
The  improvement  in  all  branches  of  the  railroad  service  was 
so  marked  during  this  administration  that  it  is  without  pre<  e 
dent  in  Erie's  history. 

Mr.  Thomas  resigned  as  president,  May  1,  rgoi,  and  was 
made  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  F.  D.  Underwood,  second  vice-president  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company. 

Early  in  rgoi  James  J.  Hill,  president  of  the  Greal 
Northern  Railroad  Company,  became  allied  with  Erie  in- 
terests, the  result  of  which,  it  is  anticipated,  will  be  im- 
portant to  the  Erie  as  a  factor  in  a  great  transcontinental 
transportation  system. 

Following  is  the  fine  showing  for  Erie  for  the  last  year  oi 
Mr.  Thomas's  administration  : 

Gross  Revenue  from  Operations  Amounted  to $39,102,302  42 

Operating  Expenses  and  Taxes 28   j '    174  27 

Net  Income  from  Operations $K' 

Income  from  Securities  Owned,  etc 1,496,077  53 

Total  Income $12,1(31,405  6S 

Interest  and  Rentals 9,368,249  34 

Leaving  a  Balance  to  Credit  of  Prolit  and  Ross  of     $2,823,156    \.\ 


5'6 


ADDENDA 


EARNINGS   AND    EXPENSES. 

Earnings $33,752,703  9- 

Expenses 25,169.926  2S 

Net   Earnings $8,582,77764 


1900 

$38,293,031   S; 
28,44s, 605   14 

$9,844,426  73 


At  the  beginning  of  the  Thomas  administration  Erie  com- 
mon stock  was  quoted  at  8,  the  first  preferred  at  27,  and 
the  second  preferred  at  20.  At  the  close  of  the  Thomas 
administration  Erie  common  was  firm  at  45)4,  first  pre- 
ferred at  l$%,  and  second  preferred  at  58^. 

J.  A.  Middleton,  long  time  secretary  of  the  Company, 
was  chosen  second  vice-president,  May  1,  1901,  retaining 
the  secretaryship. 

A.  Donaldson,  third  vice-president  and  treasurer,  resigned 
April  23,  1901.  He  was  succeeded  as  treasurer  by  J.  W. 
Flatten,  assistant  purchasing  agent. 

D.  I.  Roberts,  general  passenger  agent,  resigned  June  22, 
1901,  and  was  succeeded  by  D.  W.  Cooke,  assistant  gen- 
eral passenger  agent. 

July  1.  1901,  Charles  R.  Fitch  was  appointed  general 
manager  of  the  entire  Erie  system. 

The  advancement  of  Mr.  Fitch  from  general  superintend- 
ent to  general  manager  was  followed  by  many  other  changes 
in  the  operating  department.  The  new  office  called  for 
three  assistants,  one  general  and  two  division.  J.  C.  Moor- 
head  was  made  general  assistant.  George  T.  Slade  was 
promoted  from  the  superintendency  of  the  Jefferson  and 
Wyoming  divisions  to  be  assistant  general  manager  for  the 


New  York  Division,  and  H.  E.  Gilpin  from  the  New  York, 
Susquehanna  and  Western  Division  to  be  assistant  general 
manager  for  the  Ohio  Division.  Mr.  Slade  was  succeeded  in 
his  former  place  by  J.  M.  Davis,  Mr.  Gilpin  being  succeeded 
by  George  W.  Dowe,  who  was  transferred  from  the  superin- 
tendency of  the  Allegany  Division.  Superintendent  Dowe 
was  succeeded  there  by  C.  S.  Goldsborough. 

George  Van  Keuren,  long  assistant  to  General  Superin- 
tendent Fitch,  was  appointed  general  superintendent  of 
transportation,  and  J.  F.  Maguire,  superintendent  of  the 
New  York  Division,  was  selected  as  assistant  general  super- 
intendent of  transportation,  his  successor  as  division  superin- 
tendent being  W.  L.  Derr,  who  was  transferred  as  head  of 
the  Susquehanna  Division,  where  he  was  succeeded  by 
George  A.  Coe. 

These  were  all  advancements  from  the  line,  and  well- 
merited  recognition  of  faithful  and  valuable  service  by 
capable  men,  forming  a  corps  and  staff  perhaps  unequalled, 
and  certainly  not  excelled,  by  those  of  any  railroad  com- 
pany in  the  world  in  their  mastery  of  every  problem  that  the 
genius  of  modern  railroad  management  has  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  science  of  transportation  and  operation. 

The  office  of  general  superintendent  was  transferred  to 
Cleveland  after  the  promotion  of  Mr.  Fitch,  and  O.  M. 
Mozier  became  general  superintendent.  In  September, 
1901,  however,  that  office  was  abolished,  and  the  incumbent 
assigned  to  special  duties  in  the  operating  department,  the 
duties  of  the  office  being  assumed  jointly  by  H.  E.  Gilpin, 
assistant  general  manager  of  the  Ohio  Division,  and  George 
Van  Keuren,  general  superintendent  of  transportation  at 
Jersey  City. 


— "■*-— — 


^vo^^t^c^tr 


;2o 


INDEX 


[amilton  and  Dayton  R.  R..  271 

1:11  (if  Camp  &  Co.,  collection  of   how  made,  333 

Miller,  G.  C.  &  - 

Holbert,  Adrian. 

ssification  Act,  the,  origin  of,  174 

passing  of  in  the  legislature 

efforts  for  repeal  of,  177,  179,  1S2 

repeal  of,  1  3g 

Clinton,  Gov.   I  »e  Witt,  2,  4 

Col.  De  Witt,  5.  6 

Coal  traffic,  the  Erie,  first  predictions  of,  322,  36S 

beginning  of,  137 

development  of,  137,  145,  146,  175.  _•(  - 

burning  locomotives,  the  tirst,  144 

Cochecton,  X.  V. ,  data  of,  504 

Coe,  George  A.,  516 

Cohocton,  N.  V..  data  of,  508 

Completion  of  railroad,  94 

celebration  of,  94 

Cook,  Constant,  92 

Cooke,  D.  W.,  516 

Conductors,  some  pioneer,  399,  400 

Coney  Island,  first  excursion  to,  380 

Connections,  early  Erie,  37S,  3S2,  385,  3S6 

Contractors  ami  Slate  stock,  317,  319,  323 

pioneer,  the,  312,  316,  317,  318,  321,  322,  325,  327,  353 

Contracts,  the  first,  for  grading,  36,  312,  313,  315 

ties,  etc.,  317 

laying  rails,  321 

for  piles  for  road-bed,  3 1 7 

surrender  of,  6S 

Corning,  X.  V.,  data  of,  505 

road  opened  to,  385 

Cost  of  railroad,  early  estimates  on,  49,  or,  69,  75 

actual  outlay  in,  1 1 1 

showing  of,  year  by  year,  483 

Crises,  approaching  of,   53-57,  122,  129,  232,  273 
Crouch,  George,   1S3,  195-197 

originator  of  the  Gould  overthrow,  197 

letters  and  telegrams  of,  195—197 

explanatory  statement  of,  197 

Davis,  J.  C.  Bancroft,  132,  134,  142,  150 

Davis,  J.  M.,  516 

Debt,  bonded,  the,  showing  of,  year  by  year,  4S4 

floating,  the,  showing  of,  year  by  year,  4S4 

Delaware  Division,  the,  first  train  over,  351,  352 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Co.,  opposition  of,  368 

■  injunction  of,  303 

effect  on  Erie  of  closing  of  canal  by,  515 

Delaware  Valley,  the,  beginning  of  work  in,  36,  312 

work  in,  suspension  of,  42,  313 

resumption  of,  76 

■  seeking  entry  into  by  Erie.  5S,  S7,  321,  322 

opposition  to  entry  into,  S7-89,  321,  322 

Denniston,  Robert.  79 
Deposit,  X.  V.,  data  of,  504 

breaking  of  ground  at,  36,  312 

change  of  route  from,  S7 

Derr,  W.  L.,  516 

Diamond  Cars,  the,  398 

Dining  station,  the  first,  427,  428 

'■rs,  bribery  of,  187,  190,  195,  196,  197,  199 

first  board  of,  19 

all  subsequent  boards  of.  472-479 

flight  of,  to  Jersey  City,  150,  152 

arrest  of,  150 

fining  of,  155 

injunctions  against,  150 

Diven,  Alexander  S.,  coming  of,  into  Erie,  68 

devising  by,  of  construction  plan,  92  ' 

speech  of,  at  Elmira  celebration  of  opening,  102 

withdrawal  of  candidacy  for  president  by,  139 

Vice-President  and  General  Manager,  139 

——participation  of.  in  active  Erie  affairs.  143-159 
Dividends,  Watson,  the,  208,  209,  219,  229 

payment     1  various,  and  nature  of,  272,  273,  484,  515 

Division  Superintendents,  480    1-1    4-2,  516,  518 
Dix,  Gen.  John  A.,   biographical 

election  of,  a-  President,  201 

brief  and  unimportant  management  of,  201-207 

Double  track,  the  first,  112 


1  louble  track,  issuing  of  bonds  for,  112 

and  sidings,  yearly  growth  of,  3S3 

Douglas,  Charles  \\ . .  coming  of,  into  Erie,  421,  422 

pioneer  telegraphing  of,  422 

taking  of  first  message  by  sound  by,  422 

Dowe,  George  W.,  516 

I  'rake,  John  R.,  326 

Drew,  Daniel,  biographical,  4S7,  4S8 

first  appearance  of,  in  Erie,  115 

developing  of  control  by,  121-140,  159 

conversions  of  bonds  into  stock  by,  140-148 

Wall  street  bouts  of,  with  Vanderbilt,  140,  142,  149 

declaring  of  war  on,  by  Vanderbilt,  14S 

over-issuing  of  Erie  stock  by,  14s 

defying  of  court  orders  by,  148 

flight  of,  to  Jersey  City,  150 

secret  settlement  with  Vanderbilt  by,  155 

retiring  of,  from  Erie  management,  155,  161 

costly  antagonizing  of  Gould  and  Fisk  by,  163,  164 

humiliation  of,  by  Gould  and  Fisk,  165,  166 

last  disastrous  bout  of,  with  Gould,  210,  211 

(See    also    Gould,    Jay ;    Vanderbilt-Drew    Erie    War ;    Vanderbilt, 

Cornelius.) 
Duer,  John,  attorney,  the  first  Erie,  322 

drafting  of  charter  by,  14 

Duncan,  W.  Butler,  advice  of,  to  Jay  Gould.  171,  t8o 

Gould's  letter  to,  180 

Gould's  arrangement  with,  180,  181 

Dunkirk.  X.  V.,  data  of,  507 

western  terminus  of  railroad  fixed  at,  313 

land  grants  by,  313,  327 

beginning  of  work  at,  315 

completion  of  railroad  to  and  opening  of,  94-109 

grand  celebration  at,  of  opening  of,  104-109 

first  trains  from,  387 

decline  of,  as  terminus,  13S,  389 

Early  railroad  building,  crude  ideas  about,  13,  16,  38,  40,  310,  311 

salaries,  311,  317,  372 

Earnings,  first  report  of,  61 

freight,  showing  of,  year  by  year,  since  1841,  the  total.  4-4 

passenger,  showing  of,  year  by  year,  since  1S41,  the  total,  4-4 

Eldridge,  John  S.,  biographical,  465' 

election  of,  as  President,  143 

desertion  of  Vanderbilt  by,  143 

participation  of,  in  Vanderbilt-Drew  war,  149,  150 

flight  of,  to  Jersey  City,  150 

purpose  of,  accomplished,  156-160 

(See  also  Drew,    Daniel;    Gould,   Jay;    Legislative  Investigations; 
Vanderbilt-Drew  Erie  War.) 

F^lmira,  N.  V.,  data  of ,  505 

opening  of  railroad  to,  ill,  354,  3S5 

reception  of  Erie  guests,  103 

Emigrant  train,  mention  of  the  first,  3S7 

Employes,  growth  in  number  of,  year  by  year,  483 

fatality  among,  year  by  year,  483 

Enabling  act,  vicissitudes  of,  79-S3 

legislation  on,  306 

Engine  100,  and  Gad  Lyman,  engineer  of,  99,  100 

71,  and  Josh.  Martin,  engineer  of,  99,  100,  101,  393 

Orange,  curious  career  of,  301,  355,  362,  392,  393,  473 

Engineers,  early  rivalry  among,  98 

pioneer,  391-395 

memorable  strikes  of,  115,  119,  431,  434 

Erie,  the  great  development  of,  showing  of  the,  286,  287 

cost  of,  the,  287-293 

Erie  and  New  York  Central,  early  rivalry  between,  149 

Erie  Railway  Company,  the,  plan  of  organization  of,  the,  132- 1  ,4 

articles  of  association  of,  the,  134 

organization  of,  the,  134 

prosperous  years  of,  137-140 

managements  of,  the,  134-242 

receivers  appointed  for,  129,  242 

receivership  of,  the,  242-260 

property  of,  selling  of  the,  254,  256,  257,  258 

absorbing  of  the  new  company  by,  the,  260 

retrospective  recapitulation  of  career  of,  a,  260 

(See  also  Berdett.  Robert   II.;  Dix,  Gen.  John  A.;   Drew,  Daniel ;  El- 
dridge, John  S.;  Gould,  Jay;  Crouch,  George;  Jewett,  Hugh  J.; 
Vanderbilt.  Cornelius;  Watson,  Peter  II.;   McHenrv,  James.) 
Excursion  train,  the  first  Fourth  of  July,  376 
Coney  Island,  3S0 


INDEX 


521 


Excursion  train,  the  first  through,  9S 
conductors  and  engineers  of,  gS,  gg 

distinguished  guests  on,  96,  gS 

fast  time  of,  100 

grand  reception  of,  en  route,  gS-105 

Expenses,  transportation,  showing  of,  year  by  year,  since  1S41.  434 

Field,  David  Dudley,  155 

Fillmore,  President  Millard,  94-97.  toi,  102 

Finch,  Nathaniel,  354 

First  air  brake,  the  trial  and  adoption  of,  430,  4S3 

bids  for  ties,  etc.,  opening  of,  317 

board  of  directors,  the,  electing  of,  19 

bonds,  the,  issuing  of,  70 

carrying  of  mails  on  railroads,  the,  the  suggesting  of,  24 

contracts  for  grading,  the,  making  of,  36,  41,  44,  312,   333 

for  laying  rails,  making  of,  321 

charge  of  corrupt  management,  the,  making  of,  50 

craze  for  railroad  building,  the,  appearance  of,  9 

double  track,  the,  preparations  for,  112 

employe,  the,  killing  on  the  railroad,  of,  403 

express  service,  the,  coming  of,  483 

freight  shipment,  the,  carrying  of,  406 

ground,  the  breaking  of,  36,  37,  483 

gas-lighting  of  cars,  the,  trial  and  adoption  of,  430,  4S3 

ideas  for  a  railroad  over  Erie  route,  the,  expressing  of,  4 

iron  bridge,  the,  fatal  accident  attending,  413 

iron  rails,  the,  contracting  for  and  purchasing  of,  32S-331 

legislative  investigation,  the,  ordering  of  and  proceedings  in. 

50,  446,  447 

lobbying,  the  calling  into  service  of,  44 

milk  transportation,  the,  events  leading  to,  406 

officers,  the,  electing  of,  19 

passenger,  the,  killing  on  the  railroad  of,  409 

passenger  train,  the  moving  of,  52 

Pullman  coaches,  the,  adopting  of,  430,  483 

railroad  tickets,  the,  character  of,  413 

receiver,  the  peculiar  selection  of,  333 

report  of  earnings,  the,  making  of,  61 

of  an  accident  by  telegraph,  the,  sending  of,  419 

of  receipts  and  expenses,  the,  making  of,  3S 

salaries  of  officers,  the,  fixing  of,  317 

■  sleeping  cars,  the,  purchasing  and  use  of,  39S 

spike,  the  driving  of,  330 

stock,  the  subscribing  for,  18,  34,  36 

strike,  the,  causes  leading  to,  115 

■  train  order  by  telegraph,  the,  sending  of,  420 

train  wreckers,  the,  appearing  of,  430 

Fisk,  James,  Jr.,  biographical,  4SS-4g2 
coming  of,  into  Erie,  488 

career  of,  in  Wall  Street,  4SS,  489 

show  and  notoriety  loved  by,  4Sg 

wit,  humor,  audacity,  generosity  of,  48S,  4S9.  491 

interview  of,  with  Vanderbilt,  171 

suing  of  Vanderbilt  by,  171 

humiliation  of  Daniel  Drew  by,  165,  166 

■  fascination  of,  by  Josie  Mansfield,  490 

experiences  of,  in  the  bluestone  business,  216,  217 

assassination  of,  by  Ed.  S.  Stokes,  490 

death  and  gorgeous  funeral  of,  491 

Fitch,  Charles  R.,  516 

Henry,  first  general  passenger  agent,  379 

Fixed  charges,  the,  to  be  met,  292,  293 
Floating  debt,  the,  showing  of,  year  by  year,  4S4 
Floods,  some  disastrous,  120,  125,  440,  441 
Freighters,  the  occupation  of,  378,  379 

Freight  cars,  showing  of  equipment  in,  year  by  year,  4S3 
Freight  dock,  first  Erie,  at  New  York,  403 
Freight  tonnage,  showing  of  development  of,  4S3 

Gannon,  Frank  S.,  496 

Gauge,  the  broad,  44,  45,  46,  T47-  3*4.  33§ 

General  Superintendents  and  General  Managers,  4S0,  510,  51s 

General  Freight  Agents,  chronology  of  the,  4S0 

General  Passenger  Agent,  the  first,  379 

successors  to  the  office  of,  4S0,  516 

Geneseo,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  511 

Gilpin,  H.  E.,  516 

Glass  Factory  Rocks,  the  obstacle  of  the,  89 

Goldsborough,  C.  S.,  516 

Goodliff,  Allen  A.,  321  ,  .   .     „  .       -     r_, 

Gordon,  Lord  Gordon,  gigantic  bunco  game  of,  in  Erie,  184-160 


Gordon,  Lord  Gordon,  heroic  recovery  of  funds  from,  [81 

■  resignation  of  Jay  Gould  from  Erie  obtained  by.  1-5 

obtaining  of  $700,000  from  Gould  by,  1S5 

suit  by,  against  Gould,  187 

■  tragic  ending  of,  187 

Goshen,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  502 

first  Erie  printing  office  at,  373 

citizens  of,  aiding  company.  46 

first  time  table  to,  374 

opening  of  railroad  to,  and  celebration  of,  332 

Gould,  Jay,  biographical,  466-469 

amazing  genius,  power,  audacity  of,  164,  172,  173.  467.   1 

appointment  of,  as  receiver,  166,  167,  169 

affiliation  of,  with  Tammany  politicians  in  Erie,  162 

aggressive  policy  of,  in  F>ie  management,  175,  176,  177 

arrest  of,  at  Albany,  152,  153 

in  $10,000,000  suit,  211 

beginning  of  efforts  to  overthrow,  177,  I7g,  1S2 

bribery  of  Attorney-General  by,  alleged,  454 

change  of  attitude  by  Judge  Barnard  toward,  166 

connection  of,  with  stockyard  company,  4  =  7 

Atlantic  and  Great  Western  R.  R.,  im 

closing  interview  of,  with  Daniel  Drew,  165 

conspiracy  with  banks  charged,  162,  164 

coalition  of,  with  former  foes,  209 

Chicago  and  Northwestern  corner  of,  by,  209,  211 

results  of,  2og,  219 

"Classification  Act"  secured  by,  176 

death  of,  46g 

efforts  of,  to  check  opposition,  I7g,  iSo,  1S1 

election  of,  as  President,  162 

enormous  conversion  by,  of  bonds  into  stock,  163 

experience  of,  with  Lord  Gordon  Gordon,  1S4-1S6 

expenses  of,  on  Erie  account,  455 

first  appearance  of,  in  Erie,  144,  173 

first  great  Wall  Street  battle,  163,  16s,  167 

flight  of,  to  New  Jersey,  150 

historic  illness  of,  at  Albany,  154 

opposition  of,  to  Drew- Vanderbilt  settlement,  15; 

outwitting  of  Receiver  Davies  by,  168,  169 

overthrow  of,  fight  for,  the,  i82-i8g 

accomplished,  188,  iSg 

virtually  victory  for  Gould,  189,  199,  200 

great  profit  of,  to  Gould,  190,  200 

Wall  Street's  opinion  of,  201 

inside  story  of,  190-200 

part  taken  by,  in  "  Erie  Wars,"  150-154,  163-171 

payment  of  money  by,  to  secure  legislation,  451,  454 

part  taken  by,  in  Yanderbilt-Drew  settlement,  172 

■  Pennsylvania  Legislature  balks  great  plans  of,  173.  174 

plans  of,  for  new  Erie  control,  235,  249 

force  compromise.  242 

proceedings  against,  in  $10,000,000  suit,  2og-2ig 

the  great  $g, 000, 000  "  Restitution  "  by.  211,  21S,   333 

■ ■  secret  mission  of,  to  Albany  on  Erie  legislation,  152 

story  of  overthrow,  his,  igg 

testimony  of,  before  investigating  committee.  154,  45° 

treachery  to,  of  Daniel  Drew,  155,   164 

avenged,  163,  165,  167, 211 

victory  of,  over  Vanderbilt-Belmont  clique,   166-171 

transaction  of,  in  Erie  Bonds,  a,  202 

(See  also  Crouch,  George  ;  Drew,  Daniel  ;  Yanderbilt-Drew  Erie  War, 
Belmont-Gould  Erie  War  ;  Sickles  Coup;  Gordon,  Lord  Gor- 
don; Legislative  Investigations;  Watson,  Peter  II.;  Jewett. 
Hugh  J.) 

Gould,  $9,000,000  restitution,  the,  inside  showing  of,  213-218 

Grand  Opera  House,  quarters  removed  to,  426 

description  of,  426 

abandonment  of.  427 

excitement  at,  16S-170,  1S7-1S9 

ownership  of,  by  Gould,  427 

Grant  and  Ward,  failure  of,  the,  204.  270 

Great  Bend,  Pa.,  data  of,  505 

Greycourt,  N.  V..  data  of,  502 

Griffis,  Abner,  330,  333 

Gross  earnings,  showing  ot,  year  by  year,  since  1841,  4*4 

Hafner,  Ben,  pioneer  engineer,  394,  3g5 
Hale  investigating  committee,   the,  449-45' 
Half  rates  to  preachers,  origin  of,  412 
Hall,  William  D.,  pioneer  engineer,  104,  39? 
Hancock,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  504 


INDEX 


■Hankins,  N.  V.,  data  of,  ;oq 

Hawley  Branch,  opening  of,  371 

Hawley,  Pa.,  data  of,  509 

Hepburn  investigating  committee,  the,  456,  457 

Hill,  Ja -  I..  515 

1    .  330.  7,31,  397 
Hohokus,   N.  J.,  data  of.  501 

t.  A.Irian,   collection  of  claim  by,  336 
Hone-dale  Branch,  opening  of,  371 

Pa.,  data  ol 

sville,   N.   N  ..  data  of,   506 

opening  "l  railroad  to,  386 

dining  station  at.  428 

memorable  strike-  at,  43 — 440 

Investigating  committees,  50,  44(1-451 
Iron  rails,  the  first,  328,  330 

Jackson.  Andrew,  President  U.  S.,  stops  survey,  16-1S 
Jamestown,  N.  V..  data,  511 

first  railroad  meeting  held  at,  10 

first  charter  application  drafted  at,  10 

lefferson  Railroad  Co.  and  railroad,  history  of,  370 
Jewett,  Hugh  J.,  biographical.  470,  471 

selection  of,  a-  President,  231 

extraordinary  salary  of.  231,  232 

pooling  compact  of,  232 

disaster  foreshadowed  to,  232-242 

selection  of,  as  receiver,  242 

three-years'  struggle  of,  as  receiver,  242-250 

arrest  of,  on  perjury  charge,    251-253 

treachery  and  disloyalty  to  charged  by,  252-254 

legal  battles  of,  with  James  Mc Henry,  237.   239,  243,  249,  250, 

251,   252,  254,  255-25S,  262,  269 

election  of,  as  President  of  the  new  company,  25S 

expansion  and  improvements  effected  by,  267-269 

Grant  and  Ward  failure,  effect  of  on,  264,  270 

retirement  from  Erie,  266 

anti-Erie  litigation  of,  264,  270 

Kilgour,  John  F.,  and  the  bluestone  companies,  216,  217 
King,  James  Gore,  biographical,  460 

election  of,  as  President,  32 

motives  of,  questioned,  policy  opposed,  34,  35,  317 

■  breaking  of  ground  and  beginning  of  work  by,  36,  312 

administration  of,  unpopular,  42 

retirement  of,  47.  317 

King,  John,  biographical,  471 

election  of,  as  assistant  to  the  President,  265 

as  President,  266,  267 

retrenchment  and  reform  policy  of,  271,  279 

ex-President  Jewett's opposition  to,  271,  273 

selection  of,  as  co-receiver,  274 

retirement  of,  471 

Kirkwood,  James  I'.,  appointment  of,  as  superintendent,  405 
building  of  Starucca  viaduct  by,  350 

Lackawaxen,  Pa.,  data  of,  513 

Callaghan-Ksys  tragedy  at,  347 

Land  grants.  325,    326.  32S.  333 

Lane,  Frederick  A.,  150,  186,  187,  190,  192,  195 

Last  rail,  spiking  of  the,  314 

Legislative  investigations,  proceedings  in,  446-457 

1  eroy,  N.  Y..  data  of,  511 

Lighting  of  cars,  evolution  of,  4S3 

Lockport,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  510 

Locomotive,  the,  first  sight  of,  348,  351 

hunting  and  trapping  lor,  34S,  349 

Locomotive-,  the  first,  391,  394 
odd  early  types  <>f,  391,  397 

first  coal-burning  experiments  on,  391,  397 

evolution  in.  391,  397 

early  builders  of,  9S,  99,  391,  396,  397 

showing  of  increase  in.  year  by  year,  since  1S41,  4S3 

Loder,  Benjamin,  S6-1 14,  33S-358 

biographical,  4'<; 

election  of,  as  Pre-    lent  of  Erie,  S6 

beginning  of  work  in  earnest  by,  S6,  87 

obstacles  overcome  by,  SS-91 

opening  of  road  to  Binghamton  by,  91 

■  confidence  in,  by  investoi   .  92,  93 

rapid  prosecution  of  work  by,  93 

completion  of  road  to  Lake  Erie  by,  93 


Loder,  Benjamin,  resignation  of,  refused  by  company,  109 
efforts  of,  for  Jersey  City  terminus  successful,  109-III 

Buffalo  and  other  connections  obtained  by,  m-113 

main  line  from  Jersey  City  secured  by,  113 

resignation  of,  114 

1  ong  1  lock  Company,  119,  134,  135,  359,  360 
Lord,  Eleazar,  biographical,  45S-460 

original  efforts  of,  toward  a  railroad,  7-13 

participation  of,  in  organization  of  the  company,  13—19 

selection  of,  as  President,  19,  47,  72 

policy  of,  criticised  and  suspected,  21,  50,  85 

resignation  of,  from  presidency,  32,  50,  85 

investigation  demanded  by,  50,  446,  447 

management  of,  exonerated,  50,  447 

plan  of,  to  expedite  work,  43,  44,  46 

insistence  of,  on  six-foot  gauge,  44,  45,  46 

road-bed  of  wooden  piles  favored  and  fostered  by,  4S,  323 

permanent  retirement  of,  from  Erie  affairs,  S5 

Lyman,  Samuel  P.,  43,44,  316,  317 

Lytle,  James,  career  of,  as  pioneer  conductor,  403 

Magee,  John,  92,  361 

Maguire,  J.  F.,  516 

Mail,  first  Erie  service,  the,  426 

Marsh,  Luther  R.,  317 

Marsh,  Nathaniel,  biographical,  464,  465 

coming  of,  into  Erie  as  secretary,  465 

services  of,  as  secretary,  465 

appointment  of,  as  receiver.  129 

successful  management  of,  as  receiver,  130—136 

■ election  of.  as  President,  136 

successful  and  prosperous  management  of,  136-138 

death  of,  13S,  465 

Marsh,  Samuel,   biographical.  464 

election  of,  as  Yice-President,  464 

acting  of,  as  President,  130,  464 

Martin,  Joshua  R.,  career  of,  as  pioneer  engineer,  99,  100,  101,  393 

Marvin,  Richard  P.,  10,  13,  45S 

Mast  Hope  disaster,  the.  444 

Matamoras  bridge,  the  history  of,  345,  346 

Maxwell,  William,  biographical,  461,  462 

brief  and  unimportant  management  of,  67,  6S 

McCallum,  Donald  Craig,  superintendency  of,  115,  119,  120,  420,  421 

biographical,  434 

strikes  following  his  policy,  115,  119,  431-434 

■ originating  of  telegraphic  signals  bv,  420,  421 

resignation  of,  120.  434 

McCullough,  John  G.,  biographical,  471 

selection  of,  as  co-receiver,  274 

connection  of,  with  Erie  management,  274,  472 

McHenry,  James,  biographical,  498 

Atlantic  and   Great  Western   entanglements  of,  173,  iSl,  182, 

1S7,  193,  201,  220,  227,  22S,  232,   237,  364-366 
Jewett   litigation,    237,  239,  243,  249,  250,  251,  252.  254,  255. 

256,  262,  269 

arrest  of  and  settlement  of  suits  by,  264 

Meginnes,  Joseph  W.  ("Joe"),  career  of,  pioneer  engineer,  99,  100, 

101,  393 
Michigan  Southern  Railroad  lease,  147,  14S,  149,  222 
Middleton,  J.  A.,  516 
Middletown,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  502 

Association,  the,  73 

■  railroad,  the,  how  completed  to,  335 

opening  of  railroad  to,  335 

Mileage,  showing  of  growth  of,  year  by  year,  since  1841,  483 
Milford  and  Matamoras  Railroad,  the,  story  of,  345,  346 
Milk,  transportation  of,  the  origin  of,  406 

growth  of,  406-409 

Miller,  G.  C,  333 

and  S.  G.,  contracting  of,  for  laying  first  rails,  329 

claim  of,  how  collected,  333 

Minot,  Charles,  superintendency  of,  103,  115,  417,  419.  420,  430,  431 

biographical,  430,  431 

introduction  of  telegraph  on  railroads  by,  417-420 

issuing  of  first  telegraph  order  by,  420 

peculiarities  of,  430.  431 

refusal  to  enforce  new  rules,  115,  431 

resignation  of,  115,  431 

recalling  of,  4  ;i 

retirement  of,  431 

Montgomery,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  502 
Moorhead,  I.  C,  516 


INDEX 


523 


Moran,  Charles,  biographical,  464 

selection  of,  as  President,  122 

enormous  salary  of.  122.  127,  129 

radical  policy  of,  124,  12b 

stocks  and  bonds,  depreciation  of,  under,  129 

management  of,  a  failure,  129 

bankruptcy  following  policy  of ,  129 

resignation  of,  129 

Morford,  John  B.,  494 

Morgan,  J.  P.  (Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.),  275,  276,  2S1 

Morosini,  Giovani,  49S 

Morton,  Alvin  C,  315 

Morton,  Hon.  Levi  P.,  Jay  Gould's  letter  to,  1S0 

Mount  Morris,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  511 

Murphy,  W.  T.,  497 

Narrowsburg,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  503 

dining  station  at,  428 

Net  earnings,  showing  of,  year  by  year,  since  1S41,  4S4 
Xewburgh,  N.  Y.,data  of,  509 

early  efforts  of,  for  a  railroad,  36,  76,  77.  78 

succeeding  of,  in  efforts,  79 

how  branch  railroad  was  secured  by,  7'> 

celebrations  of  railroad  openings  by,  357,  371 

Newburgh  Branch,  the,  79,  357 

and  N.  V.  R.R.,  building  of  the,  370 

New  Jersey  route  from  Suffern,  trouble  over,  109-111 

secured,  1  n 

New  Vork  Central,  early  rivalry  of,  with  Erie,  149 
New  Vork  and  Erie  R.  R.  Co.,  charter  of,  296 
— —  incorporators  of,  first  meeting  of,  16 

organization  of,  19 

opening  by,  of  subscription  books,  18 

original  subscribers  to  stock  of,  18 

managements  of,  19—134 

bankruptcy  of,  57,  63,  65,  129,  134,  335 

receivership  of,  129-134 

reorganization  of,  130-134 

absorption  of,  by  Erie  Railway  Co.,  134 

New  Vork,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  R.  R.  Co.,  organization  of,  259 
years  of  struggling  against  fate  by,  259-274 

rate  wars  and  other  complications  of,  261,  264,  271,  272 

expansion  and  improvements  accomplished  by,  267,   269 

managements  of,  259-273 

receivers  appointed  for,  274 

plans  submitted  for  reorganization  of,  274-2S1 

appearance  of  Morgan  interest  in   Erie.  275-277 

reorganization  of,  effected,  281 

property  of,  the,  sale  of,  27S 

(See  a  ho  Jewett,  Hugh  j.  ;    King,  Tohn  ;    Thomas,  E.  B.) 

New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  Railroad  Co.,  366 

Newell.  A.  W.,  father  of  Bradford  Branch,  the,  367 

Niagara  Falls,  data  of,  510 

Niven,  Thornton  M..  79 

North  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  505 

Officers,  the  first,  and  election  of,  473 
Olean,   N.  Y.,  data  of ,  506 
Oliver,  James  A.,  and  Jay  Gould,  153,  154 
Opening  of  railroad  to  Ramapo,  N.  V.,  331 
Goshen,  N.  Y.,  111,  332,  374 

Middletown,  N.  V.,  HI,  335,  377 

Otisville,  N.  Y.,  HI,  380 

Port  Jervis,  N.  Y.,  Hi,  343,  344,  345,  382 

Binghamton,  N.  V.,  in,  352,  353,  3S3 

Owego,  N.  Y.,  in,  354,  385 

Elmira,  N.  Y.,  Hi,  354,  3S5 

Corning,  N.  Y.,  3S5 

Hornellsville,  N.  Y..  in,  355,  3S6 

Cuba,  N.  Y.,  356 

Dunkirk,  N.  Y.,  104 

Newburgh  Branch,  357 

Short  Cut,  370 

Orange,  the  locomotive,  curious  career  of,  351,  355,  362,  392,  393 
Original  road-bed  and  track,  description  of,  31S,  323 
Osgood,  George  A.,  appointment  of,  as  receiver,  151,  156 
Owego,  N.  Y.,  data  of.  504 

birth  of  Erie  at,  14  ' 

charter  convention  at,  11-14 

driving  of  first  pile  at,  325 

strife  over  depot  site  at,  326 

disappointment  of,  102 

opening  of  railroad  to,  354 


Painted  Tost.  N.  V.,  data  of ,  508 

Passaic,  N.  J.,  data  of,  500 

Paterson,  N.  J.,  data  of,  500 

Paterson  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  109,  35S,  359 

Pavonia  Ferry,  history  of,  and  opening,  135,  360 

Pearson,  Henry  I..,  7,  329 

Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.,  the  history  of.  369 

purchase  of,  by  Erie,  515 

legislature,  the,  and  Erie,  SS,  89,  30S. 

counties,  opposition  of,  S8,  89,  368 

$10,000  annual  bonus  to,  89 

Piermont  (see  also  "  Tappan  Slote  ").  97,  98,  135,  313,  315,  390,  391, 

417-419 
Pile  road-bed,  the,  folly  and  extravagance  of.  4S,  323 

description  of  ami  contrails  for,  323-325 

driving  of  the  first  pile  for,  325 

abandonment  of,  328 

Pioneer  locomotive  engineers,  391-395 
Plan  to  expedite  the  work,  43,  4S 
Portage  bridge,  314.     - 
Port  Jervis.  N.  V.,  data  of,  503 

opening  of  railroad  to,  342,  345 

dining  station  at,  42s 

strikes  at,  436 

Railroad,  the,  completed,  04 

Ramapo  ami  Paterson  Railroad,  no,  359,  3S2 

N.  V.,  data  of,  501 

Ramsdell,  Homer,  biographical,  463,  464 

first  appearance  of,  in  Erie.  70,  463 

election  of,  as  President,  114 

origin  by,  of  Long  Dock  Co.,  119 

Jersey  City  term  mil-  begun  by,  119 

vicissitudes  of  management  of,  11 5-122 

retirement  of,  as  President,  122 

connection  of,  with  Jay  Gould  overthrow,  1-;.    17,    [88,    191, 

195,  196 
Rate  War,  the  first,  114 
Receivers  of  Erie,  129,  151,  242 
Receiverships  of  Erie,  129,  242 
Redfield,  William  C,  father  of  Erie,  the,  4,  5,  45S 
Ridgewood.  N.  J.,  data  of,  501 
Riddle,  Hugh,  biographical,  493 

first  appearance  of,  in  Erie,  493 

appointment  of.  as  superintendent,  493 

reports  of,  to  the  company,  146,    150,  156,  157 

resignation  of,  422.  493 

Right  of  way,  obtaining  of,  316,  338,  339,  356 
Riots,  340,  343.355 
Rochester,  N.  V.,  data  of,  50S 

efforts  of,  toward  Erie  connection,  361 

connection  with,  securing  of,  by  Erie,  137.  362.  363 

and  Genesee  Valley  Railroad,  303 

Branch,  363 

Rolling  stock,  the  first,  31S,  319,  397,  39S,  399 

in  pawn,  333 

showing  of  increase  in,  year  by  year,  since  1S41.  4S3 

Route,  the  changes  in  (see  also  Sullivan  County,  N.  Y.I,  306,  340,  555 
Rutherford,  N.  J.,  data  of,  500 

Salamanca,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  507 

Scranton  T   rail,  the,  fortunate  circumstance  of,  90,  91 

Secretary,  the  first.  373 

successors  to  the  office  of,  474—479 

Selleck.  Thaddeus,  originator  of  the  milk  traffic.  3 1 S,  406 

Seward.  W.  H.,  (14.   too,  102 

Seymour.  Hezekiah  C,  father  of  tin-  bl  1  'he.  44.    .5  ■  | 

first  superintendent,  etc.,  the.  315.  -,17.  ;;;.  334.  338,  405 

James.  311,  322 

Silas,  biographical,  314 

connection  of.  with  Erie  construction,  314,  343.  344 

Shearman,  Thomas  G.,  t88,  [89,  4^2 

William  l'itt,  253.    1  jg 

Sherman,  Charles  11.,  396 
Shin  Hollow  War.  the.  340 

Shohola,  Pa.,  terrible  disaster  at.  the,  441.  442 

data  of,  503 

Shortcut,  the  Newburgh,  370 

celebrating  the  opening  of,  370 

Shultz,  Capt.  Alexander  II..  405.    |  ■> 

"  Sickles  coup,  the,"  the  popular  fable  of.  771) 

Sickles,  Gen.  Daniel  E.,  appearing  of ,  in  Erie,  1S2 


5=4 


INDEX 


Sickles,  Gen.  Daniel  P.,  agreement  of,  with  Mc Henry,  182 

plan  of,  to  .ould,  1S2 

failure  of, 

joining  of,  with  George  Crouch,  1S2,  183 

captun 

ci  ,189 

cost  of ,  to  Erie,  [95 

no  thanks  voted  to,  204 

.1  lenl   .*  nil  1  lould  made  by,  199 

Signals,  ori  graphic,  the,  421 

Sinking  fund,  founding  of,  ri8 

Skelly,  "  Billy,"  first  railroad  newsboy,  the,  404 

rge  T.,  516 
Smith,  <  iould  &  !  210,  219 

Henry  N.,  209,  210,  219 

itorms,  some  disastrous,  405,  406 
rf  trains,  average  of,  lor  57  years,  4S3 
B,  W.,  253, 
Spike,  driving  of  the  lust,  330 

the  last,    ',14,  356 

d  u.l  (  ill  (  o.,  the,  Erie  connection  with,  456,  457 
Starucca  viaduct,  the,  building  of,  350 

lid,  requests  for  ami  refusals  of,  22,  23,  32,  33,  35,  39,  5S,  65 
granting  of,  47,  411.  =0,  29S,  304 

legislative  proceedings  on,  29S,  304 

abstracts  of  bills  granting,  299,  301,  304 

stock,  issue  of,  40,  57,  59,  63,  64,  65,  31S,  319,  333,  335 

work,  efforts  to  make  Erie  a,  47,  4S,  317 

Steel  rails,  the  first,  483 

Stewart,  W.  II.,  pioneer  conductor,  98,  103,  401 

- — -  anecdotes  of,  402 

reminiscences  of,  403,  405 

Stock,  Erie,  market  price  of,  year  by  year,  common,  4S5 

preferred,  486 

beginning  of  real  trading  in,  4S6 

over-issue  of,   14^.   140,  150,  151,  152 

exclusion  of.  from  Stock  Exchange,  140,    (86 

preferred,  origin  of.   (86 

lirst  subscriptions  to,  iS,  34,  36,  316 

first  manipulation  of,  319,  320 

dissension  over  policy  as  to  disposing  of,  20,  21,   22 

special,  319 

State,  319 

appreciation  of,  under  President  Thomas,  516 

Stranahan,  J.  S.  '1'.,  02,  321 

Strikes,  some  memorable  and  disastrous,  115,  ng,  431,  434,  436,  444 
Suffern,  X.  V.,  data  of,  501 

Sullivan  County,  X.  V.,  change  of  route  through,  5S,  84,  85,  SS,  89, 
502,  304,  307 

he  first,  2Sg,  304 
Supet  in  general,  4S0 

division,  480-482 

Surveys,  tin-   01  iginal,  24-31 

supplementary  to,  37,  41,  46,  49,  58,  313,  355 

Susquehanna,    Pa.,  data  of,  504 

reception  of  opening  excursion  at,  101 

dining  station  at,  428 

strikes  at,  432,  437     , 

shops  at,  beginning  of  the,  144,  145 

-v,   I'eter  E.,  151,  155 

Tammany  King,  the,  154,  162,  455 

T  rail,  tile  first,  how  obtained,  32S,  329,  330 

laying  of,  328 

the  Scranton,  90,  91 

Tappan  Slote,  ground  broken  at,  41,  313 

grading  reported  begun  at,  46 

construction  of  pier  begun  at,  41,  313 

insuring  of,  as  eastern  terminus,  77 

Piermont.) 
Telegraph,  the,  introduction  of,  415-422 

Ii.  II    Conklin,  participation  of,  in,  417-419 

Charles  Minot,  participation  of,  in,  415,  416,  417,  420 

lirst  tr.ii 1  11I  by,  420 

first  railroad   aCl  idellt  reported  by,  419 

application  of,  b)    M  it  alliim,  419 

first  train  order  by,  taken  by  sound,  419,  420 

Termini,  the  fixing  of,   ;7.  77 

Third  rail,  the,  fit  cy  of,  206 

'  report  on  cost,  et<  207 

laving  of,    4S3 

progress  in  laving  of,  222,  483 


Thomas,  Benjamin,  494,  495 

Thomas,   Eben  P..,  biographical,  471 

coming  of,  into  Erie,  272 

election  of,  as  President,  282 

wise,  but  undemonstrative  policy  of,  2S2-293 

consolidation  and  expansion  effected   by,  2S2-285 

resignation  of,  as  President,  515 

selection  of,  as  chairman  of  the  Board,  515 

— ■ —  many  improvements  in  Erie  under,  515 
Ticket  punch,  coming  of  the,  413 
Tickets,  some  early,  413 
Time-table,  the  first,  373 

pocket,  the  first,  389 

Time-tables,  the,  early  making  of,  371 

lirst  printers  of,  372 

story  of  the  development  of,  371-3S9 

Tonawanda,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  510 

Transportation,  expenses  of,  year  by  year,  since  1S41,  4S4 

Treasurer,  the  first,  473 

successors  to  the  office  of,  473,  479,  516 

Turners,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  510 

dining  stations  at,  427 

Tuxedo,  N.  Y.,  data  of ,  501 

Tweed,  William  B.,  154,  162,  167,  185,  455 

Tyler,   Asher,  354 

Underwood,  Frederick  D.,  biographical,  518 

election  of,  as  President,  515,  518 

Union  Railroad,  the,  no,  359 

Vanderbilt,  Cornelius,  appearing  of,  in  Erie,  115,  125,  136 
ambition  of,  to  control,  139-144 

worsting  of,  by  Daniel  Drew,  140 

opening  of  "  Erie  war"  by,  144 

settlement  of,  with  Drew,  155,  172 

meeting  of,  with  Eisk,  171 

■ — —  suing  of,  by  Eisk,  171-172 

settlement  with,  by  Jewett,  172,  249 

(See  also   Drew,  Daniel  ;   Eisk,  James,  jr.  ;  Gould,  Jay;  Yanderbill- 

Drew  Erie  war  ;  Belmont-Gould  Erie  war.) 
Yanderbilt-Drew,  the,  Erie  war,  148-160 

legal  proceedings  in,  148-156 

flight  of  Erie  officers,  150-152 

arrest  of  directors,  150 

Jay  Gould,  152,  153 

receivers  appointed,  151 

over-issues  of  stock,  148-152 

injunctions  in,  disregarded,  151 

investigation  of,  by  legislature,  152 

action  of  legislature  on,  154 

end  of,  under  Drew  settlement,  155,  160 

testimony  about,  before  committee,  451 

(See  also  Drew,  Daniel  ;  Gould,  Jay  ;   Vanderbilt,  Cornelius  ;  Legis- 
lative Investigating  Committees.) 
Van  Etten,  Edgar,  495 
Van  Keuren,  George,  516 

War  of  the  gauges,  114,  371,  372 
Warsaw,  N.  Y.,  data  of,  507 
Watson,  I'eter  11.,  biographical,  469 
selection  of,  as  President,  204 

dividend-paying  policy  of,  208-229 

prosecution  of  Jay  Gould  by,   210-212 

acceptance  of  Gould's  restitution  by,  212-215 

■ dividends,  the,  declared  by,  209,  219 

legislative  investigation  of,  219-221,  452 

revelations  leading  to  downfall  of,  223-229 

retirement  of,  229 

Waverly,  X.  V.,  data  of,  505 
Webb,  James  Watson,  52,  331,  332 

Webster,  Daniel,  94,  95,  96,  98,  100,  101,  102,  108 

Wellsville,  X.  Y. ,  data  of,  506 

Western  terminus,  mistake  of,  at  Dunkirk,  138 

efforts  to  make  Buffalo  the,  138 

Whiton,  A.  S.,  499 

Worden,  Eben  B.,  first  conductor,  the,  399 

Work,    Erank,   143,  146,  149 

Work,  the,  beginning  of,  36,  41,  313 

progress  of,  313.  317-321,  326,  337-358 

suspension  of,  42,  313,  335 

resumption  of,  49,  76,  SS,  337,  338 

time  for  completion  of,  extended,  303 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


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Series  9482 


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D     000  331  853     2 


